{"id":43148,"date":"2026-02-23T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=43148"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:00:21","slug":"accountability-parliament-urged-to-block-proposed-2-billion-road-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/accountability-parliament-urged-to-block-proposed-2-billion-road-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"ACCOUNTABILITY:\u00a0Parliament Urged to block Proposed $2 Billion Road Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>By Yiep Joseph<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A civil society activist has called on members of parliament to block the $2 billion roads project endorsed by the Cabinet, citing concerns over transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Council of Ministers, chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, approved a $2 billion road development project reportedly backed by the country\u2019s gold reserves.<\/p>\n

According to government officials, the project is intended to facilitate the construction of strategic roads to boost the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

As the agreement awaits parliamentary deliberation, Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), has urged lawmakers to suspend the deal until proper procedures are followed and full details of the contract are made public.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Yakani said the appeal is anchored in the need for transparency and accountability, warning against repeating the mistakes of the previous \u201coil-for-roads\u201d arrangement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mistake of oil-for-roads should not be repeated through gold-for-roads. Our natural resources must benefit the citizens of South Sudan, not burden future generations with opaque and potentially exploitative agreements,\u201d Yakani said.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that agreements involving strategic national resources such as gold must undergo full parliamentary scrutiny, public disclosure, and independent oversight to ensure the process benefits the South Sudanese people.<\/p>\n

\u201cCEPO is urging lawmakers to suspend approval of the deal until full contract details are made public,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Yakani further called on parliamentarians to conduct a comprehensive economic and legal review of the agreement and to engage civil society and economic experts in open consultations.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging the importance of infrastructure development, he stressed that such projects should not compromise economic independence and long-term stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevelopment should not mortgage the future of our children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a separate interview, economist John Buol also highlighted the importance of transparency in managing public resources and large-scale projects.<\/p>\n

Although he welcomed the government\u2019s commitment to infrastructure development, Buol stressed that all necessary procedures must be followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it is a good idea to approve funding for road projects, but it is very important to ensure that all necessary procedures are followed to guarantee transparency and accountability,\u201d Buol said.<\/p>\n

He urged relevant institutions to coordinate effectively to ensure the projects are completed within the agreed timeframe and budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am calling on the government to ensure that the project is implemented within the timeframe and with the allocated resources,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Buol commended the government for prioritizing infrastructure development but reiterated that accountability remains crucial to achieving sustainable results.<\/p>\n

Civil society organizations have pledged to continue advocating for transparency and responsible management of the country\u2019s natural resources.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0By Yiep Joseph A civil society activist has called on members of parliament to block the $2 billion roads project endorsed by the Cabinet, citing concerns over transparency and accountability. On Friday, the Council of Ministers, chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, approved a $2 billion road development project reportedly[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":43149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Billion.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43150,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43148\/revisions\/43150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}