Keji Janefer
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Trouble could be brewing in parliament over the omission of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in the final text of the national budget for the 2022–2023 fiscal year, signed by President Salva Kiir.
Peter Lomude, the chairperson of the specialised committee of the constituency development fund, told The City Review in an exclusive interview after yesterday’s official announcement of the parliamentary recess that the committee was caught by surprise by this exclusion.
“We were surprised when we received the signed budget by the president.” “What was passed in the house was in the final text of the budget,” he said. He added that the three per cent was not included even after being passed in the House, adding that “something happened at the committee of finance that was compiling the final report” before handing it over to the president.
The parliament began its recess yesterday, and they are expected to resume early next week to handle the pending bills.
Lomude said the ministry of finance owes the parliament arrears of CDF that were included in the list of arrears in the allocation of the 2021-2022 budget, which was SSP8.6 billion.
The lawmaker said the committee questioned why the CDF fund was excluded in the final text, but they were told that the fund would be included in the supplementary budget that would be presented in parliament.
According to Lomude, including the CDF in the supplementary budget comes with uncertainty because no one knows where the money will come from.
“You don’t need to question where to get it because it is very clear in the law. “It says three per cent of the revenue goes to CDF, so the question of where to cut it in order to cover the CDF is not an issue; it is supposed to be automatic from the revenues,” said Lomude.
It remains challenging for the MPs to address the needs of their communities while on recess with empty hands, but Lomude encouraged the lawmakers to go ahead with the recess, emphasising that they need to talk to their constituents.
The CDF is also one of the requirements of the revitalised peace agreement in Article 4.3.1.5, which the government is supposed to implement, and it also appears in Annex 6 of the roadmap, which is pending.
If not released, the lack of budgetary allocation for CDF will affect especially the areas of service delivery such as primary health care centres, schools, clean drinking water, and bridges, among others, which can be felt by communities in their constituencies as services from the government to the people.
Jemma Nunu Kumba, the speaker of the Transitional National Legislature, assured the MPs that she would ensure the CDF money was released to facilitate their trip.
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