Do Not Start from Scratch: Build on What You Have Achieved

Adel Al-Rifai Abu Al-Hassan
One of the greatest obstacles to state-building is the constant repetition of beginnings. A phase ends, and a new regime, a new generation, a new minister or a new director arrives. The process then starts all over again, and policies, procedures and institutions are reconsidered, causing the state to return to a point it had already moved beyond. In this way, it squanders accumulated experience, while time and money are consumed reproducing what has already been accomplished—when each phase could instead build on what came before.
The time has come to move from a culture of repeated beginnings to a culture of accumulation and continuity. A modern state builds on what preceded it, preserves what has proved successful, develops what needs improvement, addresses the gaps revealed by experience, and incorporates new developments into its tools and methods, while keeping its strategic objectives present and enduring.
Public policies are formulated to achieve specific objectives and are based on knowledge, experience and an examination of reality. Circumstances then change and conditions evolve, prompting review, development and modernisation. This is the natural process: a policy is formulated, experience accumulates, results are assessed, tools are updated, and the course continues.
Every policy has a life cycle that preserves its vitality. Just as living organisms have a cycle that begins with formation, followed by growth, maturity, and fruition, policies, knowledge, and experience also follow a cycle: a carefully considered idea, followed by policy, legislation, and institutions; then implementation and evaluation; and finally development and modernisation. Through this cycle, policy remains alive, retaining its spirit and its ability to respond to changing circumstances. Updating it becomes a clear, natural and manageable process, because accumulated experience makes its strengths and areas for improvement more apparent.
The more firmly policies are established and consistently implemented, the more knowledge accumulates and experience matures, making development more precise and more rapid. Modernisation comes at the appropriate time, guided by what practice reveals and what changing circumstances require, while the institutional framework maintains its stability. This is where continuity adds value: each generation builds on what the preceding generation achieved.
This requires an institutional system that safeguards and regulates the policy cycle. It could be based on three interconnected bodies, linked to the highest executive authority in accordance with the constitutional system, in a manner that strengthens their independence and effectiveness:
First: A policy-making body, responsible for studying reality, preparing, refining and developing policies, and submitting them for consideration.
Second: A review and approval body, responsible for scrutinising policies, assessing their consistency with the national strategy, introducing the necessary amendments, and approving them in accordance with constitutional and legal frameworks.
Third: A body for regulation, implementation and oversight, responsible for translating approved policies into enforceable rules and regulations, organising the work of institutions, monitoring implementation, measuring results, and exercising the supervisory, corrective and punitive powers granted to it by law.
The results of monitoring and evaluation should feed back into the policy-making cycle, renewing knowledge, improving tools and allowing policy to continue developing. In this way, decision-making, review, regulation and oversight become integrated within a single system that preserves stability, strengthens accountability and protects the public interest.
Many human societies have preceded us in establishing institutions that preserve this accumulation of experience. Sudan needs to study these experiences and benefit from their essence, while adapting what is appropriate to its own circumstances and needs.
Despite its brutality and tragedies, the war has exposed the scale of accumulated dysfunctions while simultaneously opening a historic and decisive opportunity. These circumstances create a rare moment to reorder priorities, rebuild what has been destroyed, establish what needs to be built on stronger foundations, and turn the lessons of experience into more efficient policies and institutions.
This is the responsibility of the authorities today: to raise the level of thinking and contribution to match the magnitude of the moment, and to invest this opportunity in establishing a state upon which future generations can build. History will examine what is accomplished during this phase and assess the ability of those responsible to transform adversity into a beginning marked by greater maturity and stability.
One of the most important tools of this endeavour is using the accumulated expertise of individuals. National expertise is an asset that must be preserved and deployed in the right place. The criteria should be competence, experience, the national interest, commitment to the state’s policies and objectives, and the ability to deliver results. Diversity of human perspectives and outlooks can become a source of strength when qualified people work within clear institutions and under an openly declared state policy.
Reconstruction begins with what already exists, arranging its building blocks on a stronger foundation: integrated policies that serve production and development, more efficient institutions, clear priorities, and a national strategy working towards a single direction.
Renaissance is a long cycle of work and accumulation. It requires courage in decision-making, patience with results, knowledge and experience, investment and funding—and, above all, a national will that knows its direction.
The time has come for these self-evident principles to become part of the state’s culture: we formulate, build, review, modernise, and continue. What we build today is not intended only for our own time, but for a time beyond our own and for generations yet to come. We want them to inherit a strong, stable, productive and fully established state—a state in which they can find the fruits of what we planted, the impact of what we contributed, and a foundation upon which they can build something greater.
We are building for a time that is not our own. That is the trust entrusted to this generation—and one of its most important duties.

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