The government is set to streamline its international presence by closing several embassies, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ramadan Goc, once it has settled its outstanding debts to diplomats.
In his address to the National Assembly in Juba on Tuesday, Goc emphasized that this move would help streamline government spending and relieve the financial strain, as the assembly deliberated on the president’s speech.
“Our problem in the ministry of Foreign Affairs is the issue of arrears in terms of salaries to our communities who are abroad and payment of rent for our embassies and residence for our ambassadors,” he stated.
“We don’t own one building that we can call the embassy of the Republic of South Sudan, we don’t have anything, we are renting,” he added.
“Starting from the year 2019, our ambassadors and all our staff in the missions were only paid three times a year so the arrears of nine months of 2019 have not been paid until today. For the year 2020, they were paid once a year, they have 11 months without having been paid,”
“For 2021, thanks to the former minister of finance, it was cleared. For 2022, there are three months without pay. Last year, in 2023, they had eight months without being paid and this year, already five months.” He said.
He further noted that the workers have a legitimate grievance, as they have made significant sacrifices to keep the missions operational despite the accumulating unpaid salaries.
“How can you send people outside for four years without being paid? They are human beings; I need the contribution of everyone to solve this problem,” he appealed.
He added: “As the ministry of foreign affairs, if this money is paid, what we will do is to downsize because in some embassies, there is nothing that we have to spend more money on like in Eritrea.”
