Prof. Abednego said the elections body has been appealing to the government to pay the money for the last three years but the ministry of finance is yet to release the funds which he said has not been paid since the USAID ceased to assist.
“We have been appealing for the last three years, until now, the money has not been released by the ministry of finance, they would say come tomorrow, come tomorrow until now. As you have seen, there is no power in the office,” he said, according to Eye Radio.
“When the office rent was being paid by the USAID, it was $15,000 per a month. Now, we are being threatened to be thrown out at any time, if the owner feels like doing so,” he added.
He said the over half a million arrears is exclusive to the money demanded by landlords across South Sudan’s ten states. He blamed the civil war for the issue and urged the government and partners to construct a permanent building for the body.
“Even in the ten states, we don’t have offices there, they have been sent out by the landlords because they have never paid their office rent for a number of years. It is very unfortunate that the civil war caused one of our supporters to abandon us, the IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems),” he said.
“IFES is an American USAID body which supports elections in Africa or in the world, and which really rented this place from the first days, and all these furniture belong to IFES. If they [IFES] come back, we will really be happy with them because they can support us, even the internet. But during the civil war they stopped all these, then they said they are only concerned about peace, not elections,” he added.
Abednego further said that he “made a call last time to donors (and gov’t) that I don’t want money, but you bring your material, come and build for us, if you build for us a building, hand it over to us, if they do that, it is much better than hiring, we have a plot near the Sudanese embassy.”
This development comes at a time when the country’s president is calling for conduct of general elections in 2023, something the opposition signatories to the revitalized peace agreement have said is impossible given the delays in the implementation of the peace agreement.
Kiir’s office has called for the international community to support and fund the elections and has also blamed lack of resources for the implementation of key provisions of the revitalized peace agreement such as the security arrangements which provides for reunification of the rival forces.
Kiir has also said that there are no funds to conduct a national census, and has suggested that the upcoming elections will be conducted without a census. Last week, SPLM Secretary-General Peter Lam Both said his party wants the 2008 census, which was disputed by the SPLM, to be used to conduct the 2023 elections.
Tell Kiir to sell a few Landcruiser V8 cars. The money is there, but it is being used for other things.