By William Madouk
The ruling party, SPLM led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit has started the preparations for 2024 elections to bolster their chance of winning.
President Kiir during his visit to Western Bahr el Ghazal state on Saturday asked thousands of citizens to prepare for elections at the end of the transitional period.
“I accepted the extension of the transitional period by 24 months to give the political parties ample time to prepare for general elections,” Kiir said.
“We want to bring an end to transitional governments. We should have a democratically elected government, so you, the people of Wau, should prepare for elections,” he added.
As clock is ticking with almost 21 months for the upcoming elections, South Sudan is in high gear with aspirants political building coalitions and embarking on mobilization to gain foot.
Head of state cautioned political parties that might not make it during elections, to accept defeat and cause no more havoc.
“If you win elections as a political party, you can form your government, and if you lose, please do not cause conflict. Power-sharing has brought us a lot of problems. There will be free and fair elections,” Kiir advised.
SPLM’s creation of the new party league comes in the wake of active mobilization and party restructuring that has been quite regular since 2023 began.
For instance, on the first week of January 2023, President Salva Kiir held a meeting with the Deputy Secretary-General of the SPLM party, Akol Koordit, where they discussed the problems affecting the party and the plans to restructure the party in preparation for the upcoming general elections.
The press unit of the Office of the President quoted Mr. Koordit as saying the party is keen on intensifying its activities as it remains active on service delivery.
In the same week, the SPLM pitched a tent in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State as it rolled out grass-roots mobilization targeting the registration of new members.
NBGS governor Tong Akeen Ngor told SPLM members in Aweil that the mobilization would include a variety of activities that would effectively position the party for the upcoming election.
However, during the 4th SPLM/A-IO National Liberation Council (NLC) in December 2021 at Freedom Hall, Dr. Riek Machar said although the future of the 2023 general elections was not clear, it was important for the party to be organized to face any eventuality that would come in the near future.
According to him, this includes the planned 2023 election that has elicited mixed reactions over its feasibility owing to logistical challenges.
Machar also told his members to start preparing for the recruitment of new members into the party once it announced all the chairpersons, deputy chairpersons, and secretaries across the country.
On Monday, the President left Juba for Kuacjok of Warrap state to attend the catholic church’s Centenary celebration.
While enroute from Wau to Warrap, President Kiir had brief interactions with the public in Wau before proceeding to Kuacjok where he will spend a night and attend the celebration on Sunday.
After the celebration, Kiir and his delegation will leave for his rural home in Akon and then to Northern Bahr El Ghazal State on Monday, according to the press secretary.