By William Madouk
Newly appointed Vice President for Economic Cluster, Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel, has hinted that clearing civil servants’ salary arrears is his top priority.
Following his swearing-in, Dr. Bol Mel stated that his immediate focus will be addressing the long-standing issue of unpaid salaries for civil servants and organized forces.
“Today, I got clear instruction during my swearing in, the first is about economic reforms,” he said said, acknowledging the challenge ahead.
“The first thing that we are going to implement is salaries, we are not going to stop salaries for civil servants. First, salaries then the rest will come,” he noted.
He also highlighted the need for economic diversification through agriculture, mentioning a planned National Agriculture Conference.
“We will also work on individuals that are obstacles to our peace, for our economy to improve we need peace,” he emphasized.
“I will talk with those who are so hard with those to discuss with, it says in the bible where three or four people gathered God will be there, so we are going discuss together but again whoever refuses to abide by agreement will be out of the course,” he stated.
Civil servants and organized forces have not been paid for over a year now.
On Monday, President Salva Kiir recently made several changes in government positions.
He replaced Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi with Josephine Joseph Lagu and SPLM Secretary-General Peter Lam Both with Former VP Dr. James Wani.
He also appointed Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel to the position of Vice President for the Economic Cluster.