The path to a new government is no straight line: slim or broad-based?
The peace deal called for new leadership positions of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) within the government. Then came the Cairo Agreement between the government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), followed by the Abuja Peace Agreement on Darfur, both of which called for greater power sharing.
But the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has kept its share of government jobs, which has translated to an increase and division of ministries to create even more positions. These expansions were’t protested because they suited the NCP; greater numbers of functionaries have made it much easier to maintain their majority and swallow the opposition, crowding out anyone with an eye on regime change.
A full treasury, thanks to the discovery and export of oil, gave the NCP plenty of resources to finance an expanding government. But now that the south’s independence means Khartoum’s treasury will lose 73% of Sudan’s oil production, the government is getting nervous about what many see as an inevitable economic crisis.
I'm the first person ready to resign if this helps achieve an agile government.”
Officials are now calling for a more agile government” to offset the imminent loss of wealth. Ali Mahmoud, the Finance Minister, proposes a reduction of bloated state structures and a leaner governmental profile.
Although the plan has been endorsed by the NCP leading office, it seems to fly in the face of President Omar al-Bashir’s plan of a broad-based government” principle that is meant to accommodate all political parties.
NCP leaders differ in their interpretations of these two directions.
Nafie Ali Nafie, Bashir’s assistant, denies any discrepancy between an agile government and a broad-based one. Reduction of any size doesn't mean it can’t involve others,” he said.
Talking about a broad-based government doesn't necessarily mean the expansion of positions.”
Qutbi Mahdi, Chairman of the NCP political sector, takes a similar position, adding the slimming program can be handled objectively according to work requirements.
While it is true that the previous period necessitated the expansion of constitutional posts, this issue doesn’t exist now,” he said. Talking about a broad-based government doesn't necessarily mean the expansion of positions.”
This will need some clarification, however, considering the NCP currently heads more than 22 out of a staggering 34 ministries - more than twice the European average.
Finance Minister Mahmoud’s approach seems more realistic. Asking his party’s ministers to prepare to make an exit at any time for the public interest,” he added, I'm the first person ready to resign if this helps achieve an agile government, even if it comprises only ten people.”
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NCP’s Political Secretariat, Dr. Al-Haj Adam Yusif, had this take on a broad-based government: Accommodating the parties doesn’t mean creating a large number of positions. A political party can be presented by one person only.”
Students of government could be forgiven for getting a dizzy spell from the bureaucracy implied by the changes that lie ahead. Before the NCP’s formation of a committee to review the state profile, sources revealed to Al-Intibaha that three other committees had been created to develop a structure for the new government after 9 July.
These committees suggested three scenarios, that reduce the number of ministries to 24, 16 or 15. They have recommended merging the ministries of Guidance and Endowment, Humanitarian Affairs, and Youth and Sports into the Ministry of Social Planning.
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Another proposal would merge the Ministry of Human Development with the Ministry of Labour and Administrative Reform. The Ministries of Aviation, along with the Transport, Roads and Bridges Ministry could be absorbed by the Ministry of Services, Transport and Communications.
The Ministry of Industry could be merged with the Ministry of Foreign Trade; the Ministry of Investment with the Ministry of Finance; the Ministries of Bridges, Electricity and Dams could be collapsed into one; likewise the Ministries of Education, Higher Education and Science.
The Ministry of Culture could merge with the Ministry of Tourism, and the Ministry of Energy and Mining with the Ministry of Petroleum. And so on.
The committees have also proposed abolishing the Ministries of Science and Technology, Environment and Parliamentary Affairs, which some may find a setback.
"To form a leaner Sudanese government, maybe we should have a Ministry of Agility," quipped a commentator.
At the same time, the NCP’s negotiations with the National Umma Party (UNP) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) could pave the way to greater participation in government.
The struggle in Sudan has revolved around power and fortune: who will rule, rather than how to rule.”
Nevertheless, Osman Sharif says: We are against a bloated bureaucracy and the creation of unnecessary posts for the sake of political appeasement,” he said. We want reasonable and balanced government.”
Talks in Qatar between the government and Darfuri armed forces will also produce executive positions, since the agreement states that Darfuris will continue to hold their current five positions in the Cabinet and four positions in state ministries. Two other cabinet ministers and four state ministers will also be nominated.
Abdu Mukhtar, a political science professor, says: It's difficult to form an ‘agile government’ in light of the known pressures, especially when we consider the promises given in Doha to the Darfurian movements.” He expects other parties will ask for reciprocity, such as representatives of Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Eastern Sudan.
Others argue that putting a bloated Sudanese government on a diet is a theoretical exercise. It all comes down to oil wealth, or lack thereof, and the prospects of peace or war.
