Oil pollution in Unity state - Courtesy

The Minister of Environment has accused some powerful elites of sabotaging the institutions’ efforts to do environmental audit in the oil producing states.

“If we had funds, we would have done an independent environmental audit without inclusion of the ministry of Petroleum because in all these companies, there are some big people behind them and they have even become more powerful than the government than some of us,” said Josephine Napwon

The Council of States on Monday questioned  the Minister about the devastating oil spills in the oil producing area that is risking thousands of human lives.

She appeared before the August House a week after a seven-day-old baby born with exposed stomach died.

According to Environment Minister Josephine Napwon, some powerful individual she did not name, are backing the oil companies, making it difficult to conduct an accurate environmental audit.

“They have money and all of you know that money can talk, there is too much corruption and too much bribes and yet it is our people dying,

“For us as a Ministry, we have said we cannot exchange the lives of our people with money, because as we get money, we also need to protect their lives and the Ministry of Environment is very serious on thi,” she warned.

Napwon says any actions by Ministry to address the situation, has been regarded as a big threat to what she describes as polluters and corrupters.

“The Ministry of Environment has become a very big threat to the ‘polluters’ and the ‘corrupters’ who are using the lives of the people of South Sudan for their own benefits,” the environment official said.

But Petroleum Minister Puot Kang says the government is playing its role of holding the companies to account whenever they go against the agreement.

“What we are doing is to hold them to account, to say what you are doing here is not right, this is what the law says about what you are supposed to do, and that is basically what we are doing,

“I thought we are trying our level best,

“If at all there is any that we are not doing, and it is legally stipulated that we should do, we are also receptive to that, to say advise us, inform us, if we have a way of handling it, we will handle it,

“If we don’t, we will be honest to you,” said the Petroleum Minister.

Both local and international campaign groups have over the years reported widespread pollution in the oil producing areas

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.

This was after it conducted a scientific study on water quality and contamination in the area.

In September last year, the Ministry of Petroleum awarded contracts to three foreign companies to conduct environmental audit in the oil-producing areas of Unity State, Upper Nile State and Ruweng Administrative Area.

The companies were mandated to study the environmental activities of the petroleum operating companies in the country and present an independent report.

They were given 90 days to complete the tasks. But up-to-date their findings have not been made public.