Aila and the Mannaa’s Committee

The Third Eye
Aila and the Mannaa’s Committee

Diaa Eldin Bilal
Translated by: Mohamed O Ibrahim
(1)
It may be difficult for Wajdi Saleh and Salah Mannaa to comprehend the reaction of the people of Eastern Sudan towards the attempt to smear and discredit the reputation of their son and the former Prime Minister, Mohamed Tahir Aila.
If the Wajdi and Mannaa Committee was just and credible, the tribes would not take sides with their members.
The committee arrested many people and threw them for more than a year in its notorious cells with no trials.
They tarnish the reputation of individuals and harm their families, using an absolute power that is not subject for reviewing and re-examination.
The appeals committee is frozen, the constitutional court is barred, and no one knows the timing for the formation of the (transitional) legislative council.

(2)
Yes to the fight against corruption, and yes to the justifiable and fair retrieving of people’s assets from those who embezzled them but only clean hands that are not defiled with ill motives and incredulity are capable of doing that.

The awkward conduct, the lack of political rationale and the dearth of social sensitivity will ignite fires in the states that will suffocate Khartoum with tensions’ dioxide.

(3)
Amongst all Alingaz (Salvation) era officials, no statesman achieved massive popularity like Mohamed Tahir Aila.
The support that Aila relished in the East was not a result of tribal bias, as he achieved much more than it in the state of al-Gezira.
Aila has never been immune from targeting by his own brothers in the ruling organization.
All of the attempts to damage his standing and symbol with accusations and rumours were disenchanted.
He was getting support and protection from the masses of the state he was governing, paving its roads, taking care of its hospitals and schools and beautifying them with cleanliness.
He was creating schemes to support the vulnerable and upgrading the livelihoods of those with special needs and those of low-paid occupations.
He made the cleanliness a (social) value, and the work a sacred (task), added worth to the time, and gave the (politicians) word of mouth a meaning.

(4)
He was rare to show on public speaking or media interviews.
He vigorously fought against corruption, dismantled the fictitious (National Congress) party institutions, and refused to support the so-called (immigration to God) projects with the state money.
The support that Aila won in the state of the al-Gezira and in the East, added to the recognition of what he has accomplished, indicates the masses’ rejection to the authoritarian groups that were fighting over privileges throughout the years of Alingaz Government.
These groups pave no street, lit no road nor a candle of hope.
Mohamed Taher Aila’s policy was to approach the citizen with services, not slogans, and to deal with him directly, with a banner upraised: Mediators should refrain.

(5)
Before the appointment of Aila, the budgets of the state of al-Gezira were not spent on services and development, but rather end up siphoning in the pockets of a minority that hogged the privileges and incentives.
When Aila came, he was not carrying the Staff of Moses, so he did not create new resources out of the blue but sealed off the absurd drainage of money and returned it to the people in the shape of roads and services that are visible to the naked eye and not only heard off in the false promises.

With Aila in office, there were no longer employees devoted to mock assignments, riding in luxury cars at the expense of ordinary citizens.

With Aila in office, the State of al-Gezira was no longer bankrolling names of deceased persons by the sweat of toilers.

(6)
The support that Mohamed Taher Aila found in the state of al-Gezira was an important lesson for the country’s leadership at the time, that the citizen does not stand with slogans nor side with partisan and tribal loyalties but only supports those who serve him and seek ways to improve his way of life.

With Aila in office, politics was no longer a game of good rhetoric and lip service nor selling the bread of hope in the lanes of the hungry masses.

The masses’ aspirations at the time of application of Aila’s model of governance were raised high to reach the scrapping of the local politician character of a person with white robes, neat turbans, embroidered shawls, shiny shoes, glossy phrases, loud voices, and stuffed dining tables.

Finally,
In politics, acquiring the love of the masses and gaining their support was always attained by the high achievers who work more with their apparent accomplishments speak for them, but never those who throw false promises to achieve their own successes at the expense of public failure, and hold tight with their teeth to keep the seats until the teeth, eventually, fall out.
__________________________
* Refers to the Committee of Eradication of Empowerment of the National Congress Party. Salah Mannaa was one of its highly controversial public faces and influential members. He is the Assistant to the chairman of the Umma Party .
* Alingaz is the Arabic word for Salvation referring to the formal name of the coup that installed General Omer Albasir in power in the name of the Natioan Salvation Revolution.
* The original Arabic column was published in Alsudani daily

ضياء الدين بلال – صحيفة السوداني