How land cartels operate in Juba City with impunity

A 27-year-old Lind Justine Elikan, a resident of Gudele II in Juba, remembers vividly how the prowling city land fraudsters preyed on her hard[1]earned cash. It all started when she developed an interest to purchase a piece of land for her family and she had allocated SSP200, 000 for the venture.

The quest for land ownership landed her in the hands of Juba land distributors in Amadi area along Juba-Yei road. And there, Elikan lost the money to the swindlers who flouted the idea of ‘buying land’ through a ‘token’ system.

“Me, my brothers and sisters decided to visit the area after seeing our neighbour explain the process of giving plots. After they showed us what they called the tokens, they made us to believe that the process is really transparent,” she revealed.

 “About five of us from the family decided to visit the site with the aim of getting the plots since all of us were really looking for personal plots to settle down, indeed we got those people and all of us decided to at least register for two plots for each despite registering with different names,” she explained.

Dubious policies

According to her, for one to see his/ her plot, the sellers insist that he or she should SSP17, 000 or more depending on the classes of the particular plots or blocks. She added that registration alone costs SSP 5,000 to 7,000. And, after that, one has to pay SSP10,000 to 12,000 and SSP 2,000 for surveys for each plot.

“It is like I was dreaming because till now I am confused whether our money as just gone like that or there is something like a joke, I still do not believe for sure,’’ she laments.

 Elikan painted a picture of a well-drilled group of swindlers who operate with impunity and feel of authoritativeness to beat any shade of doubt. “Those people were organised just like someone who is authorised to carry out the activities. They do not look like someone who is trying to con people.”

According to her, the illegal land allocators have well-arranged documents, starting from the logo and stamps for the presenting Central Equatoria State to moving with well-armed men in uniform. She said there is definitely an attachment between the fraudulent land sellers and some unknown government authorities.

She said, “I still believe that there is game going on because in the last two days people still told me that the land allocation is going on. “Anyway, I do not want to explain everything. Otherwise the explanation that was given to us was really something that can make you to believe [there is a game being played],” she said, as she threw a sheepish smile. However, authorities from the Central Equatoria State warned that whoever was involved in the fraudulent land transactions would only blame themselves.

Juba County Commissioner Charles Joseph Wani revealed in his press conference that there they have arrested over 70 people for their involvment in illegal land distribution.

“We have been telling the public that CES did not authorise anyone to allocate the land in the state but they did not comply. I told them several times not to go there because the distribution of those pieces of land is illegal and those people just want to take their money,” he said.