Raphael Tuju, Secretary-General of Kenyan ruling party, Jubilee - courtesy

The Kenyan ruling party, Jubilee, has appealed to its counterparts in the SPLM to put South Sudan first for the wellbeing of its citizens, the party Secretary General has said.

Raphael Tuju who was on a visit to Juba suggested that, the SPLM give precedence to the country and its people.

He argued that the challenge is on the party to ensure South Sudan succeed.

Since 2011, South Sudan has ranked at the bottom of Global Peace indexes, quality of life and Human Development indexes, Press Freedom index, among others.

Some members of the public have often blamed the political leaders for dragging the country into an unending circle of violence and continued political instability.

They argued that for the last 9 years, South Sudanese leaders are yet to move the country towards sustained peace and development.

Experts also agree that the liberators have continued to mismanage the affairs of the country, with a population now dependent on humanitarian assistance and development aid.

Raphael Tuju, the Secretary-General of Kenya Ruling party says, the success of South Sudan lies in the hand of the SPLM party.

He made the remark on Tuesday while meeting SPLM Acting Secretary-General, Peter Lam Both.

“Our wish is that they [SPLM] may continue to put South Sudan first, so that all the decisions that they make as going forward are in the best interest for all South Sudanese,” Tuju said.

“The East African area and the horn of Africa can only be better when South Sudan is viable, is a prosperous and peaceful component of the whole, its challenge is on you to ensure the country succeeds.”

For his part the SPLM Acting Secretary-General, Peter Lam Both said the party had learnt a lot from Kenya ruling party during the meeting.

“We have had excellent exchange of views in terms of how political parties operate, we have learned a lot from him,” the SPLM Acting Secretary-General said.

“We are so thankful that he as an elder brother has shared a lot of information with us. We have also shared with him some of  our experiences as SPLM.

“As a young ruling party, SPLM needs experience from experienced political parties who have run elections before and since we are anticipating our election to be 2023 it is very important to have this engagement.”

The Jubilee Party of Kenya is the ruling political party of the Republic of Kenya.

The party was founded on 8 September 2016, following the merger of 11 smaller parties.

During the 2017 election, the Jubilee Party secured a plurality of seats in Parliament and the party leader, Uhuru Kenyatta, was re-elected president.