{"id":53365,"date":"2025-08-26T02:09:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T23:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=53365"},"modified":"2025-08-26T02:09:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T23:09:29","slug":"trying-the-tried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/26\/trying-the-tried\/","title":{"rendered":"Trying the Tried"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Abdelqader Mohamed Ahmed<\/strong><\/p>\n

I heard that the Prime Minister\u2019s recent meeting with officials concluded with the issuance of ten strict decisions aimed at halting the collapse of the national currency. These were described as bold economic measures, which only increased my curiosity to learn more. When I finally found them, I wished I hadn\u2019t. I wished the meeting had never taken place. The only positive thing about it was the photo that accompanied the announcement.<\/p>\n

That picture reminded me of the now-famous photo of the late Hemedti flanked by Prime Minister Hamdok, the Minister of Finance, and the Governor of the Central Bank. The occasion was the same\u2014another crisis of the Sudanese pound. Back then, an \u201ceconomic committee\u201d was formed under Hemedti\u2019s leadership, who declared, \u201cEither we defeat the dollar or it defeats us.\u201d What followed was Hemedti\u2019s departure\u2014and the pound soaring into the skies. At least this time, they seem to acknowledge the catastrophe of inflation and price chaos that has crushed ordinary citizens.<\/p>\n

Even so, they themselves appear unconvinced of the new measures. This was evident in the stammering of the Information Minister, Khalid Al-Ayser, usually an eloquent spokesman, as he read from the statement. I had expected the committee to address the real cause of the crisis\u2014the man standing with them in that photo. The first step toward reform should have been the dismissal of this Central Bank governor, whose failures have been acknowledged across all sectors.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Kamel Idris himself admitted in his first speech that the country\u2019s fundamental problem was the failure to put the right people in the right positions. He now faces the very issue he diagnosed\u2014and must start there, if he is serious.<\/p>\n

Let us examine these so-called \u201cstrict\u201d decisions. The first: forming an Economic Emergency Committee chaired by the Prime Minister. Where is the strictness in that? It immediately recalls the economic committee once chaired by the late Hemedti\u2014are we to expect the same outcome? The second: banning imports without completed banking procedures and blocking goods that fail to meet specifications. This is obvious, and in fact, it damns both the Central Bank and the Standards Authority.<\/p>\n

The third: empowering anti-smuggling forces. This only confirms that such forces are not doing their job. Did this really need a high-level meeting? The fourth: enforcing existing anti-smuggling laws and classifying possession of undocumented gold as smuggling. So the laws weren\u2019t being enforced before? Where is the boldness?<\/p>\n

Then, establishing a national digital platform to track exports and imports \u201cfrom port of departure to arrival in Sudan.\u201d I fail to see how this helps the pound. Another decision: revisiting the Cabinet\u2019s earlier resolution on vehicle imports\u2014issuing a policy, then revising it themselves. The most \u201cserious\u201d decision, supposedly, is to review state-level fees and levies deemed illegal. But previous governments tried and failed to stop states from imposing local taxes\u2014they depend on them for revenue, and they always find loopholes.<\/p>\n

As for assigning one exclusive entity to export gold, this is nothing but trying the tried. Inevitably, it will be a Central Bank company like Shahama, as before. The Central Bank will print money to buy gold, and the vicious cycle will continue.<\/p>\n

I recall when we traveled to Ghana to study its gold policy. The Governor of Ghana\u2019s Central Bank summed it up in one sentence: \u201cThe Bank of Ghana has nothing to do with gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, these ten so-called \u201cbold economic\u201d measures are not economic at all. They are purely administrative, and could have been carried out by any official in his own office. If these leaders truly felt the suffering of citizens under the pound\u2019s collapse, they would have resigned and spared us their failures. But they do not feel it.<\/p>\n

Two members of this committee alone earn over $15,000 a month from Sudatel in meeting allowances and annual bonuses. How can they understand our suffering? Their salaries rise with every jump in the dollar. Meanwhile, I mourn Sudanese refugees in Egypt who depend on remittances from Sudan; within a single week, they have been plunged into destitution.<\/p>\n

I see no solution to the pound\u2019s collapse except removing Governor Al-Burai\u2019s signature from its banknotes. Did I not warn the late former governor back in 2019 that this man was unfit for any office? We stayed silent over Hemedti\u2019s transgressions until he betrayed us militarily\u2014and now they have betrayed us economically. God is our help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Abdelqader Mohamed Ahmed I heard that the Prime Minister\u2019s recent meeting with officials concluded with the issuance of ten strict decisions aimed at halting the collapse of the national currency. These were described as bold economic measures, which only increased my curiosity to learn more. When I finally found them, I wished I …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53367,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53365\/revisions\/53367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}