SPLM/A-IO to roll out national registration campaign
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) will on Saturday commence mass membership registration and mobilization.
The part, chaired by Riak Machar is seeking to expand its support base in what appears to be a preparation for political showdowns.
Regina Joseph Kaba, the Interim Secretary General of SPLM/A-IO, told The City Review yesterday that the movement was preparing to register its members in readiness for party registration once the political parties’ act is passed.
“The law on political parties is not yet finalised, so we are preparing for registration.” We need to register all our members all over South Sudan so that when time comes for the parties’ registration, we have our documents ready,” SPLM/A-IO Interim Secretary said.
“We are launching this registration on Saturday, including the registration of new members according to their states, their counties, and payams.” We know that one of the conditions for registration is that you should have at least 500 members in at least seven states. “
She said they targeted up to 1000 members for SPLM/A-IO to be on the safe side. She noted that the registration would spill over to nine states and three administrative areas.
“We are launching it here, so that all the states will also start their registration there at the state.” When we finish registering the members, this is where mobilisation will start and the new members will also be registered,” she said.
Not for poll yet
She added that SPLM/A-IO was not anywhere close to preparation for elections until the political parties act is passed to allow parties to officially register.
“Preparation for election and preparation to register members are two different things. We will come to the election after the party has been registered. For us it will be party registration and for other parties, it is renewal of registration,” Regina added.
In May 2022, SPLM/A-IO inaugurated a secretariat in Unity State in preparation for party registration after the political parties act is passed.
The Director for Information and Public Relations in the office of the first vice president, Puok Both Baluang, stated that they were not conducting mass mobilisation or rallies for the elections because the election was the last item in implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
“Elections are the endpoint of the agreement, and this was not a rally.” It was [for] preparing our grassroots and trying to set up our foundation as a political party. “After the graduation of the unified forces, we will transform from SPLM/SPLA-IO to SPLM-IO,” he explained.
“This is just a start and a foundation, and people have turned up in huge numbers, celebrating the presence of the SPLM/SPLA-IO in Unity State and other states as well.”
Machar’s movement had been playing cool as SPLM robustly mobilized members in readiness for elections in 2023.
Puok told the City Review in May that their major target was to push for implementation of the prerequisites of the Revitalised Peace Agreement.