Activist welcomes President Kiir’s order on development Fund

A member of the Civil Society organization has welcomed the directives of President Salva Kiir on the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF)’s payment.

This week, Kiir directed the Ministry of Finance to release CDF funds for development. The money is a financial obligation of the country it gives to lawmakers, and builds their constituencies.

Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) says President’s decision is crucial in line with the implementation of the provision in the peace agreement.

Yakani urges the Minister of Finance to implement the directives of the President in transparently executing the Constituent Development Fund.

“The speech of the President is a moving speech due to the directives issued. My appeal is that the constituent Development Fund must be used in a transparent and accountable manner,” he stressed.

The Activist stated that the Civil Society is going to work together with the CDF committee to develop a community sensitization manual on the development fund to create awareness.

Edmund applauded the President for reassuring the public that there will be no extension of the transitional period after the 24 months have elapsed.

He says this commitment towards the conduct of elections and constitutional making process is vital and that the politician should accelerate the completion of all the necessary tasks.

The CEPO Executive Director also highlighted the President’s commitment to the Rome Peace talks as crucial in bringing permanent peace to the country.

Yakani calls on the South Sudan non-signatories to the Revitalized Peace Agreement to demonstrate political maturity and political discipline to realize peace.

“I am calling upon all the parties to the Rome Peace Processes to demonstrate Political maturity and discipline to realize peace in the country.

Last week, the Rome peace talks between the Transitional Unity government and the holdout groups resumed in the Vatican, but it ended in deadlock.

According to Edmund Yakani, if the Unified forces are not executed timely, it will hinder the conduct of the forthcoming elections.

He emphasizes that the Minister of Finance and Planning disburse the required funds to execute and implement the tasks as directed by the President.

According to Edmund, similar directives had been given by President Kiir earlier but the Minister of Finance failed to implement the directives.

He said, “Without Unified forces being executed timely, even the conduct of elections is under challenge. We hope that the Finance Minister executes the directives of the President.”

In his part, Peter Lomude Francis, the Chair of the CDF steering committee in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly appreciates and welcomes the directives of the President.

Lomude says the directives of the President demanding the allocation of the CDF budget and clearing its arrears is what they have been fighting for.

According to the Chairperson, the CDF had been grappling without a budget since 2013.

He stated that, with this directive of the President, the demand of the communities has finally been realized.

Peter points out that the CDF steering committee will begin to follow up with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that all the arrears are released.

Peter Lomude mentioned that the money is strictly meant for community projects and that the MPs will help supervise the transparent implementation of the CDF projects in their constituencies alongside the CDF committee.

“I want to make this clear, the money is not meant for the MPs but strictly for Community projects.

The role of the MPs is to supervise transparently the implementation of those projects in their constituencies,” he explained.

The CDF was established through the Act of Parliament in 2007 to enable the MPs to directly fund projects identified in their constituencies.