05-December-2024

 Weekly Press Columns Digest

 Weekly Press Columns Digest

 

KHARTOUM (Sudanow)—Prominent columnist Zuhair al-Sarraj, writing in Aljareedah daily newspaper of Monday, has called for a "very urgent" emergency plan for resolving the pressing crises of bread, fuel, drugs and money as it is improper to let the people stand in long queues for hours and by the end of the day return home empty-handed.

The situation is not connected with formation of a government as, still, there are agencies that should shoulder the responsibility and there are exigency funds that should be used for the purpose in addition to all available resources for addressing those problems and people should not be left hungry or sick waiting for a new government to lay down plans for defusing those crises, said Sarraj.

Only a few days ago the Vice President of the Transitional Military Council Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hametti) spent in extravagance to worthy and unworthy people and organizations, said the columnist wondering where his treasures have gone and whether he stopped this practice because he secured a seat in the Sovereign Council.

He questioned, after all, where from had Hametti got those funds, adding they certainly belong to the people and he must be asked where he got them from and everyone must similarly be asked about any suspicious wealth.

Sarraj further questioned on the whereabouts of the billions of dollars offered by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and although he denounced the begging policy the defunct regime used to practice, the columnist said this must be applied as part of cooperation and exchange of interests.

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Writing in Alyoum Altali daily newspaper of Tuesday, columnist Jamal Ali Hassan, expressed fears that Prime Minister candidate Abdulla Hamdouk may fail in fulfilling the duties of this office for lacking the required political experience.

The Premier nominee is an outstanding economist with high academic qualifications and an internationally recognized experience but can those qualities assist him in recognizing the starting point for assuming the duties of a prime minister in Sudan where there are conflicting political trends which may influence his performance? Hassan wondered.

He advised Hamdouk to be careful and on continued alert so as not to be carried away by one of those trends and parties that could lead to failure in carrying out his duties.

The columnist said, as he has never experienced politics, the Premier-nominee has to compensate this shortfall by appointing nationalist political advisors to help him in discharging the government affairs.

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Distinguished columnist Al-Tahir Satti, writing in Al-Sudani daily newspaper of Wednesday, has bitterly criticized the authorities for failure to deal with the torrential rainfall and floods of the

rivers that caused heavy losses to the citizens.

Although the early warning unit of the meteorology department has rung the bell of alarm weeks ahead, the authorities seemed to have been taken by surprise and did nothing to protect the people's lives and property against the floods that leveled lodgings to the ground, killed a number of civilians and livestock and swept farms in Khartoum, Kordofan, River Nile and other states across the Sudan, said Satti.

He added that the government officials only fly in a helicopter over the afflicted villages and neighborhoods to have a look and pay courtesy visits to the inhabitants who had to stay beside the debris of their houses, receiving no support whatsoever.

Without receiving any sort of compensation, the affected inhabitants had to rebuild lodges on the same course of the floods without having the authorities to relocate them in safe areas, the columnist said, describing the government authorities as reckless.

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Osman Mirghani, in a column carried by his Altayyar newspaper of Thursday, has criticized a system for appointing ministers in the new government of Dr. Abdulla Hamdouk who, according to the system, is to receive from the Freedom and Change Forces (FCF) three candidates for each ministry for the Prime Minister to choose one of them.

Mirghani said the Prime Minister should be left alone to name persons whom he believes can implement his plans for running the affairs of his government.

He added that Hamdouk must also be free to name the portfolios, suggesting that a number of existing ministries be amalgamated to shorten the list of the cabinet portfolios.

The columnist also suggested to the Prime Minister to reorganize the National Council for Strategic Planning and the National Statistics Bureau because Mirghani believes the two bodies are of high importance and to raise the standard of the Ministry of Tourism because it is the portfolio that can earn hard currency to the treasury, citing Egypt and Turkey which he said reinforce their economies with the proceeds of tourism.

Mirghani noted that during the extinct regime the Ministry of Tourism was held by a person (a Muslim fundamentalist) who believed that the National Museum accommodates idols worshiped by pagans while the Sudan is a Muslim country.

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Columnist Sumayah al-Sayyed, an economist, raised a question on a problem that occurs frequently and causes the loss of millions of dollars each year in the form of perishing hundreds of thousands of lambs onboard ships and consequently to be dumped in the sea.

She said in a column carried by Alintibaha daily newspaper of Saturday that the Sudan this year lost the foreign currency proceeds of 25,000 lambs, among others, intended for export to Saudi Arabia for sacrifice by pilgrims left aboard six ships in Jeddah port for more than a week and died for lack of fodder and water.

Until now no reason was given for this loss neither by the quarantines authority nor by the Ministry of Animal Resources, said the columnist placing the responsibility solely upon the Ministry which she said was given during the defunct regime to persons as part of political or geographic appeasement regardless of qualifications.

Sumayah said those quantities of lambs perished in the sea while the people back home suffered a great deal in finding a lamb to slay as corbans during the past bairam with the public treasury missing badly needed foreign currencies.

 

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MAS/AS

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