Deputy Speaker of the Council of States, Mary Ayen speaks to SSBC. January 22, 2025. (Photo: Office of the President).
The Deputy Speaker of the Council of States Hon. Mary Ayen raised a concern about the lengthy delay in releasing the 2022 environmental audit for oil producing areas, in a meeting with President Salva Kiir on Wednesday.
The environmental audit was commissioned in 2022 by the Ministries of Petroleum and Environment, which contracted three companies to carry out the assessment.
This was as a result of what environmentalists say is widespread experienced environmental damage, deforestation, soil and water contamination, and health issues in and around South Sudan’s oil-producing areas.
Both local and international campaign groups have reported widespread environmental pollution, as chemicals from oil wells are said to have been washed to settlements by floodwaters, leaving animals and people affected.
There are recurrent cases of women giving birth to deformed babies and stillbirths in the oil producing areas, a situation linked to the alleged pollution.
On January 22, President Kiir’s office said in a statement Hon. Mary Ayen made a briefing on the “continued delay in the release of an environmental audit of oil-producing regions” which is necessary in order to address the health conditions of the locals.
Launching the audit on oilfields in 2022, the petroleum ministry hired three international companies to conduct the environmental audits at Blocks 3 and 7 in Paloch of Upper Nile, and Blocks 1, 2, 4 and 5A in Unity State.
They were tasked to determine the extent of environmental pollution being felt in the areas and recommend best practices to curtail the immense impact on the oil-producing states.
In May 2024, the Minister of Environment Josephine Napwon told the parliament that the audit report on the oilfields was almost complete, but that the contracted companies withheld the findings due to non-payment of their dues by the government.
But contrary to Napwon’s claim that the companies were not paid, Lawmaker Mary Ayen disagreed, stating that the Joint Operating Companies already contributed money for the audit.
She asked the parliament to question the Ministry of Petroleum about the whereabouts of the money and why the companies were not paid.
In 2015, German human rights and relief organization— Sign of Hope said the health of more than 180,000 people in northern Unity State was at risk due to drinking of water contaminated by the crude oil.
The study found that oil operations released 8.3 million tons of salt, 7.9 billion liters of well-drilling fluids including lead, nickel and cadmium, and 6 million liters of crude into South Sudan’s soil between 1999 and 2020.
The contaminants affected communities in the oil-producing regions severely, depriving them of their rights to clean water, health and life, according to the group.
In November 2024, Ms. Ayen said the government had dispatched 16 samples collected from families of children born with deformities in the oil producing areas to South Africa for laboratory examination.
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