Futuyo, Achuil trade blames over education funds
The Western Equatoria State Governor, Alfred Futuyo Karaba, has denied misappropriating education funds and accused the Minister of General Education and Instruction, Awut Deng Achuil, of “fabricating information” to taint his administration.
Last week, Achuil, accused some governors, including Futuyo, of misusing education conditional transfers that were meant for paying teachers and running the schools.
“As a matter of clarity, I must cite an example of misuse of an education conditional transfers. On January 13, 2022, the governor of Western Equatoria State issued directives for the allocation of SSP 100 million to pay county commissioners in the name of “improvement of schools, recruitment of teachers and purchase of motorbikes for paramount chiefs and county education directors,” the minister stated.
She added: “I therefore hereby make it clear that education conditional transfer to the states and the administrative areas is purely meant for the delivery of educational services.”
“Any diversion to these funds does not only violate the conditions under which the funds are transferred, but it also demoralises teachers and all the stakeholders in education.’’
Responding to the statement of Achuil, the office of Governor Futuyo said such information was meant to tarnish the image of the governor and the good works he does in delivering services to the people of Western Equatoria State.
“I would like to make it clear to the citizens of Western Equatoria State and the general public that the 20 motorbikes purchased by the humble governor to chiefs and county education directors were not in the budget of education of educational grant transferred to the state by the national government,” read the statement issued on January 22, 2022, and signed Futuyo’s press secretary Alex Daniel.
It called on the minister to form a committee to audit the expenditure of the money instead of making the allegations in the media.
Teachers’ salaries
On Friday last week, Achuil also ordered the governors to pay teachers the three months’ salaries, including allowances, accusing other state governors of robbing teachers of allowances in the new salary scale.
“We are reliably informed that some state governors do divert these funds for other use, which contravene the conditions within which the funds are transferred under.
“Those states that paid teachers only basic salaries without allowances must pay in full the basic plus allowances because it comes as a package with inclusive allowances,” she stated.
Strike
Early this month, teachers in Central Equatoria and the Jonglei states refused to accept basic salaries, excluding allowances, and laid down their tools until their demands are met.
“We were very much disturbed after learning that one of the main columns of the new salary structure, which is the nature of work, has been omitted without any proper explanation.”
“It contradicts the statement of the president to increase salaries of civil servants by 100 per cent which was actually approved by the national council of ministers chaired by the president,” Justine Walak, the secretary-general of the Central Equatoria Teachers Union, said.
Dr. Andruga Mabe, the Central Equatoria State Minister of Information, confirmed the omission of the said allowances from the new salary scale according to the budget the state had received from the national government.
“When we increased, it was only minus one column. That is the nature of work.” We had several columns indicating the same salary to be paid, and the salary as a whole is the total of the columns. “
“We started by doubling the existing salary, but we did not implement that part, which is ‘nature of the work’ according to what we have in our budget scale,” Dr. Mabe told the City Review early this month.
Mr. Darius Okeny Oridi, Director General for Human Resources in the Ministry of Labour and Public Service. The new salary structure was done in consultation with the cabinet after the president issued an order for a 100 percent increment for both national and state government employees.
He explained that the pay scale of all employees from grades 1 to 17 entails all the packages that belong to the particular pay scale of each grade, but some institutions misinterpreted the 100 per cent increment, excluding other packages.
“However, the misinterpretation that some states might have derived is what we wonder why, and who actually misinterpreted it for them. They should have had a consultation with the origin of the salary structure so that they were informed.
“To the best of our knowledge, we are quite aware that the minister of finance multiplied the 2020/2021 budget by two, which means the total amount for the filing given for the personal budget was multiplied by two, which means it encompasses all the allowances,” said Mr. Okeny.
