Alliance for Land Rights South Sudan (ALRSS), a Wau-based organization that works to protect land rights, on Wednesday gave 170 individuals in the Western Bahr el Ghazal State, capital, Wau, their land titles after processing them for free.
The organization, whose main donor is the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), has a yearly initiative to support elderly and vulnerable people who are not able to obtain land titles from the government.
Speaking during the handing over of the land documents, Moses Ucu, the ALRSS assistant program officer, urged the beneficiaries to take good care of their land documents and advised them to construct permanent houses.
“I am encouraging the beneficiaries to make sure that they properly keep their documents from getting damaged,” he said. “Secondly, since they have acquired their land documents, they should also start construction and fences on their land to show that it belongs to them.”
Ucu also urged their donor, Norwegian People Aid (NPA), to keep supporting ALRSS so that they continue helping vulnerable people.
On his part, Philip Baptista, director general at the state ministry for housing, lands, and public utilities, emphasized the importance of owning land and urged the beneficiaries to keep their titles safe.
“Land is something very important to everybody in South Sudan, and everyone has a right to own land, because if you die, it will be inherited by your children,” he stated. “Take care of these papers, do not let them be eaten by rats or get damaged by rain. This is a big responsibility for you; do not betray the future of your children.”
Baptista warned women who got titles not to use them as an excuse to seek divorce from their husbands.
Several beneficiaries lauded ALRSS for its unwavering support. Rose William Adam, a widow who obtained her land documents, thanked the organization for the assistance she received.
“I am a resident of Masna, and I thank ALRSS because they did a good thing. We, the people whom they helped get land titles, are widows and elderly people. I hope ALRSS continues with this spirit of work,” she said. “I have been renting since I gave birth to all my children. When we fled conflict and came here to Masna in 2017, I was given land through the chief, and the organization approached us and asked us to give them our land information so that they could help us obtain titles.”
Another beneficiary, Victor Tong Tong, said he had been living in the protection of civilians site since the conflict erupted in 2017.
“Since 2017, I have had no land, and I thank ALRSS for processing and giving us our land titles,” he stated.