The R-ARCSS isn’t reliable anymore. Imagine those aligned with Oyet (Acting Opposition leader who flee Juba) are already in military bases, including some parties to the Tumaini initiatives. There are rumours that the coalition under UPA has graduated some soldiers, and likewise with Oyet’s SPLM-IO. This poses risks to the relative peace in South Sudan.
If the parties to R-ARCSS are truly committed to peace without leaving anyone behind, then we urgently need a complementary agreement one that brings in all holdout groups without undermining the provisions or timeframe of R-ARCSS. Because by the end of 2026, this country must witness its first-ever general election.
We cannot continue as we are and expect a peaceful election in 2026. We don’t need an election that excludes certain areas due to political crisis.
We need an election that allows all registered parties access to every region. We need a democratic election that enables all parties to exercise their rights in a peaceful political space.
Even if it doesn’t meet every democratic principle because we are not democrats, we are simply a democratic country, we must still uphold the spirit of democracy.
R-ARCSS remains the only viable solution to end the ongoing political crisis, but it must be redesigned to be truly inclusive. Remember, R-ARCSS was a compromise. Otherwise, how could a country of 12 million have five Vice Presidents and over 650 MPs, a structure more fitting for a population of 40 to 50 million?
So let us continue with compromise by redesigning an agreement that complements R-ARCSS and includes those previously excluded. Let us compromise until the election is fully realized in this country. And when it is, this compromise will be remembered in history but it will never repeat itself.
This is not from the horse’s mouth, but believe it or not, things will drastically change in this country. We will move from being a land of impossibilities to a nation of true democracy.
We will be more democratic than the democrats themselves. This country will uphold the rule of law more than law itself. It will be more prosperous than prosperity itself. It will respect the rights of its citizens beyond imagination. It will discourage corruption and be freer from it than we can even envision. It will encourage meritocracy more than merit itself. And yes, it will be more developed than the very definition of a developed country.
This country will be liveable. Its citizens will not run away from it, they will return, including those who once denied their South Sudanese identity. People from other nations will struggle to get visas to come here. In fact, South Sudan will become a paradise on earth. Foreigners across the world will seek nationalization simply because they want to stay in South Sudan forever.
Above all, this country will be listed among the top 40 developed nations in the world. Its name will never again appear among the most corrupt. After the election, we will tell corruption to leave peacefully or forcefully. And if there are still proponents of corruption who resist, they will leave together with it, painfully or peacefully.
In 30 years, our children will search for the definition of corruption in dictionaries, because they will no longer hear it on the streets as we do today. Right now, the word corruption is known by everyone even our grandfathers and mothers who never had the chance to receive an education. But believe it or not, in the next 30 years, the word corruption will be irrelevant.
Conclusively, we need an agreement that brings total peace to our country. Yes, we can stick with R-ARCSS, but we must redesign it so that no one is left behind. Their inclusion should not undermine any provision of R-ARCSS. Instead, the agreement that brings them in should be complementary to R-ARCSS.
The writer, Adel Garang kuol is a concern citizen and can be reach at adelgarang011@gmail.com