Dubious money financing Sudanese politics

ByJustin Ambago Ramba

January 21, 2009 — The secret to clear conscience is to be clear with yourself as to what you actually want to achieve in this life. We are all individuals and we have what distinguishes us from others, though none should assume to be the best or above the law in any way.

Some of us can not act on their own without seeking support of well to do person or group. However the comfort of living under a master is simply a sign of mental slavery, whereby the victims who are too scared to venture on their own, end up willingly serving other human gods.

But if we really appreciate our God the Creator, Who chose to create us as a free people, we must do Him respect by maximally using the brain He has given us in free thinking. And it is only the free thinkers who can have the guts to say that the “king is naked.”

It was some twenty years ago when Al Bashir – al Turabi made it to power in what other prefer to call the bloodless coup. While many things have happened since then, however the strategic move by the Islamist to control the politics of this country through laying hands on its economy has very much paid back.

The Sudanese’s politic since time immemorial remains to be dominated by a few who controlled the business of Cotton, Gum Arabic and Ground nuts in the past and now it is replace by those monopolising the communication technology, constructions, war industry and lately the Oil Industry.

However the difference between the owners of today and there predecessors in the past lies in the fact that the present day business is in the hands of the Islamic political organisations as opposed to individuals.

In other wards if black market was run in the past by individuals, under the current system, any such dirty business are directly controlled by the ruling party.

The NCP not only dominates the Sudanese politics, but it also dominates the Sudanese business and flow of money. This is a system characterised by money mentality to the extent that even the police department or security organs are involved in making money that is needed to sustain itself as well as the ruling party.

What the above means is that, the state under the NIF has used all its visible and invisible organs to compete with its traditional enemies, the Umma, the Khatmiya …..and the rest , who used to dominate the Sudanese economy.

We can only say one thing, and that they have so far succeeded to control the Sudanese political life from the very fact that, at the moment besides the southern based SPLM which is lucky to have a free hand over the South’s 50% Oil money, the other traditional Sudanese political parties are no where to match the NCP’s financial might.

Twenty years ago, who would have thought that historical parties like the Umma, the DUP would ever run this low to the extent that they cannot put forward strong candidates of the type that are remembered as the old days icons for their financial powers that allowed them to roam the rural communities buying votes and allegiances.

Today most of the prerequisites set to qualify candidates in these coming elections are put in a way that only a few outside the NCP can afford to fulfil. It is obvious now that Omer Bashir will not be any longer competing with those, “keep my company” candidates like the former Olympic swimming medallist, Kejab or other demented and disillusioned personalities like late Jaa’far Nimeri.

But the fact that it is only al Bashir, who has been cleared by the NEC to run so far, remains to trigger many questions. And it seems most of the candidates in fact wasted their time struggling on how to postpone or cancel the elections and as such failed to properly study the conditions put forwards by the NEC much more earlier.

Another issue was the concept of the Electoral College which was practised by the dominant SPLM and the NCP. However because of the too many changes in the Sudanese political landscapes, even these two big parties failed to fulfil the aspirations of all their members who wanted very much to participate more actively in the coming elections.

In the north, the ruling NCP has for the first time admitted to a massive corruption inside its ranks that led to the president’s dismissal of seven state governors in the past few days. The party chairman, president al Bashir himself was quoted directly accusing his top party leaders in the states of practising tribal politics and buying votes.

Whereas in the Eastern Sudan, where people virtually exist on unfulfilled government promises, the NCP has seen a real split in its ranks with the emergence of independent candidates to run against their party colleagues.

The huge demonstrations held by NCP splinters in the port town of Port Sudan, still exposes the NIF and its lousy security organs of strongly clinging to the infamous Security laws that prohibit free expression, in defiance of the requests from the US administration , UK and the European Union asking the Sudanese government to repeal them.

When candidates no longer have trust in their own party’s electoral colleges, it indicates how undemocratic these parties have become. But no wonder the people who have the proper understanding of what the CPA stands for, are adamant not to give in on the issues of the democratic transformation enshrined in the Interim Constitution.

With there hopes on the International Community and the US administration, the people of the Sudan should hold fast to their constitutional rights and pay their loyalties only to their grassroots for support and reassurance only fear God their creator.

In south Sudan the condition is no different though the details may not be exactly the same. We also have our dominant party which largely draws its money directly from the public coffer, a practise passed as acceptable by SPLM standards in south Sudan.

With generally a weak government in the centre and weaker ones in the states, every south Sudan is dominated by the gut feeling that if they were to be voted in office, they strongly believe that they can do better than the existing, “good for nothing “, executives or their deputies.

It is the undeniable gross failure of the GoSS over the past five years that motivated even party loyalists to resist party decision and insist on running for posts that they think deserve better candidates than the ones put forward by the party.

If those who rebelled against their parties can get the funding, many surprises could be expected come April 2010. This reveals the saddest part of poverty when the poor become even too poor to point poverty on the face for fear of being relegated into abject poverty.

Unfortunately on the other hand, most of the voters due to their lack for genuine nationalism, and the endless struggles of securing their daily bread, they become traditionally hooked around the few candidates who have more to spend and in our case these can be none but the official candidates of the SPLM, NCP or their affiliates.

Until such a time that we are a matured democracy with the right to know the sources of our parties’ finances, we are prone to associate with corrupted money launderers. This fact is a very hard one as even the most die hard party supporters in the whole Sudan tend to extract money from the public coffer using party protection, than any of them proudly paying their subscription fees from their own sweats.

Otherwise we can only have insight into our candidates once they come forwards and present their programs to us in face to face debates to be broadcasted in the media. Again! We need to make informed choices.

Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba, M.B, B.Ch, D.R.H, MD. He can be reached at either [email protected] or [email protected]