Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The minister of parliamentary affairs in Eastern Equatoria State has for a second time declined to appear in court over rental arrears owed to his landlord in Torit town.
Joseph Opio was initially summoned in late December 2021 when he failed to appear before the court. He again failed to appear on Tuesday, January 18, 2021, for the second time.
Godfrey LLibo, the landlord whose house Mr Opio rented, told The City Review that the court had rescheduled the case for Friday, January 21, 2022. He said Mr Opio did not pay his rent for six months and opted to leave the premises along with the keys to the house when he was first summoned by the court in late December.
“Legally, he still occupies the property, even though he is not currently living there.” It was supposed to be for five months, but now that January is ending, it will be six months. If he continues to keep the key…[it means] the terms of the agreement apply,” Llibo stated. According to Llibo, the minister owes him $1,800 for the six months based on their agreement, which was inked at a monthly cost of $300.
“That is my property and my right. He signed it legally with the full intention of meeting the financial demand of the rental property. Therefore, the court is there for everybody, including me and him. He has the right [to live] over there, but he cannot have the right to not paying,” he added.
Llibo urged Opio to pay his debts and hand over the key so that he could reclaim his property and rent it to another person. Mr Llibo’s defence lawyer, Juma Joe, told The City Review in an interview that if the minister continues to ignore the court summons, other legal procedures would be used against him.
“He is holding the keys of the house up to date, we asked him to surrender for us the key. It is only the gate of the compound he left opened but most of his property and other things are still in the house, ” Joe said
Joe lashed out at the minister’s snub of court summons, arguing he was not helpful. He said the minister had been notified twice by the court through the state secretary-general.
“We don’t know what happened, but maybe the secretary did not brief him or not because we consider it as he has consented, and we believe that secretary will give to the person whom we want to appear to the court,” Joe explained.
He promised to deliver another summon letter to the state secretary-general on Wednesday, for the minister to appear in court on Friday, January 21, 2022, as rescheduled by the court leadership.
Attempts by The City Review to contact Mr Opio over the telephone for comment were fruitless, as repeated calls went unanswered. The agreement was worth $ 300 per month, and the defendant paid a three-month advance rent.
According to the document, the defendant breached the contract by failing to pay rent for August, September, October, November, and December. For the five months, the total amount was $ 1,500. The court ordered him to pay $ 1,800 in rental arrears as well as 200,000 South Sudanese pounds in legal fees to the attorney last year.
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