South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Jenifer James
The Central Equatoria government has dismissed claims by the leadership of St. Stephen’s Parish Church that it intends to grab the land on which the church sits.
David Morbe Aquilino, State Minister of Housing, Land and Public Utilities, told journalists yesterday in Juba, that the State government has no intention of grabbing the church’s land but only carried out demarcation and allocation of plots in Hai Gezira Block 10, Munuki on the request of local residents.
“We have no issues with the people or the church. We want to reassure all church leaders and congregants that the Central Equatoria government is not involved in any land-grabbing schemes. Our focus is service delivery,” Morbe said.
He also denied having personal interest in the church land, saying their goal is to provide orderly development and prevent illegal settlements.
“I was appointed on May 22, 2024. This land issue began 37 years ago, long before my tenure or even that of the current governor,” Morbe said.
“As a government, we have a responsibility to deliver services to the people of the state. That is why we are allocating land and working to regulate settlement in this area,” he added.
Morbe added that his ministry already allocated eight plots of land to St. Stephen church, to support religious and community infrastructure.
His remarks follow accusations last week by Rev. Paul Samuel Paul, parish priest of St. Stephen’s Parish Church, claiming that the State Minister of Housing, Land and Public Utilities with the help of the engineers and National Security Services demolished some of the structures at St. Stephen Parish Church without notifying the church.
“Under the guard of national security, we the Christians of St. Stephen’s Parish Church Munuki, were surprised to see a team of engineers headed by the Minister of Housing , Land and Public Utilities on March 20,2025 to start opening roads and demolishing some Church structures without prior notification to Church,” Samuel said in a statement.
Samuel said that the land on which the church sits belongs to the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, covering an area of 95,200 square meters.
Land disputes are endemic in Juba, with many attributing them to the lack of comprehensive land governance mechanism.
The recently developed National Land Policy, which is critical in mitigating land disputes, is yet to be passed by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly.
