Dr. Baak Barnaba Chol, the new Minister of Finance and Planning speaks in Juba. (Photo: Obaj Okuj)

Finance Minister Dr. Bak Barnaba Chol has apologized to civil servants and organized forces for the three-month salary delays saying the government workers will receive their dues in few days.

Dr. Bak said at a press conference on Monday, that the payment of salaries in accordance with the 400 percent increment was delayed because the budget was not approved on time.

He said there was a “slight” delay during the budget reading regarding the increment where some MPs had demanded for 600% rise.

The minister also attributed the salary setbacks to alleged failure of some agencies to submit their reports to enable payments approval.

Speaking to the media during a press conference in Juba on Tuesday, the finance official apologized to the civil servants and organized forces for salary delays.

“I want to apologies on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and Planning to our civil servants and to our organized forces for the delay that happened in paying July and August salaries,” he said.

“And I want to clearly say that the Ministry of Finance did not intend by any means to delay the salaries of our civil servant and the organized forces.”

According to Dr. Bak, the payroll is usually arranged by the spending agencies before submission to the ministry of finance.

Dr. Bak Chol stated that the ministry is taking the necessary measures to ensure that the new salary structure is paid on time.

“There’s no reason why you should suffer while rendering services to your respective institutions. Its our duty as the Ministry of Finance to pay your salaries and wages.”

“So, we are keenly monitoring your conditions and we are so much concerned about the suffering our workforces are going through and in few days we actually will be in a position to pay your salaries.”