LAKES MEDIA

𝐄𝐗𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐆𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐊𝐈𝐈𝐑

Today, the Executive Director in the Office of the President, Hon. James Deng Wal, presented a collection of gifts to His Excellency President Salva Kiir Mayardit following the recent Thanksgiving event held in the President's honor.

The Thanksgiving ceremony was hosted by NILEPET, the Joint Operating Companies (JOCs), and their subsidiaries to express gratitude to His Excellency for the appointment of Hon. Emmanuel Athiei Ayual as Managing Director of NILEPET.

During the event, the institutions presented a number of commemorative gifts to the President as a gesture of appreciation.

Happy 4th of July to our American friends and family

Rejecting Elections Without Offering a Real Alternative Risks Prolonging South Sudan’s Suffering

By Abraham Madit Majak | Lakes Media

South Sudan stands at another defining moment in its young history. Once again, the country faces a difficult choice between moving forward through elections or remaining trapped in an endless cycle of political negotiations and transitional extensions. While opposition groups have rejected the planned elections and called for a comprehensive national dialogue, many South Sudanese are asking an important question: How much longer must ordinary citizens wait before they can choose their own leaders?

The call for another comprehensive dialogue may sound reasonable on the surface. Dialogue is an essential tool for resolving political disputes, building consensus, and preventing violence. However, dialogue without a clear timeline and measurable outcomes risks becoming another mechanism for delaying democratic transition rather than achieving it.

South Sudan has spent years under successive transitional arrangements. The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was intended to provide a roadmap toward permanent peace, constitutional reforms, and democratic elections. Instead, deadlines have repeatedly been postponed while millions of South Sudanese continue to endure poverty, insecurity, unemployment, displacement, poor healthcare, and limited access to education.

Every extension carries a heavy price—not for politicians, but for ordinary citizens.

Children continue to study under trees because schools remain unfinished. Families struggle to access healthcare. Farmers face insecurity that limits agricultural production. Young people graduate with few employment opportunities or none and no hope for their future. Women continue to bear the burden of conflict, displacement, and economic hardship.

South Sudanese deserve better than an indefinite political transition.

Those opposing elections argue that the necessary conditions for free, fair, and credible elections have not been met. They point to security concerns, incomplete constitutional reforms, insufficient civic education, unresolved electoral laws, and restrictions on political freedoms. These concerns are legitimate and deserve serious attention.

However, rejecting elections without presenting a realistic, time-bound alternative creates uncertainty. If elections are postponed again, what guarantees exist that the same challenges will not remain two years from now? South Sudan has experienced repeated delays, yet many of the underlying issues persist because political actors have lacked the urgency to implement agreed reforms.

History demonstrates that transitional governments often become comfortable with extensions. Deadlines are revised, roadmaps rewritten, and implementation postponed. Meanwhile, citizens remain spectators rather than participants in determining their country’s future.

Democracy is not perfect. Elections alone do not solve every political problem. Nevertheless, elections provide citizens with the opportunity to hold leaders accountable and peacefully transfer political authority. Without that opportunity, political legitimacy increasingly depends on negotiated agreements among elites rather than the consent of the governed.

If opposition parties believe elections cannot be conducted fairly, they should continue advocating for the reforms necessary to improve the electoral environment while remaining engaged in the political process. Boycotting elections or demanding indefinite postponements risks weakening democratic institutions instead of strengthening them.

Likewise, the government carries an equally important responsibility. It must demonstrate genuine commitment to creating conditions that inspire public confidence. This includes protecting political freedoms, ensuring security, allowing independent institutions to function without interference, supporting civic education, guaranteeing media freedom, and providing equal opportunities for all political parties to campaign peacefully.

The international community should also shift its focus from simply endorsing extensions toward insisting on measurable implementation benchmarks. Financial and technical assistance should support institutions that strengthen democracy rather than perpetuate transitional governance.

Most importantly, the voices of ordinary South Sudanese must not be overshadowed by political negotiations among elites. Citizens deserve to participate in deciding their nation’s future through peaceful and democratic means.

South Sudan’s independence was won through immense sacrifice. Thousands gave their lives believing future generations would enjoy freedom, dignity, justice, and accountable governance. That promise cannot be fulfilled through endless transitional arrangements.

Another extension of two years without clear guarantees of implementation risks prolonging uncertainty, discouraging investment, weakening public confidence, and deepening the suffering of millions of South Sudanese.

The country does not need another indefinite transition. It needs courageous leadership willing to implement reforms, respect democratic principles, and allow the people—not politicians alone—to determine the future of South Sudan.

The debate should no longer be about whether South Sudan should remain in transition. It should be about how the country can complete that transition responsibly, peacefully, and within a credible timeline that finally returns political power to its citizens.

The people of South Sudan have waited long enough.