By Waakhe Simon Wudu
JUBA, 09 July 2012 [Gurtong] – The workshop deliberated on how the new 2012/13 austerity budget currently in the parliament should be executed when passed.
“No salary will be paid to any one who is not included in the South Sudan Electronic Payroll System”, she said in her opening remarks.
In the new development, supervisors are compelled to compare attendance sheets with the payroll and certify that every one on the payroll actually worked and the MoFEP will transfer salaries directly to employees’ bank accounts.
Jervas also stated that the administration and utilisation of the government funds are being centralised as per the requirement of the National Council of Ministers’ resolution based on the Public Financial Management and Accountability Act, saying all the spending agencies will use one account opened by the Ministry of Finance.
She added that budgets of all the spending agencies are being devolved to the levels of Director Generals (DG) who will manage and control their budgets.
“The Director Generals will now be held accountable for the delivery of their programs. They will also be signing all the MoFEP financial forms with the Accounting Officer”, she said. In addition all contracts required by the Public Procurement Regulations 2006 will be committed to ensure resource availability before procurement commences.
She added that the Ministry of Justice will not verify contracts without this certification she said.
Jervis pointed out that these reforms are also aimed at correcting the loopholes experienced where the previous budgets usage were not been respected.
“For instance, government agencies spent beyond their limits of the approved 5.8 South Sudan Pounds in the 2011/12 budget to 8.1billion South Sudan Pounds. We shall only be successful if we respect the governing rules. We should also be determined to trace the consequences of misappropriation of the budget,” she said.
The workshop was attended by all the Undersecretaries from all the National Ministries, Commission’s Chairpersons, Accountants and representatives of all government agencies.