Municipal and rural councils.. How can they contribute to solving homeland issues?

d. Fakhraldin Awad Hassan Abdulaal *
Translated by Moatinoon

Municipal councils are the first building block of the system of decentralized governance and administration. The various sectors of the people in a geographical area determined by law are able to elect a council to achieve the development of that service and develop the economic, political, administrative, social, cultural, sports, educational, environmental, etc., and then move it forward.

In doing so, they seek to achieve and provide for local needs and to engage the Services population in the formulation of community policy by preparing and monitoring local development schemes.

In most countries of the world, there are municipal/local elections in which independent parties and personalities compete, through a programme to be presented to the residents of the neighbourhood/Hareh/village/region. These councils have played a significant role in the management of society, as well as enabling people to participate in governance and administration.

It is worth mentioning that many Sudanese immigrants have been able to win in their respective districts and become members of municipal councils in the diaspora, especially in the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries of the world. The last one to hear him win the local/municipal elections in the British city of Brighton is our dear friend Dr. Yes Hassan.
Many may believe that the proposal to establish municipal and rural councils is inapplicable in the Sudan, and that it needs substantial funding. I respond to them that the Sudanese people have been able, and through unique creative experiences, they have accumulated their experiences in organized community work. It started cooperating in villages and furfans to establish schools, hospitals and even supply electricity and water. These experiences developed recently when the Government of Islamists destroyed all vital and strategic State facilities and sold scrap mechanisms, trains, ships and aircraft.

The young people of the Sudan emerged, advanced classes and were able through unique systems such as accident streets in the health sector, and similar projects in education, environmental health and afforestation. While the authorities, their security arms and others were clearing forests and adding to the negative impacts of desert encroachment, the sectors of the people tended to protect forests and counter other forms of vandalism and destruction by the authorities.

Yes, the Sudanese peoples sectors, especially young people, have been able to establish charitable and voluntary associations whose work has covered all fields. The accumulation of these experiences and experiences constitutes the butter of the December Revolution of resistance committees, and their response not only to resistance, but also to construction, reconstruction and service delivery in their regions.

These creative experiences will be very useful in applying the proposal of elected municipal and rural councils of rules/inhabitants of each geographical region. We will come up with a full-fat Sudanese democratic system, drawing on the experiences of others in the regional and international oceans.

I also stop with a unique creative experience that has had a great impact on enriching the cultural and sports arena, the school courses, which have resulted in the emergence of stars and leaders in all fields. The school course, along with various sports activities, included theatre, poetry, story, literary throwing, etc. The result is very clear in enriching the countrys various arenas.

Without practice, our people, especially young people, will not have the experience, science and culture of democracy. In my view, the beginning of municipal and rural councils in which all sectors and groups of society, such as farmers, pastoralists, professionals, young people, housewives, persons with disabilities... etc., represent the starting point for genuine stakeholders participation in the governance and administration of their regions. And then the escalation from the lower level to the upper level to the State Council, and then the National/Federal Council.

Genuine democratic construction starts from the lowest to the highest (hierarchical form) in a continuous life cycle through periodic elections in which the people exercise their full and undiminished powers. Because the pure democratic practice, which starts from the top down through resolutions and whistleblower/quota conferences, will neither succeed in our environment nor entrench the concepts and culture of democracy. Municipal and rural councils are the seed that we need to plant in our environment and our land, and then take care and care to bear fruit and also shade all over the country with development and peace.

* * What are the advantages/benefits of municipal and rural councils and how can they contribute to solving the countrys issues?

Municipal and rural councils, elected from the bases, the main objective of my proposal is to apply the slogans of the December Revolution in Freedom, Justice and Equality, by making a real change in the structure of the State, from the rule of the civil and safeguard administrations, the rich, sectarianism and other manifestations of the old Sudan to the rule of youth that blew the revolution and its dowry with blood. Hence, our countrys transfer from a summit-begging State to a State of production, peace, reassurance and safety.

