Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The United States said the government of South Sudan lacks the capacity to manage its finance resulting in large-scale corruption and insufficient fiscal transparency.
The U.S. State Department – in a report to Congress released on Friday said the government lacks fiscal discipline and transparency in managing public finances.
“The Government of South Sudan lacks fiscal discipline and transparency in managing public finances and has low capacity to manage South Sudan’s convoluted and oil-dependent budget resulting in large-scale corruption and insufficient fiscal transparency,” the report said.
The report said the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide short-term technical assistance to help the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to reduce the large amount of domestic expenditure arrears.
“As part of a multi-donor engagement strategy to strengthen PFM systems in South Sudan, USAID provides short-term technical assistance to help the Ministry of Finance and Planning reduce a large amount of domestic expenditure arrears and develop a strategy to address the backlog,” it said.
“Currently, USAID is focusing on completing a domestic arrears inventory. Specific activities include conducting root cause analysis of arrears; identifying arrears by drawing sample claims; and preparing a strategy for arrears management and reduction,” it added.
It warned that governance failures have become a key driver of national and sub-national violence and called for sustained reform, transparency, and accountability.
“South Sudan’s governance failures have become a key driver of national and sub-national violence and, as such, sustained reform, transparency, and accountability is critical to resolving the root causes of conflict,” it.
It noted that domestic and international entities purchase South Sudan’s oil commodities without acknowledging the link between the elite’s corrupt practices and continued sub-national violence.
It said State and Treasury department officials regularly coordinate on corruption in the country’s oil sector. On 24 September 2021, the Commission on Human Rights’ report said more than US$73 million has gone missing from the coffers in South Sudan in just the last two years. That money was diverted by the country’s ruling elites, the United Nations rights agency said.
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