By Bida Elly David
Cabinet Affairs Minister, Martin Elia Lomuro, has announced disbursement of funds to various peace implementation committees.
“As I speak now, payments to the concerned agreement institutions have been made,” Lomuro said.
The announcement follows days after Lawmakers questioned the minister over alleged missing of cash intended for the roadmap implementation.
“The Judiciary Reform Committee, the National Constitutional Amendment Committee, and the National Constitutional Review Commission have all been paid,” he added.
The minister explained that the only institution whose payment is still being processed is the National Human Rights Council, which submitted its accounts two days ago.
Lomuro stressed that the payments to the institutions were made in instalments until the full budgets were completed.
He acknowledged that though some members of the institutions expressed concern about the instalment approach, the government had made an executive decision to pay in instalments to allow the institutions to operate while the Ministry of Finance organizes additional funds.
Last week, the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) questioned Mr. Lomuro over an alleged diversion of $10 million from funds meant for peace implementation mechanisms.
This came after parliament received petitions from the expected beneficiary institutions.
The Institutions include the National Constitutional Review Committee (NCRC), the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and the Judicial Reform Committee.
First Deputy Speaker of the House, Oyet Nathaniel Pierieno said the Parliament conducted consultations with relevant institutions to verify the credibility of the claims.
According to the deputy speaker, the ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Planning, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, and the Bank of South Sudan were consulted.
Addressing the discrepancy between the parliamentary committee’s bank statements and the cabinet’s documents, Lomuro faulted the parliament for receiving a fake document, despite the ministry having made the necessary payments.
“The document the parliament was holding has been superseded by an executive decision. It’s not relevant to the payments we are making,” Lomuro emphasized.
The minister reiterated that the peace agreement is being implemented, and the funds that have been received were decided by the executive to be paid in instalments due to the country’s economic situation.