12-December-2024

Weekly Press Columns Digest

Weekly Press Columns Digest

 

KHARTOUM (Sudanow)—Columnist Hanady al-Siddeik has mildly criticized the present government, saying it was not up to the expectations of the people towards many of the demands of their popular revolution.

Writing in Aljareedah daily newspaper of Sunday, Hanady said her criticism is sort of drawing the attention of the government that should not be interpreted as supporting the counter-revolution but to reassure the "worried" revolutionaries that their demands would be served by the government.

She made her criticism in the form of questions beginning with the reasons that prevented the Prime Minister from taking decisive decisions that cope with the demands of the revolution despite the elapse of three weeks of his appointment to the office.

She posed a number of questions; including failure by the Prime Minister of taking a decision on suspension of the activities of some companies which documents showed they have been behind the decline of the country's economy throughout the Ingas rule and which were run by leading figures of the National Congress Party (NCP) that operated until the last days of the defunct regime.    

Hanady wondered why the ministers of the present government have not until now taken any measures towards the leading figures of the extinct regime who took positions in those ministries illegally following suit of their regime that took power by force of arms.

She also wondered about failure by the government in taking measures towards "smugglers" within the personnel of Khartoum airport responsible for the still going on smuggling of gold and foreign currencies through the airport.

The government is expected to take immediate revolutionary decisions that make happier the revolutionaries who have sacrificed dearly for the success of their revolution, the columnist said.

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Columnist Al-Tahir Satti, writing in Al-Sudani daily newspaper of Monday, has pointed out the time-consuming and difficulty of dealing with the numerous institutions to which the defunct regime leader Omar al-Beshir divided the ministries of the state and thereby cut down the powers of the corresponding ministers, citing the long time it took the Prime Minister to dismiss the director of the Sudan Television recently.

The Minister of Culture and Information as well as the viewers can now celebrate the occasion after waiting for long to get rid of the director, said the columnist, reminding the Minister of others in the Radio, SUNA, the External Information and other institutions belonging to his Ministry whose change requires exhaustive effort similar to the one needed in the case of the TV director.

Satti cited institutions and units created by Beshir within a number of ministries, like the Dams Unit in the Ministry of Irrigation, to empower his supporters and NCP leading figures.

The columnist made reference to an incident in which the director of Pilgrimage turned down a decision by the Minister of Endowments dismissing him on grounds he was not appointed by the Minister but by the President of the Republic.

The Prime Minister needs three decades, not the three-year transitional period, to replace or get rid of the heads of the institutions which were created by Beshir, considering the long time taken for firing the TV director, said the columnist.

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The dismissal of the directors (vice-chancellors) of all governmental universities was discussed by Asma'a Juma'ah in a column that appeared on Altayyar daily newspaper of Tuesday on the background of a statement by the Minister of Higher Education that the latest meeting of the Council of Ministers has decided to sack directors of all 40 governmental universities.

The columnist said all those directors were appointed by deposed President Omar al-Beshir personally for the interest of the Islamic Movement and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and had nothing to do with education.

This was the main reason for firing the directors who were appointed by Beshir as part of the policy of the defunct regime to empower the Islamic Movement and the NCP for turning the think-tank institutions into paramilitary units for their student supporters to exercise dominance over all activities, including those of the teachers and other students, the columnist said.

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Columnist Adel al-Baz expressed reservation over reservation by the components of the Freedom and Change Forces (FCF) over Juba Declaration that was recently in South Sudan by the Sovereign Council and the Revolutionary Front (RF) which includes the armed (rebel) movements.

In a column carried by Alyoum Altali Daily newspaper of Wednesday, Baz said the reservation of the Sudanese communist Party and the Sudanese Professionals' Association (SPA) of the FCF centers on two articles, 3, 4, of the Declaration.

Article 3, according to the columnist, provides that the government delegation consented to postponement of formation of the legislative council and appointment of governors for the country's states until a peace agreement is reached by the two sides.

As regards article 4 which deals with amendment of the constitutional Document for participation by the RF components in all bodies of the Transitional Authority after reaching a peace agreement, the government delegation said it would respond to this in the next meeting of the two sides.

Baz pointed to peace as the most important issue in the change process and wondered about the FCF reservation while their representatives were part of the government delegation that negotiated Juba Declaration.

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Economic columnist Sumayah Sayyed devoted her column that appeared on Alintibaha daily newspaper of Thursday to a slaughterhouse that was recently launched in a suburb of Khartoum North.

Built under international specifications, the abattoir was meant for exportation of meat, an activity that was abandoned by the defunct regime for no obvious reasons, although it is much more profitable than exporting livestock, noted Sumayah.

The slaughterhouse is one of the investment projects of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) which, like other organized forces, have escaped a wide-scale privatization campaign by the toppled regime that covered more than 300 governmental companies.

Such SAF projects contribute a great deal to the country's economy, particularly this one which earns foreign currencies that are much needed by the Sudan's economy, said the columnist citing GIAD Industrial Group which includes different industrial activities.

She said SAF operates in several civil activities of production, including infrastructure, building companies, communications, etc., Sumayah noted, adding that the Sudanese army is becoming a producing establishment like some African and Arab countries, citing Egypt saying its products and activities dominate the Egyptian market.

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Genuine integration between Sudan and Egypt was the theme of a column by Yassir Mohamed Mahmoud and carried by Alwatan daily newspaper of Saturday underlining the importance of such an intimate relationship, considering the deep-rooted geographic and historic ties in addition to the eternal River Nile that crosses the two countries.

Mahmoud said the relations between the two countries were unnaturally reserved and cool due to political reasons and to regional and international blocs and alliances that affected the common interests of Khartoum and Cairo.

The columnist said the Sudan and Egypt can benefit greatly if they exploit their rich natural and human resources, noting that the Sudan possesses more than 200 million arable feddans (acres) that can engage four million Egyptian farmers, in addition to bounteous animal wealth from which Egypt can secure its consumption of meats.

The Sudanese market can take in a good portion of the Egyptian industrial products, said Mahmoud, predicting that the trade exchange can exceed five billion dollars a year.

He added that full integration can be further strengthened by activation of the Four-Freedoms Agreement that provides for freedom of movement, work, possession of property and trade by the people of one country into the other.

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MAS/AS

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