In a letter seen by Eye Radio, the minister of Housing, Land, and Public Utilities, Simon Sarawasi asked the governor Alfred Futuyo to accept his apology.

The letter addressed to Western Equatoria governor assured Futuyo that such inconveniences won’t happen again under his administration.

He added that his absence from the office has created a negative impact on service delivery to the entire community in Western Equatoria State.

“Allow me to express my sincere sorry for the inconveniences caused by me and my staff due to our internal administrative procedures in our ministry.” stated the statement.

However, the minister didn’t admit in his apology letter that he indeed sold public lands and eight electrical transformers of the ministry.

On May 13, 2022, the state governor, Alfred Futuyo formed an investigation committee of seven members to investigate the selling of government properties, plots of land, and electrical equipment.

The three-day investigation commenced on May 18, 2022, days after the suspension of Minister Simon Sarawasi.

The director general of the state ministry of housing, land and public utilities, and an engineer were also investigated by the committee.

According to the findings of the committee, Minister Sarawasi received 250,000 pounds from a scrap dealer who bought electrical equipment on May 25, last year.

The state security apparatus later confiscated the eight electrical transformers and a generator.

The committee termed the move by minister Sarawasi as ‘corruption’.

Minister Sarawasi then wrote a letter to Governor Alfred Futuyo assuring him of refraining from such behavior.

The press secretary in the office of Western Equatoria state governor confirmed that the Futuyo has received the apology letter from the suspended minister.

“The governor of Western Equatoria state has received the apology letter from the minister of land and public utilities in the state apologizing for all that he did which led to his dismissal or suspension,” said Daniel.

“He is going to sit down with some of the state officials together with the citizens of Western Equatoria to view the act or the crime that the minister did so that they can come out with a comprehensive decision regarding the letter,

“The general public especially the citizens of Western Equatoria were accusing the governor that he is the one selling the lands, he is the one selling the spare parts,

“All those things have come now to the reality that it was the minister who did these things alone without consultation with the governor or the people concerned.”

For his part, the chairperson of the investigation committee, Victor James Ndukpo told Eye Radio that the committee had submitted its report to the governor last year.

“The committee was constituted, and the work was done within the period given to the committee and the terms of reference of the committee elapsed and we had already submitted a report to the governor since last year,” James said.

“This appeared to be the first public admission by a government official to have been involved in corrupt practices in the country.”