The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have handed over a dormitory and a farm in Marial-Bai Payam of Jur River County to Western Bahr el-Ghazal State.
The facility and a farm that cost $45,998 were received on Tuesday by the National Prison Services and the State Government after nearly six months of construction.
The facility has two self-contained dormitories with full solar system, security lights, three washrooms and a water yard.
The officials said the facility is meant to decongest the Wau Central Prison, while the farm will serve as the repository for the inputs for the expansion of agriculture.
Speaking during the handing over, Western Bahr el-Ghazal Governor Sarah Cleto Rial thanked CEPO and UNMISS for implementing the project. The Governor called on the prison service administration and the Marial Bai community to take good care of the facility.
“Thanks to the people who come up with this development project in Western Bahr el-Ghazal State, particularly in Thur Majok. First of all, I want to thank the community and the chiefs for allowing the development in the state,” said Rial.
“The protection of this building is not the responsibility of the government; it is your responsibility, as a community and the administration of the prison. There should be adequate protection of the facility,” she said.
Jur River County Commissioner James Ernest Makuei thanked the prison service boss, Lt Gen Atok Barac, for accommodating the facility.
“Let me welcome Western Bahr el-Ghazal State government and all the guests to Thur Majok of Wan Bai Payam for the handing over of the facility provided by UNMISS and the implementing partners, CEPO. I thank Gen Atok Atem Barak, who came up with this initiative. People were seeing this as a dream but it has become a reality,” said Makuei.
“This facility will help us reduce the congestion at the Wau Central Prison. We are also calling on the State Ministry of Health to provide us with a unit here,” he said.
The Commissioner called on the Governor to consider the construction of the road from Wan Bai to the county headquarters at Nyinakok.
“Our request is a road linking the county headquarters Nyinakok to Wan Bai. If we do that, we will also have created a new bridge for development in the county and the state,” he added.
Area MP James Giir Wol welcome the new development, saying there was a need for similar initiatives in Raja, Bazi, Bessilia, Mapel, Udici and Atido.
He said the Wau Central Prison had long exceeded the capacity for which it was built, hence the need for additional facilities.