South Sudan lawmaker Reath Muoch Tang. [Photo courtesy]

Nasir County Member of Parliament (MP) Reath Muoch has slammed the executive over the ‘misuse’ of funds in a recent trip to the UN General Assembly.

Speaking during the parliamentary session on Wednesday, October 4, in Juba, the lawmaker accused some members of the cabinet of spending exorbitant amounts of funds on a recent New York trip at the expense of citizens dying of hunger.

The lawmaker has said that the recent delegation to the UN General Assembly wasted money that would have helped the suffering citizens in different parts of the country.

In what he describes as “too much corruption”, Reath says many South Sudanese are stuck without food and necessities at the border sides of Ethiopia yet no attention has been given to them.

While it is not clear how much money has been spent on the recent U.S. mission, photos shared on social media showed a huge delegation travelling to attend the UN General Assembly.

According to the lawmaker, corruption and nepotism remain high in the country and the August House does not question where the money generated from the oil revenue goes.

“The delegation that has just gone to New York, we heard about millions of dollars were spent in this trip and our people are here dying on the border of Ethiopia,” said Reath.

“We raised this several times and it is not being considered by this house. People are dying because they are crossing the river, they come all along from Pinyudu and we have millions of dollars,” he said.

“This country has got money, somebody told us the minister of finance said that the oil of South Sudan was sold out up to 2027. Did we ask who sold the oil, who took the money, and where this money was put? We have to ask; this is the responsibility of this House.”

The MP also says there is nepotism within the national legislature citing the unlawful recruitment of staff, a practice he says, deprives other citizens of access to jobs.

According to Reath, recruitment should be made public through a competitive process based on merits and qualifications.

“Right Honorable Speaker, there is corruption even now in the parliament, there is recruitment going on of the staff of the parliament. it is part of the corruption because certain people are doing that, and the public doesn’t know,” he said.

“I don’t have to bring people because I am a member of parliament, but it has to be publicly put because the children of South Sudan who are educated, all of them can apply and be qualified because of their merit and education but certain people are doing it through the window inside this parliament here.”

“How can we solve the problem of corruption if we don’t start by ourselves? We need to start by the parliament”.

But in response, Assembly Deputy Speaker Oyet Nathaniel dismissed the recruitment-related biases, asserting that the house has a commission mandated to procedurally handle recruitments.

Oyet however asks members who have issues with the ongoing recruitment to raise a motion concerning the claims.

“Honorables, there is an issue which is being raised time and again and it is about the ongoing recruitment going on in the TNLA. As you know very well, we are guided by law,” Oyet said.

“We have the parliamentary service commission that is in charge mandated with the recruitment process. The procedures are all laid down. We work on organogram,” he said.

“We have an ad hoc committee that works on all the positions that we have in the parliament, not only in the TNLA but also in the Council of States.”

“The procedures for recruitment are all laid down there and it is competitive, it is open, and it is based on critical criteria. If you have any issue with an ongoing recruitment, raise it as a substantive motion”.