Former Central Equatoria State Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony has unveiled a five-point agenda aimed at strengthening the SPLM party, mobilizing support for electoral victory and expanding the party’s grassroots structures ahead of the December general elections.
Adil, who is seeking election as SPLM chairperson for Central Equatoria State in the party’s primaries, announced the agenda on Tuesday while addressing journalists. He said his proposals were informed by calls from party members across the state’s six counties and Wonduruba administrative payam.
He said his priorities would include mass mobilization for electoral victory, membership recruitment, political training, resource mobilization, and the empowerment of women, youth, and other special groups.
“We will mobilize and unite our masses behind the SPLM vision, mission, core values, and objectives while strengthening the party structures and the electoral preparedness to secure overwhelming victory for the SPLM candidates,” he said.
Adil stressed his party’s need to strengthen its structures and prepare members to support candidates seeking various elected positions, from the presidency to state and national legislative assemblies.
He added that efforts would be made to bring together candidates who succeed and those who lose during the party congresses to ensure a united campaign ahead of the general elections.
The second priority, according to Adil, would be expanding SPLM membership through continuous recruitment across the six counties, with particular attention to strengthening grassroots structures at the Boma level.
On political education, Adil said he would strengthen existing training programs and establish additional centers targeting women and youth.
He said the party would also build on an existing political school in Morota, Kajo-Keji County, to improve ideological orientation, political education and leadership development among its members.
“Because that is very important, members who are capacity-built are ready to stand and manage the society, right from Boma out to the state at the national level,” he said.
Adil said the SPLM would mobilize financial, material and logistical resources from its supporters and other partners to strengthen its operations. He also cited agricultural projects and the development of party infrastructure across the state as part of the proposed resource mobilization strategy.
His fifth pillar focuses on empowering women, youth, veterans, persons with disabilities and other special groups within the party.
Adil said the groups should have greater participation and representation in SPLM leadership structures, in line with the party’s policies. He cited the party’s commitment to 35 percent representation for women and 20 percent for youth, saying their involvement would remain central to his proposed leadership.
“We will strengthen the participation, representation, and empowerment of the women, youth, the veterans of the SPLM, persons with disabilities, and other syndicated groups in accordance with the SPLM policy,” he said.
However, Adil clarified that the five-point agenda was specifically intended to strengthen the SPLM as a political party and was not a governance programme for Central Equatoria State.
“At that particular time, we call upon our members to be patient. That time will come; we’ll unveil this in their questions. We will listen to them in their concerns,” he said.
The former governor also urged SPLM members and supporters to maintain peace and unity during the ongoing internal party elections, warning against hate speech, intimidation, harassment and misinformation.
“We should exercise politics of ideas and issues as opposed to politics of incitement. If you have no agenda, kindly just keep quiet,” he said. “Instead of insulting a brother or a sister, which I think will inflict damage on the unity of the members of this party.”
He further urged candidates to accept the outcome of the internal democratic process, saying those who fail to win should continue supporting the party.
Adil said the SPLM was founded on principles of unity, peace and progress and should not allow internal competition to undermine its cohesion.
The SPLM is conducting internal party congresses to elect leaders at different levels as the country prepares for the December general elections.
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