The Western Bahr el Ghazal State Assembly is concerned about the state minister for roads and bridges failing to appear before legislators for the second time after being summoned severally.
The ministers of road and bridges and housing and public utilities, along with their director generals and other key official, were summoned to answer about the illegal demarcation of land belonging to the National Railway Station (Sikka Hadid) in Wau. Members of the public became concerned after it was revealed that the railway land was illegally allotted to some powerful individuals, particularly national and state government officials.
The area in question has been subject to unauthorized allocations since the 2016 conflict despite being public property under the Ministry of Roads and Bridges.
The parliament had initially scheduled the sitting for last week but postponed it to Monday and again on Tuesday due to consecutive rains. However, the minister’s continued absence is raising concerns among the lawmakers.
The Chairperson of the Information Committee, Hagalla Simon, stated that no official communication or apology had been received from the minister regarding his absence.
There are rumors that the minister might have traveled to Juba.
“Today we were having the fifth sitting on the issue concerning the minister of roads and bridges and the minister for housing and public utilities. The meeting was supposed to take place but was interrupted by some unexpected reasons and we postponed the sitting on Monday,” Simon said. “The minister failed to attend in person before without a written document or apology about why he failed to attend. We do not know where the minister has gone but we understand he left for Juba and this is not convincing because he is supposed to write to us about his absence.”
“We had hoped to address the issue of illegal demarcation today and the minister’s failure to attend without any formal notice is unacceptable,” he added.
According to Article 27 of the Conduct of Business of the Western Bahr el Ghazal State Legislative Assembly and Article 78, Section 3 of the state constitution, parliament issued new summons for the ministers for next Monday, 2 September 2024.
Simon urged the public and to be patient and continue providing information to aid lawmakers in resolving the issue of illegal allocations of railway land.
Responding to legislators’ allegations, Julio Bensencio, the minister for roads and bridges, said his absence was due to an official government assignment in Uganda.
“Upon receiving the assignment from the governor and deputy governor, I informed the clerks, the chairperson of the Physical Infrastructure and National Resources Committee, and the Hon. Speaker. They were all aware of my departure, and I had agreed with them to reschedule the sitting,” he explained. “I arrived in Juba on Saturday and I am currently in Uganda with Samuel Nicolla, the minister of information and communication. The sitting last week was postponed due to rain, but rain should not halt government business.”