By Yiep Joseph
Warrap State Parliament has revealed plans to question the executive branch regarding the sudden halt in the construction of the state secretariat.
Following his appointment, Governor Kuol Muor set up his office under a tree, vowing to continue operations in those conditions until proper facilities were established.
While the construction of the state headquarters initially progressed well, including the completion of the fencing, work has unexpectedly ceased.
Lawmakers now want to seek clarity on the reasons for this stoppage.
In an interview with this media outlet, Kuec Deng, the speaker of Warrap State Assembly, revealed that as soon as the Assembly business resumes, the Executive should be questioned about why the project was halted.
“Now the parliament is in break, and when we resume, we shall ask what happened to the construction of the state secretariat of Warrap State and why did it stop?” he said.
“The office of the government, which is the state secretariat, has started; there is a fence, but it stopped, and we need to know why it suddenly stopped,” he added.
However, Makoor Mangok, the press secretary in the office of the governor, said that the work is in progress, although it has temporarily stopped.
“The work stopped temporarily because of some materials that were not available at the side, but we already have information that this October most of the materials will be available at the side in Kuajok, and we expect the construction of the building itself to start,” he said.
He added that the state government is committed to ensuring that the state secretariat is completed within a short period.
Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Kuec Deng expressed that the state assembly, which is almost completed, remains among the few projects taking long to be achieved.
“We have our assembly; assembly construction is done; what is left is just finishing with windows and doors, but it is now almost a year and we are not seeing any progress.”
He appealed to the national government to continue to support state projects.
Funds raised
In January, the government of Warrap State received financial pledges of more than USD 1.2 million and SSP 210 million in a fund-raising event held in Juba for the construction of the state general secretariat.
In a separate development, Warrap state governor Kuol Muor Muor earlier ordered each of his commissioners to build a new office or resign and allow somebody to take over the position.
Also, the Warrap state government announced the introduction of household taxes to raise revenue for state services.
Governor Kuol Muor Muor directed the traditional chiefs and county commissioners to register the households eligible for taxes.