By Philip Buda Ladu
A member of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) has raised concerns over the lack of pension payments for ageing civil servants, despite the annual approval of a budget for a pension scheme.
Hon. Natalina Amjima Malek, representing Northern Bahr el Ghazal State on the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) ticket, questioned the whereabouts of the pension funds that are allocated in the budget every fiscal year.
“Every year we pass the budget of the pension scheme and we don’t know where this money goes,” Amijma asked.
The irked lawmaker raised the concern during Monday’s assembly sitting No.29/2024.
“I raised this information because we don’t know where this money goes and we need the minister of labour to come and explain to us,” the MP echoed.
She emphasized the seriousness of the situation by noting that there are no public services or pension plans in place, no retirement options, and no opportunities for recent graduates to find employment.
Despite this, she said there is a large population of educated people, particularly young people with PhDs, bachelor’s degrees, and master’s degrees.
“Rt. Hon. Speaker I brought this information in the August House so that we have to look on it,” she submitted to the House.
In response, House Speaker Rt. Hon. Jemma Nunu Kumba however asked the lawmaker to develop her urgent information into a motion for the house to deliberate on and make a resolution.
“Thank you very much, this is a very important information and you need to put it into a motion so that it can be discussed” speaker Nunu stated adding that the “minister will be summoned, this is very important.”