South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The Vice chancellor for the University of Juba Prof. John Apuruot Akech has asked the revitalized transitional government to release funds to political parties for their campaigns ahead of 2024 general election.
“The RTGONU needs to sit down and support all the parties the SPLM, SPLM-IO, SSOA, they may have issues of resources, give them resources from the public funds so that they can do their own campaigns,” Akech told The Dawn in an interview on Wednesday in Juba.
In January, James Akol Zakayo, the Chairperson of the Political Parties Council initiated the registration process for political parties, opening an all-inclusive plan in preparation for the December 2024 elections.
Akech also revealed that citizens are already debating issues of public concern without restriction on various social media platforms including on WhatsApp and YouTube.
“I think political space is open, people are talking now, people are debating in WhatsApp groups, you do not have to depend on SSBC, you can do your own rally and put it on social media and everybody will watch that, people can read on YouTube,” Akech said.
He also said that there is need to finance activities of political parties from the government coffers, adding that financing campaigns of political parties will create incentive for political parties to connect with people they seek to represent.
“The parties have to be given budget according to the size of the party, they need to have the budget so that they are also able to campaign, the RTGoNU needs to sit down with parliament,” Akech said.
