By James Manas Okony
BOR, 10 APRIL, 2019 [JONGLEI]-Authorities in South Sudan’s Jonglei State have started screening all investors in the state this week.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Achiek John Tiopic, the chairperson of the investment commission in Jonglei said they embarked on the state-wide exercise following a rise in disputes over investments land.
Achiek pointed out that the exercise which started this Monday will run for a month.
“Investors were leased lands since 2007. But for all those years, most of them left their lands empty. Locals settle on the lands. This created conflict between the investors, government, and local residents. So we are carrying out the screening to stop all these problems, Achiek explained.
The state official further revealed that there are about 1, 000 registered investors not carrying out any activity in the state.
Unemployment is very high and government is not having a lot of income because there are investments in the state, yet over 1 000 investments’ lands are given out, he said.
Achiek warned that government will withdraw lands from investors who will not attend screening this month.