South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has dismissed the speaker and deputy speaker of parliament in the latest high-level reshuffle to hit the fragile East African nation, amid renewed scrutiny of corruption allegations and persistent political instability.
A decree removing Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba and her deputy, Permena Awerial Aluong, was read out in parliament on Tuesday, according to lawmakers and local media, confirming a sudden leadership shake-up at the top of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly.
The announcement was made by Tulio Odongi Ayahu, chief whip of Kiir’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), who said the changes had taken immediate effect. Kiir appointed Joseph Ngere Paciko as the new speaker and Abuk Paiti Ayiik as deputy speaker, replacing two senior figures in a legislature that has often mirrored the country’s tense and shifting political balance.
The dismissals come just days after members of the SPLM caucus submitted a petition accusing Kumba of corruption linked to the alleged mismanagement of parliamentary funds and calling for her removal. The allegations have not been tested in court, and Kumba had not publicly responded by Tuesday.
Kumba had made history in 2021 when she became the first woman to serve as speaker of South Sudan’s parliament, a symbolic milestone in a country where women remain underrepresented in senior political office despite repeated commitments under peace agreements to expand their participation.
Her removal is likely to fuel fresh debate over the state of governance and institutional stability in South Sudan, where public office is often shaped less by parliamentary independence than by executive power, internal party calculations and the fragile accommodation between former wartime rivals.
Kiir has long relied on frequent reshuffles of senior civilian, security and administrative officials as a way of managing elite rivalries and preserving his authority in a country still struggling to emerge from years of civil war and political fragmentation. Analysts say such moves often reflect efforts to contain internal dissent, rebalance patronage networks or pre-empt possible succession challenges.
The parliamentary shake-up follows another abrupt change in late February, when Kiir dismissed finance minister Bak Barnaba Chol after only three months in office, without publicly giving a reason. That decision reinforced perceptions of volatility at the top of government and underscored the limited security of even senior cabinet appointments.
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The changes also come at a delicate moment for South Sudan, which remains under mounting economic pressure from disrupted oil exports, fiscal strain and delays in implementing key provisions of its peace deal. Oil revenues, the backbone of state finances, have been hit repeatedly in recent years by technical disruptions and insecurity affecting export infrastructure through neighbouring Sudan.
That broader instability has deepened frustration over governance, service delivery and corruption in a country that gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but soon descended into conflict. Although a peace agreement signed in 2018 formally ended the main civil war, implementation has been uneven and political tensions remain high between Kiir and his longtime rival-turned-vice president, Riek Machar.
Parliament, which under the transitional arrangement is meant to support reforms ahead of eventual elections, has often been criticised as weak and heavily influenced by the executive. The removal of its top leadership is therefore unlikely to be seen simply as an internal legislative matter, but rather as part of the broader contest over control and political survival in Juba.
Kiir, who has ruled South Sudan since independence, has not publicly elaborated on the reasons for Tuesday’s dismissals beyond the decree. But in a political system where power remains highly centralised, the latest reshuffle is likely to be read as another sign that authority continues to rest firmly with the presidency, even as questions grow over succession, reform and the country’s long-delayed democratic transition.
