Civil society activist Lorna Merekaje. (Photo: Awan Moses/Eye Radio).

An activist has questioned the rationale behind the endorsement of a two-year extension of the transitional period by South Sudan peace parties, arguing the decision was probably reached without proper assessment on its necessity.

Lorna Merekaje, the Secretary General of South Sudan Democratic Engagement, Monitoring and Observation Program, questions the difference the extension would make on the lives of marginalized citizen.

She criticized the transitional government for having allegedly pushed the citizens away from participating on decisions pertaining to the country’s future.

According to her, the extension should have been carefully studied and planned out to clearly specify the remaining timetable for implementing remaining tasks.

“Right now, the question we need to ask is, how sure are we that the extended two years is scientifically calculated?” she asked, speaking on Eye Radio’s Dawn Show.

“We are not hearing the things to be done in the two years. The second point is; what difference have they made as of today compared to when they first extended (in 2022)? They have set a very bad precedence and it will go down in history.”

“We may not write it, but it will definitely be remembered how people have been gradually pushed away from affairs of the country. It’s very sad how they have done it. I think it should have been done better even if the party want to extends their stay, they should have done it in a neater way.”

South Sudan was expected to hold its first-ever general elections since independence in December 2024, to end the transitional period after the establishment of a democratically elected government.

But on Friday, the peace parties reached a consensus to give the unity government a two-year mandate to govern, after which the polls will be conducted in late 2026.

The decision was reportedly reached because most of the critical peace provisions including security arrangement, permanent constitution making, electoral preparations and other issues, which could enable credible elections, remain pending.

The presidency had formed a committee to review progress in the August 2022 Peace Roadmap which invoked a similar two-year extension under the excuse that such would pave way for implementing crucial pending tasks outlined in the 2018 peace deal.

Dr. Lomuro said the High-Level Committee led by Presidential Advisor Tut Gatluak received reports from the National Constitutional Review Commission, National Election Commission, Political Parties Council and the National Bureau of Statistics.

He said the extension was agreed in response to the recommendations from both the electoral and security sector institutions.