When Will We See The Back Of Bashir? A Growing Popular Discontent Is Now Boiling Under The Surface And The Public
10 April 2015
By Osman Mirghani
I do not know why the Sudanese regime has taken the trouble to hold sham
elections that pretty much everyone sees through and whose outcome is already
known. If President Omar Al-Bashir simply extends his term in office by
another five years—that is, in addition to the 25 years and few months he has
already served—he would save the Sudanese people the agony of having to
witness this ridiculous and routine farce. This is not to mention saving the
public treasury from spending hundreds of millions of Sudanese pounds—though
these are the least of Bashir's concerns.
As to why people do not believe the elections are genuine, the reasons are
too many to mention. The most prominent reason is their familiarity with the
National Islamic Front's (NIF) tricks and its obsession with authority, as
well as its determination to cling to power ever since it took the reins in a
deceptive military coup. The NIF has expressed complete disregard for
democracy and the peaceful transfer of power through the transparent process
of acceding to the will of the people. The Islamist group has established its
rule via oppression and intimidation while never hesitating to divide the
country for the sake of monopolizing power over what remaining Sudanese soil
it does have dominion over.
Bashir's nomination—yet again—is among the reasons people disbelieve the NIF
and its ''front,'' the National Congress Party (NCP), and fail to see any
point in holding the elections. This is not to mention that the country's
constitution and the NCP's statute both set a two-term limit for the
president of Sudan.
Bashir himself has repeatedly said that he would not run for another term in
office. By running for the presidency yet again Bashir has shown how little
he respects the country's constitution, not to mention publicly breaking his
own promises. As typical of all Islamist groups, the NIF is driven by sheer
greed for power and money and never hesitates to muffle dissent in order to
monopolize power, which it sees as a privilege rather than a weighty
responsibility.
The NIF leaders have given bizarre justifications for Bashir breaking his
promise, again, and standing for election. A leading NIF figure, Nafea Ali
Nafea, said that after examining and assessing the proportion of what has
been achieved during Bashir's current term in office the NIF has realized it
has exceeded what his electoral program had promised. Such talk made people a
few years ago adopt the ''We laugh at what we hear'' slogan, since the
reality has always been different from the government's slogans and
fabrications. Bashir himself followed suit when he said he would not have run
for president had it not been for ''public insistence'' for him to do so and
promised that if re-elected he would leave power in 2020. Well, now he
appears to have forgotten his promises to quit politics once his current term
expires. In a statement made a few days ago, Bashir ironically said: ''We do
not deceive people or lie to them and the civilized project [of his
government] will lead to Paradise.''
The former vice-president and ''emir'' of the NIF, Ali Osman Taha, defended
Bashir's nomination, saying that the present political and security
conditions in Sudan required Bashir to continue his presidential duties. He
also denied that the ruling party wants to appoint Bashir president—as though
his already 25 years in power had not been a veritable life sentence slapped
on the helpless people of Sudan. Some of those affiliated with the government
have been more brazen, saying quite openly that they would like to remain in
power whether through elections or other means.
And after all this, the regime is still pointlessly trying to stir up
people's interest in the elections through statements by ruling party
officials or President Bashir's numerous tours throughout the country. But it
seems that the government and the people are on two different planets.
Those following Sudanese news websites will be able to witness the sheer
number of caustic comments ridiculing the elections and the official
statements. Even in Khartoum's newspapers, news of the elections are dwarfed
by those reporting the suffering of the Sudanese people as a result of meager
living conditions and rampant corruption.
In fact, the majority of the Sudanese people are preoccupied with solving
their own everyday problems and the economic crisis that has driven poverty
rates to 47 percent according to official figures and 60 percent according to
experts.
People know that without the remittances which millions of Sudanese expats
around the world send to their families each year, the majority of the
country would have been crushed by poverty, bar the very few well-to-do and
those benefiting from the regime and its widespread corruption. As such, a
growing popular discontent is now boiling under the surface and the public
has shown complete indifference towards the elections, whose outcome they
already know.
A tree is the symbol of Bashir's electoral campaign, which the ruling party
dubs ''The Citizen.'' The question on many Sudanese people's tongues today is
not how much Bashir will win the election by but, just when will Sudan see
the back of him and his clique?
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