The citizens of South Sudan’s Warrap State on Monday express different opinions regarding the two-year extension of the transitions and postponement of elections to December 2026.
Last week, the Transitional Government postponed the December 2024 General Election to December 2026, citing a lack of preparedness, a move that was approved by the peace implementation monitors, the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) last Wednesday and passed by Parliament of Friday. The transitional period was also extended by 24 months.
Some citizens in the Warrap State capital, Kuajok, said the extension deprives the civil population of social services and shows that the government does not care for the welfare of the people of South Sudan.
Dawud Dau said the extension has positive and negative aspects.
“As a citizen of South Sudan, the extension is both bad and good. It is bad because this transition government is very huge with the national assembly alone having more than 500 members, then there are five vice presidents and nearly 35 national ministers, leave alone the members of the Council of States and deputy ministers,” he stated. “This huge government utilized the meager resources and has deprived citizens of social services because, instead, the money goes to those in the government because of their travels, security and those working in their offices.”
Dau added: “South Sudan is in economic hardship, citizens are severely affected by this big government, and so we want a lean government that will provide services to the people.”
He however said the positive part of the extension is the silence of the guns as election irregularities would cause another fear of fighting as some provisions in the agreement have not been implemented.
“If elections are carried out and the army is not unified, it will cause fear and for this reason, it is good for the transitional government to resolve the parties’ complaints and all complete the provisions of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement,” Dau stressed.
Another Warrap State resident, Abuk Kuol, feels that the current unity government has failed to provide children access to quality education and health care, among other services, and wants the people to have a right to elect their leaders.
“Election is good for the citizens to live free and secure in all aspects of life because they can vote for the person they need,” she stressed. “This is what we expect as citizens of South Sudan. Now there are no good hospitals, schools, companies, and development.”
For his part, Arol Deng Majok said the who;e extension of the government’s tenure in office is malevolent.
“We have heard about this but as citizens, it is something unpleasant and we have different opinions, my opinion is that the more they extend the transition period, the more the people of South Sudan suffer because we do not have enough services,” he opined. “I am a university student and I cannot afford to pay tuition fees, so, the extension negatively affects us but what can we do? We do not have other alternatives.”
“It is very disappointing because we were expecting to alleviate our suffering through democratic elections and I expected to vote for one leader among the politicians to run our country peacefully,” Deng added.
He also said the government is too big and squanders resources and that the country needs a permanent constitution.
President Salva Kiir hails from Warrap State.