By William Madouk
Land dispute between National Legislative Assembly and Nakasongola Christ Church has reignited. The two sides, each claiming ownership and presenting conflicting documentation.
Oliver Mori, spokesperson for the National Legislative Assembly addressed a press conference yesterday, and responded to recent social media criticism from Mr. Onen Jok, refuting allegations that the disputed land belongs to Christ Nakasongola Church.
Mori described Jok’s claims as “misleading.”
“Our attention has been drawn to a misleading video circulating on social media regarding parliament plot No.02/block 1st class parliament quarter,” he said.
“The parliament categorically refutes the claims made in the video and urges the public to disregard them as baseless and misleading,” he added.
Mori noted that the land in question was allocated in 1972 by Greater Equatoria leaders to host the regional government under Abel Alier Kuac.
The parliament claimed that IDPs and refugees were however allowed to settle in the disputed land including the church. Thereafter, they were compensated to vacate the land.
“While the Congolese and South Sudanese pastor Jambo of Nakasongola were compensated in cash and kind to build their churches in a process overseen by deputy speaker Daniel Awet Akot in 2011,” Mori explained.
Giving a history, MP Mori cited that reclaiming the land dates back to former speaker Anthony Lino Makana to clear land for building of ultramodern assembly.
He clarified that speaker Nunu Kumba and CES SPLM are not involved in the land saga, and urged the public to rely on verified facts and not to be misled paddler of fake news.
“After Nakasongola was resettled in Lokulili, a church structure was provided in the area. however, in 2021, the pastor attempted to reclaim the parliament land, leading to legal and security issues,” he alleged.
“In conclusion, the issues of the parliament land should not be personalized and blamed on the current speaker as it is a public property,” he concluded.
House spokesman denied receiving any official statement from the East African Court of Justice.
In a separate press conference, Pastor David Jambo, son of the founder of the church late pastor Jambo urged the parliament to rebuild the demolished Nakasongola church emphasizing that all legal documents from the Ministry of Housing show land belongs to the church.
“Our stand as Christ Church Nakasongola is for the government to rebuild our church because that land doesn’t belong to the government or parliament but it belongs to the church with proof from the Ministry of Housing, that land belongs to the church,” he said.
“Whoever demolishes the church whether speaker Nunu Kumba or whoever he is – let him rebuild our church because this a place of worship where all South Sudanese pray it – not an individual church,” he echoed.
Pastor David denied any compensation claims whether in cash or kind, adding that if the church was allocated the land why would they insist on staying back?
He called on parliament to produce documents of alleged allocated land including signature or bank statement on who received the cash, asserting that Loklili is yet to be demarcated.
The Man of God also revealed that the land in question had been approved by ex-governor Clement Koanga and Gen. Augustino Jadalla, who is the current governor of Central Equatoria state.
Cleric David astoundingly stated why parliament denied receiving a letter from the EAC court when the church held or possesses a parliament response to their court case at the EAC Court of Justice.
“This is EAC court lying and bribery is not accepted there, they took all those fake papers to EAC Court of Justice and the court informed that all these papers were fake because they responded out of time,” he said.
Rev. Michael Kenyi Lemi, General Overseer in the Bishop’s office of Christ Church Nakasongola, echoed the same message and urged the government to produce those who received the alleged compensation cash.
“The money was given to who? Because our late has never told us he has signed any money. We have been in his leadership until now we are in the office. When he left us, he has never signed any money from the government,” he said.
“If it is a lie, then prove me right. Let them produce those documents. That person who might have signed the money is the one who sold the church to the government,” he added.
On July 2024, Police reported that four people sustained gunshots after armed men attacked government security at the Church behind the National Legislative Assembly.
However, one student who is identified as Deng Makhon succumbed to his injuries.
In May 2022, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs served the Nakasongola Church residents with an eviction letter asking them to vacate the place.
This prompted five religious leaders to sue the national government at the East African Court of Justice for having allegedly attempted to confiscate church land.
The Church defense lawyer Wani Santino Jada said Nakasongola Church has been the rightful owner of the land behind the national parliament for more than 40 years.