The minister of finance, planning, and investment in South Sudan’s Jonglei State has accused some politicians in the state of fueling protests by the civil servants.
Civil servants in the state capital Bor have threatened to stage more protests in a bid to force the government to rescind a decision it took to cut increases in civil servants allowances.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, Gatkuoth, accused some unnamed politicians of fueling the protests by feeding the civil servants with incorrect financial information.
“Some politicians are siding with demonstrators that is what fueled these demonstrations. They give different financial reading rather than what we give them as a ministry,” he said. “People are giving out negative critics through media outlets that we deducted the 100% increment by the president. It is not true. Jonglei only reversed the topped-up that it gave so that it was used for its normal functions.”
The finance minister pointed out that they decided the cut because they were hit by resource shortage.
“With all the crisis Jonglei is going through, it will not be possible for the people to tackle this issue without local revenues. The government cannot only operate on salaries. Government operates every time. We need fuel. We need the operational costs for the ministries,” he stressed.
He pointed out that a campaign would be conducted to educate the civil servants on the increase, calling the protest demands unrealistic.
“We were forced to use local revenues because we were threatened even as we know that the nature of work allowance being demanded is non existing across the country. So, there will be a team that will go out to educate them about the increment,” he stressed.
Jonglei worker’s union could not be reached for comment.