The Eritrea Community in Juba on Saturday conducted a clean-up exercise at the Customs market ahead of the anniversary of South Sudan’s independence on Sunday.
July 9, 2023 marks the 12th anniversary of South Sudan’s independence from Sudan.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj during the clean-up exercise, Engineer Amare Ghebreab, Chairman of the Eritrea Community in South Sudan, said that it is the second that they are conducting the exercise in Juba in 10 years.
Ghebreab further said waste management is a collective responsibility, urging South Sudanese authorities to embark on solid waste management and utilize it for other purposes like the production of power.
He said they had hired 50 trucks and ten loaders which cost them about 50,000 US dollars for the one-day exercise.
For his part, Central Equatoria State Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony called on the residents of Juba to take responsibility for cleaning the city. He warned that the state government will punish anyone found to have been involved in littering the streets of the city.
“It is very absurd for us not to manage our garbage very well. This campaign means everybody must take the responsibility of waste and garbage management right from your household, there is a culture here in Juba where people bring garbage and put it on the roadside and I think we are going to penalize people,” he said.
“We have resolved there are going to be standby law enforcement agencies. So if you are known, seen, and caught bringing garbage to the roadside, that is punishable by law. This should be known to every citizen of this country and we are directing all the law enforcement agencies, all our quarter councils, everybody should be a vigilante,” he added.
Activists and health experts have repeatedly expressed concern over the pile-up of uncollected garbage and poor waste management in Juba.