S. Sudan clarifies funding earmarked for Independence Day celebrations

April 23, 2015 (JUBA) – The South Sudan presidency has retracted an announcement last week that it would spend 129 million pounds on celebrations to mark the fourth anniversary of the country’s independence, claiming only one-fourth of the amount is earmarked.

Speaking to reporters in the capital, Juba, on Wednesday, presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said information minister Michael Makuei Lueth was quoted out of context.

“The construction of John Garang Mausoleum estimated at 90 million [South Sudanese] pounds is not an immediate reconstruction. It will take time and is not part of the 9 July Independence Day celebration,” said Ateny, referring to the main freedom square named after founding SPLM party leader John Garang.

“Only 34 million pounds is for independence celebrations. The minister of information was misquoted in the media,” he added.

Lueth was quoted on 17 April as saying that the national council of ministers had approved 129 million pounds for celebrations in Juba and the 10 state headquarters, as well as the Greater Pibor and Abyei administrative areas.

The announcement to spend luxuriously on the one-day event attracted condemnation from opposition political parties and citizens at a time when millions of South Sudanese are on verge of starvation and facing severe food shortages.

Ateny sidestepped questions from journalists as to why Lueth had not made the correction himself rather than the office of the president.

(ST)