Western Bahr el-Ghazal State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday summoned Road and Bridges Minister Julius Bensensio and his Housing and Utilities counterpart to explain the illegal demarcation of the railway station land in Wau town.
Both ministers were in August, summoned but failed to appear before parliament, reportedly because the Road and Bridges Minister was out of the state.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj after the summons, State Parliament Spokesperson Joseph Mawut Athain said the Wednesday sitting was targeting the two ministers to explain the mess at the railway station.
“The Assembly was asking the minister for Road and Bridges to explain the ongoing illegal allotments at the railway station because he is the one in charge of the railway in the state,” Athain said.
“The minister attended but he denied knowledge of the ongoing allotment, but was aware of the previous ones and that they had reported the case to Juba,” he said.
Athain called for calm among the Western Bahr el-Ghazal residents and the South Sudanese in general, awaiting the outcome from the ministry.
Bensensio acknowledged being summoned, saying the State ministry was concerned and wanted all the grabbed land surrendered to the institution.
“I was summoned today to explain the issue concerning the railway station. There were some questions that I was supposed to respond to before parliament last month, but because I was, absent from the state, the sitting could not proceed. Today I appeared with some documents and gave them to the MPs, who have now given me some days to return,” said Bensensio.
“We shared with the MPs about the illegal ongoing land allocation in the area. The station is a national property and it is 814,000-meter square but there were some parts that were allotted before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” he said.
Bensensio said the State has been writing to the national ministry over the matter and a committee had been formed to investigate the issue.
The minister pointed out the railway station is an important source of the country’s revenue.