South Sudan to harmonize irregular salary structures

August 29, 2008 (JUBA) — The Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) has passed a resolution calling for quick harmonization of irregular salary structures for constitutional post holders in the executive, legislative and judiciary organs at all levels of government.

President Omer Hassan al-Bashir addresses representatives of the Government of Southern Sudan during a visit at the South Sudan Legislative Assembly in Juba August 27, 2008 (Reuters)

These include GoSS Ministers, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) members, state governors, state ministers, State Legislative Assembly members, GoSS Commissions chairpersons and County Commissioners, etc.

It also resolved on the need to standardize and equalize emoluments, entitlements and benefits for the constitutional post holders in the semi-autonomous region.

The resolution was passed on Friday in the Council of Ministers meeting chaired by the President of the semi-autonomous regional government, Salva Kiir Mayardit, who is also the First Vice President of the Republic of Sudan.

A Ministerial Committee to be headed by the Cabinet Affairs Minister, Luka Tombekana Monoja was formed to speedily workout a reasonable and acceptable salary structure. The Committee will then recommend to the Council of Ministers its final recommendations for approval, pending a Presidential decree to this effect.

For the last three years state governments in Southern Sudan imposed their respective irregular salary structures for their constitutional post holders, which have now become a big concern to GoSS.

According to the data presented at the meeting, Jonglei state is leading all the ten Southern Sudan states where the governor is paid a monthly salary of 17,650 Sudanese pounds which is equivalent to $8,800 US dollars.

This is followed by Warrap state where the governor is paid a monthly salary of 12,090 Sudanese pounds ($6,040) while his or her deputy is paid 12,200 Sudanese pounds ($6,100), which is slightly higher than his or her boss’.

The least paid governor in the ten states, according to the data, is the Western Equatoria state governor who is paid 9,150 Sudanese pounds, which is about ($4,550).

A GoSS Minister is paid a monthly salary of 10,150 Sudanese pounds, which is roughly equivalent to $5,050 US dollars and less than that of Jonglei state Minister who gets 11,950 ($5,900).

Another example is that of a GoSS Commission chairperson who is paid 8,450 ($4,225) far less than that of Eastern Equatoria state which pays its Commission chairperson 10,050 ($5,025).

In the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA), a chairperson of a specialized committee in the SSLA is paid 11,000 Sudanese pounds ($5,500), which is slightly higher than that of a GoSS Minister.

In the ten State Legislative Assemblies, Jonglei state also has the highest paid monthly salary for the state Assembly Speaker which is 13,000 Sudanese pounds ($6,500).

A member of the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly is paid 7,185 Sudanese pounds ($3,580) monthly, higher than a monthly salary of a member of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly in Juba who has a monthly salary of 6,250 Sudanese pounds ($3,120).

Warrap state has the least paid Speaker of the Assembly who gets a monthly salary of 7,850 Sudanese pounds ($3,925), almost half of that of his colleague in Jonglei state, according to the data collected.

When it comes to the Assembly clerks, Upper Nile state is leading the ten states with 4,800 Sudanese pounds ($2,400) per a month paid to a clerk, more than double the mount the SSLA clerk in Juba receives, and that is 2,100 Sudanese pounds ($1,050).

Last year the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Human Resources Development started to screen pay sheets of GoSS civil servant employees in which hundreds of millions of dollars have been covered from salaries going to ghost names and double or triple monthly salaries to individuals.

Most of the GoSS budgets are feared to have been drained annually by these huge financial irregularities, leaving little for delivery of badly needed basic services to the people.

GoSS blames weak, but now improving government institutions and lack of enacted laws for leaving a vacuum to the advantage of such irregular practices in the regional government.

The semi-autonomous government emerged from decades of war and started from the scratch after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, ending the conflict on January 9, 2005 between the previous central government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).