The National Council of Ministers in their meeting on Friday resolved to form a committee to oversee the demolition of illegal structures erected on school and hospital lands and to reclaim such land.

Dr. Jacob Maiju Korok, the Deputy Minister of Information, Communication Technology and Postal Services, told reporters shortly after the Council of Ministers meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit that the cabinet listened to a memo by Minister of General Education and Instruction Awut Deng Acuil about reclaiming of school lands that have been grabbed. 

“The purpose of the memo was to request the demolition of illegal buildings on public school lands and return the lands to the Ministry of General Education. She also requested the Council of Ministers to ban state authorities from selling and privatizing school lands and hold private businesses who grab public land accountable,” he explained. “The resolution was unanimously passed with a recommendation that it should encompass all the ministers, including that of health because the health ministry has lands that were grabbed by individuals. The council passed a resolution to form a committee to oversee the implementation of the resolution on the land grabbed by individuals.”

Maiju also said many school lands in Juba have been grabbed and private business owners have erected shops without proper documentation from or knowledge of the government.  

“In Juba, parts of many school lands have been given to private businesses to construct shops within the schools without proper documentation so it is giving a lot of headaches to students,” he stated. “You cannot combine schools and businesses so the government has to decide to demolish all these shops around the schools. The same thing is also happening to hospitals and in the states, some of the clinics occupy land grabbed by individuals and they constructed very big business complexes. These have to be demolished and given back to the Ministry of Health.”

The deputy information minister also said the cabinet listened to a presentation by Rizik Zacharia, the Minister of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism, on a report of the participation of South Sudan at the 11^th meeting of the Sectoral Council for Tourism and Wildlife Management in Arusha, Tanzania.

“One of the key recommendations of that meeting is the adoption of the validated East African Community (EAC) Wildlife Conservations and Management Strategy and Action Plan and the report was passed unanimously by the Council of Ministers,” he said.   

According to Maiju, the cabinet also listened to a briefing from Presidential Affairs Minister Bangasi Joseph Bakasoro on the visit of President Kiir to Rwanda where the latter participated in the commemoration of the 30^th anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide. 

He said the visit of the Kiir to Rwanda was to show solidarity of the South Sudanese people with the people of Rwanda.

When asked about the reaction of the government on the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) earlier this week by the UN Security Council, Maiju said the government has not yet received any official report on the renewal of the mandate of UNMISS from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Maiju confirmed that negotiations between the government and holdout groups have started in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and that the real peace talks are expected to start sometime this month.