The Western Bahr al Ghazal state legislative assembly on Wednesday summoned the minister of youth and sports to answer questions about alleged malpractices surrounding playground lands in Wau town.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, the head of the information committee, Agala Simon Mohamed, said the minister was summoned to clarify why some playgrounds, which were allotted for sports activities, turned into government and investment intuitions.
“We summoned the state minister for youth and sports because there is a problem on playgrounds like Jezeera, Isaac playgrounds and Daraja. Two days ago, we learned that youth were vacated from Daraja stadium after claims that the playground was a market, and this led to the relocation of youth to Sika-Hadid, and that is why we called the minister,” Agala said.
Agala disclosed that the minister informed the lawmakers that all activities in these playgrounds were suspended until further noted.
“The minister told us that all activities in these places have been suspended, but you cannot order a person out from the place while they are benefiting from these areas,” he said.
“You cannot suspend all activities in these areas because Daraja stadium is a ground that was used for the congregation, especially during the dissemination of the peace agreement, but the minister told us that he and the minister for housing were working on it, but this does not mean Daraja ground alone, we have so many playgrounds in Wau town that we are asking about their status,” Agala said.
Agala said the state assembly is investigating the number of playgrounds allotted by the ministry of the physical infrastructure to the ministry of youth and sports.
For his part, the minister of youth and sports, Mohamed Ali Goni, said it was the ministry of physical infrastructure responsible for knowing who the owner of the plot was.
“The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure is responsible for knowing who has built there, they first review the documents of the lands, and as we all know that since 1979, these places were known as markets before they were allocated to us,” Goni said.
Minister Goni said since he took over the youth ministry, he found 43 playgrounds, which were not registered, and that they have now started registering them.
He pointed out that when he took over the ministry, he found some playgrounds had already been sold to some investment companies by the former administration.