By Bida Elly David
The Authority of Juba City Council has set up plans to evict inhabitants living in and around most cemeteries and graveyards in Juba City as a mechanism to leave what is meant for the dead, organised.
Over the past years, most citizens whose residences were demolished in some parts of Juba City have taken an advantage to occupy empty spaces around cemeteries and graveyards.
Speaking to the media recently, Michael Ladu Allah-Jabu the Mayor of Juba City Council said the government is going to dislodge those occupying cemeteries as their homes.
“We as government and law enforcement agency are going to remove those people who have surrounded most of the cemeteries as their places of settlement. Hai Malakal Cemetery currently is really full of people with the population which is not less than three thousand’’ said Mayor Allah-Jabu.
The Mayor further pointed out that some people have grappled to the extent of sleeping on the tombs of the dead which contradicted the meaning of the living and the dead.
“I don’t really know why people tend to occupy spaces meant for the dead. Some people reached to the extent of sleeping on the tombs where the dead were buried. They tend not even to fear the souls of the dead. A space meant for burying the dead is not meant to be occupied by the living and for this reason, we are going to expel them by all means such that those spaces are emptied” Allah-Jabu stressed.
At the same note, the Juba City Mayor noted that the cemetery occupants were severally warned to vacate the place but they refuted the alarm from the authority.
“After alerting them several times to evict the place, they never listened to us but continued to stay with the souls of the departed. This time, we are not going to give any excuse to all of them. Any step to be taken by us shall be final whether they shall have where to settle or not’’ Allah-Jabu said.