South Sudan National police service said it’s taking a move to claim its 230,834 square meters of land in Gudele 1 (Lou) which is being illegally occupied and are asking the occupants to leave the place before January 2024.
“The police is informing those who built on the land of police at Gudele 1 Lou that the land belongs to police. Anyone who is living in that place is to vacate before the dry season because on January, 2024 we are going to vacate them by force,” said Maj. Gen. Sadik Ismail Sidigi, Director of Legal Affairs on Friday.
According to Sadik, the land was allotted to police reserve forces in 1970 by the Ministry of Lands and Physical Infrastructure to build their offices in the area and make it the headwaters of reserve forces.
However, Sadik said the army occupied the land during the liberation struggle, as it was one of the entry points to Juba and after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005; it was handed over to the police.
“Since that time, some individuals built on that land knowing very well that the land belongs to the police. A committee was constituted by the Inspector General of Police, headed by Lt. Gen Majak Arol, who was the Director for Logistics and Procurement and other officers as members,” Sadik said in a statement on Friday.
He said the then director of legal affairs started the process of claiming the land and informed the people who built on the land to vacate, but the people did vacate.
“At that time, we were able to vacate them by force. The police are one of the apparatus that keeps law and order and maintain security. We had to resort to the law, and a criminal case was opened under Section 48/329 of the Penal Code Act, 2008,” Sadik stated.
Sadik said the Public Prosecution Attorney General has issued an order of suspension of the building as well as a warrant of arrest.
The police said if the occupants don’t vacate within the seven month, they will go for demolition in January 2024 and there will be no compensation.
“We are not going to compensate any person because when you are building, you should have the proper documents for the building. If you build in the wrong place, we will not compensate you. They know very well that the place belongs to the police, and we expect the court to rule in favor of us because we have all the documents of allotment and anyone who is there does not have any document of allotment,” he said.
