Election is looming, how prepared are South Sudanese?
By Kiden Stela Mandela
Just 7 months for general elections to take place in South Sudan trendy 2023, as parties started mobilizing and rallying all over the country. The best example is the SPLM party let by the President Salva Kiir Mayardit; they have opened up campaigns in all the States within the country, including Western Equatoria State.
Where are the other parties? Are they doing rallies silently, yes if South Sudanese are prepared, there will be no problems since it is part of the agreement and that will mark the end of the 2018 agreement (R-ARCSS)?
Since the implementation remain pending, just issues like security arrangements, graduation of unified forces not yet done, which was promised to take place within one-months’ time, but up to now nothing. Fresh clashes continue in some States, for example yesterday morning in Abyei, Leer County in the Unity State, people continue losing lives day and night, property looted; for sure it is not easy to understand the positions of our own leaders in the country, what do they want.
All this times, it’s said that there are no funds for the graduation of forces and even the suppliers who were supplying food and non-food items to the training centres for example by NTC were not paid for (4) four years, census not done, polling centres and many others.
Now the politicians are busy mobilizing their parties to start assuming on the upcoming elections which is nearing in 2023 everywhere in the States; if I may ask them, where do they get the funding from? Or now the oil money is put in use? That’s why mobilization is serious especially in the Central Equatoria State, yet some houses in South Sudan sleep under flooding, severe hunger, refugees still in camps and other in diaspora, this corruption is very hard to understand here.
Now, they are renting cars and bodabodas to facilitate their rallies on the streets of Juba instead of normalizing security in the country.
The international communities who are monitoring the peace process such as; the IGAD, RJEMIC and CTVSM in the country, are just watching since they are benefiting from the work that they are doing, and are not caring at all. They are not implementing what is already discussed, like the issue of the unified command from one week to three months but they are just there to condemned without actions just driven by their interest. In another way is like both the parties and the monitoring team have one unity towards their actions.
Yeah, as a citizen, prepare your vote to whom it may concern; use your eyes wisely if at all elections will take place, know who to vote for, do not blindly throw your vote because you already know your leaders who they are and how they lead.
I appreciate all the parties who came out in large numbers showing themselves up for elections, and also those who are doing silently; there is only one way, elections because it shows seriousness to the citizens, that the implementation of the peace is going on well.
God Bless South Sudan.
Be right there!