President Salva Kiir chairs the Cabinet meeting on Friday, July 24, 2026. Photo: Office of the President.

The Council of Ministers has reviewed South Sudan’s 10-year membership in the East African Community (EAC), considering a new proposal detailing how the nation’s representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) will be elected in the future.

South Sudan joined the regional bloc in 2016, participating across its political, economic, and legislative frameworks over the past decade.

During the Cabinet meeting, the Minister of East African Community Affairs presented a proposal seeking to clarify and formalize the process by which South Sudanese EALA members are elected through the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA).

Speaking on SSBC following the Cabinet meeting, Information Minister Ateny Wek Ateny outlined the purpose of the review.

“Our accession to the Union now is 10 years since,” Ateny said. “So, the Minister of East African Community brought this to the Council of Ministers to discuss; the approval is that members of South Sudan in the East African Community would be elected inside the national legislative assembly.”

South Sudan is currently represented in EALA by nine elected lawmakers alongside an ex-officio minister. The nine representatives serve in the Fifth EALA Assembly, which was inaugurated in December 2022 and runs through 2027. They were originally elected by the TNLA in Juba.

The review comes as South Sudan assesses the progress and challenges of its first ten years within the EAC, while seeking ways to strengthen its legislative footprint and economic integration with neighboring member states.