South Sudan MPs quit annual budget presentation over overdue public salaries.
Hon. Salvatore Garang Mabiordit, Minister of Finance and Planning(Photo credit: Larco Lomayat/SSNN)
June 20th, 2019(SSNN) — South Sudan lawmakers on Wednesday halted approval of the government’s next budget proposal totaling 1.7 billion Euros, in protests that military and public officials have not been paid for more than six months.
Speaking at the parliament session, Elizabeth Adut, a member of parliament, disclosed that because of the late payment of salaries and the deterioration of the economy, the country’s army forces, The South Sudan National Army (SSDF), have opted to earn a living by selling charcoal in the market places and for committing crimes in the cities.
“Our army is cutting down trees to make a living, our foreign missions … it is now almost one year we are unable to pay them.” Hon. Adut said.
“Our teachers are not being paid. What are we doing? We are now presenting a new budget while our salaries are not being paid,” ” Elizabeth Adut, member of parliament, continued.
South Sudan army has committed many attrocities and rapant crimes some in liu of their late payment.
Recently, the magnitude of the recession and the cost of spending a huge sum of money on paying staff salaries, forced the government to issue a statement ordering its diplomatic missions to close indefinitely.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during its Executive Board Consultation visit to South Sudan, gave its recommendations and said “South Sudan’s Fiscal policy has been weakened by the loss of fiscal discipline, deteriorating public financial management, and contracting of non-transparent oil advances, which have increased corruption vulnerabilities.
Shortfalls in revenue translated into deep cuts in expenditure for other budget.
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