Students urge NEC to include East Africa in voter registration

Sudanese Students across East Africa studying in different institutions were shocked by the list of countries where Sudanese citizens would be able to register for the elections in 2011.

According to the National election act 2008 (Art. 22:3) “a Sudanese resident outside the Sudan who possesses a Sudanese passport and a valid resident visa in the country where he/she resides and satisfies the conditions provided under paragraph (a), (b) (d) of section 21 of the election act shall have the right to apply for registration or inclusion in the electoral register for the election of the President of the Republic of the Sudan or in the Referendum in accordance with the Rules”.

Students protestor

In an interview with students in Uganda from Kampala International University (KIU) most of them blame politics for the decision saying that countries that were chosen are those countries friendly to the North and it would be a source to rig elections.

“I was upset by the National Electoral Commission, the NEC. Doesn’t it know that there are many nationals in East Africa particularly Kenya and Uganda? I discovered that almost all Arab countries were the ones mentioned for the election abroad. We didn’t want this to happen. If the elections will be free and fair, let all people be included as long as the person has all the demands for the national election act,” said Mori Joseph.

Rodento Lokujia, the chairman of the Sudanese Students Association in Moyo district of Northern Uganda, called on the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) to diplomatically engage the NEC to reconsider students in East Africa who will not be able to reach their home areas for voting so as they will be given a chance to vote.

“The government should as well give us the chance to vote. We need to register to express our democratic rights as citizens of Sudan. We cannot travel up to our home areas to vote because some of us come from as far as Unity State and Warrap. How shall we reach there when studies also demands us here?”

Deng Wol, a student in Kenya, said in a telephone interview that they visited the Sudanese head office in Nairobi, but they did not receive clear information about the exclusion of Sudanese in Kenya for the elections. They would be forced to come home for the elections.

“We have to follow this issue. If it fails then we shall go and register at home. It is our right to vote. If we cannot reach home, we shall mobilize ourselves to register even at the Eastern Equatoria border post,” Wol said.

The countries in the NEC list include: Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Sultanate of Oman, Bahrain, United Kingdom, Belgium as the centre for greater western Europe and Washington, New York, Los Angles as the centres for the USA.

 The selection of these countries however has brought a new wave of mistrust between the two partners to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP), the main players in the Sudanese Political arena.

The GOSS Minister of Regional Cooperation in a report questioned the credibility of the selection of the participants in these elections saying that major countries like Uganda, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia hosting South Sudanese have been left out, yet a great number of South Sudanese live in such countries.