South Sudan’s Opposition Boycotts Budget Debate

The deputy speaker of South Sudan’s Transitional National Legislative Assembly has been explaining why he led the boycott by the opposition SPLM-IO and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance of Friday’s debate on the national budget. Oyet Nathaniel Pierino says the they walked out after members of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) raised civil service pay by 400 percent instead the 414 percent the opposition preferred. He tells VOA’s James Butty, the budget also did not include money for peace building and elections, not did the increase meet international best practices regarding the fair treatment of workers.