By Philip Buda Ladu
National Minister of Information and Government spokesperson, Michael Makuei said the Nairobi peace process dabbed “Tumaini Initiative” and the peace Roadmap evaluation report are the bases under which the presidency will decide on the election conduct.
Makuei who is a rapporteur to the Nairobi talks said the government delegation to Tumaini Initiative and the High-level committee for R-ARCSS roadmap implementation are two in one bodies doing different assignment for the same goal.
Yesterday the Government delegation to the Nairobi peace talks held a press conference to update the public on the progress being made at the Tumaini Initiative.
Albino Mathom, the head of the government delegation highlighted to the media the protocols being discussed between the government and the holdout groups.
Mathom reported some progress with the signing of the first protocol agreed with the opposition’s “Trust and Confidence Building Measures”
He further outlined some of the protocols including; Economic Recovery and Management; Judiciary Reforms, Transitional Justice and Accountability; Permanent Ceasefire, Security Arrangement Reform, and Humanitarian Assistance.
According to the government chief negotiator, the rest of the protocols are pending.
“We are still negotiating. We are almost to reach an agreement on the negotiations,” Mathom added.
However, when asked about the fate of the December elections, the government spokesperson and rapporteur, Michael Makuei said the presidency will use the Tumaini Initiative and the peace roadmap evaluation report to determine the elections conduct.
“The leadership is the one that will decide on the election on two counts: the leadership will decide on the election based on the outcome of the Tumaini Initiative, and the leadership will decide on the election based on the outcome of the report of the roadmap evaluation,” Makuei told journalists on Friday.
“These are the areas and those to whom these reports will be going, are the presidency. So it is the presidency that will determine the fate of the elections, not us (the government’s delegation to the Tumaini Initiative)” he added.
The government spokesperson said their mission in the Nairobi peace process is to negotiate with the holdout groups and non-signatories to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement so that they can bring them on board and bring total peace to South Sudan.
Makuei explained that the task of the high-level committee for roadmap implementation is to evaluate the roadmap and make recommendations to the principals for the Tumaini Initiative delegation they’re negotiating and we will bring their consensus later.
“There are some contentious issues, and even if we did not agree upon, we will still bring them here. So we are the same parties’ signatory to the agreement but doing different assignments at the same time” he clarified.