First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar and Activist Edmond Yakani during a meeting on Monday 29th January 2024 - Courtesy

Activist Edmond Yakani has met with the First Vice President in his efforts to push the peace principals to reach a consensus on the conduct of elections slated for December 2024.

Yakani’s meeting with Dr Riek Machar in his office on Monday is the third President Salva Kiir and Vice President Taban Deng Gai last week.

According to Yakani, his deliberation with Dr Machar focused on the urgent need to unify and redeploy the remaining forces before commencing the electoral process.

The meeting emphasized on the importance of consolidating forces as a prerequisite for a smooth electoral journey.

During the meeting, Yakani, a signatory to the peace agreement said he engaged in constructive dialogue with Dr. Riek Machar regarding the ongoing constitution-making processes.

Edmond Yakani stresses to Dr Machar the vital issue of fostering a conducive political and civil environment for political actors and civil society activists.

He says the aim is to ensure transparency and instil confidence among citizens in the electoral process.

“I got a chance to meet with His Excellency First Vice President and the Chair of Governance Cluster Dr. Riek Machar and we discussed the country’s preparations for the looming elections for December 2024,” said Yakani.

“Issues we discussed is the unification of the forces and we insisted that it is necessary to unify the forces before the country goes for election we also shed light on the constitution-making process,” he said.

“We were able to reach a consensus that the constitution-making process is a prerequisite for the conduction of the election.

“If we can get the political will and adequate financing for the constitution for constitution making process we can make a breakthrough.

“We have agreed that it is essential timely national election commission and political parties council required adequate financing in the country we want to show practicality for the conduct of the elections.”

Yakani emphasized the need to safeguard freedom of expression, and opinion, as well as freedom of assembly and movement.

He highlighted that the importance of granting these liberties to citizens to prevent any destruction of confidence and ownership in the electoral process.