CES cabinet meeting. Sept 13, 2024. (Photo: CES Press).

Central Equatoria Council of Ministers discussed reports on border encroachments and rampant pollution and littering of wastes into the Nile River in Juba, during a meeting on Friday.

The meeting chaired by Governor Augustino Jadalla deliberated on the alleged encroachments in Kajo-Keji by Uganda and Yei by DR Congo as well as the issue of drugs abuse primarily by young people in the city.

The state Acting Minister of Information Gerald Francis said Kajo-Keji Commissioner is engaging the Ugandan authorities while the national government is doing their best to solve that problem.

On the issue of Nile pollution, Mr. Francis says a memo has been presented by the state Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Forestry on the findings on rampant pollution across the Nile River in Juba.

He said a high-level committee headed by Deputy Governor Paulino Lukudu has been formed to see into the issue.

In May 2023, a damaging investigation by the state government found that most hotels, factories, and businesses in Juba are discharging solid and liquid wastes into the Nile River.

The ad-hoc Committee headed by the state agriculture minister to confirm allegations of waste pollution in the city submitted its finding to former Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony.

In its findings, the Committee observed what it terms as great inappropriate environmental practices by some of the factories and hotels dumping sewage wastes into the Nile, where many Juba residents drink from and find water for domestic use.