Municipal and rural councils achieve several objectives, including but not limited to, and without order of importance:

* Provides an opportunity for practical training and thus a deep understanding of the meaning of the decentralized system of government, the ability to choose between federal and confederate systems of government, etc., or the creation of a system of government suited to our environment, together with the report on the unity of the homeland, the right to self-determination through the peoples power and not the guardianship.

* Allows popular participation in the conferences of governance and constitution-making and everything that matters to the people during the transition period, rather than the current representation and quotas that lead us to a dark tunnel.

* They become a safety valve for democracy and an antidote to coups d état under the pretext of legitimacy! It monitors inclusivity, wars and conflicts.

* Manages important local issues affecting citizens such as crime, foreign presence, market control, environmental health (such as afforestation and greenery), education, culture and sports, etc.

Much of the worlds countries are moving towards regional self-government, popular participation in governance and administration, and giving their legislators very broad powers to municipal and rural councils at the expense of central authorities, thus becoming an antidote to power and wealth conflicts. For example, central or state land authorities cannot believe any land in the region, without the approval of their municipal council.
All local services are carried out by municipal councils and employ the people of the region, especially young people. We have seen how our country drowns in garbage in the total absence of government authorities.

Certification of everything that passes through the competent council that represents and expresses the citizens of the region. It is also responsible for the budget and its constant control, which reduces financial and administrative corruption and blocks its outlets, increases and exists services in the region. There is strict application of governance and popular control, under constant supervision and follow-up.

* Municipal councils, an effective means of localizing/deepening/rooting a culture of democracy, spreading awareness of civil and political rights and others, knowledge of rights and duties, through actual practice, oversight, governance and transparency, and subsequent accumulation of expertise enabling permanent upgrading of never end improvement

* Municipal councils elected from the bases train and qualify in practice people, especially young people, for democratic institutional political work. Hence paving the way for the emergence of new grass-roots leaders capable of leading change and renaissance.
Municipal and rural councils, where it has been suggested that they should be part of a class and sector with seats for professionals, farmers, pastoralists, disabled persons, etc., with able seats for young people and women, can communicate with generations and refine ideas and visions for the benefit of the wider community.

* The industry of new leaders pursuing science and modernity:

The Sudan suffers from a lack of renewal and modernization of systems and leadership. These councils give us the opportunity to train and qualify new generations in democratic practice and to address public action, communication, listening and politeness in the presence of the people, thereby paving the way for young people to lead the country in the future while armed with a good repertoire of science, knowledge and experience gained through the service of their communities.

* It can determine how parties are funded and immunize the country from foreign interventions:

I have previously participated in several seminars and workshops on how to finance parties and how we create an antidote to foreign interventions, and financial and business owners control over party decisions through finance and submitted a proposal at a workshop held in the United Kingdom that parties should be financed from the States general treasury according to criteria, most notably an estimated and specific proportion in municipal council elections, to be adopted as parties and subsequently financed.

* A way to know the parties real weight, and thus the number of parties is limited and known:
Party membership in municipal councils is a de facto criterion and indicator that defines us as party weights, as well as their division into national and state parties. This is a way of limiting the number of parties and actually knowing their truth.

In other words, these councils are the basis of democratic practice and across them the parties recognize their weight. Those who cannot earn the trust of the people, and do not achieve achievements in the grassroots municipalities, are not eligible for achievements at the highest level.

* Reduce the impact of money on elections:

The traditional patterns of elections that took place in our country before have enabled those who possess the money and the direction to win the elections. Thus, competencies, expertise and youth are removed from the progress of their country. This electoral system is called by some political scholars the system of pillage and spoils!, The municipal system and the escalation of neighbourhoods are therefore closer to others in terms of equal opportunities.

* An antidote to marginalization, racism and anti-racism:

One of the main causes of the wars and conflicts in the Sudan is the claims of marginalization, the control of certain groups over the countrys governance and administration, and the exploitation of racist and anti-racist advocates in such a way as to enable them to control governance by pursuing a policy of difference that obstructs and addresses tribal and religious emotions.

