Dr. Joseph Geng Akech, the newly sworn-in Youth and Sports Minister - Courtesy

The Minister of Youth and Sports disclosed that gazetted lands for sports activities will be returned with the help of the Central Equatoria government in Juba.

Dr Joseph Geng Akech announced this during a Sports stakeholders meeting on Monday.

The meeting discussed three major agendas which include the law regulating Sports activities such as governance, and financing.

According to stakeholders, the youth centre in Juba is among the lands that have been given to private developers.

Puro Okella, a South Sudanese kickboxer asked the Minister of Youth and Sports to help return the kickboxer centre.

“As one of those kids who came there in 1980 to bring Karate, I was a player by then and I was just a kid, that the centre that I knew, now is being given away to that project, right now the centre does benefit from the project,” said Okello.

“I should bring to your attention please if you can pledge on the president or anyone to return that centre to us to the community,” he said.

Joseph Kenyi, a representative of the Tennis Federation in South Sudan also asked Dr Geng to help return the tennis playground adjacent to the Minister of Petroleum.

“You know here in South Sudan they have a playground in the central equatorial state, they are next close to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, and then that plot up to now we don’t know where the owner is,” said Kenyi.

“We ask the South Sudan team association, we are requesting the ministry to return that plot that playground for us,” he said.

Paul Puok, the deputy secretary general for the South Sudan National Olympic Committee says they need to be allocated land to build their headquarters in Juba.

“The challenges they [National Olympic Committee] are facing have the issue of the headquarters of the National Olympic Committee, it has been more than 4yrs now or 8yrs, and we don’t have a place to build the headquarters of the National Olympic Committee,”

“Every year a budget is approved for the construction of National Olympic Committee Headquaroiteras but the problem,” he said.

“We don’t have land to construct this and then the money is being returned back and then budget another year, so this issue needs interventions Mr. central government or another state,” he added.

From his part, the Minister of Youth and Sports acknowledged their concern and said the issue was raised during the governor’s forum.

Hon. Joseph Geng assured the sports communities that the governor of CES is willing to help in the matter

“The question of land was raised in the governor’s forum, I raised this, and you can’t develop sports without land, so if need be we will raise it in the cabinet. We have a memo to ensure that there is an order to this effect,” Dr Geng said.

“The governor is very supportive, the governor of Central Equatoria, Emmanuel Adil, and he promised that lands that are gazetted for sports will be returned,” he said.

“We will look into this because facilities for sports cannot be funded if there is no land, sports cannot develop if there is no land,” he added.