Aventore Kenyi, the chairperson for land committee in Torit State legislative assembly, has appealed to the state leadership to draft land policies.
Kenyi made the call during a one-day stakeholders’ meeting on land organized by South Sudan Law Society (SSLS) in collaboration with civil society network for Eastern Equatoria region on Tuesday.
The lawmaker argued that having draft land polices in place would help answer land related issues in the various communities.
“This issue of a draft land policy is very important in the state. In fact, I see that the other laws are overriding some of our demands, but if we can have our laws, it will not interfere with others,” said Kenyi.
“I think that is one way through which we can address some of problems in a very easy way,” he added.
John Sebit, the director general in the state ministry for physical infrastructure, vowed to ensure citizens have rights to land ownership.
He, however, called for cooperation between the state government and the citizens to ensure that land related disputes are brought to an end.
“The ministry of physical infrastructure will continue to see into it that each and every citizen gets his or her own right. I know there are a lot of issues that happened in the previous years, you know leadership comes and goes. We are trying our level best to see into it that things are put right and this requires our own cooperation,” said Sebit.
On his part, Gasper Amule, a legal officer at SSLS, said plans are underway to develop a legal framework on land rights for all citizens.
“To identify gaps in the laws and policies and throughout this consultation, it has clearly emerged that there are challenges related to land administration in Torit State, most of which relate to the fact that no land policy exists,” said Amule.
“So there are recommendations from community members that South Sudan Law society should facilitate an initiative towards supporting government in developing a land policy,” he added.
South Sudan constitution states that all land is owned by the people of South Sudan, and charges the government with regulating land tenure, land use and exercise of rights to land.