Yiep Joseph
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has trained its guns on the vice presidents, accusing them of laxity at a time when they should be in the front seat leading the charge in preparation for the elections in 2024.
Addressing SPLM members during the launch of the training on the election in Juba yesterday, the SPLM Secretary for Political Affairs, Mobilisation, and Orientation, Santo Malek, lamented that the country is going for an election, but some key leaders, among them the vice presidents who are members of SPLM, are warming their seats and holding back on the matter.
“By the way, our vice presidents, including members of the SPLM, do not want elections; they want to enjoy the seats,” Santo alleged.
He said that regardless of this, President Salva Kiir has repeatedly said there would be no more extensions.
“Elections are coming 100 per cent; there is no way because the president says there is no chance again for the transitional period,” he said.
Santo said that South Sudanese are tired of extension and a bloated executive that consumes a lot of resources. He said the next government after the election would only have a president and a vice president.
“For us to save this nation, we must have a very small government. In the coming days, it will be the President and one Vice President, not five Vice Presidents, so we have a small budget. Parliamentary will be small; it will not be 700 above; it will be 300 or 400 so that we can deliver services to our people,” he said.
He claimed that a lot of money has been spent on the bloated arms of government such as the parliament, while citizens continue to blame SPLM for not delivering the services.
Santo wonders why people do not support elections when thousands of forces have been trained and deployed to stabilize security and prepare the ground for elections.
“There are people who said we are not going for the election. We have trained 52,000 well-trained soldiers, and we have deployed them in hotspot areas to provide security to prepare for the election,” he said.
Prerequisites
In regards to refugees, Santo claimed that until now, most of the South Sudanese have not returned since the liberation wars, adding that repatriation is voluntary.
He said when the election comes, refugees will be allowed to vote in South Sudanese embassies.
“If their South Sudanese are in other countries, they will vote through our embassies,” he said.
In September 2023, President Salva Kiir decried the bloated presidency, saying an election would save the country from the challenges faced by having five vice presidents.
Kiir, who was addressing the SPLM members during the swearing-in of new secretaries and deputy secretaries at the SPLM House in Juba, said the poll would break the circle of transitions and the resultant burden of a bloated government.
“There are people who say there is no election; when they say there is no election, no one is tired like me; I have five deputies, and no country has five vice presidents,” Kiir said.
The 2018 peace agreement brought a bloated executive of five presidents to accommodate political leaders from across parties.
It consists of President Salva Kiir, First Vice President Riek Machar heading the Governance Cluster, Dr. James Wani Igga, who is in charge of the Economic Cluster, Taban Deng Gai, who leads the Infrastructure Cluster, Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior of the gender and youth cluster, and Gen. Hussein Abdelbagi, who steers the service cluster.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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