Robert Bima Loki, the Chairperson of South Sudan Land Commission. (Awan Moses).

The Chairperson of the South Sudan Land Commission has revealed that there will be specialized courts with drastic laws to combat land-related corruption.

Robert Bima Loki disclosed the plans a week after the Council of Ministers revised and passed the National Land Policy.

The policy specifies that land is owned by the people and not by the communities in South Sudan, as enshrined in the country’s transitional constitution.

The policy articulates processes for access, ownership, control, administration, use and sustainable management of land to achieve the national governance and development objectives.

According to Mr Loki, the draft Land Policy seeks to establish a sustainable framework for allocating and protecting collective and individual land rights of all the people of South Sudan.

Loki said the government is seeking to address controversies over the ownership of land despite it being spelt in the national constitution.

“It (Land Act) says different appropriate levels of government shall decide on the issue of land ownership, and CPA did not resolve that matter,” he said.

“We had challenges and till now we have these challenges, to be honest, there’s corruption in the administration of land, there’s land grabbing, briberies.”

“A plot of land given to someone, and someone is taking the documents with his/her name but did not show the place. There’s a lot of things but the law will solve them, this policy if we did it, a lot of things will be solved, and laws will come.”

“Now we have the policy statement and after this, we will come out with drastic laws to combat the issue of corruption and there will be special courts for lands.”

Article 32 of the Transitional Constitution stipulates that all land in Southern Sudan is owned by the people of Southern Sudan and its usage shall be regulated by the Government.

It further said every person shall have the right to acquire or own property as regulated by law.

However, the question of “who exactly owns the land in South Sudan” provokes different views from different people in the country.

Since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the 2011 independence of South Sudan, land disputes have been a dominant concern and source of conflict among South Sudanese people.