Weekly Press Columns Digest
24 March, 2019
KHARTOUM (Sudanow)—Following more than 60 days of disappearance from the newsstands, Aljareedah daily newspaper reappeared on Sunday full with news, as usual, not to the liking of the government authorities with more than 10 columns in the same vein.
Out of those columns we have selected one which was not directly critical of the government but, instead, targeted the Sudanese Muslim Scholars Organization (SMSO) for denouncing a recent attack on mosques in New Zealand in which a number of worshipers were killed and for failure to do so with regard to protestors who were killed during the demonstrations in Sudan.
Columnist Nahid Gurnas remarked that the SMSO issued a statement in which it condemned the killing of Muslims in New Zealand with Nahid quoting the statement as reading: "the annihilation of the entire world is minor to God than the killing of a single Muslim."
After praying God's mercy to the souls of the Muslims of New Zealand, the columnist blamed the SMSO for failure to denounce the killing of the Sudanese protestors.
She said the Scholars have kept silent towards the Sudanese victims as if they were not Muslims or monotheists and did not deserve God's blessing to their souls.
Seizing the opportunity, Nahid compared the manner in which the authorities in New Zealand dealt with worshipers there to that of the Sudanese authorities towards the protest victims.
She said the Police in New Zealand detected, apprehended and made public the name of the assassin, while the authorities in Sudan kept forming enquiry committees which until now have not identified the assassins and none has yet been arrested for the charges.
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In Al-Sudani daily newspaper of Monday, columnist Lina Yagoub commented on a brawl of statements between the pro-government Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) that was started by DUP former Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman who criticized the NCP just hours after the recent reshuffle in which he was not given a portfolio following a long service with the government of Ingaz.
Dr. Osman said in a TV interview that the NCP is still in power through its institutions and organizations and has not been weaned. He was referring to a declaration by President Omar al-Beshir that he has stepped down from the NCP leadership.
Osman, who was Information Minister for many years and most recently took up the Interior portfolio and who, according to Lina, could have criticized the government, with ample evidence on hand, while he was still a minister.
Despite an immediate denial by Osman, the NCP made an angry retort, describing Osman's remarks as immoral, with the columnist commenting that the NCP was annoyed by the criticism although it was known for tempting politicians with government positions and for dividing the parties and rebel movements for power prevalence.
Lina said immediately following the NCP reaction, Dr. Osman once again criticized the NCP on one of the newspapers, describing it as arrogant and believes that it gives positions as a favor and an honor to politicians. "We are not honored by a ministerial portfolio, but it is the ministry that is honored by us," he said.
If so, Osman could have kicked off a portfolio offer by the NCP but he did not, the columnist said.
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Declaring imposition of the state of emergency law in Sudan nearly a month ago, President Omar al-Beshir said its basic purpose is to fight corruption, corner the corrupts and curb smuggling in the country.
Jamal Ali Hassan, in a column published by Alyoum Altaly daily newspaper of Wednesday added it was expected that the government would develop its anti-corruption plan from using the amateur fishhook for catching small fish to the professional fishnet for catching big fish.
Throughout the past month only one or two very small fishes were caught by this fishhook which the authorities insist on employing for fighting corruption, the columnist remarked, citing the trial of a foreign owner of a factory who was found possessing at Khartoum Airport a sum of foreign currencies exceeding the equivalent of 3,000 dollars permitted for a traveler abroad.
This is not a serious way for fighting corruption and corrupts, Hassan said, suggesting activation of the law of enquiring about the source of the suspected wealth possessed by a person, wondering how an employee can build such a big palace, accumulate such a huge bank account and lead such a luxurious life even if he has a thousand times of his salary.
Both laws should be imposed for fighting corruption and corrupts, he said.
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Al-Zubair Saeed devoted his regular column on Al-Akhbar daily newspaper of Thursday to discussing the medical services in Sudan and the tendency by patients to go abroad for treatment.
Saeed attributed this tendency to the mistrust by people in the doctors and in their performance coupled with the frequently publicized blunders perpetrated by the medical teams such as forgetting muslin in the stomach after the operation.
The missing trust could be restored and the people could be persuaded into having medical treatment at home only by upgrading the medical services in the public hospitals, improvement of the environment and proper training of the physicians of those hospitals and in this case a patient would not think of going to private clinics or travelling abroad for treatment, the columnist said.
He noted that the country is also suffering shortages of specialized, well-trained doctors and, due to the good fame the Sudanese doctor enjoys, many highly specialized doctors migrate for work in other countries as, according to Saeed, it is their right to migrate in search of better economic and living conditions abroad.
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The Sudan is probably the only country where high government positions are downgraded and are not granted due consideration and are distributed for appeasement of a personality or a party or just out of courtesy, without consideration of the required merits, said Om Waddah in a column that appeared in Almeghar Alsyasy daily newspaper of Saturday.
She cited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which the columnists said requires highly qualified personnel, versed in one or two international languages and with an agreeable appearance but, instead, to be appointed in a position of this ministry, an applicant only needs to have an influential person in the government.
For this reason, Om Waddah went on, the Sudanese diplomatic performance is quite modest and the information attaches are absent in confronting hostile media campaigns.
Citing another example of out-of-courtesy appointments, the columnist remarked that seven persons have been appointed as presidential assistants, which she said is an unreasonable number of assistants the president requires.
This presidential assistant position has become a post that fits any size with no specific duty for its occupant who, according to Om Waddah, is placed on the shelf without performing any sort of activity.
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