By Tereza Jeremiah Chuei
A civil society Activist has called on the government to include Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the next national financial year budget for the fiscal year 2022/2023.
The Council of Ministers in their meeting No.7/2022 on Friday dated 3rd June, 2022 wholly approved a whopping 1.3 trillion ambitious 2022/2023 financial year budget with a deficit of over 558 billion South Sudanese Pounds that its funding is yet to be mapped out.
The Minister of Finance and Planning had been fully authorized by the Council of ministers during the Friday’s Cabinet Meeting to find additional sources of funding the budget deficit.
The Cabinet also directed the Revenue Authority and the Ministry of Petroleum as revenue generating institutions to increase their revenues collections and generations to cover up the 558 billion budget deficit.
Information Minister and Government Spokesperson Michael Makuei, said the whopping 1.3 trillion national budget’s priorities are implementation of the agreement, improving agriculture and food security, roads constructions among others.
In press statement extended to No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, the Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) Edmund Yakani welcomed the spirit of government operating with formally approved national budget in 2022/2023 financial year compared to the previous years where the government operated without an approved national budget.
Yakani however urged the National Legislature to ensure that the national budget provide sound funds to cater for the priorities of the persons with disabilities.
He said that the government’s silence on providing sound fund for the priorities of persons with disabilities is a real intended discrimination on the population of persons living with disabilities.
“Moment of demonstrating commitment for inclusion of persons with disabilities’ priorities in all our decision is now not tomorrow,” Yakani advocated.
He cited that in the past years the national budgets were totally silent about funding of priorities of persons with disabilities through the various interventions of government ministries.
“In 2022/2023 let the national budget be open to allocation of funds for addressing concerns of persons with disabilities in South Sudan. Customizing the 2022/2023 national budget on the implementation of the R-ARCSS is seriously welcomed but with inclusion of priorities for persons with disabilities” Yakani echoed.
The CEPO’s Executive Director underscored that, the deliverance of the required public financial reforms is very slow, saying limited progress was registered in the implementation of the transitional security arrangements.