South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The Executive Director for the Centre for Peace and Advocacy (CPA) Ter Manyang Gatwech on Monday urged the transitional unity government to pay outstanding salary arrears for civil servants and organized forces.
Civil servants have gone for nearly 10 months without pay amid the ongoing economic hardship.
“The Centre for Peace and Advocacy is urging the government of South Sudan to address the issue of delayed salaries for civil servants. CPA is deeply concerned about the adverse impact this has had on the entire country,” said Gatwech on Monday in a statement issued in Juba.
Gatwech said that CPA is prepared to take the matter to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) in Arusha, Tanzania if the government fails to take action.
He said that South Sudan has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a multilateral treaty adopted on December 16, 1966 by the United Nations General assembly.
“Government of South Sudan receives funding from various sources including oil revenue, non-oil revenue and personal income tax from both national and international NGOs, paying civil servants is a social contract between employers and employees,” said Gatwech.
The war in neighboring Sudan has disrupted shipping of crude cargo through Port Sudan, this has denied the government badly needed oil revenues to enable it provide services to the citizens.
The Minister of Finance and Planning, Marial Dongrin Ater while appearing last week for questioning before lawmakers promised to pay the outstanding arrears in installments within a period of three months.
