Governor Receives Heroic Welcome, Denies Knowledge Of Salaries The governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State (NBGS) has been given a heroic welcome as thousands marched on the streets to witness his return after two months in Juba since the political unrest began. 14 February 2014 NBGS residents in Aweil gave their Governor Paul Malong Awan a heroic welcome as he returned from Juba on Thursday. [Gurtong]
By Abraham Agoth *AWEIL, 14 February 2014- *School children, organized forces and other ordinary residents in state capital Aweil turned out to receive their Governor Paul Malong Awan on Thursday. The Governor applauded the warm welcome from the citizens and said he too missed the people. Giving clarifications on the whereabouts of the civil servants' salaries, Hon. Malong denied having anything to do with the said money. "I was trying to think of good and convenient way of showing my innocence and I thought of bringing the Holy Bible here in front of you so that I clearly show you by laying my hands on it as kind of swearing," he said. "Believe me; I don't really know where this money is because I never came across it during my absence. I heard rumours some people took an opportunity during my absence as an excuse of telling people that money was sent to me in operations in Bor but this is not true." He said. The governor said he would form a committee to investigate whereabouts of the public money. There has been inconsistence in payment of government employees where at times the money reaches after two months. According to sources that prefer anonymity, the state ministry of finance has not been able to pay civil servants from the direct transfer of Juba but instead gets loan with interests from banks or other businessmen. "What I know as the reason why some ministries have not been getting payment is that, the transfer from Juba has its half amount being used by few individuals for running personal businesses but later refund it either in half or wholly causing delays," he said. "Another thing is that during this time, the ministry of finance gets money from traders with small interests and when the money comes they [finance ministry] double the interests so that it is divided among themselves (business+ finance). So that is why the salaries are not enough for the state every month." Recently, teachers in the state tried to demonstrate as they have not been paid for December and January salaries but later cooled down by authorities. Posted in: Home<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/1/Home.aspx> , Governance<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/6/Governance.aspx> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14opHaKxx-LfRfUX7C0NVv_7PEwdgd251PQdf%2B8pFxM3JgA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
