The Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Monday adjourned the session for the Auditor General’s report on the Juba-Rumbek highway as Roads Minister Simon Mijok Mijak failed to appear in parliament.
TNLA was supposed to discuss the scrutinized report from the committee of roads and bridges.
Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba said the august House could not discuss the report in the absence of the minister.
“Today, we have one agenda before us, but I have just been told that the Minister of Roads, Simon Mijak, is not around. The report is about the road. The roads authority is not here, so these key institutions are not here,” Kumba said.
Last October, the Auditor General’s report uncovered a series of issues, raising concerns about financial transparency, project management and overall quality of the road.
The report also revealed that a crude oil shipment amounting US$1.5 billion between 2019 and 2020 could not be determined by the Auditor General and how much of the consignment was intended for the road project.
The Auditor also urged the august House to find out what happened to the US$1.5 billion. The records of the Ministry of Petroleum indicated that 21,780,135, barrels of crude oil worth US$1,558,768,802 had been shipped between 2019 and 2020.
Kumba said the House could reschedule once Mijak was back in the country. “We’ll inform them (ministers of Roads and roads authority) accordingly. Actually, the minister is outside the country,” she said.