The Transitional National Legislative Assembly’s Finance Committee on Thursday demanded an explanation from the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Martin Elia Lomuro, on the use of $10,000,000 meant for peace agreement institutions and mechanisms.
The institutions include the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC), the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC), the National Human Rights Council (NHRC) and the Judiciary Reform Committee (JRC).
Addressing members of the various peace institutions in Juba, 1st Deputy Speaker Oyet Nathaniel said documents of authorization by the Ministry of Finance and Planning, and the Central Bank, indicated that the institutions were not paid their money in full, and in addition, the Cabinet Affairs ministry included two projects that were not part of the plan.
According to the Assembly, the money was transferred to the Cabinet Affairs’ ministry secretariat account, in SSP15 billion (South Sudanese pounds), an equivalent of $10 million.
Parliament has now directed the Cabinet Affairs ministry to pay in full the allocations due to the beneficiary institutions immediately.
Oyet said that parliament, in its meeting with the ministers of Finance and Planning, Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Governor of the Bank of South Sudan, found that despite the money being transferred to the Cabinet Affairs ministry, no remittances were made to the peace institutions and mechanisms.
“TNLA [Transitional National Legislative Assembly] observed that the funds in question were first deposited in the ministry of Cabinet Affairs General Secretariat Account instead of the ministry’s Account 0026921227923; as per the letter of the ministry of Finance and Planning,” he said.
According to the first Deputy Speaker, TNLA’s meeting with the various ministries also discovered that an equivalent of SSP15,322,939,000 was used on special projects under the ministry of Cabinet Affairs, instead of being issued to the institutions.
“The ministry of Cabinet Affairs has no authority to unilaterally divert funds meant for the peace implementation institutions and mechanisms, as this contravenes financial regulations and the public financial management and Accountability Act, 20211,” he said.
TNLA further stressed that any decisions to allocate funds to the beneficiary institutions and peace implementation mechanisms should be by a resolution of the council of ministers’ meeting.
Furthermore, TNLA directed that the ministry of Finance and Planning pay directly every spending agency through official account, rather than through third parties, pointing out that that will ensure proper auditing and accountability.
“What we have established from our introduction is that the fund was indeed transferred to the ministry of Cabinet Affairs and they have been paying some of these institutions, though the amount is yet to be clarified by the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Bank of South Sudan,” he said.
Oyet stressed that parliament did not agree with the way the ministry of Cabinet Affairs included other projects, besides the peace agreement.
According to the Deputy Speaker: “This is where we are still going to seek further clarification from his colleagues, the Minister of Finance and Plan and the Central Bank Governor,”
Minister Martin Elia Lomuro, confirmed that his ministry received the $10,000,000, an equivalent of SSP 15 billion, but said that the financial challenges led to reduction of the funds allocated to the peace institutions.
“Considering the financial challenges, the amounts required by some of the institutions were reduced to nearly half, in some cases, more than half. Unfortunately, it seems as if the revised table for payment was not made clear to the Minister of Finance and I stand that because he was new, he may not have followed the records of this payment for peace and implementation,” he explained.
According to Lomuro the revised table contains payments for critical institutions of the agreement and two classified special projects.
“Those who are now amalgamated into one table that previously only contained the list of the institutions. I think that is where the confusion arose. We have managed to clarify this and we have agreed on how to move forward,” he said.
The cabinet minister said some of the institutions had so far received first-quarter payments and were awaiting the second and full amounts.