A South Sudanese minister has urged lawmakers not to take up a parliamentary motion calling for urgent debate on the killing of Kapoeta East County Commissioner Stephen Lowosio Lomongin, saying the case is already under criminal investigation and being handled through established legal channels.
Lomongin was killed on 11 June in an ambush while on an official visit to Kessengor, a disputed area claimed by Eastern Equatoria State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA).
Following the killing, Eastern Equatoria State Governor Louis Lobong Lojore set up a four-member investigation committee headed by the state’s Minister of Information, Elia John Ahaji.
During Tuesday’s sitting of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), Bol Joseph Agau, a lawmaker representing Yirol West in Lakes State under the National Democratic Movement (NDM), called for the House to prioritise debate on the killing.
Raising a procedural point under Regulation 81 of the Conduct of Business Regulations (Amended 2021), Agau said the matter should be treated as urgent, citing Lomongin’s status as a sitting member of parliament.
“Right Honorable Speaker, I’m raising a very important motion on the killing of the Commissioner of Kapoeta East, Honorable Stephen Lowosio Lomongin, who was killed on 11th June 2026,” he said.
He added that Lomongin’s parliamentary status requires the legislature to take up the matter.
“Whatever made him a commissioner is a different thing, but the fact that he was a member of this sitting parliament, I would like the House to allow this motion to be given priority,” Agau said.
However, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Michael Makuei Lueth said the government had already taken steps and that the matter was before investigators, who were pursuing suspects.
“Right Honorable Speaker, I appreciate the motion that has been raised. However, I would like to inform the House that the government has taken steps. It is a criminal case. It is under investigation and we are pursuing the accused persons to be arrested,” Makuei said.
Makuei, a former justice minister, urged lawmakers to allow the investigation process to proceed without parliamentary intervention at this stage, saying the matter was already within the remit of law enforcement authorities.
“So I request that parliament should not, as long as the government has seized of it, then it should not be taken by parliament at this stage,” he said.
The Speaker told lawmakers he had been briefed by Governor Lobong, who was in Juba with a delegation from Eastern Equatoria State and members of the business community, and confirmed that investigations were ongoing.
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