The Minister of Roads and Bridges in Western Equatoria State has been faulted for selling government land in the state capital Yambio.
Minster Anna Tunna’s woes started on Tuesday when Bati Santo Emmanuel, the director of administration and finance in her ministry, alleged that the minister ordered him and other departmental officials to sell the government land.
The size of the land and the price at which it was disposed was not been revealed.
“What I know is that we sat together with the minister (Tunna) and she directed us to sell the land and there is a written document,” Bati said.
Meanwhile, Yambio Town Mayor John Singira said denied knowledge about the sale of the land which he said belongs to the engineering department of the state government.
“Yesterday I heard over radio stations in Juba and here in Western Equatoria about the sale of the land and I was surprised that government land has been sold within Yambio Municipality,” he said. “This (Tuesday) morning I was called and went to see the land and I found that there is construction ongoing on it.”
“I do not know about any sale of land here and there is no record in my office,” Mayor Singira added.
For his part, Governor Alfred Futuyo immediately ordered the halting of the construction works on the plot in contention and called an extraordinary meeting to be attended by the leadership of Yambio Municipality, the roads ministry, and Yambio County.
“This construction must stop immediately and if I get anyone constructing there, I will arrest the person. You people (state officials) sell land and eat the money and you claim that the governor sold land. Did I come here to sell the land? I did not come here to sell land,” he charged. “I am waiting for someone to allege that they sold land and gave the money to the governor or provide any document that ordered the sale of land. I want the police to deploy and protect the land because I want to know who sold it.”
“I want the roads minister, her two directors, the mayor and Yambio County commissioner to come to my office on Thursday to discuss this issue so that I know who exactly sold the land,” Gen. Futuyo added.
When contacted, the state minister of road and bridges, Anna Tunna, declined to comment on the matter.
“I want to call people all the people involved for a meeting so that people discuss and then I will comment,” she said.
The said land was allegedly sold to a businessman Yambio businessman only identified as Emma. Efforts to contact him were futile.
Last year, the state minister of housing, lands, and public utilities, Peter Sarawasi, was suspended by Governor Futuyo over the illegal selling of government land and property.