30 female MPs to visit Kenya and Rwanda

By Michael Tapeng

South Sudan’s Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has on Monday announced plans to take 30 members of parliament from across the country to visit Kenya and Rwanda  beginning next week.

The Ministry says, the first group of the 30 members of parliament will spend five days in Kenya beginning on November 20th, while the second group  will be in Rwanda for five days beginning on November 29th.

“We have managed to secure funds for 30 female MPs to go outside South Sudan and that is in Kenya and Rwanda for exposure visits. What I am expecting from them is to know how a woman as a citizen of the country can raise motions of the issues affecting people. So they will be able to understand how women can also raise motions, how women can stand their grounds and debate what they want the government to do for them,” Said the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mary Nawai Martin in Juba on Monday afternoon.

The minister says the visit is a learning process for female members of parliament to engage with their female counterparts to understand how they are serving their people.

The Parliamentary Affairs Ministry says the trip for the female MPS to the East African nations will be facilitated through the support from the UNWomen in South Sudan.

The minister said the money from UNWomen has been channeled through the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), a local NGO in South Sudan.

The ministry of Parliamentary Affairs says it is first of its kind for the ministry to take MPs outside the country.