Activating the presss role in good governance in the Sudan

Sami Abdul Halim Said

Discussion of the role of journalism in governance and standards procedures and the identification of measurement indicators

Definition of governance:
The present paper is not definitive in the sense that you would strive to provide indicators of journalism in the context of sustainable development, to define governance criteria and benchmarks, as well as to indicate some obstacles related to the free circulation of information in accordance with Sudanese legislation.

The term good governance takes multiple definitions, based on the area in which it is used. IFC defines governance as: the system through which companies are managed and their business controlled.

OECD also defines it as: a set of relationships between the companys directors, board of directors, shareholders and other stakeholders.

There is also another definition of governance that revolves around the way the company is run and the mechanism of dealing with all its stakeholders, starting from the companys clients, shareholders and employees, including executive management and board members, and ending with the mechanism of the companys engagement with the community as a whole.

In general, governance means the existence of systems governing relations between the parties, members of the Board of Directors, executive management, shareholders, etc., with the aim of achieving transparency, justice, fighting corruption and granting the right of accountability of the Companys management to protect shareholders and ensure that the Company works towards its long-term objectives and strategies.

Good governance from a human development perspective:
means governance that promotes and supports, safeguards human well-being and is based on the expansion of peoples capacities, choices, opportunities and economic, social and political freedoms, especially for the poorest members of society.

In this context, good governance can be seen as the exercise of economic, social, political and administrative authority to manage a countrys affairs at all levels, and governance consists of mechanisms, processes and institutions through which interaction between the State and various actors leads to actions that can be described as sustainable and equitable. Good governance in this sense includes interaction between the State, the private sector and civil society institutions.
Elements of good governance:

From the definitions of good governance, it is easy to see the fundamental elements underlying good governance, which are complementary to each other, and the existence of one of these elements is important and key to the rest, and the circle of those elements may expand, but it cannot overlook one of the following important elements:
1. Rule of law: Legal frameworks must be equitable and impartially applied, particularly to laws protecting human rights.
2. Transparency: Transparency is based on the free flow of information and that community institutions and processes are directly open to those interested in them, and that sufficient information is available to understand and control them.
3. Responsibility: Community institutions and processes must strive to serve all those who have an interest in them.
4. Consensus-building: Good governance reconciles different interests in order to reach broad consensus on what constitutes the communitys best interest.
5. Equality: Women and men have every opportunity to improve their well-being and protection.
6. Effectiveness and efficiency: Institutions and processes produce results that satisfy needs while achieving the best use of human and financial resources.
7. Accountability: Decision makers in government, the private sector and civil society need to be accountable.
8. Strategic Vision: Leaders and the public have a broad perspective on good governance and human development and its requirements, understanding the historical, cultural and social context of this perspective.

The relationship of press freedom to good governance:

According to the report of the United Nations Group on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the concept of good governance is considered to be societys ability to guarantee the rule of law, freedom of expression and open and responsible government.

More broadly, freedom of expression is a fundamental pillar of governance, as this right enables the largest number of citizens to contribute to the monitoring and application of public decisions on development. The recommendations of the reports underscored the importance of providing access to information as an important task in promoting good governance, since freedom of the press ran counter to good governance, supporting each other while promoting the countrys economic and human development. News media continue to be central channels for ongoing public assessments of the Governments activities and other institutions with a development impact and that the press is the process of presenting information and opinions to the public arena, It provides a platform to discuss many development-related issues such as the environment good governance can take hold only when journalists are free to monitor, investigate and criticize societys policies and actions.

The lack of transparency ultimately leads to corruption, which in turn is one of the most difficult issues for States to face in the development process, considering that independent press investigations are an ally of open government and thus enhance the effectiveness and therefore the legitimacy of development processes, and it is also important to note that high rates of corruption are often associated with a low level of press freedom.

Reforms required for the press to play its role in governance:

The organizational reform of media laws and the conditions for the registration of journalists, and the protection of the profession from overshadowing the executive branch by sizing, prohibiting and preventing them, is a necessary step in the way of good governance and development.

Working hard to repeal all laws restricting journalistic and media activity, drafting laws such as insult and criminal slander laws, is one of the main determinants of journalistic activity, and must be addressed in order to provide greater freedom for professional journalism, so such laws remain disproportionate in terms of international standards on freedom of expression, and run counter to the principle of the rule of law. Such restrictive laws artificially protect officials from media and public scrutiny, as they have a negative impact on freedom of expression that impedes long-term good governance.

