The decision followed pressure from ruling party lawmakers who raised concerns about leadership and spending
The President of South Sudan Salva Kiir has removed the speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba and his deputy Permena Awerial Aluong according to the order read in parliament on Tuesday.
Kiir appointed Joseph Ngere Paciko as the new speaker and Abuk Paiti Ayiik as the deputy speaker.
Kumba served in that role since 2021 and was the first woman to do so. His removal came after members of the parliamentary session of Salva Kiir’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) submitted a petition raising concerns about his leadership.
The petition accused Kumba of corruption and waste of parliamentary funds and demanded that he be fired. Several MPs supported the move and asked him to resign. Neither Kiir nor the parliament immediately provided further information to the public about the allegations, according to the reports.
Two days before his removal, in his statement on Sunday, he said that he remained committed to the constitution of South Sudan and to the renewed peace agreement.
“The Speaker’s Office has considered the concerns raised and is ready to address these issues through institutional channels,” the statement said.
South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 but has remained volatile since the end of a five-year civil war that broke out in 2013 due to a conflict between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and First Vice President Riek Machar who is currently under arrest. The conflict displaced millions of people and caused an estimated 400,000 deaths.
South Sudan has been suffering from political instability and armed conflict since it gained its independence in 2011. The civil war that lasted for five years broke out in 2013 due to the conflict between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the former First Vice President Riek Machar, which resulted from the struggle for power within the ruling party of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM3) and that party was still found in Sudan8. A 2018 peace accord officially ended the civil war, but fighting continues across the country, driven by local militias and conflicts over resources.
The situation has been further complicated by political upheavals, including Machar’s arrest in March 2025. Machar’s party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), has warned that his detention effectively nullifies the 2018 peace agreement. Machar has been accused of supporting the White Army, a militia that includes mostly Nuer fighters, who have reportedly been involved in fighting in Upper Nile state.
Ongoing insecurity has displaced hundreds of thousands, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), by the end of 2025, South Sudan had more than 2.7 million internally displaced persons, and more than 9 million people in total need humanitarian assistance.
The decision follows a series of recent leadership changes by Kiir. In February, the president fired Finance Minister Bak Barnaba Chol after about three months in office without giving a reason.
The President of South Sudan also removed Interior Minister Angelina Teny in January and Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel in November, as well as Foreign Minister Ramadan Mohamed Abdallah Goc in April 2025.
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