Mr. MP Remember Your Promises

By Ariik-Dut Atekdit

ariqdudic@yahoo.com


The elections in Sudan which were almost to create permanent headaches are now over, “amzilallah!” During the campaign period, the election candidates traveled from town to town, from village to village as well as from house to house with mouthful of attractive words that begged for votes. Others had organized public rallies to shout out their objectives and how they are going to implement them if elected to power. Pictures of candidates were displayed at public places and even at gates of people’s homes. Anyway these are common events which had happened in many places in Sudan and witnessed by all of us in the country. All those activities were done in order to attract our votes for them.


Thanks God the National Election Commission (NEC) announced the election winners; we have now known who they are in the assemblies of various levels. We as ordinary citizens in Sudan extend our heartfelt congratulations, BRAVO, to all the election winners across the country. “Your fellow countrymen and women had entrusted to you a big responsibility.” The voters in Sudan had done their parts, by electing you to powers, you cried out and the responded to you positively.


However Mr. MP, remember your promises. You had convinced our votes with a lot of elections interests. The elected people have not to deceive the high expectations of voters. It will make no sense otherwise. It is like you agreed on a contract that mandates you about five years in the parliament but unless you bring development to our local areas. So as you will soon attend your august house, Mr. MP, do what you had promised us to do. It will give us long trust in you. The leadership of this time has come to our hands the ordinary people; we have some power to vote you in or out. As per your campaign you told us that you will bring us clean water, hospitals, schools, good security… adding that you will pave roads up to our door posts. However these promises are not new in the ears of the Sudanese people. People of different leaderships had once pronounced them but managed to implement none. We hope the elected people of today shall carry with them different spirit, which does not cheat.

Use your mind and apply a well-modernized wisdom to succeed. Some MPs had already failed in the campaign by forwarding wrong programs to their citizens. One candidate in a certain constituency in the Sahara desert in Sudan , told the community, “I will build for you khalwas, schools, hospitals, roads and bridges.” The community cried out angrily, “We don’t want bridges for we don’t have rivers!!” Immediately the MP, who seeks to be elected, realized his mistake and swiftly thought out with his cleverness and lied, “I will dig for you rivers and cross them with bridges.” In fact it is something which is not the reality.

Another MP swore to his community and the chief (Omda) that he would make sure clean water would reach the community by his effort if elected. The community elected him to the parliament since the past elections in Sudan . He went and forgot his promise. During the last 24 years in Sudan no elections were conducted and the MP did not want to show up to the community he had lied to. In the recent elections, he sought to be re-elected to power by the same community. So he came to the chief of his village who still remembers the man’s failure. The chief ordered his wife to prepare some food to the ex-MP but without water. The MP was there waiting for water to be brought to eat his delicious food but he was waiting in vain.” “No water.” The chief told him, “We elected you to the previous parliament because you told us that you would bring water. Until now you didn’t bring any so why do you expect some water now?” the mp learnt that move but still went for elections and failed he had lost the race and his popularity.

I am sure; any MP is awaited by the above challenges otherwise. Anyway lying is the fashion of politics in Sudan this year! But I hope the best for the new elected personalities in Sudan .