The Reconstituted Transitional National Legislature Assembly (R-TNLA) has directed the government to give the anti-corruption commission powers to prosecute corrupt officials in the government and recover stolen assets.

The report of the committee on the presidential speech delivered on August 30 recommended that officials convicted of corruption should be named and shamed to deter others from stealing public funds.

The committee also recommended a mandatory audit of financial records of all public institutions in South Sudan, adding that non-compliance by any institution should alert the auditor general’s chamber and the anti-corruption commission to initiate legal proceedings against the institution concerned.

It also recommended an urgent establishment of public procurement and assets disposal authority.

Giving her view on the issue of corruption during the sitting of the two houses on Monday, R-TNLA member Mary Besencio Wani argued that to combat corruption in South Sudan, there was a need to involve other accountability agencies such as civil society and media to work with the anti-corruption commission and expose the malpractices in public institutions.

Way to go

“I recommend that the names of the individuals and the government officials that are corrupt should be published in the media to shame them.”

The first deputy speaker of the RTNLA Nathaniel Oyet Patrick said corruption in South Sudan was something being encouraged and had become prestigious to the leaders.

“In other countries, corruption attracts a capital offence but in South Sudan; you will be rewarded with more appointments, you will be rewarded because people are following you to buy them plates of meat. This is our situation here but it has left a very bad stain on our national prestige,” Oyet said.

“We are being looked at as people who are wasteful, people who are stealing from the citizens and repatriating the proceeds outside the country,” he added.

He urged the parliament to be keen on officials appointed into public offices and ensure that every official appointed declares his or her wealth for review after being released from the office for transparency and accountability purposes.

He pointed out that some constitutional post holders had even constructed feeder roads in the residential areas that go to their homes.

“If you move around Juba, some people even constructed small feeder roads in the residential they path them with tarmac with signs reading, ‘‘this road goes to honourable so and so without shame’’, we must stop this kind of practice,” he protested.

Meanwhile, the deputy speaker of the council of States Mary Ayen Majok said the national audit chamber has made more than 20 reports of the government institutions that need to be followed up by the parliament, and the legislature needs to ensure it is implemented by the enforcement agencies.

“The role of the auditor general is only to report and it is us to make sure that those reports are made into functional documents, not just reports that are there like magazines and newspapers. I think it is our role to find those reports and what should be done about it,” Mary stressed.

She also revealed that the council of States released in the audit report of the oil money that the government was supposed to pay more than $5 million to the oil-producing communities in their shares of 2 and 3 per cent ratio.

She said they did not know the whereabouts of this money. 

In his August speech, President Kiir told parliamentarians that he had directed all the ministers to develop a policy framework and strategic plans to incorporate the provisions of the agreement and ensure they are implemented.

“These are tools for laying the foundation for our country in terms of governance. You should take these equally seriously so that we improve on transparency and accountability in the administration,” Kiir said as he directed the parliament to exercise its oversight role.