ErJok Bullen, who had been the acting NRA commissioner-general since August 2019, addresses members of the parliamentary economic and finance committee on Thursday, Sept 10, 2020 | Credit | Emmanuel Akile

The three officials who were fired on Wednesday should be investigated for any malpractices while in the office, a civil society activist says.

President Kiir sacked the minister of Finance and Planning, Salvatore Garang; acting NRA Commissioner-General Erjok Bullen Geu; and Nilepet boss Dr Chol Deng amid economic crisis.

The men were relieved through presidential decrees read out on the state-run SSBC on Wednesday evening.

The reasons for the dismissals were not mentioned, however, their dockets had been reportedly stuck with financial mismanagement.

The development came after the Economic Crisis Management Committee recommended firing some officials of the revenue-generating institution over corruption.

Last week, both Garang and Bullen appeared before a parliamentary committee to answer questions regarding their offices.

The now-former finance minister claimed the ministry had been receiving money from the sale of only one cargo of crude oil per month.

Meanwhile, Bullen said the NRA lost close to 40 billion South Sudanese Pounds to tax exemptions within three months.

The now-former governor of the Central Bank also indicated that the bank had run out of foreign reserves.

The current Minister of Trade also revealed to the parliamentary committee that the government cannot control the weakening of the pounds against the US dollar because the central bank owes commercial banks a lot of money.

Jame Kolok, who heads Organization for Democracy and Accountable Governance, welcomed the move taken by the president.

However, he stresses that firing officials without holding them accountable for alleged crimes does not make sense.

“There must be some sort of thorough investigation that should follow this kind of firing,” Kolok told Eye Radio.

“If anybody who is implicated in corruption gets away with it, I think it doesn’t send any clear message in terms of punishing those who would have this tendency.”

For his part, Prof. Abraham Kuol Nyuon argues that sacking of officials without implementing reforms agendas doesn’t help in strengthening the country’s prosperity.

“It depends on the policies that the new people are going to put in place,” said. Kuol, who heads the School of Social Science at the University of Juba.

“So, if the new people that replaced the previous three officers are not reform-sensitive, then there is nothing that is going to happen to the economy.”

Salavatore was replaced with Athian Ding Athian; Dr Deng, with Bol Riing Muorwel; and Bullen, with Africano Mande.