By William Madouk
Council of miniseries has passed SSP 107.484 billion FY 2023–2024 supplementary budget to fund electoral processes in the country.
The minister of finance and planning on Friday, 9th February, tabled the supplementary budget in a regular cabinet meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit.
A total required budget, initially requested by the electoral bodies, was SSP 713.474 billion for the entire processes.
But minister of information, Micheal Makuei said the finance minister proposed to release the money in two phases and pledge to provide over SSP 107 billion in 2023–24 fiscal year.
“In his presentation, the minister [of finance] divided the budget into two: this urgent budget, which is the budget up to the end of June,” said Makuei.
“The second part of the budget will be funded in the 2024–2025 budget, which will be out with effect from July 2024,” he added.
Mr. Makuei added that after a presentation and thorough deliberations, the cabinet approved the supplementary budget.
“In his presentation, he [minister Bak] made a presentation to the cabinet and expressed that he will be in a position to support and avail funds for these institutions to the sum of SSP 107, 484, 012, 944 billion,” he noted.
“This is the amount for which he expressed that the government would be in a position to meet it during this time, and as such, it was passed,” he continued.
The cabinet also directed Minister Bak Barnaba Chol to table the supplementary budget before the national parliament for appraisal and final endorsement.
According to Makuei, although it is still 10 months until the anticipated elections, a budget could be released at once because there are activities that will continue until December 2024.
“When we say elections are around the corner, that does not mean that all the funds should be made available as of now, because some part of it will be used even in December this year,” he clarified.
“So, the budget that was approved for this year is a supplementary budget that will meet the requirements of all these institutions up to June. By July, the actual final budget for all these institutions will come out,” he noted.
According to the minister’s report, the supplementary budget covers the budget for the graduated forces, the Political Parties Council, the National Election Commission, the National Bureau of Statistics, and the National Police Service pre-elections.
Last month, National Elections Commission Chairperson Abednego Akok appealed for the timely release of the over SSP 250 billion budget for the elections.
Furthermore, the police have also proposed SSP 58 billion as a pre-election budget.