South Sudan MPs pass corruption bill to final reading
By Isaac Vuni
February 17, 2009 (JUBA) – The Anti Corruption Report today was tabled for its second reading by the chairman of the specialized public account committee, Hon. Jimmy Wongo Miji, and was later passed for its third and final reading.
Miji confessed that the previous committee observation led by the deputy chairperson had not contacted the commissioner of Anticorruption for further comment and clarification, but Hon. Michael Makuei Lueth, minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development, denied the allegation saying the commissioner was fully involved and she wrote the first draft.
Adding that any money donated to the Government of South Sudan are public funds that should never be referred to as donor money, he went further to explain the legal consequences facing those who embezzle funds, which include fines or prison sentence not exceeding ten years in length, or both penalties.
Hon. Minister Lueth cautioned the House that the anticorruption commission should not be given direct power to investigate corruption or to arrest any officials implicated in embezzlement without passing through the Ministry of Legal Affairs. Nor should politicians be signatory to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) account, he said.
Hon. Barri announced that CDF has in its account 141 million Sudanese pounds being dispatched to 79 counties to be divided among 171 MPs with each getting 733,333 for development projects that have been identified and approved as priorities by citizenry of each county (the CDF also has an approved administrative cost of 35% of the fund.
Hon. Bari went on to read out the names of three officials appointed by lawmakers as authorized to sign the CDF cheques: Hon. Michael Muot Diew from Unity state, Hon. Ester Ikere Eluzai from Central Equatoria state and senior accountant from Ministry of Finance and Economic planning, Oboy Ofila Itorong.
However, Speaker James Wani concurred with professional legal suggestions that CDF account signatories should be civil servants rather than politicians who are likely to be voted out in the coming election.
Responding to questions as to why money from the Constituency Development Fund is being allotted to individual MPs despite the fact that some counties have more than one MP per county, Hon. Wanji said it was an anomaly of the transition period because constituencies have not yet been delimited.
So it is in the best interest of the CDF implementation, he said, for lawmakers who found themselves more than one in a constituency to come together regardless of their political affiliation as people who are serving the same southerners, since CDF guidelines refer to constituency rather than individual MPs. Hence legislators are advised to refrain from partisanship.
Dressed in dark green cloth, Commissioner Paulin Riek commended the spirit of democracy present during today’s deliberation, which was attended by 15 female legislatures among 90 lawmakers. The debate concluded at 5:30 p.m. and the bill was referred to the Specialized Committee for final reading and presentation before the legislature.
(ST)
Nuer
South Sudan MPs pass corruption bill to final reading
Anything that involved Dinka does not succeed to it outcome. Look at the confusion going on within this bill. As long as Dinka are in this process, there is nothing that is going to be implemented. All they will do is steal more money from the public fund and send them to London. This must be stop.
Nelson Turdit
South Sudan MPs pass corruption bill to final reading
This man so call Michael Makuei lueth interfere and denied powers and independence of Anti- Corruption not to investigate cases of corruption independently is a plan to weaken the comission and those who so call constitutional post holders will continue stealing public funds in one or another.
Chol Manyiel Majuot
South Sudan MPs pass corruption bill to final reading
Hold it guys,I think backbiting of some tribes in the website is not fair.Let us think bigger Mr.Nuer. Your comments are ever childish. please try to stop it. If you don’t know how to give meaningful and suitable comments then you better leave Sudantribune website otherwise you will be log out, don’t think that you can not be found.
Mr. Mabs
South Sudan MPs pass corruption bill to final reading
Nuer Ngom Lien dun!
How will you people learn to deal with the afairs of South Sudan. You always negatively view thing on tribal line because you are incapable to deal with any given nature of the phonomina at any capactiy. Honestly, traitration and betrayal remained your mark in Southern Sudanese political landscape. With both shallow, stupid and childish characters, none of you will not make any sense in helping Southerners achieved their goal which is the independent of the South.
Wait and you will see how Nuer are going to be dealt with after the independent when MUONY-JANG championed the interests of Junub including you Nuer. The betrayal of 1991 will be shown in the spotlight in 2012 when so called Nuer leaders in the persons of Riek, John Luk, Matip among many others. Please stop betraying Southerners.
Ci Nuer laac ke Bentiu, Ngom lien dun.
Cheers
Mabs
postmortem
South Sudan MPs pass corruption bill to final reading
The Hon. Minister Micheal Makuei is right and makes sense to those who know what the rights of an accused person or suspect are. Whereas we would like to make the Commission independent, constitutional rights of suspects are paramount based on the fact that a person is innocent till proven guilty or till he/she pleads guilty.
The weakness of the Commission started when the president appointed a non legal Phd holder to chair the Commission. I began to doubt the commission. The commission does not have the legal capacity on those manning the commission to investigate and arrest.
Appoint a judge to head this Commission otherwise we are wasting tax payers’ 10 percent money on these irrelevant professions claiming to handle the commission.
Almost all forms of corruption takes the form of crime and therefore proof of it requires evidence. Criminal law fundamentally rests on evidence without which you cannot catch even a chicken thief from konyokonyo.How do you expect a primary 8 dropout to investigate a Phd freedom fighter for corruption? I do not think this commission can do something apart from fooling us with dramas about how corruption is spread at Nyakuron Culture center.
They are the first suspects. How could they employ over 100 people to do nothing since the commission was set up in 2006 without an enabling law which should have made them to be tested? The money that was used to pay these servants since 2006 doing nothing to date was an act of corruption. It would have built a health centre in Kachipo land or a school in Lojulo.You cannot be employed to do nothing and continue to go out for purported capacity building in what you do not really understand and you end up becoming tourists in South Africa, Kenya staring at lifts and to scramble for per diem. What a shame!!!!!!
Audit this commission and make reshuffling before they fail to catch any single corrupt official in Government.
To the readers, please ignore these two useless sudanese if they are Mr Nuer and Garang for their uselessness. Do not respond to their nonsense and they will come to learn since all they want is impact or reaction to them. By responding to them their IQs degenerates faster and a risk that they might run beserk.
Micheal Kerkuei
South Sudan MPs pass corruption bill to final reading
What have I read: ‘Corruption Bill to Final Reading?’
Corruption can be defined as misuse of power and of course, government money by those in power. And this is exactly happening in this country.
Honestly speaking, people will keep talking of reaching the final phase of this incurable disease, which is killing innocent Southern Sudanese, called corruption when it is actually escalating.
The top politicians will convince us when we can feel that they are reducing if not eradicating the rate of corruption in the South. They will do so by availing the government auditors who will supervise work at various ministries.
Those who are given positions to hold should be sensitized on the use of government money and the rights of government employees because they are the very same people who exploit their subjects. The terms accountability, transparency, ability, hard work, meritocracy, mention them should be added to their vocabulary if we do not need corruption in this country . It is not yet time to ask the question: WHO AND WHAT DO I EAT? It is time to think about how to secure permanent peace and stability.
Supposing there are no teachers in Jonglei state; will we stop a teacher who comes from Northern Bahr el Ghazal sate from teaching children in Jonglei simply because he/she does not come from Jonglei? Teach such figures how to ask these professional questions and GOSS will achieve its intended objectives very soon.
Let me assume that GOSS will pass the bill and implement its contents as soon as possible so that such guilty parties who take home government money at the expense of innocent citizens will be dealt with in next to no time.
I don’t want corruption; Go Go GO GO GOSS!