Juba, South Sudan
January 16, 2022— Central Equatoria state governor, Hon. Emmanuel Adil Anthony, has appealed to general public to exercise for patience to allow the committee constituted by President Salva Kiir to solve the issue of land disputes in the state.
Governor Emmanuel Adil made the plea at a press briefing by the land committee in Juba on Friday, January 14, 2022.
Speaking to the media, Governor Adil urged the public to abstain from unauthorized land allotment until the committee accomplished its assigned task over the matter.
“We call upon the public to be patient and to cooperate with the committee. The committee has started its work, and therefore the public has to cooperate with the committee as it undertakes this normal exercise,” Governor Adil told media on Friday.
Governor Adil said they ordered that further illegal demarcation and allotment has to stop so that they solve such conflicts and drive a new land allotment policy.
“Everybody wants to have a piece of land first for settlement, and as a nation of course, we have to have a clear method of how we settle people “, he added.
According to Governor Adil, people should by all means stop from demarcating a piece of land illegally because without government recognition, that piece of land would not have a value.
” So therefore we want to announce that with this committee definitely this is going to solve the issue of informal settlement and land grabbing.”, the governor emphasized.
Last year, President Kiir constituted a 12-member committee with task to investigate the Garbo village incident and address the issue of rampant land grabbing around Juba city.
But the committee’s work almost stall in December last year after illegal settlers clashed with its members who were appointed by the President, east of the Nile River, where two civilians and a soldier perished in an incident that prompted the state government to deploy security operatives in the area to restore the rule of law and to provide maximum security; however, the forces withdrew few days later following complaints from Shirkat residents.
According to latest reports from multiple sources in the country, the issue of land grabbing and other land related disputes has been quite disturbing to citizens residing in capital Juba and other major towns since independence but the government has never demonstrated seriousness in addressing such problems.
