South Sudan continues to digitize its land management system. What significantly improve the public service in this area in a country where, as elsewhere in Africa, the problems of land ownership are still a source of many disputes among the people.
South Sudan’s Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development on Friday, September 16 entered into a contract with Trinity Technologies Company to digitize land registration in the country. According to Michael Makuei Lueth, Minister of Information, Communication, Technology and Postal Services, this contract comes after the cancellation of a previous contract with another company.
“One company had been approved to digitize the land registration, it was Ailal company, which received the contract to digitize and register the land, but it failed,” he said. “Cabinet has approved the change and Trinity Technologies is now the accepted body to pursue digital land registration,” added Michael Makuei Lueth.
The new contract with immediate effect entitles Trinity Technologies Company to start the digitization process that will allow the rational and sustainable management of land plots in the country. The project will also enable the State to have transparency on land activities, to electronically store all the data collected in a database accessible to all public authorities and to resolve the land disputes that have plagued the country for several years.
According to a 2014 survey conducted by the African Union (AU), land disputes including land ownership, occupation and use were among the grievances accumulated in South Sudan. This survey had concluded that there was a need to integrate land reform into transitional justice processes.
This major project is a big step for South Sudan, which is lagging far behind in the digital sector. In 2021, the country was in last place in the United Nations ranking of African countries according to the level of digitization of public services.