It is also very important to make democracy and the plurality of the press and free and independent news media available, as it contributes to the communitys empowerment of information, and increases the publics ability to access and contribute to reliable information that represents the plurality of views, facts and ideas, and that this is a people-centred approach, especially women, youth and marginalized groups, as actors in the development agenda.

The role of the law in protecting journalists and the press in promoting the rule of law:

That the rule of law is essential for the stability and good functioning of society and that citizens can feel confident in the long-term democratic process and invest in the sustainable development of their society only when the rule of law is respected, News media also have a vital function of being the most viable sector of society to promote vigilance towards the rule of law. in particular by sponsoring press investigations, encouraging the courts openness, legislative and administrative procedures, and access to officials and public documents. It is therefore important that there be a clear role for the Government in protecting the independence and pluralism of the news media.

The imposition of terrorist or compulsory means against journalists, in order to domesticate the production of press and information, or to form a protective press for corruption and spoilers, is extremely dangerous in the context of building development in poor communities.

Journalists investigating corruption cases are usually subjected to severe reprisals, and one of the most detrimental to development is journalists terrorism, and it is not possible to talk about good governance when the people responsible for bringing information and news to the public are at obvious risk. It is therefore important that the free, independent and pluralistic media environment, whether connected or separate from the Internet, be one in which those working in the press can operate safely and independently without fear of being threatened or even killed. Development must be an environment where attacks, harassment, intimidation, kidnapping, arbitrary imprisonment, threats and killings of journalists were scarce and where any violations were properly dealt with under the rule of law.

The role of the free press in contributing to the governance of development plans:

In UNESCOs view, the societies most affected by poverty are those least able to access and impart information and that, as a result, they are excluded from public debate, they cannot affect decisions that have a profound impact on their daily lives. and that this is particularly evident in basic services, for example health community relies on information on clean water, sanitation, vaccines and the environment, Without the sustainability of the media in the various sectors of private, public and community media, the marginalized situation of those communities is likely to persist.

In UNESCOs view, legal norms for limitations on freedom of expression at all levels are often still not fully in line with international principles, which require transparency, proportionality and the right objective to be legitimate and that knowledge of journalistic aspects of coverage of complex development issues ranging from gender reporting to climate change reports is often inadequate.

At the same time, in the context of the expansion of information, the integrity of the press also depends on the efficiency of media and information literacy, and media participants must be constantly equipped to generate, evaluate and share information on development discussions.

Measurement of good governance index in States:

One of the most important tasks of the press in the field of development is the preparation of reports that measure the level of progress in sustainable development projects. In this regard, international press institutions are active and recognized for their professionalism and commitment in this aspect. In this, it is important for a journalist to possess the skills of measuring good governance by following objective indicators.

Here we are exposed to a well-established model in using indicators to measure good governance in the State concerned. The World Bank has developed 22 indicators to test and measure good governance. 12 are for public accountability and 10 are for management quality.
States are arranged according to their location on a scale of 173 ranks (depending on the number of sample States) taken from different regions and also by different income levels.
The rate of governance is calculated and the countrys mark ranges from 0 to 100 depending on the degree of governance.

The questions cover several fields of vitality that reflect the extent to which peoples are integrated into the course of their governing systems.

I. Indicator of public accountability:

This indicator concerns four areas:
1. The degree of openness of the countrys political institutions.
2. The degree and quality of political participation.
3. The degree of transparency and the Governments acceptance among the people.
4. Degree of political accountability.

The data include the following topics:
1. Individuals political rights
2. Civil liberties
3. Freedom of the press
4. Political performance
5. Executive Recruitment
6. Competitive Recruitment
7. Openness of Employment
8. Participation in recruitment
9. Limitations on implementation
10. Democratic accountability
11. Transparency

Second: Management Quality Index:
This indicator measures the limits of corruption in resource management and market management and the governments respect for laws.
It includes data:
1. Degree of corruption
2. Quality of management
3. Property Rights
4. Financial management
5. Allocation of resources
6. Respect for and application of the law
7. Parallel Market

The building of good governance measures depends on the indicators being marked at the rate of marks in the areas covered by each indicator. The public accountability index covers statements of openness to the opposition and full political participation based on the degrees of media freedom, the effectiveness of Parliament, freedom of political organization, appointment to senior posts and the provision of full information, all of which reflect the extent of societys integration into public governance. The management quality index covers data of a technical nature, such as the indicator of corruption in the use of public property for special purposes, the performance of the administration, the allocation of public resources and the quality of the elimination of the implementation of legislative texts. Each selected States location on the scale of governance is determined by the collection and standard use of previous data.

