Futuyo appears before parliament after snubbing previous summon

JUBA, SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – The governor of Western Equatoria State General Alfred Futuyo Karaba has finally appeared before the country’s transitional parliament today after snubbing a previous summon.

The parliament had last week summoned the governor over disagreements on salaries of the defunct three states of Western Equatoria region, but the governor failed to appear before the parliament and made a promise to do so this week.

There have been claims from local politicians in Western Equatoria that the governor had diverted funds meant for defunct states, the states created by President Salva Kiir in October 2015 and abolished in early 2020, to his personal pocket.

But the governor told the lawmakers today that he paid the money he found when he took over the office in 2020 for a duration of fourteen months.

“When I was appointed the Governor of Western Equatoria State and took the oath of office in June 2020, the money I found in the ceiling budget for defunct states was paid to them all for 14 months from July 2020 to October 2021,” he said.

According to the governor, from 2021 to 2022, the budget for the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) eliminated the defunct states’ salaries and only remained with allocations for Equatoria State and its 10 counties.

“From 2022 to 2023, the ceiling budget was also for Western Equatoria State, not defunct states, and was for paying the civil servants as stipulated in the ceiling budget,” he said.

The governor further challenged the lawmakers to produce evidence that support the claims that there is a budget allocated by the national government for the defunct state and that has been paid to the government of Western Equatoria.