South Sudan debunks reports it ran out of cash to pay civil servants

JUBA – South Sudan government on Friday issued a statement debunking social media rumors that its ministry of finance has ran out of cash to pay civil servant, roughly a month after President Salva Kiir Mayardit directed the ministry to pay civil servant salaries for the months of June and July.

The ministry of labour had said early that a technical problem hampering the printing of pay sheets was resolved and that it was up to the ministry of finance to decide when to pay the civil servant salaries and then social media rumors emerged claiming that the government was reluctant to pay the salaries because it has no funds to do so.

However, in a statement on Friday, the ministry of finance and planning denied the rumors saying the delay is to blame on the technical problem that it encountered in the processing to the money ahead of the payment to the public employees.

“The National Ministry of Finance and Planning presents compliments and has the honor to inform the public to ignore the false information that was, or is still circulating on the social media and other places by propagandists that, the National Ministry of Finance and Planning has no cash to pay the salaries of public employees,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The National Ministry of Finance and Planning has cash for paying salaries of public employees; however, the delay of the payment of salaries that has occurred was wholly related to the problem that had occurred in the System, which used by National Ministry of Public Services and Human Resources Development for producing the pay-rolls of all public employees,” it added.

It added that the “National Ministry of Finance and Planning is hereby informing the public to disregard such false information circulates by propagandists on the social media and other places that it has no cash for paying the public employees of the Republic of South Sudan.”