By Bida Elly David<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A ticking clock, absent budget hikes fears of derailing South Sudan’s fragile peace process with just ten months to December elections.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In a crucial meeting with President Salva Kiir, National Election Commission (NEC) chairperson Abednego Akok issued a blatant reminder emphasizing that “Without the budget, elections are impossible.”<\/p>\n Professor Akok, sworn in just two weeks ago, highlighted the budget deficit as the sole obstacle to kick starting the electoral process.<\/p>\n Civic education, polling station preparation across constituencies, and a host of other logistical demands require immediate funding.<\/p>\n “The agreement has set a deadline,” Akok emphasized, urging Kiir to release the budget promptly.<\/p>\n “Every delay shortens the time for a smooth election process” he echoed<\/p>\n Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, echoed Akok’s concerns.<\/p>\n “The budget is not a matter of debate; it’s a necessity,” Yakani declared. “Any delay is a threat to the elections, and time lost can never be regained.”<\/p>\n The CEPO\u2019s boss stressed the importance of elections beyond logistics.<\/p>\n “It’s about giving South Sudanese citizens their right to choose their leader through democracy,” he said.<\/p>\n For his part James Boboya, a political analyst, injected a note of caution.<\/p>\n While acknowledging the recent opening for political party registration as a positive step, he warned against premature optimism. “This doesn’t guarantee elections,” he pointed out, citing the 21-month registration window conflicting with the eleven-month deadline.<\/p>\n The looming budget decision hangs heavy over South Sudan’s future. Akok, Yakani, and Boboya represent a chorus of voices urging the government to prioritize the elections and fulfill the promises of the peace agreement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Bida Elly David A ticking clock, absent budget hikes fears of derailing South Sudan’s fragile peace process with just ten months to December elections. In a crucial meeting with President Salva Kiir, National Election Commission (NEC) chairperson Abednego Akok issued a blatant reminder emphasizing that “Without the budget,[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Abednego-Akok-president-Kiir-during-handshake-Courtesy-photo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21036,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21034\/revisions\/21036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}