By William Madouk Garang
The governor of Central Equatoria State yesterday formed a committee for demolition to wipe-off occupants who illegally inhabit football playgrounds and reserve lands within Juba, Luri and Rejaf Payams.
In his gubernatorial order for the formation of the board on the 3rd January 2023, Governor Emmanuel Adil issued the order for his state government to repossess playgrounds and lands illegally occupied or encroached by individuals.
“I hereby do issue this Gubernatorial order for an immediate formation of a State Committee for Demolition and Retrieval of all play Grounds and Reserved Lands within Juba City Council, Luri and Rejaf Payam of Juba County that were grabbed by individuals,” partly reads the order by the governor.
Adil also mandated the committee to destroy all unlawful residents on government structures such as Schools, play grounds, and roads – as well as reclaiming all state government buildings that are illegitimately used.
The committee composing seven members according to the order will be chaired by state minister of Housing Lands, and Public Utilities, and deputized by minister of Roads & Bridges.
Whereas deputy chairperson of Lands commission has been appointed as secretary. The membership is comprised of Deputy Mayor for physical Infrastructure, Deputy Commissioner of Police-CES, Deputy Director of National Security Service, and Executive Director of Juba County.
The committee is directed to report back to the Governor within a period of two months as the directive commenced on January 3rd 2023.
A similar order was issued by the Central Equatoria State Governor, Emmanuel Adil Anthony, on the closing day of the Women’s South Sudan Cup.
However, residents have yet to see those illegally occupied playgrounds reclaimed, as authorities continue to make false promises.
Past promises
The Mayor of Juba City Council, Michael Lado Allah-Jabu, vowed to repossess playgrounds currently used by some developers during a visit to the Future Stars Football Academy (FSFA) in April last year. The promise however never came to pass.
The mayor of Juba further stated that his administration will organize a commission to locate unlawfully occupied playgrounds and reclaim them for sporting events.
On his part, Dr. Albino Bol Dhieu, the national Minister of Youth and Sports, last January 2022, said the ministry’s plans for 2022 and 2023 include reclaiming all of the sports facilities.
“We are going to recapture all of the government-stolen sports playgrounds. Whether you are a government official, a general in the army, or a civilian – we will reclaim it back.
“Even if you build a concrete house on it, as long as it is a football field, it must be reclaimed, and we are going to implement the presidential order on that,” he issued the warning during the opening of the South Sudan Cup 2021/2022 edition in January.
Although the minister did not reveal how many football pitches are illegally being occupied, he said most of them were grabbed by top government officials but failed to mention them. Until then, the execution of the order is yet to be realized,