The Administration of Christ Church Nakasongola has refuted the allegations circulating in the media that the Parliament has compensated the church with land and money.
Addressing the media in Juba over the weekend, the General Overseer of Bishop’s Office at the Christ Church Nakasongola, Reverend Michael Kenyi Lemi dismissed the allegations terming them as ‘fabricated falsehood’ by the Parliament.
The Cleric accused the Parliament of tarnishing the image of the church through false information.
Reverend Michael Kenyi trashed the statement by the Spokesperson of Parliament John Agany claiming that the Parliament had compensated the church before its demolition earlier this month.
“We seriously dispute the false claims by South Sudan Parliament Advocate Mr. Agany who lied to the public that the Case was heard in the East African Court of Justice and it was judged in favor of South Sudan Parliament,” Lemi objected.
The clerics asked the Parliament to publish the payment vouchers of the alleged transactions, the name of the bank, and how much was paid including the name of the signatories and the type of the currency paid as a prove.
Reverend Kenyi also petitions the South Sudan Parliament to provide details of the court ruling, dates of hearing, and attendees involved.
“We want to petition the South Sudan Parliament to provide details of the court ruling, dates of hearing, attendees, name of the presiding judge, and the lawyers involved for the two parties,” he stated.
The Churchman said that the South Sudan parliament was summoned to the East African Court to file a defense case against the church but they failed to comply.
According to David Jambo, the son of the founding Bishop of Nakasongola Church, the land was given to the church by Former Central Equatoria Governor Clement Wani Konga in writing did not clarify when the land was given.
Jambo accused Kumba to be behind the plan of grabbing four decades of church land ownership for business purposes.
He said it is not the first-time powerful people are attempting to grab the church’s land.
David reveals that some business people brought Chinese to construct a hotel on the land but the Chinese refused and said the place is church.
Jambo believes the parliament cannot produce any document for the land if asked to do so.
Early this month, the chairperson of the specialized committee of information in the national parliament John Agany claimed Parliament had won the case in a competent Court against the Church over the contested piece of land.
He was quoted saying, “The legislative institution had won a case on the claim to the land in a case against the Christ Nakasongola church.”
According to Agany, it was proved that the land belongs to the assembly, adding that the church members had refused to evacuate after the court ruling.
Christ Church Nakasongola and the Parliament have been entangled in a dispute over land ownership for several years, with each side taking a deep-seated stand.