The Speaker of the National Assembly, Jemma Nunu Kumba, has called on the Ministry of Finance to ensure the Parliament receives its full percentage in the 2023/2024 fiscal year budget.
Kumba highlighted the challenges faced by the Parliament, revealing that in previous years, the assembly had been operating with only 50% of its allocated budget, which hindered the committees’ ability to carry out their work.
Kumba made this appeal in response to a request by Africano Mande, the Commissioner General of the South Sudan Revenue Authority, who had on Wednesday asked the Ministry of Finance to allocate a small percentage to MPs for benchmarking and research purposes.
While acknowledging that the Parliament has a budget for operational costs, Kumba pointed out the difficulty in obtaining the full allocated budget from the Ministry of Finance and Planning. She further urged the ministry to ensure that all the allocated funds for the national Parliament are released.
“You suggested the Minister of Finance allocate a small portion for benchmarking. In reality, the specialized committees already have their budget in the national budget. Even last year, funds were allocated. It’s important to note that this Parliament received only 50% of its annual budget. Consequently, we could only operate at 50%. This affected the payment of the budget for the committees. Therefore, I urge that this time, you allocate the full budget for the committees so they can effectively carry out their work,” said Jemma Nunu Kumba.
The Speaker also requested that the funds allocated for the various standing specialized committees be separated from operational costs. “We have even proposed that the committee money be transferred separately from operational costs. I hope the ministry will take care of that so that the Parliament can effectively perform,” the Speaker insisted.
President Salva Kiir in August signed into law this year’s national budget worth SSP2.1 trillion ($16.2 billion), which is 33 percent higher than last year.
A 2023 Fiscal Transparency Report by the US State Department said South Sudan’s government has continued to mismanage revenues, with corruption and lack of transparency a key problem.