Matia Samuel
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A civil society activist urged the Transitional National Legislative Assembly to pass the fiscal year budget for 2024/2025 on time or face a legal battle at the East African Court.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Executive Director of the Centre for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), Ter Manyang, warned that his office would be left with no option but to sue the Parliament at the regional court if the budget is delayed.
“The CPA is giving the TNLA until June 28th, 2024, to pass the fiscal year budget. If this deadline is not met, the CPA will have no choice but to take the TNLA to the East African Court of Justice to address why there is always a delay in passing the budget for the year 2024,” said Manyang.
He said that South Sudan must follow the procedures of the East African Community for the fiscal year budget for 2024/2025.
“South Sudan has consistently lagged in passing the national budget each year and we are deeply concerned about the delay in passing the budget by the TNLA, which indicates a lack of preparation from the Ministry of Finance and Parliament,” he said.
According to him, meeting the deadline is crucial for it will allow South Sudan to align with the other East African member states.
“The Centre for Peace and Advocacy would like to remind the Government of South Sudan to be proactive in its approach. All member states of the East African Community begin their New Year budget on July 1st, 2024, while South Sudan continues to delay its own budget,” he alleged.
Earlier this week, the national minister of finance and planning Eng. Daniel Awow pointed out that the budget for 2024/2025 has been already submitted to the economic cluster and will soon find its way to the cabinet and then to the august house in the coming weeks.
“The budget was already tabled in the economic cluster last week, and this week it is going to the Council of Ministers, and it will also come to the Parliament after that,” he said.
The City Review made an effort to contact the Chairperson for the Specialised Committee on Finance and Planning at TNLA, Changkuoth Bichiok, for comments at the time of compiling this report but he was unavailable.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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