Cabinet approves taskforce on electoral process

(radiotamazuj.org)

South Sudan’s cabinet has approved a joint taskforce for coordination and implementation of the constitutional-making process and electoral programs with the UN mission, a government official said.

“This joint taskforce will be set up comprising of UNMISS [United Nations Mission in South Sudan] and the government so that we start the dissemination and implementation of the constitutional making process and electoral program,” Michael Makuei Lueth, South Sudan’s Minister of Information, told reporters on Friday.

“This program is a long way, the constitutional making process is a long way, and at the same time, the electoral process is also another long way, and as such, it needs coordination between the government and our partners so that we can implement this agreement in time,” he added.

The information minister said the joint taskforce will begin its work soon.

Makuei, who is also the government spokesperson, pointed out that the government plans to popularize the implementation of the peace roadmap for the public to understand it better.

“We listened to a popularization plan for the implementation of the extended period of the roadmap that is the dissemination of the peace agreement as well as the roadmap because there are people who take the roadmap to be different and the peace agreement to be different, and as such, the cabinet found that there is need to popularize it so that it is clear to them and they understand it,” he said.

“This program will be covering the whole of South Sudan and possibly the refugees and displaced camps so that it is disseminated to them for them to understand what it is because there are so many people who seem to have misunderstood that and they are not clear about it,” he added.

South Sudan was meant to conclude a transition period with general elections in February 2023, but the coalition government failed to meet key provisions of the agreement, including drafting a constitution.

The parties to the 2018 peace agreement extended the transitional government's time in office for another two years, meaning elections would be held in December 2024.