Radio Miraya
2683: Political Parties Forum to Validate Code of Conduct in South Sudan: A Step Towards Fair Elections
Today, the Political Parties Forum on the validation of the Code of Condor for Political Parties during elections commences in the capital, Juba. Although United Nations Mission in Saxton has been engaging relevant stakeholders on the need to have the Code of Condor for Political Parties, to understand the code and how the process got here from Unmissed Political Affairs Division, we have the Political Affairs Officer, Duoh Ohenewa Oho, I hope I had that pronunciation right, good morning and welcome to the program. Good morning Irene, I'm happy to be here. Right, so as the United Nations Mission in Saxton, you have been working with relevant stakeholders on the need to develop a Code of Condor for Political Parties. Why is it important for Political Parties or Political Players to have this Code of Conduct? Okay, so weeding the leather parties know they need it. This is something the parties discussed and decided that they need it because there are a number of countries around who have them, including Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, where I come from. So it was a political process, would we, as Unmissed Political Affairs did, was facilitate by giving them the space. So the decision was by the parties, we only came to give the space for them to be able to do it. And with the Political Parties Council that has now been set up, that's how we got to this place. Right, yes. So just facilitating the process. Exactly. Okay, so why is it important that these political players do have this Code of Conduct? Okay, so basically, like any other social groups, you need rules and regulations. So this is something that they sat and agreed amongst themselves that they needed to regulate how they are membership their leaders and would behave so that it is easier for them to have a guide, so to speak, apart from, of course, the Constitution and the rules under it, they have their own specific rules that guides them. This was mutually agreed. And because they all expound certain democratic principles, it's good to have this enshrined in a document for guidance. Yes, so that's why they decided they wanted to do it. And they have actually gone through an interesting process. We started this way back last year, had a number of meetings, and this is the culmination of that. Right, I see. So just tell us about the event happening today. What is it? What is this meant? Like I said, the parties have had a lot of engagement, series of engagement. It's been very consolidated. So now we have a final document, and this document has been discussed over and over again. So we are just formalizing the process that they've already been through, so that they all have copies of the document. They're going to see if the weddings are the same, and then we just have an official ceremony. Yes, the whole pool be attending. Oh, we have many government ministries. I do know that peace building, parliamentary affairs, interior, and I know that of course the PPC is having invited a guard. I know the African Union, and I think Troika as well. So all the relevant stakeholders who are interested in democracy will be there. Right, and I understand that Anvis is facilitating, but again, we would like to understand the process. How were the stakeholders involved in this final document until this validation process? Okay, so somewhere last year, we almost before the PPC was formally inaugurated, have been hosting the political parties forum. We do sometimes for youth in the parties or the parties we do for our political parties, women. So one of those meetings was when that idea was raised that way, they saw to do not have this. So that was when the discussion started, but formally we started assisting, I mean, facilitating this process in September. There was a PPC, but a political parties forum to discuss, and then in December, the drafting started. Right. And the drafting was finalized as last year, December, last year, December, the drafting started in earnest, and that's when we facilitated by giving them a forum again, and doing the comparative analysis with the various countries that I said, particularly Kenya and Zambia. So they had a guide, and then they came up with a document. So that suited the particular circumstances of South Sudan. So that's how we got here. It's been a consultative process, and it has given the parties an opportunity to actually be democratic, because the various parties had interest that everybody wanted to bring in, but they had to listen to each other and come to a consensus. So it's been an interesting democratic process in itself. Right. So the other important aspect is the buy-in of the code by the public. Why should the public know this code and support it also? Okay. So political parties are made up of people. So when people are the public, so you may not belong to a political party now, but once you're interested in democracy, it is important to know what rules govern it. Most important thing about political parties is that they are not meant only for elections. They are meant to governance. It's a bigger umbrella. So this is hope that even beyond any election, we have political parties that engage with each other, that educate the public on what is happening. So it makes democracy accessible to everybody. Yes. Okay. Well, I do want to thank you so much for making our time to speak to us. Well, I know that today is a validation. What you'll be validating cross-checking if the warnings are the same, just like you said it. What are your expected outcomes in this? We hope that once this form our process is over, we would assist, as an honest, we would assist the political parties council to do a dissemination, a country-wide dissemination for ordinary people across the country to have it. We hope to get funding and ensure that we put it in other local languages as well, so that it's not just in English or Dubai or Arabic, but it's accessible to other people. So basically, we hope that people get to understand it because people are those who make up the political party membership and they are the political parties leaders. And people are generally interested in what's happening with governance. That's true. Yes. That's the best way to ensure a sustainable democracy. Thank you so much for your time.