Worker’s Union Slums Gov. Attempts to Reduce Public Sector Workforce

Sudanhorizon – Hala Hamza

The decision issued by Human Resources Minister Mutasim Ahmed Salih to conduct a census of state employees has been met with widespread rejection over fears it could lead to mass layoffs.

Government employee Alaa El-Din Hifzallah told *Sudanhorizon* that the decision confirms the government’s intention to terminate the employment of a large number of state workers. He questioned the fate of the affected employees and their families, many of whom have suffered displacement and gone without salaries over the past three years.

The minister recently formed a technical committee under his supervision to study and register federal government employees, implementing directives issued by Prime Minister Kamil Idris during Cabinet Session No. 4 on April 16.

The committee is chaired by State Minister of Finance Mohamed Nour Al-Daim and includes Dr. Abu Bakr Koko, Undersecretary of Human Resources and Social Welfare, the Director-General of the National Pension and Social Insurance Fund, the Director-General of the Civil Service Bureau at the Ministry of Finance, and the Director of the General Administration for Government Bodies and Companies at the Finance Ministry.

According to the decision, the committee’s responsibilities include conducting a full inventory of federal government employees, identifying workers who do not qualify for early retirement, developing a proposal to reduce staff numbers, and recommending mechanisms for downsizing. The committee was also granted authority to access all relevant information and seek assistance from any parties it deems necessary.

The decision further stipulated the formation of a secretariat comprising representatives from the National Graduate Employment Agency and the Ministries of Human Resources and Finance.

Sources familiar with the matter told *Sudanhorizon* that the Sudan Workers’ Trade Union Federation intends to hold a meeting on Monday in Khartoum to discuss the employee census and screening decision.

A former Finance Ministry official, speaking anonymously to *Sudanhorizon*, described the committee’s decision as “a plan to displace workers at a time when the state desperately needs experienced personnel to rebuild what the war has destroyed.”

Economic analyst Haitham Fathi said the timing of the decision is inappropriate. He suggested the objective may be to reduce overcrowding and excess labor in the public sector to ease pressure on the national budget, eliminate disguised unemployment, improve efficiency and public services, boost productivity, and reduce bureaucratic expansion.

However, Fathi argued that Sudan’s administrative system does not actually suffer from excessive staffing. He noted that international averages suggest state employees typically account for around 14% of the population, a level Sudan has not yet reached. He added that many ministries and agencies are already experiencing staffing shortages.

He called for caution and urged the government not to proceed with layoffs before conducting comprehensive studies and identifying proper alternatives. He warned against adopting a “shock approach” because of its severe social consequences, particularly for families already affected by war, displacement, poverty, and migration.

The Trade Union Front also announced its opposition to the committee’s decision, describing it as a threat to workers’ livelihoods disguised as an “administrative procedure.”

In a statement, the group criticized the decision for failing to address administrative reform or job justice, and for lacking any union oversight. It warned that the broad powers granted to the committee could allow workers to be classified on political grounds, similar to dismissals carried out under Sudan’s former “public interest” policies.

The statement further argued that the decision directly targets employees not covered by early retirement provisions under conditions that remain unclear, describing it as “a tool of political retaliation rather than a civil service policy.” It also criticized the government for ignoring the role of unions and workers’ rights to collective organization and defense.

Governance and risk management expert Abdullah Al-Tayeb Ali told *Sudanhorizon* that the decision signals a strong government trend toward dismissing employees under public interest measures. However, he questioned whether the move would achieve its stated goals or instead deepen the crisis.

He noted that governments often resort to such measures to reduce public spending and improve the efficiency of bloated civil services, but argued that Sudan’s government appears to be choosing what it sees as the easiest solution to highly complex problems.

Ali criticized what he described as sacrificing human resources — “the most important resource on earth” — while transferring dismissed workers into a neglected social welfare system. He also criticized the merger of the relatively successful Social Insurance Fund with the financially struggling Pension Fund, saying policymakers wrongly assumed the stronger institution could carry the weaker one despite chronic government neglect of the pension system.

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