Hon. Michael Makuei, the Minister of Information and government official Spokesperson - Credit: Moses Awan/Eye Radio - April 26, 2023

Government Spokesperson Michael Makuei said Tuesday the move by SPLM-IO lawmakers to boycott the passing of a budget last week, amounts to obstruction of the peace implementation.

Makuei said he was surprised to see the lawmakers reject a decision approved by a Cabinet partly formed by their own ministers.

The information minister claims that the gesture is a stunt to deceive the country that the boycotting legislators care more about South Sudanese.

On Friday, August 11, SPLM-IO lawmakers walked out of the extraordinary session of Parliament after the SPLM-IG and allies insisted on a 400% salary increment instead of the 600% that it proposed.

During the extraordinary session, the SPLM-IO lawmakers proposed an over 600 percent salary increment in contrast to the 400 percent approved by the executive.

The group then walked out of the sitting after the majority voted in favor of the executive suggestion.

The 2.1 trillion-pound budget was later approved by the lawmakers without the boycotting caucus, before it was signed into law by President Salva Kiir yesterday.

But Makuei told the media that the government is one, and there is no opposition.

“We are in the government of national unity. If we are in the government of national unity then who is that person who calls himself an opposition,” he inquired at a news conference in Juba.

“This budget, when we passed it in the cabinet, we were all there, and now when it goes to the parliament we are no longer together, this situation is not acceptable.”

“And if anybody believes that he is a member of this government and is a member of the national unity that came into being as a result of the agreement, then please my appeal to the colleagues of the IO let us respect the provisions of the agreement.”

Makuei said the unity government does not need any obstacle when the international peace observers are on its neck and accusing it of dragging feed in the democratic transition process.

“We are being charge of dragging our feet because we don’t want the agreement to be implemented and because we don’t want to go for election. This is another way of obstructing the way forward this is another of obstructing implementation of the agreement and this another way of obstracting movement towards elections.”

SPLM-IO lawmakers are yet to comment on the statement of Minister Michael Makuei Lueth.

According to the transitional constitution and the 2018 peace agreement, the three branches of the national government – the legislative, executive and judiciary must be independent from one another.