MPs salary hike new headache for gov’t – economist

The government is caged in a tight spot thanks to the recently declared salary increment by lawmakers.

According to a senior analyst who spoke exclusively to The City Review, the national government must now move with speed to tap in more revenue to plug the fiscal deficit and shoulder the new wage bill.

Dr Abraham Malit, a renowned Juba-based economist, said the government now has to devise new programs and policies to meet the demands of the lawmakers, besides striving to fund other crucial developmental projects in South Sudan.

“If the parliament gives itself such money, they must know where that money will come from. So now I believe they put a lot of pressure on the executive to come up with programs and policies that will generate more money. It is politics. The executive must [also] think about where to get the money,” Dr Malit said.

Emolument and Privileges Bill

The development follows a Monday incident where the MPs passed the Emoluments and Privileges Bill, increasing their monthly remuneration to SSP800,000, up from SSP9,400 amidst the country’s financial difficulties that have rendered the government incapable of paying civil servants for months now.

According to the bill, the speaker will have six cars, the deputy speaker will have three cars, and the chief whips will have two cars.

The increment, which constitutes about 2.2 per cent of SSP287.04 billion— the country’s budget for the fiscal year 2021/2022 yet to be passed into law—makes South Sudan one of the hefty spenders on MPs in the East African region.

Besides, this means that the country will have to adjust the allocation for salaries in the budget, which has yet to be tabled even after nearly seven months of commencement of the current fiscal year began on July 1, 2021.

Sources

According to the cabinet, the country’s revenue streams encompass oil, which constitutes more than 90 per cent of the national revenue, non-oil revenue, and grants from other wealthy countries.

But according to Dr Malit, such self-salary increment by the MPs could spark negative views among the public that the lawmakers’ now aim to enrich themselves despite the thousands of impoverished South Sudanese who sometimes go days without food and other basic social services.

He said the move “is good” because it will now empower citizens to also pressure the 650 lawmakers, some of whom do not have clear constituencies, to deliver basic and social services including education, health, road communication, and clean drinking water to the citizens.

“Now it looks like, in the public view, the MPs have enriched themselves and left them. We will now ask our MPs [that] if they have got the increment, what are [they going to do to the citizens] who support them.”

“[The increment] is a good thing now because [the citizens] will have a reason to ask the MPs of the services that citizens need when the executives are under pressure that they will have to meet the [MPs’] demands,” Dr Malit stressed.

Impact of corruption

He said, although the executive is directly mandated to meet the demands of its citizens, it will also require commitment by the lawmakers and executives to eradicate the chronic corruption that has robbed the South Sudanese of development.

“The executive must think of a policy that will make sure that things are sustained, reform will have to come, and corruption has to stop because if we don’t stop corruption, we will not get that money,”

“It is not about how much they will be paid, it is about where you are going to get that money, and to get that money you have to stop corruption. To stop corruption, [MPs] have to come up with policies that are going to address corruption, “

South Sudan parliament has got 650 lawmakers who are distributed in the national assembly and the council states. They are drawn from parties to the revitalised agreement, namely: Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Government (SPLM-IG), Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), and South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA). Others are the Other Political Party (OPP), the Former Detainees (FD).

Given the size of the country’s population of about 13 million, South Sudan will become the biggest parliament in Africa.

MPs’ salaries at a glance

9,400- Old monthly salary for MPs (SSPs)

800,000– New monthly salary for MPs (SSPs)

8510– Percentage increase in MPs’ monthly pay

660– The number of South Sudan’s MPs             

2.2– Percentage of budget to be spent on MPs’ salaries

90– Country’s percentage dependence on oil revenue