Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Onyoti Adigo speaking to Eye Radio's Sundown Program. |31st May 2022| Credit: Lou Nelson.

The Livestock and Fisheries Minister on Friday decried insufficient budget allocation, saying his ministry is allotted less amount in the draft 2023-2024 fiscal year budget compared to last year.

The Minister of Finance and Planning on June 20, 2023, tabled the proposed budget of more than 2 trillion South Sudanese pounds for its first reading at the national legislature.

The draft budget, however, was criticized for not aligning with the country’s objectives to shift away from dependency on oil revenue.

Minister Onyoti Adigo said the amount allocated for his ministry this year is less than that of last year.

Speaking to the Parliamentary Specialized Committee on Livestock and Fisheries, Adigo said the national budget must prioritize economic cluster ministries if it aspires to shift away from oil-dependency.

“The budget, instead of increasing, has come down. Instead of the one of last year, it has been deducted by the Ministry of Finance and Planning,” Adigo said.

“So, we are saying that our ministry is one of the economic cluster ministries that is supposed to generate revenue for the country.”

“If we need diversification of our economy instead of relying on oil, we have to empower the ministries which relate to revenues like the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and the rest of the economic cluster ministries.”

The amount allocated to the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries in this year’s draft budget is not clear, and Eye Radio was not able to reach Minister Adigo for clarification.

However, in the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget, the August House allocated 67 billion South Sudanese pounds to natural resources and rural development sectors.

These included the ministries of Agriculture and Food Security, Livestock and Fisheries Industry, and that of Environment and Forestry.

After its First Reading on June 20, a member of parliament criticized the Minister of Finance and Planning for presenting what he termed as an “envelope budget” adding that it was designed to constrain the inputs of lawmakers in the budgeting process.