By Charles K Mark
A significant statistic of civil servants in the country have reportedly not received their salaries for July 2023, despite the money being released by the national ministry of finance.
Civil servants in Kajo Keji County, last week, urged the national and state governments to address the payroll loopholes.
However, Director General for Pension in the Ministry of Public Service John Deng explained that the states facing payment issues had encountered problems with their pay sheets.
According to Deng, either the states had not received their funds due to delayed pay sheets or because they had not submitted their pay sheets at all.
He emphasized that any state that failed to provide accurate information caused confusion between the Ministry of Finance and the respective states.
“Any state which did not bring accurate information. I think it caused confusion between the Ministry of Finance and the states,” Deng said.
Deng, who is also the head of the payment committee for Central Equatoria State, disclosed that payments were confirmed based on the appointment criteria established by the public service.
He clarified that individuals working as volunteers or under provisional appointments were not the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance but rather the responsibility of the respective states.
On the other hand, Abraham Makur, the Director General for Human Resource Management in the Ministry of Public Service and a member of the Technical Committee, denied any responsibility for the state salaries.
He clarified that their department solely dealt with salaries at the national level, while the Ministry of Finance handled matters related to the states.
Makur, overseeing the salary payment operations, claimed that he had not received any complaints regarding non-payment of July 2023 salaries.
“Our department only deals with salaries at the National level but not at the state level. The ministry of finance deals with the states,” he said.
Since the implementation of a 400% salary increment, the Ministry of Finance initiated a committee to facilitate the payment process.
According to the Finance Ministry, 88 committees were established to distribute salaries for July 2023. These committees were responsible for paying armed forces, civil servants in national ministries, and employees in state and local governments.
Each committee consisted of a staff member from the Ministry of Public Service, a financial controller and an accountant from the Ministry of Finance, three cashiers from the Ministry of Finance, as well as an officer from the police and an officer from the National Security Service.
Meanwhile, the payment process reportedly went smoothly at the national level and within the security services, several glitches were reported in certain states and local governments.