Who’s who of the SPLM-Juba faction: Jemma Nunu Kumba
SPLM, the ruling party of South Sudan, has fractured since the start of a civil war in December 2013. The faction of the party based in Juba remains under the leadership of President Salva Kiir.
The SPLM-Juba faction controls the cabinet, a remnant of the SPLA, and several governorships. In a series of articles, Radio Tamazuj profiles some key party members who have remained loyal to Salva Kiir since the start of the crisis.
Factbox: Jemma Nunu Kumba
Jemma Nunu Kuma was the first female governor in South Sudan and is the current Minister of Electricity and Dams.
Born in 1966 in Tombura County of Western Equatoria, she spent her childhood partly in Tombura County, partly in a refugee camp in Central Africa, and partly in Juba, where she attended secondary school from 1983 to 1986.
Kumba married and moved to Khartoum but left in 1991 after her husband joined the SPLA in South Sudan. Over the next few years she worked in Kampala, Uganda and in SPLA-controlled areas of South Sudan in various positions, including as an administrator of a SPLA-linked company and as a coordinator for the New Sudan Council of Churches.
After her husband Festo Kumba was appointed SPLM representative to Namibia, she moved with him there and studied public administration at the University of Namibia from 1999 to 2002.
In 2002, she was appointed by the late chairman of the SPLM as one of SPLM negotiators at peace talks in Kenya. After the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, she was appointed as a member of parliament in Khartoum.
In 2006, she was appointed as a member of the SPLM Interim Executive Committee and in 2007 as a member of the SPLM Interim Political Bureau.
In March 2008 she was appointed as governor of Western Equatoria. She lost the position in the 2010 election to Joseph Bakosoro, an independent candidate.
After her election defeat, she was appointed by President Salva Kiir in June 2010 as Minister of Housing and Physical Planning for the South Sudan region. She was reappointed to the same position in a reshuffle in 2011, but moved to the position of Minister of Electricity and Dams in 2013.
Jemma Nunu Kumba is the wife of Festo Kumba, an MP and former minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries. She is the mother of four children.
File photo
Correction: As originally published, this article stated that Nunu Kumba is Minister of Housing and Physical Planning, whereas currently she is Minister of Electricity and Dams
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