Governor of Bank of Sudan Deserved Dismissal – What About Prosecution?

By Muhannad Awad Mahmoud

To begin with, it is necessary to commend the Sovereignty Council, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, for its courageous corrective decisions aimed at steering the state back onto the right course and restoring order to its institutions. The true distinction of the Council lies in its freedom from partisan quotas and narrow political bargaining, which has enabled it to take fateful decisions at critical moments when hesitation was not an option. Such is the hallmark of national leadership that aligns itself with the country, not with a party; with the higher national interest, not with personal gain.

Over recent months, through both our writings and our words, we have criticised the performance and policies of the Central Bank of Sudan, which have provoked debate among experts and citizens alike. We have repeatedly warned of their destructive impact on the national economy and called for the dismissal of the governor, having observed institutional dysfunction and unilateral decision-making detached from the necessary coordination with the Ministry of Finance and other economic ministries. We do not claim that the dismissal came in response to what we wrote, or to public opinion per se; rather, it came in response to what is right and necessary — to protect the country’s supreme interests and its national security, of which the economy is a principal pillar.

The Central Bank of Sudan, through its recent policies, directly contributed to the deterioration of the economy and the national currency. It prohibited commercial banks from financing exports, which paralysed foreign trade and reduced the country’s foreign-exchange inflows. It also suspended agricultural-crop financing for two consecutive seasons — a disastrous decision that harmed producers and exporters alike and deprived the country of two successive seasons of vital agricultural revenue, one of the main sources of hard currency. Then came the ban on gold financing — gold being Sudan’s most important economic lifeline — which further deepened the crisis and drained the arteries of the national economy.

As for the decision to monopolise gold exports, it was the Central Bank’s gravest mistake. In a previous article, I interpreted this as a possible strategic move to build a state gold reserve to finance reconstruction or long-term development projects. Reality, however, has proven that those policies were implemented without prior planning or alternative markets in place, and their results were entirely counterproductive: the national currency continued its decline despite all justifications and explanations offered.

Some may argue that the dismissed governor contributed to financing the “Dignity War” through his position, and might see this as grounds for retaining him or shielding him from accountability. Yet the facts clearly show that wartime spending actually aligned with his systematic agenda to destroy the national economy. Excessive expenditure, combined with flawed monetary and credit policies, did not serve the war effort but rather created mechanisms to absorb the state’s resources and undermine its capacities. In truth, what appeared to be support for the war turned into a means of weakening the economy and empowering those who profit from chaos.

The intertwining of these threads compels us to demand a transparent, thorough investigation into the dismissed governor and his deputies. The real motives behind the monetary and banking policies that brought the country to the brink of collapse must be uncovered. It is also necessary to investigate why the Empowerment Removal Committee had previously dismissed Burai al-Siddiq — and what led to his later reinstatement as governor. Such ambiguous decisions cannot go unquestioned in a nation fighting on two fronts: the military front and the economic one.

We are now in a stage that tolerates neither flattery nor half-measures; there is no place for grey areas. The country is facing an open war that has reached the level of mercenarism and organised targeting. If there are hands sabotaging the economy from within, they must be struck with an iron fist. An external conspirator can only succeed when aided by insiders — and today the “fifth column” is more dangerous than ever.

History has shown that the economic fifth column has always been a potent weapon in bringing down states from within: it happened in the Soviet Union when internal elements infiltrated financial institutions, creating artificial shortages and a monetary collapse; and similar patterns, though often denied, occurred in Iraq and Libya through deliberate banking chaos and resource smuggling. Sudan itself, in 2018, witnessed a fabricated economic crisis — one of the chief instruments of what was called “creative chaos” — as fuel, flour and other basic commodities were made artificially scarce. We need not revisit the details of the arrest of two major fuel suppliers at the time, but those events were among the core causes of the demonstrations that ended the thirty-year rule of the Salvation regime.

The dismissal of the Central Bank governor is a step in the right direction, yet it remains insufficient unless followed by a comprehensive investigation and fair accountability for all those who contributed to exhausting the national economy. Caution must also be exercised in appointing his successor, for this stage requires a firm, patriotic economist with genuine experience in managing a wartime economy and crises, and who can restore confidence in the banking system and stabilise the exchange rate. Sudan abounds with qualified national experts — what is needed is merely to give those who truly deserve it the opportunity. The country can no longer afford further failed experiments or improvised policies.

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