Activist welcomes cabinet’s decision to review river dredging
July 4, 2022 (JUBA) – A South Sudanese activist has welcomed the decision to review the Nile dredging plan, saying it will provide accurate information for proper consultative dialogue between the citizens and government.
Last week, government said it invited water resource management experts and eminent scholars to provide guidance on the controversial matter.
Authorities also cautioned citizens to desist from social media propaganda.
Edmund Yakani, an activist, said citizens should freely access information.
“Denying media access to information is fueling misinformation. The misinformation on the dredging project clearly indicated that accurate information would have been disseminated if media was aware,” he said.
Yakani, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), appealed to the members of the public to take responsibility on any public engagement on the Nile dredging project.
Meanwhile, a leading South Sudanese opposition politician accused the country’s leaders “talking politics” instead of consoling the aggrieved family of former Irrigation and Water Resources minister, Peter Manawa.
Manawa died from cardiac arrest at a hospital on Cairo, Egypt on June 19.
“The Vice President turned the solemn occasion into a lecture on the virtues of dredging rivers and digging the Jonglei Canal. The mourning audience had no chance to respond. A reality check: in the past, it was clearing the rivers not dredging that was taking place”, said Lam Akol.
According to the opposition politician, what previous administrations used to do was not dredging of the river Nile, but the clearing of weeds and sediments to allow the movement of barges carrying goods and people between Kosti in the north, down to Juba and other areas in the south.
The sharply is sharply divided on the dredging project, with senior government officials issuing contradicting statements and comments.
While some officials claimed the dredging of the tributaries of the Nile and a plan to resume excavation of the Jonglei canal was the project of the government to reduce the overflow of water in the low-lying areas in the parts of the country, others have denied knowledge of the project, causing confusion and concerns in the public.
(ST)