Part of the Custom market contested by the University of Juba and Central Equatoria State government. ( Photo: John Akec.)

The government of Central Equatoria State has denied allegations of encroachment on parts of the land owned by the University of Juba.

On Wednesday, University of Juba Vice Chancellor Professor John Akec went to his Facebook page to accuse the government of Emmanuel Adil Anthony of grabbing the land belonging to the University.

Prof. Akec called on President Salva Kiir to intervene on the matter and order an end to what he termed as occupation of university land, orchestrated with the help of organized forces.

But in a press statement on Friday morning, the Central Equatoria State Government claims ownership of the contested land in customs area.

“The land in question is known as Nyakuron shopping center which was originally known as Nyakuron East third-class residential area according to the plan of the time,” said Maber Severino, the state Minister of Information.

Severino said the University of Juba was only allocated about 56,994.5 Square meters by the then government of Equatoria Region and the State Ministry of Housing has all the details.

On Thursday, the university administration conducted a senate meeting and came up with several resolutions, one of which is a demand that the government of Central Equatoria State should grant the university full custody to the acclaimed land.

“The government of Central Equatoria State, who issued some well placed individuals legal land deeds, should ensure that all these individuals stop their activities from the university land,” reads one of the resolution.

“Security operatives that they deployed.. must be removed from the university land and the said land restored to full custody of the university within seven days,” it added.

The institution warned that its staff will take industrial action should any of the resolutions fail to be fulfilled.

In response, the state government described the statement of the university as hostile allegations against the government.

Minister Severino said resolutions of the University of Juba are calculated misunderstanding meant to tarnish the image of the state government.

“It would be prudent and honorable for the administration of the prestigious University of Juba to appropriately follow bureaucratic procedures with the State government for clarity on the matter other than attempting to drag the whole state government into media arena,” he said.

The government spokesperson also denied allegation of deployment on the contested land.

For her part, minister of housing, land and public utilities Flora Michael calls on the university of Juba administration to seek clarification from the government.

“If they have anything which is being grabbed, let them come up with their documents so that we verify as the ministry of housing. So the university is having an area and the other area is being demarcated to other individuals.”

According to the authorities of the institution, the examinations were due for Thursday but as a result of the land grabbing, the examination has been suspended indefinitely.