The Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) has urged the parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement to defer the General Elections scheduled for December 2024, saying key provisions essential for the conduct of the polls have not yet been met.

Edmund Yakani, who was speaking during the 7^th   Quarterly Online Meeting of Senior Mission Leadership and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), said some of the pending issues include the unification of forces and the making and promulgation of a permanent constitution.

While updating Members on the ongoing Nairobi Talks, he said elections are not South Sudan’s key priority but rather the implementation of the key pending issues in the peace agreement.

“There is a total dilemma about whether we have an election in December or not and the answers always have some hubris. The reality is that, administratively, operationally, the elections cannot go ahead because there is no unified force, political parties are not yet free, so that environment that is called conducive for elections is not in place,” he asserted. “Let us not dodge around the bush, we are going for an extension. The Tumaini Initiative will give you an extension because an election is not our priority right now. Our priority is creating a conducive environment for elections.”

Meanwhile, Lt. General Abraham Manyuat Peter, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of general administration and finance, said having a large number of military generals is a threat to the country and the security arrangements stipulated in the peace agreement.

He appealed to the parties to the agreement to address the matter of too many high-ranking soldiers for the security command system in the country to be effective.

“We cannot have 5,000 or 7,000 generals in the arrangement of the organized forces because a general needs to command a very big force. A platoon has 33 people, but now if we have many generals, who is going to command a platoon? This is the situation we are now facing. This question was raised in Nairobi, and they said they are solving it,” he revealed. “Up to now, we are just waiting for the list to come but the issue is that if some people’s ranks are reduced from general to captain, they will just go back to the bush. So, we need this thing to be tackled properly because this is the problem we are facing.”

For his part, Oyet Patrick, a member of the National Constitutional Review Committee (NCRC), said holding an election without a permanent constitution does not define a government.

“The roadmap says the election should take place in December. Well, the politicians can push and go for elections, but legal challenges will arise because the peace agreement says there must be a permanent constitution before the election. So, what is going to happen if the Constitution is not there? Somebody can go and challenge that an election took place without a permanent constitution. So, elections can go ahead but there will be challenges,” he emphasized. “Normally, it is the constitution that sets out the government and it is not supposed to be a government to come in place and then sets the constitution.”

A representative of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Amos Ocheing, assured citizens that the December 2024 elections will be held amidst pending issues and appealed to the parties to the peace agreement to show political will for the success of the December 2024 polls.

“Election is there but it depends on the realistic timeline that is in the National Elections Act. Based on the roadmap, the election is supposed to be in December 2024 but when you see the remaining months and the activities that are supposed to happen, it tells you a lot,” he said. “If the political will is not there for the funding, will the election commission die? NEC is a permanent institution whether there are elections or not, it will exist.”

For his part, Guang Cong, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of Deputy Head of UNMISS, expressed the UN’s commitment to facilitate dialogue between the peace partners.

He urged the parties to the agreement, civil society actors, and other stakeholders to commit themselves to ensuring the conduct of free and fair elections for citizens to enjoy peace dividends.

“I want to assure you that we will continue to facilitate dialogues of this nature with the key institutions and any other partner or national institution,” he underscored. “It is extremely important that there should be a strong partnership between the civil society, NEC, NCRC, PPC, and National Police Service. It is our common goal to have free and fair elections and have an inclusive constitution-making process.”