Gov’t chief whip joins call for salary review

The government chief whip has called on the committee on finance to be considerate on the issue of salaries for civil servants and the army as it scrutinises the budget proposal.

Rebecca Joshua Ogwaci made the call during Wednesday’s parliamentary sitting after the Minister of Finance and Planning presented the bill to the legislature.

Ogwaci urged members of the committees on finance and economy to hasten the process of scrutinising the budget bill rigorously, swiftly, and flawlessly, bearing in mind the concerns about the salaries of civil servants and the organised forces as articulated in the mandates of the parliament.

 “This is half-year of the budget and we know very well that there will be no very much to be done because the year has passed,” said Ogwaci in her remark.

“And therefore, this gives me the chance to say we move while thinking and keeping in mind the civil servants, the organised forces if we very quickly finish this work very fast and diligently, they will have the opportunity to look into these two categories that we have always been championing,” she emphasised.

The government’s chief whip underlined the significance of presenting the national budget bill to parliament promptly in order to address inconveniences with government programs.

She, however, recommended, that the next budget for 2022/2023 be tabled in parliament according to the regular budget schedule so that South Sudan can keep up with its regional neighbours.

 “That will also help the parliament because we committed ourselves in this parliament to say that we remain exceptional and we want to go back to the ordinary schedule so that we become like other countries in East Africa” Ogwaci stated.

Under the budget expenditure measures for the fiscal year 2021/2022, the government allocated a proposed amount of SSP 84.1 billion, which represents 29.3 per cent of the budget for wages and salaries.