Michael Makuei Lueth, the Minister of Information, Communication, Technology, and Postal Services - Credit | Eye Radio/Lou Nelson | March 15, 2022

The Minister of Information has said South Sudanese are ‘fed up’ with the peace parties for delaying to implement the peace agreement.

Michael Makuei pointed out that elections could be the only way for them to elect their leaders.

The peace accord obligates the unity government to hold elections sixty days before the end of the Transitional Period to establish a democratically elected government.

Despite the delays in the implantation, President Salva Kiir in November last year told the citizens that the much-anticipated general elections would take place as planned in 2023.

In August 2021, Kiir affirmed his commitment to the conduct of the general elections at the end of the transitional period.

But in his address during the 5^th Governors forum in Juba last November, First Vice President, Dr. Riak Machar said there would be no fair and free elections in 2023 unless key provisions in the 2018 peace deal are fully implemented.

The key provisions include unification of the former warring forces, repatriation of the refugees and displaced persons, conduct of population census and development of the country’s permanent constitution.

In addition, the Political Parties Act of 2012 must be reviewed and approved by the parliament to enable free and democratic registration of political parties in South Sudan.

Despite the slowness, President Salva Kiir last year insisted that the country will conduct general elections in 2023 as planned.

But in what appeared to be a response to Kiir’s statement, Dr. Riak Machar and Vice President Rebecca Nyadeng say implementation of security arrangements is critical for a fair, free, transparent elections.

In May 2019, the pre-interim period was extended by six months, after the SPLM/A IO leader Dr. Riek Machar requested for more time to implement key parts of the security arrangements.

At the end of the six months, they again extended the pre-transitional period by 100 days.

It ended in February 2020 when President Salva Kiir appointed Dr. Riek Machar and other vice presidents which marked the beginning of the three-year Transitional Period.

But two years after the presidency and the cabinet were formed, the unified army is not yet deployed as their graduation has been postponed several times.

Information minister, Michael Makuei now describes as ‘people are fed up’ of us, the adjournments of implementation of some provisions in the agreement.

He said elections would be the ideal move for South Sudanese to decide on their leaders.

“The people of South Sudan are even fed up with these adjournments, every time they adjourn, and every time they adjourn, they are fed up with us,” Makuei told Eye Radio in an exclusive interview.

“We need to go to them, so that they bring us back if they so wish, otherwise elections will be held in time and people have to prepare for elections.

“You will not stop elections when the political parties act and the election laws are not amended because their amendment is very easy and it can be passed in the same day by the parliament. So it doesn’t need time, so my advice to people is that let us prepare for elections.”

There are outstanding tasks in the implementation of the peace agreement.

These include the need for the parties to resolve issues concerning the unified command and control structure, and force ratios, repatriation of the refugees and displaced persons, conduct of population census and development of a permanent constitution for the country.

In addition, the Political Parties Act of 2012 must be reviewed and approved by the parliament to enable free and democratic registration of political parties in South Sudan.

However, Michael Makuei says the pending tasks can be implemented before elections.

“Elections could be run because up to now we have up to 9 months and maybe beyond, nobody knows, but within these 9 months, if there is good will then all these laws will be amended,” Makuei said.

“After the parliament passes the budget this week, next week they will start with enactment of the laws that are needed to be enacted like the NCRC, national constitution review act, this act will establish the commission for the review of the constitution.

“The NCRC had earlier started on this and did a lot of work. So the current body that will be established according to the law will not be starting from nowhere, but they will start from where the last committee stopped, or commission stopped.”

South Sudan has never held a general election since its independence in 2011.

The first general election was scheduled to take place on the 9^th of July 2015.

However, the country descended into years of civil war, prompting the parliament to extend the presidential term until July 2018.

Editor Note: This news story has been updated. The news was story titled: South Sudanese are ‘fed up’ with the leaders, and attributed the statement to Hon. Michael Makuei, the Minister of Information. We were wrong because the Honorable minister did not say the word “leaders” his exact words were “South Sudanese are fed up of us”. We take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to the minister, Michael Makuei and the general public for misquoting him. We have immediately corrected the error on our website and Facebook page.

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