By Bida Elly David
National Lawmakers have demanded payment of their recess allowance or take action against the national parliament leadership.
The Emolument Act stipulates that each national parliament member receives a monthly salary of 800,000, which means each lawmaker is supposed to receive 2,400,000 for unpaid three months.
Victor Omuho Ohide, representing Eastern Equatoria State at the R-TNLA said parliamentarians have severally gone for recess without allowances being paid.
“The assembly is released to go for recess and there is no money for it, what is the problem? The minister recently told us that he has enough money but why not the recess,” he said.
Omuho noted that the same incident ensued in 2020 when lawmakers went unpaid for one Month without their recess.
He accused the parliamentary leadership behind the ongoing saga saying that they ought to be responsible for unforeseeable results.
In response, Nathaniel Oyet, the first deputy speaker said they have submitted this pay list to the Ministry of Finance but have not yet replied.
“The recess request has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance. I think it has now taken over two months in that ministry,” Oyet stated.
Oyet however noted that the house leadership’s interaction with the minister during the ABC meeting did not yield any results regarding the recess money.
“He told us that he was working on the payment of the recess money, he said what was delaying them from paying salaries are technical issues within the ministry,’’ he added.
He said some of the technical issues raised by the minister were adjusting the old salary scale into the latest scale noting that the adjustment affected the working speed of the institution.
He promised the MPs to follow up with the ministry about the three-month recess money expected to be paid.