Michael Lado Thomas Allah-Jabu was appointed the Mayor of Juba City Council (JCC) by Central Equatoria State Governor Emmanuel Adil in November last year. Radio Tamazuj caught up with him and sounded him out on his plans and vision for the city.
Below are edited excerpts:
Q: What challenges did to find after assuming office and what are your plans for JCC as the new mayor?
A: In accordance with the JCC bylaws 2013, amended in 2020, this law prohibits people from constructing or building anything that blocks roads or establishing any shelter in the cemetery or public open spaces. This is not allowed. Some people say we are implementing what was left over by the former Mayor Kalisto Lado Faustino. This is not the program of Kalisto but it is the program of the city council.
Former Mayor Kalisto came with his plan of how to implement the strategic plans of the city council. His policies might be different from mine and other former mayors. The implementation of these policies could be different but the plan belongs to the council. That is why the opening of the roads in Juba town is a must and it is part of the strategic plan of the council. We want to continue implementing the theme; ‘Keep Juba green, clean and beautiful’.
Q: There has been an increase in land grabbing cases in the recent past within and outside the city. How are you going to resolve this issue?
A: Three-quarters of Juba city is demarcated; including first class, second class, third class, and fourth class. The fourth class falls under the jurisdiction of the town council of local government but the rest fall under the state authority. It is under the direct responsibility of the land administration of the state. That means any dispute over such individual land should go to the state court and the court will look into the case and pass a verdict over it. If you construct a house in someone’s place, the government has the right to take you out by force and the building could be destroyed. These will take place through legal actions and with evidence.
It is not the responsibility of the Juba City Council to go and begin interfering with any dispute over land grabbing. Unless the dispute takes a violent dimension, then we have to interfere to restore the security of the town.
In regards to the reserved areas or open spaces, we have a legitimate right to intervene in order to rescue these lands.
Q: City traders have been complaining about unrealistically exorbitant and multiple taxes levied by the JCC. How do you justify these levies?
A: Personally, I do not agree with those traders because three-quarters of our traders in Juba are opportunists. Our market is a free market and this is the policy of the government of South Sudan, to keep our market open due to low productivity. That is why everything is brought from outside. When they bring goods from there, sometimes they only pay 3000 U.S dollars for the whole container. But yet, they put a lot of markup on the prices of their goods.
We understand they are also paying taxes at the border points in Nimule or Nadapl or elsewhere but these taxes cannot be compared to what the city council collects from them here in Juba.
I am aware that what they are paying at the border is nearly 80% but what we are collecting here is only a small amount of money for services, garbage collection among other things and we do this in accordance with the Local Government Act 2009. So, sometimes those traders are the ones increasing the foreign exchange rate in the market.
I appreciate the work done by the vice president of the economic cluster, Dr. James Wani Igga, and his team for working so hard to stabilize the exchange rate over the past year.
Sometimes we talk to traders to reduce the prices but they keep on arguing that they bought the goods when the exchange rate was high. I met with nearly 150 of them recently and urged them to reduce the prices.
We are aware that they have interests but the blame always is put on the city council.
Q: Currently, there is the widespread settlement around and in public cemeteries in the city and some people are claiming that they had been given titles by the ministry of housing. What is your take on this?
A: The ministry of housing is an independent entity and they have control over some residential areas in Juba without our consent. According to the law, a cemetery has rules and regulations that allow their use. A cemetery is a place of the final rest for our beloved ones and in accordance with our African traditions, we are supposed to respect that place. People all over the world do respect this place. And if we are civilized enough, no one will think of settling in the cemetery.
This is so strange in our case here in Juba. You find that people are sleeping on the graves and some are even defecating on them. This is so shameful to us.
A cemetery can be used for the public interest; there is no problem with this. But this should be done with coordination between the ministries of health and the environment. Before initiating any public interest in any cemetery, the health ministry should ensure that the burial process has been suspended for the last 25 years. Then the environmentalists and geologists would also confirm this process. You know, when a human being is buried, there are medicines that are injected into his body and any construction attempt in this land could cause a lot of digging and opening of graves. And if the body has not decomposed, it will also cause a lot of environmental problems.
So, sometimes the administration at the ministry of housing is doing some activities without our knowledge. Sometimes we get surprised and get someone constructing in the cemetery and when the city council interferes and stops the person, they show us a legitimate document from the housing ministry. This has caused us a lot of problems with the people.
Source: Radio Tamazuj