By Taban Gabriel
King News-02.09.2024. The Deputy Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), Oyet Nataniel, has called on the National government to “revise and examine” the allocated budget for road constructions dubbed “Oil for the road” to pay salaries of civil servants.
Oyet said the oil for road continued to flow despite “the economic shock that the country got itself into.”
“For ten months’ civil servants have not received their salaries; this is what is drawing and siphoning the resources from the government coffers; government goes without salaries, without the budgeted operations, goods, and services, all these have been affected,” he explained.
“We are building roads, and people are dying of hunger because of no salaries; who will walk on those roads,” Oyet asked.
The legislature braved the government to review its expenditures and priorities to help solve the issue of “starvation, medical treatment, and the salary problem.”
The Deputy speaker recommended that the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) introduce austerity measures to curb the economic meltdown.
“Government priorities must be reviewed, the government should have downsized its expenditures, foreign missions, none essential trips, and expenditures should be limited and priorities should be given to the payment of salaries,” he said
In a long document with figures shared by the lawmaker and seen by King Media, the oil for road budgets alone amounts to an equivalent of $285,503,484.66, making it the uppermost allocation in the fiscal year budget for 2023/2024.
In the document, the National Revenue Authority (NRA) generated a significant amount of $777,618079.71 in the last six months from both the oil and non-oil revenue months, which, according to the deputy speaker, is enough to pay the accumulated civil servants’ salaries.
Non-oil revenues alone generated an equivalent of $239,197,014.53 in the last six months, which, according to Oyet, surpassed its target.
Lawmaker Oyet calls for a review of the oil for road money to determine whether it is used for its intended purpose.
He advised that the RTGONU “expedite” discussions with the Sudan government “so that the oil exploitation in Paloc can commence.”
The South Sudan Fiscal Year budget for 2023/2024 was passed by TNLA in July 2023. However, the budget has just been approved, with a few months to close the year.