{"id":41904,"date":"2026-01-01T17:44:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T15:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=41904"},"modified":"2026-01-01T17:44:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T15:44:41","slug":"parliament-signals-resolution-in-3-year-christ-church-nakasongola-land-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/01\/parliament-signals-resolution-in-3-year-christ-church-nakasongola-land-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliament Signals Resolution in 3-year Christ Church Nakasongola Land Row"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alan Clement<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

South Sudan\u2019s government has signaled a possible resolution to a 3-year land dispute that forced Christ Church Nakasongola to worship by the roadside, following renewed engagement with parliament officials, church leaders said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Senior leaders of Christ Church Nakasongola told a press conference in Juba that authorities had contacted the church and expressed willingness to restore the disputed land, marking what the church described as a significant shift in one of the capital\u2019s longest-running church\u2013state property disputes.<\/p>\n

The land in question, according to church officials, has been contested between the church and parliament for more than two decades, leaving the congregation without access to its original compound and forcing worshippers to erect and dismantle tents weekly along a public road.<\/p>\n

Bishop Charles Ladu, caretaker of Christ Church Nakasongola and General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, said the church had received assurances that dialogue would be pursued alongside ongoing legal processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been praying here for three years under these conditions, and before that for many years on the road because of this dispute,\u201d Bishop Ladu told journalists. \u201cNow the government has called us, and we are ready for dialogue. If it is the will of God that we take this path, we accept it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Church officials said the Speaker of the National Legislative Assembly, Jemma Nunu Kumba, had played a key role in opening space for dialogue, citing her recent public statements on reducing burdens on citizens.<\/p>\n

According to the church, the Speaker has delegated First Deputy Speaker Lomin to lead the dialogue process between parliament and the church, a move seen as formalizing engagement at a senior institutional level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Speaker delegated the First Deputy Speaker to lead the dialogue, and we are looking forward to it,\u201d Reverend Abraham Marual, the church\u2019s General Advisor, told the press conference.<\/p>\n

The church said it has conducted prayers along the roadside for nearly 3 years, citing repeated displacement linked to the land dispute.<\/p>\n

Reverend Mike Kenyi said the physical and financial burden of operating from a temporary roadside location had been heavy.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day we have to lift this tent. It is heavy, and this is one of the burdens we are carrying. The church is on the road,\u201d Kenyi said.<\/p>\n

Kenyi added that the church believed parliament and the government had begun to recognize the hardship faced by worshippers, particularly following remarks by Speaker Nunu Kumba, who publicly stated she did not want additional burdens placed on citizens.<\/p>\n

He further said discussions would involve legal representatives from both sides, with a focus on documentation, compensation, and possible restoration of the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the speaker called us, we made it clear that court processes are still underway and that everything must be documented,\u201d he said. \u201cWe proposed that our lawyer sit with the government lawyer to discuss and come up with a list of items that need to be compensated,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Church leaders said they were hopeful that the land issue could be resolved as early as January 2026, allowing the congregation to return to its original compound.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that in this coming January, we will be back in our previous compound,\u201d Marual said, adding, \u201cThe government has remembered the suffering of the church and the believers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the conciliatory tone, church officials emphasized that legal proceedings related to the land dispute have not been abandoned. Instead, they described dialogue as a parallel track to the courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever they call us, we will come and negotiate,\u201d Bishop Ladu said. \u201cBut we have also said clearly that our lawyers must be involved, and everything must be documented,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

The church did not publicly disclose the full legal history of the case or whether any court rulings had been issued in the past, but framed the dispute as one rooted in institutional misunderstanding rather than personal conflict.<\/p>\n

In a notable departure from confrontational advocacy often seen in land disputes in South Sudan, Christ Church Nakasongola repeatedly stressed that it does not view the government as an adversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not speaking against any person or even our government,\u201d Bishop Ladu said, adding that, \u201cThe church and the government are one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The church said it had chosen restraint and dialogue over protest, even as it continues to operate under difficult conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever has happened, it has happened,\u201d Bishop Ladu said. \u201cThat is the work of the devil to destroy and to kill. But God sent Jesus to make peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church leaders used the press conference to call for broader respect for church property and religious institutions, arguing that the resolution of the Nakasongola dispute could set an important precedent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are calling on the government to respect the property of the church,\u201d Marual said. \u201cGod is above every government, and government follows God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenyi added that the church\u2019s appeal had attracted international prayer support from believers in Africa, Europe, Israel, and the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe God is answering our prayers. We pray that our land will be restored so that God may continue to be worshipped in this nation,\u201d Kenyi said.<\/p>\n

The dispute highlights broader issues of land governance and institutional accountability in South Sudan, where overlapping claims between state institutions, communities, and religious bodies are common.<\/p>\n

If resolved through dialogue and legal settlement, the Nakasongola case could serve as a test of the government\u2019s commitment to addressing long-standing property disputes without escalation.<\/p>\n

For the church, leaders said the outcome is about more than land.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we go into 2026, we want to go with new hearts. A heart that can restore what was taken and allow us to live together in peace,\u201d Marual concluded.<\/p>\n

In addition to addressing the land dispute, Christ Church Nakasongola also conveyed its condolences to the Eye Radio family and the wider media fraternity for the passing of journalist Emmanuel Akile on Tuesday, describing his death as a loss to the nation\u2019s media community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alan Clement South Sudan\u2019s government has signaled a possible resolution to a 3-year land dispute that forced Christ Church Nakasongola to worship by the roadside, following renewed engagement with parliament officials, church leaders said Wednesday. Senior leaders of Christ Church Nakasongola told a press conference in Juba that authorities[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":41905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-religion-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/church.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41906,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41904\/revisions\/41906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}