Yiep Joseph
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The National Transitional Committee (NTC), which is tasked with completing the security arrangement, raised concerns on Thursday about the lack of funds to execute its task.
A cash-strapped NTC means that the deployment and recruitment of the second phase of unified forces may have to wait despite the completion of the first phase in 2022.
In his report to the 30th RJMEC monthly sitting on Thursday, Par Kuol, the Secretary of the National Transitional Committee, said the delay by the finance ministry to release funds was the main reason why forces have not yet been deployed.
“Lack of funding remains a serious challenge facing NTC in implementing the security arrangement activities,” Kuol said.
He added that several efforts made by the NTC to get funds from the Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) continue to be undermined by the delay in the approval of funds by the ministry of finance.
“The NTC continues to work to secure funding for security mechanisms and the release of approved emergency food items from the graduated unified forces who are stranded at various training centres to pave the way for the commencement of phase two; unfortunately, the funds have not been released until today,” he lamented.
Kuol added that after the council of ministers approved the fund for the security arrangement, the finance ministry failed to release the funds as expected.
“We submitted a request on May 29 to release the amount of SSP 3.6 billion to the ministry of finance and were planning to cover the cost of food for the deployment of graduated unified forces, but the ministry has yet to release that amount,” he said.
He stated that till now, the NTC is still following up with the ministry of finance and planning to release the money to cover the transportation of military uniforms and other equipment meant for the deployment of forces.
“On March 28, 2023, the NTC submitted the request for an amount of SSP2.5 million to the ministry of finance, and due to planning, that amount has not been released until today,” Kuol expressed.
He stated that the hardship caused by the non-deployment of the unified forces has created social distrust and frustration among the unified forces and the people of South Sudan.
Kuol also appreciated the RTGoNU and the partners for always supporting the NTC to ensure that security arrangements are implemented and urged them to continue supporting the committee.
Meanwhile, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and representative of ITGoNU to RJMEC, Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro, blasted the NTC, saying the committee exhausted its budget within a shorter period of time, leaving a lot of outstanding tasks.
“Last year, the government allocated SSP17 billion for implementation of the agreement; unfortunately, this money was spent faster than expected and went beyond the approved budget,” Dr. Martin said.
He added that this year’s budget has allocated more funds for the implementation of the peace agreement.
The cabinet minister stressed that the government would continue to work hard to ensure that the NTC gets the required money for the implementation of the peace agreement.
Two months ago, the Council of Ministers approved SSP 3.6 billion for the deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces in the country, but according to the NTC, the ministry of finance has not released it to date.
It has been almost one year since the first batch of the necessary unified forces held their first graduation in Juba.
The expectations were so high during the graduation of the forces, both from the citizens and the international community, as it marked the first step of the unification of the forces.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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