By Bida Elly David
Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) has called on the presidency to prioritize funding elective bodies in a bid to ensure elections.
Edmund Yakani made the call during a meeting with President Salva Kiir at State House J1 in regards to preparations for the coming elections.
“My key messages were the need for adequate financing of the recently reconstituted political institutions, namely the National Election Commission, the Constitutional Review Commission, and the Political Parties Council,” he said.
He advocated for the timely allocation of resources to demonstrate national ownership of the political transitional processes, concluding with the conduct of elections in December 2024.
“During the meeting, I also urged President Kiir to make a quick move towards the completion of the unification of the forces. As we are aware, some foods were already delivered to the containment site,” he continued.
Yakani emphasized the need for the implementation of the security arrangements before the country goes to the polls.
“It should happen before people go for elections, because it’s good for us to round up all the forces that are not unified into the unification processes before the conduct of the election,” he reiterated.
CEPO’s boss said they discussed with the president the need to deliver open political and civic space to allow citizens to engage in civic engagement without any form of restriction.
“That is a high time for the political parties to also have a dialogue among themselves,” he started. “We reach a consensus on these particular issues, and we agree that the election must be conducted without any delay, without any postponement.”
The activist stressed that the political parties and the leadership of the country need to demonstrate commitment towards creating a conducive environment for the conduct of the election within this remaining timeframe.
Yakani also noted that he will be having similar meetings with the first vice president and the other vice presidents.
“We have agreed with his Excellency President that meeting the preconditions for the creation of conditions for the elections is very important. What we term sometimes prerequisites that are required for the conduct of the elections,” he lamented.
He, however, urged President Kiir to make political compromises in relation to the prerequisites for the conduct of the election by December 2024.
“We have agreed that the precondition from now on should be taken seriously and there should be no more extension of the transitional period because people are fed up with the transitional period,” the CEPO boss echoed.
He promised to knock on the doors of the presidency in cases of crucial civil concerns.
“I will continue with this period of meeting the principals who are leaders of the party signatories to revitalized peace agreements from now on,” Yakani stated.
He commended President Kiir for giving him the chance to discuss their views in regards to the peace agreement and the elections for civil freedom.
“Our campaign is an election that must be conducted without any delay or extension of the transitional period. At the end of the transitional period, if there are no elections, we have no option. The only option is to see a democratic government established, and we have to see a dial to carry on,” he emphasized.
The National Election Commission, the Political Parties Council, and the National Constitutional Review Commission have all decried a lack of budgets to seriously embark on their mandates.