S. Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal state parliament remains split over vote against finance minister

By Ngor Arol Garang

January 15, 2012 (JUBA) – Members of South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal parliament remain sharply divided on the motion charging the Minister of Finance with ineptitude and corruption.

In November 2011 the house conducted a vote in which thirty members cast their votes against finance minister, Ronald Ruay Deng, for reportedly failing to clearly account for the 2011 budget, in which the house observed “huge irregularities”.

The pro-censure legislators, led by member of the state parliament for Aweil South county, Garang Majak Bol, have now collected the required number of signatures to back the vote. However, eight other members have expressed their desire to discuss the issue at the party level.

Bol’s supporters argue that withdrawing the motion and discussing it at the party level adds no value and want the minister removed immediately. They claim his dismissal is in accordance with the provision of the state constitution which prohibits the diversion or transfer of funds designated for one institution, to another in the approved budget.

The group also claim to be acting in accordance with a provision in the state constitution, which states that proceedings for censure shall be initiated by a petition to the governor through the speaker, signed by not less than one-third of all members of parliament, giving notice that they are dissatisfied with the conduct of the minister and intend to move for a resolution of censure, setting particulars of the grounds in support of the motion.

Bol said they will deliver their petition to the national government in Juba, where he met with the minister of justice, John Luke Jok, presidential advisor on legal affairs, Telar Riing Deng, and speaker of the council of states, Joseph Bol Chan.

He explained their plan to meet with rights groups and the media to share their findings on the matter and the issue of the continued arbitrary arrests of the constitutional post holders and other citizens seen as critics of the state administration.

Akoon Diing Angok, a member of the same legislative assembly cautioned those seeking the removal of the minister without observing the required constitutional procedures and legal technicalities.

“I was not in the state when the initial processes summoning the Minister of Finance began. I was outside the country, but when I came I gave myself time to study the whole processes and I joined deliberations after studying them. What I discovered was that the assembly did not give the minister enough time to defend himself after he was summoned,” Angok told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

Angok explained that the discrepancies in the 2011 budget could be attributed to “the closure of the north-south border which affected border trade activities,” and the “failure to enforce household tax as a result of a resolution by the assembly to stop the tax”.

He went onto applaud the fight against corruption, but cautioned against falling into legal traps; questioning the evidence that Bol’s group plan to bring against Deng.

In another episode of the war of wars, on 9 January Deng refuted claims by Bol that the state governor, Paul Malong Awan was plotting his assassination; describing it as a ploy to detract attention from significant political issues.

(ST)