Opinion | How do we make an election possible in South Sudan?

By Wani Michael

OPINION – There has been a lot debates and counter debates on the possibility of South Sudan conducting its first national general elections since its independence in 2011. The legitimacy of the government since 2015 continue to survive on endless power sharing Peace Agreements, the political leaders continue to undermine and underrate the fundamental power of the people of South Sudan.

Unfortunately, IGAD became a toothless institution that embraces and support the non compliance of the Parties to genuinely implement the Peace Agreement. They did not put in place punitive measures to deal with the Peace Agreement violators and instead sanitized those who violated it. In one of their Communique, they did mention that any violator to the Accord will face consequences for their action. Despite the fact that institutions created by the Peace Agreement and supported by IGAD through other international partners reported a number of continuous violations by the Parties. Nothing of any sort happened in terms of punitive measures instead issuing statements like ‘’We appreciate the Parties for implementing the Agreement’’. Any normal South Sudanese in his or her rightful senses will assert that there’s absolutely no agreement being implemented by the Parties.

I would like to address our minds into key fundamental ingredients for any election to happen in any perceived to be a democratic nation; the principle of legality, constitutionality of any election is very paramount and ought to be urgently addressed. The current Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (As amended) doesn’t in any way support or provide any legal framework for conduct of the said election. The current Constitution is basically meant to deal with the 36 months Transitional Period and it was the incorporation of the Peace Agreement into the Constitution.

There is supposed to be a whole process of writing a new Constitution for South Sudan that will breathe a new life to the Constitution and provide a legal framework for the conduct of the election. After its enactment, several amendments to other relevant laws relating to election would’ve happened immediately such as the National Election Act, 2012 and the Political Parties Act, 2012.

How do you organize an election without any constitutional or legal framework? Do we want to organize a kangaroo election? Any election in South Sudan must be conducted in accordance with the provision of the Constitution and other relevant laws, running short of that means it was an illegal, unconstitutional and illegitimate election. In fact, it will be a selection not an election.

The second issue, I would like us to address our minds to; is the security of the voters and the citizens at large. There’s nowhere in the world where voters will decide to go and vote in a very hostile unpredicted environment. That’s why it is always refer to as ‘’ a peaceful election’’, there must be security guaranteed for all the voters and during the whole electoral period. However, government has frustrated the implementation of the security arrangements under chapter two of the Peace Agreement.

I understand some colleagues have provided a remedy of suggesting that UNMISS should provide security to the voters just like what happened in Central Africa Republic. The unjustified narrative that government doesn’t have money to implement the Peace Agreement and specifically the transitional security arrangements is a misplaced excuse because they continue receiving funds from the oil and non-oil revenues, instead these funds end-up into individual bank accounts or pockets.

Those leading the National Transitional Committee became rich and richer with the resources meant for the implementation of the security arrangements. Unless, we fundamentally address the issue of voters’ security and safety of the whole electoral process. It will be just a selection but not an election.

There’s need for government to massively provide resources to the National Election Commission to perform its Constitutional duties, currently the Commission lack funds to even pay its own rents, salaries and run the office in Juba. The State offices were closed down because they lack funds to run them, for the commission to conduct any sort of election in the Country.

They need a lot of time and resources to put their house in order, it is important to note that government continue to frustrate the commission and deliberately refused to fund it. Unfortunately, the same people who undermined and underfunded the Commission are the very people yapping and calling for elections in 2023. It will be insane to think that the Commission in its current position is capable of conducting any sort of election unless they want to preside over a selection process not an election.

The shrinking civil and political space must be unconditionally opened by government, also government must commit to respect citizens political and civil rights and freedoms. There’s no way we can conduct election in such a hostile environment where challenging President Kiir leadership and the ruling party SPLM is treated as treason. The media independence and freedoms must be guaranteed, protected and respected by the State. There’s too much intimidation from the government security apparatus. It has to stop!

Election disputes resolution mechanisms seems to be lacking and unprepared, the judiciary arm of government charged with such responsibility is not independent and not fully reconstituted. There’s an urgent need to empower, fund and ensure that the judiciary is independent, credible and impartial to handle disputes resulting from the election outcomes.

The Agreement demands for census to be conducted first before an election is conducted, however it is possible to conduct elections without a national census but you ought to determine the population distribution. It happened in some jurisdictions before and it is indeed possible but how will you determine the population distribution in different geographical constituencies and the voting pattern since the last time we had a population census was in 2008. How feasible and visible is it to use such data after a devastating war in the Country. It is important to first determine the population distribution to demarcate different geographical constituencies,

Lastly, it is fundamentally important to deal with the refugee and IDPs question, otherwise we risk having other constituencies not represented at all levels of government. Let government make the conditions favorable for them to return back home with huge government investment.

The author is a staunch supporter of the Constitution and Rule of Law. Follow him HERE on Twitter.

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