Authorities in Central Equatoria State’s Yei River County on Saturday concluded the election for the 2025 youth leaders at the county headquarters.
The two-day second youth convention elected a chairperson and a speaker of the general assembly, highlighting the role of young people in democracy.
The newly elected chairperson, Gaga Frank, promised to strengthen networking with youth from the county to the boma levels and to liaise with structures at the state and national levels.
“Our aim and priority is to encourage networking with youth from the county to the boma levels through communication and cooperation, and to liaise with higher authorities. We will coordinate the concerns of the youth and escalate those that need to be raised to the state level,” he said.
The outgoing chairperson, Johnson Poru, urged the state government to empower the youth and engage positively with the new leaders.
“I call on the government to empower these individuals and engage them, providing resources to improve their leadership. These will be the next leaders in the county, state, and national government. They should not be subjected to threats or manipulation,” he said.
James Mugo, the UNMISS Civil Affairs head representing the funding partners at the election, congratulated the new leadership and the youth for demonstrating democracy.
“I congratulate the chairperson and the speaker-elect, as well as the election team for their excellent work. I also want to congratulate all of you for demonstrating democracy in this transitional process. This shows that we are capable of conducting things democratically,” he said.
Yei River County’s representative in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Lona Sadia, applauded the organizing committee for considering gender balance.
“We will remember this day in the history of Yei. I have seen that there is gender balance in the leadership, and those who lost should not give up because their time will come,” she said.
Yei River County Commissioner Emmanuel Taban Seme urged the new leadership to lead with responsibility and sacrifice.
“Leadership is all about sacrifice, and the fact that you do not receive a salary should not discourage you. Thank you for exercising your power to choose your leaders,” said Seme.
Gaga was declared chairperson in accordance with Article 76 of the 2023 Youth and Sport Commission Law, while Lona Sema was declared the new speaker.
The election was funded by UNMISS and its consortium and witnessed by state and county officials, as well as youth from the five payams of Yei River County.