Two ladies have been approved by the parliamentary bloc of the Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to serve as deputy speaker for the parliament.
Badria Suleiman from the NCP and A’isha Mohamed Ahmed from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by Mohamed Osman al-Merghani will hold the post for the first time in Sudan’s history.
Suleiman is a well known legal advisor who participated in the drafting of the recent constitutional amendments. She also headed the committee which was tasked last week with amending the National Assembly’s regulations.
The NCP parliamentary bloc, in its meeting on Sunday, has delayed election of a third deputy speaker of the parliament amid leaks that the post would be cancelled.
The meeting also delayed naming heads of the parliamentary subcommittees of labour and administration and energy and mining for a later time.
On Monday, Al-Sudani newspaper quoted sources as saying the NCP parliamentary bloc agreed that the NCP would chair seven parliamentary committees instead of nine, pointing the remaining five committees will be headed by MP’s from other political parties.
It pointed that the head of the non-mainstream faction of the National Umma Party (NUP) Abdallah Ali Masar has been elected as chairman of the parliamentary subcommittee on agriculture, animal resources and forests.
The NCP parliamentary bloc also named Ahmed Imam al-Tuhami as head of the parliamentary subcommittee on Defence, Security and Public Order while Mohamed al-Mustafa al-Daw was elected as head of the subcommittee on Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Ahmed Mohamed Adam al-Tigani was named as chairman of the subcommittee on Legislation, Justice and Human Rights while Laila Mohamed Saeed will chair the subcommittee on Human and Social Affairs and Community Purging.
The parliamentary subcommittee on Economic and Financial Affairs and Investment will be chaired by Ahmed al-Majzoub.
The NCP parliamentary bloc agreed that the subcommittee on Education would be headed by an MP from the Ansar al-Sunnah al-Muhammadiyah society while the subcommittees on Youth and Sports, Culture and Information, Health and Environment and Population will be chaired by MPs from other political parties.
It also decided that the post of the deputy chairman of the 12 parliamentary subcommittees would be divided evenly between the NCP and the rest of the political parties in the parliament.