Regulate the role of the press in obtaining and disseminating information:

At the Sudanese level, in discussing the role of the press in promoting good governance, it is important to look at the law that supports the role of press institutions in the free circulation and dissemination of information. The following are some of the points addressed in a booklet on the protection of freedom of information entitled Reform of the transparency system in the Sudan - 2015.

Based on article 39 of the Transitional Republic of the Sudans Constitution for 2005, the following laws have been promulgated:
Every citizen of the right is not restricted in freedom of expression, receipt and dissemination of information and publications and access to the press without prejudice to order, safety and morality.

The Ministry guarantees freedom of the press and other media in accordance with the law regulated by the Diomcratian community.

The media adheres to the ethics of the profession and does not incite religious, racial, racist or cultural hatred or advocate violence or war.

At my discretion, that reference to article 39 was insufficient, and did not express the Wirtschaftsprüfers desire to divulge the principle of transparency in all dealings of general authority. Clear squatter stiffness reflects the will to make oral resources an integral part of the country.

Based on those constitutional principles contained in article 39 of the Constitution, the Sudanese Legislative Authority passed the Free Access to Information Act for 2015. The Departments interest in the issuance of Sudanese laws for the free circulation of information, establishes a diagonal transformation, alters the culture of secrecy, and does tripartite transparency, accountability and accounting, reducing opportunities for corruption and manipulation of the media, and achieves the goals of adult governance by codifying rightly righteous standards.
In the discussions held by the Sudanese civil society organizations on this paper, there were considerable opinions that the principle of transparency should be affirmed by stipulation in all the laws and regulations governing the financial affairs of a cousin, for example, the laws of the Social Security Fund, the laws of the Tax Office, the laws of the Zakat.

The obligation of government organs to disseminate essential information effectively promotes the idea of open governance. Therefore, the two laws that conform to the principles of detection and dissemination of essential information, and that do not cause harm to the public interest, must be amended. Exceptions to this are clear, specific and subject to general damage and repair tests.

The thematic focus of the strategic objectives of the Five-Year Plan (2007-2011) was based on the principle of freedom of information, and the themes message included the need to regulate the content environment so as to ensure the freedom to obtain, recover and benefit from it. The pillars policies stipulated that public information should be made available and protected freely. The strategic objectives of the focus on the freedom to obtain and disseminate information through the media in accordance with ethical and professional standards.

Conclusion:

This paper concludes on the importance of the role of the press and its institutions in building and promoting good governance in a country such as the Sudan. Based on that importance, it is necessary to develop measures and policies that facilitate development, and thus to develop measures and policies that pave the way for the press to fulfil its mandated role in good governance.

The following points are important in drawing inspiration from the role played by the press and the media in promoting good governance and thus in supporting Sudans national development plans:
1- Conceptually, good governance is the creation of efficient and accountable political, judicial and administrative institutions that are prepared by citizens as legitimate institutions that can participate in decisions that affect their lives, as well as institutions that empower them. Good governance also involves respect for human rights and the rule of law in general.
2- In contrast, rational governance is regarded as an antithesis to good governance by prevailing the following criteria:

- The principle of the rule of law or the rule of law is not applied.
- The merger between public and private funds and the lack of a clear and explicit separation between the public interest and the private interest.
- A provision where there is no transparent rule of information and, conversely, a narrow rule of decision-making.
- pervasive corruption, bribery and the spread of their machinery, culture and values.
- Weak legitimacy of governors and widespread repression and loss of human rights.
- A provision that discourages investment especially in productive aspects and drives rent and speculation.

3- Making reliable and quality information available to the poor and providing them with public voice platforms is an important step in achieving this development goal. This applies in particular to two groups that are usually disproportionately affected by poverty: women and youth.
4- Among the discussions on development is the need to involve young people who have been enabled by the media and their media and information culture to play an important role in this field.
5- It is important to review the legislation governing the operation of the press, the codes of conduct of journalists, and the lawmakers who are pressing for free access to information.