Is Sudan a Banana Republic?

One should replace the fruit with petrol, and then decide for oneself: a kleptocratic government, a primitive economy dependent on a single export commodity; an unstable political system ruled by a one party, military and business elite; the Human Development Index one of the lowest and the corruption one of the highest on this planet Earth.

Moreover, there is a religious twist to all this: leaders are using both patriotic and religious language as a cloak for evil and criminal activities: robbing the country with the help of thoroughly organized criminal gangs that operate an extensive system of swindling...arms dealing...narcotics trade... In other word a mafia. A mafia that got dozens of "interpreters" to distort the essence of religion as it likes, and use religion as an instrument of intimidation and oppression in order to silence any resistance, thus cover up deceit and corruption...

From the recent scandals that erupted in the media we can learn that corruption is a serious crime in Sudan - unless you belong to the ruling plutocracy. If you are one of them, you are untouchable. Asking for and receiving bribes is no longer something that has to be done quietly. It is not something to be ashamed of anymore. It's not driven by need, but more likely by greed. Most disturbingly, it has become an accepted norm.

This mafia feels so mighty, its gangsters so secured and protected, that they became so arrogant they steal in broad daylight, openly, in front of the public. And they will never give it up. They are good for nothing else, so if they give it up, they give up privileges, they give up comfort, they give up luxury, simply said they give up everything they've got. So, once again, they will never give it up. Peacefully, that is.

The authorities of our Banana Republic will never come down hard on corruption. This regime found corruption very useful: it feeds a gang of loyal followers that doesn't question the regime's authorities, doesn't try to weaken it or overthrow it. To the contrary, at any time necessary they will turn into packs of bloodthirsty animals that will defend it to the end: no one else would provide for such a comfortable, often luxurious life.

And as long as the society condones it as an accepted norm and allows it to fester, corruption will never end.

In Sudan all areas of life, without exception, even those with minor public aspect, are affected by corruption. By all means, the biggest disaster of all is the corrupt judiciary. Even before these latest scandals we knew that the judiciary is rotting starting from the court officers all the way up to the majority of highest level judges. Now we can be sure of the extent of the damage: once the president of the constitutional court is implicated in graft, what to expect from the lower courts?!

We know from the history that the decay of the justice system is the last stage in the demise of a failing empire, kingdom or regime...

Our Banana Republic has a new, almost genome-identical offshoot to its south. At the time of the secession our southern brothers and sisters carried with them to South Sudan the malign cells of this carcinoma called corruption, and it spread rapidly to every organ even before they got the chance of developing fully. May God have mercy on this young nation with a government where a bamboozler like Ashraf the "Cardinal" can walk into almost any minister's office just like a husband walks into his bedroom.

I will dedicate my next post to the "givers", the corruptors such as the parvenu "Cardinal". About the "receivers" like Sabdarat and the like, enough ink has been wasted already...

Please keep in mind that while I am in prison it takes some time for information to reach me, and for my replies to get out. Please allow couple of days for your comments to get answered.

Ahmed