CES to publish its financial documents-Official
The Central Equatoria State government has promised to publish its financial documents detailing its budget, revenue, and expenditure to boost trust between the government and stakeholders and the citizens.
Speaking during the interactive session of the cabinet with journalists and civil society at the Secretariat on Wednesday, the State Minister for Finance and Investment, Tom Sebit Wani, said they had been reporting their expenditure to the parliament but would publish it later for the public.
“This is where we give a performance report, and this performance report must justify revenue and expenditure,” he said. “You will see how we have been spending it.”
Tom assured the media and civil society that the state ministry of finance was open to giving access to information whenever it was needed.
“If you want information, the ministry of finance is open,” he said.
Budget passed
Last week, the state government passed SSP 5, 180, 947, and 420 budgets for the financial years 2021/2022.
The statement presented to The City Review indicated that three-quarters of the budget would be obtained from the National Government Grants (SSP 4, 833, 776, 060) whereas the remaining third (SSP 347, 171, 360) would be from the local state revenue, which was 7 per cent of the total resources.
The state minister for information and communication, who is also the official spokesperson, Andruga Mabe, emphasised that the budget would be used for developmental projects in the state.
Plans in place
“This budget includes grants from the National Government and State-owned revenues aimed at fast-tracking the implementation of the state strategic pillars of security stabilisation, sustainable peace, service delivery, economic recovery and return program of the internally displaced persons and those in the refugee camps,” he said.
The state information minister said they would table the budget before the State Revitalised Transitional Legislative Assembly (R-TLA) for approval before its operation.
“This budget was discussed in length and passed with some amendments in the figures, and the Minister of Finance and Planning was directed to present the bill to the State Transitional Legislative Assembly for appropriate consideration,” he added.
E-governance
Last year, the state government launched e-governance to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability in revenue collection, land registration, and purchase as well as waste disposal.
Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony, during the launch, said the e-governance would enable the citizens to monitor government functions and facilitate communication between the government, private sector, and the public
“For your information our guests who are in this function, it is important to know that the importance of establishing electronic e-government in Central Equatoria is to increase efficiency, transparency and accountability and citizen’s participation in monitoring and scrutinizing the function and the performance of the government, among other things,” Adil stated
“E-government uses ICT as a support tool in development to allow high levels of effectiveness and efficiency in government functions and performance improvement in terms of process and procedures. And it also increases the quality of public service and improves the use of information in decision-making processes to ease communication among different agents.”
According to Governor Adil, his government chose e-governance to join his peers across the world who have been using e-governance to run government systems.
“It also provides more transparent governance because it enables the public to be informed about what happens in their respective governments,” he explained.
