AMECEA: Trains JPC Coordinators Ahead of South Sudan’s General Elections
Fr. Paul Igweta In Charge Human Integral Development at AMECEA during the TOT training in South Sudan
Ginaba Lino
At a four-day training for the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), coordinators for the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SSSCBC) to be Training of Trainers (ToT) on civic education prior to the upcoming General Elections for the country have been reminded that the training is preparation to understand the process of elections.
The training which commenced Tuesday, August 20, in South Sudan’s capital Juba, aimed to equip the JPC Coordinators from the Dioceses on civic education and observer mission to enhance democratic participation and integrity.
“As a team of the Bishops’ conference in Sudan and South Sudan, we would like to see that we have good elections in this country and that our country remains stable, the Bishop President of the Integral Human Development Commission at SSSCBC Rt. Rev. Barani Edwardo Hiiboro Kussala said in his opening remarks while appreciating individual Dioceses who sent representatives for the meeting and those from the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC).
The Prelate who is the Local Ordinary for the Catholic Diocese of Tombura Yambio laments the slow preparation of the elections in the country and disclosed that all the necessary infrastructure has not been put in place yet.
He further appreciated the AMECEA team for their thoughtfulness in training the coordinators for the elections saying that AMECEA is in the heart of the Bishops’ of Sudan and South Sudan as the Bishops would love to see a stable South Sudan.
Meanwhile, the Coordinator for the Department of Promoting Integral Human Development (PIHD) at AMECEA Fr. Paul Mung’athia Igweta who spearheaded the team, highlighted that AMECEA aims to continue rolling out activities that support peace in South Sudan through the Conference.
“I have a lot of interest in this country especially from the resolutions of the Bishops’ assembly that we need to create a spirit of “Ameceaness” and this spirit we are creating through conflict resolutions,” Fr. Igweta narrated adding that AMECEA came up with the activity of preparing the Church on civic education for the preparedness of elections.
He narrates that their main concern is to make sure that the Church understands how people participate in voting, how they register voters, and how the voters go to the polling station and for their preferred candidate.
“The aim of doing this civic education is for the Church to become an activist in profiling peaceful messages during the election” the AMECEA PIHD Coordinator stated and explained, “Elections is a process, and the earlier the people are prepared to participate in voting, to register, go to the polling station and vote their preferred candidate the better.”
He encouraged the members of JPC to pay attention during the training so they could understand clearly what they are expected to do when carrying out civic education.
Other than building capacity and awareness on transition and elections, the training that brought over 15 JPC members from different dioceses across South Sudan also sought to create a pool of resourceful personnel who are fully equipped with issues around transition and election as well as conflict sensitivity, community building, and observation.
The Secretary General of the SSSCBC Fr. Peter Suleiman expressed his expectation that the participants need to do the right thing when carrying out the civic education program and implement what they have learned.
“Share the experience by interacting and making it applicable after the training” Fr. Suleiman emphasized and concluded, “Let us ensure we apply what we gain here and that it is disseminated at all levels of the Church.”