The system of municipal and rural councils involves not only broad participation, but also inclusive participation of all Sudanese in governance, administration and development, from the neighbourhood/village to the highest organs of government. Thus, it is an antidote to the elimination of claims of marginalization, racism and counter-racism, the sovereignty of national unity, peace and love and the peaceful removal of warlords, religious traders and racism from the political sphere.

* Municipal councils represent the legitimacy of the people, and it becomes the people who administer and govern the country:

The worst thing with all the experiences of governance in the Sudan is the reliability and blame of others in case of failure. Each individual or group blames and blames others.
So our antidote to this unhealthy atmosphere is for everyone to participate in the governance and administration of the country. Participation begins with the selection, monitoring and ongoing evaluation of the neighbourhoods council member through periodic elections. System governance systems enable transparency, oversight and accounting.

* Managed to deploy cooperatives and stimulate production:

The existence of municipal and rural councils supports and supports the cooperative movement and leads to its spread, particularly its productivity, and thus to collective action and the peoples ownership and development of their resources. The municipal and rural councils system directly contributes to production, greenery and environmental health.

* The accumulation of experience and work in municipal and rural councils contributes to the transfer of our parties from Safavi, Sectarian and Paralympic/Individual Station to the democratic institutional builders. Democratic systems are based on democratic parties, which have not yet existed in our country, owing to the long periods of dictatorship and oppression exercised by the totalitarian and military Governments that governed the Sudan, and their manipulation of the parties and their demonization in favour of their authoritarian projects. Our Sudanese parties, if it is true that we call them parties, are still in the process of being created, that is, they are

Unfortunately, their progress towards democratic institutional construction is delayed by numerous diseases, most notably the paralysis control, which makes them abducted by means of paralysis/individual/inspirational leadership/family. Thus, most of their membership is a herd, which is not involved in decision-making and is the core of democracy.
The electoral competition in municipal and rural councils requires the parties to present visions and programmes starting from the neighbourhood/lane/village, i.e. the presentation of their book to the inhabitants of each region as well as its candidates, which requires a democratic institutional action otherwise it is destined to disappear.

Youth cadres who acquire expertise and experience while working in municipal and rural councils are eligible to lead existing parties or form new ones. Staying in the political arena will no longer depend on conception and other practices that have harmed our political career, but on peoples acceptance. In that, everyone compete.

One of the basic demands of municipal councils, we have moved through scientific and systematic plans and with a peoples drive, from a begging people to a productive and creative people. Following the evolution of the role of municipal councils in various countries of the world, the traditional role of hygiene, service delivery, street paving and networking has led to a developmental role and active participation in society in various aspects of life, culturally, economically and socially, contributing to the reduction of unemployment rates and the employment of labour, thereby improving and increasing production.

In some global experiences, municipal councils have developed strategic plans derived from the general plan (short, medium and long-term), in which they have identified the needs and priorities of the region within their borders, as they are best placed to provide the necessary development services and projects. In other experiments, development units have been established in the Municipal Council for the Region with the task of creating local development as an entry point for overall development through positive interaction with and prioritization of citizens, which means genuine cooperation and partnership with the cooperative and private sectors and civil society institutions In an ambitious manner and with the desired objectives, the limited possibilities of municipal councils may hinder the process of fulfilling their development role to the fullest, focusing on investment projects, to achieve sustainable development. The pillar is to stimulate and integrate citizens and their systems into the planning and implementation of development projects and to assess their impact on society, especially as democratic institutions elected by the people.

The objectives of the transitional period cannot be achieved without the peoples full participation in governance, administration and development, which in practice means the handover of power to the people, who are their true owners. His absence meant failing to achieve the objectives of the transition period.

Currently, parties and civil society institutions are required to agree on a constitutional law/document codifying municipal and rural councils.

The United Nations Mission is required to assist us technically, logistically and financially in the transfer of power to the people. This will take no more than eight weeks.
The beneficiaries of the absence of peoples power would certainly place many obstacles. There will be fierce and dismissive resistance to reinstating it to his stakeholders.
Are revolutionary systems united to restore power to the people?
Thats the real challenge.

* Governance Expert & Quality Management & Production