New information minister with new promises

In his first days of assuming his post, the former information minister, Abullah Masar, expressed his full support for press freedom and the press industry, promising to make great achievements in this regard.

Masar also pledged to work with the finance ministry in order to ease customs and duties on imported paper and other materials used by newspapers which saw a price hike as a result of decline in the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound.

The minister went further to say that he sent an official letter to the Ministry of Finance asking to cut taxes and customs fees imposed on inputs of the press. However, he later said that the finance ministry refused his request arguing that their annual budget was already done and cannot be changed.

In fact, what actually happened is that the said minister did nothing regarding the industry of the press until he resigned and left his position!

What led me to bring up this story is that the new Information Minister Ghazi Al-Sadiq was quoted by today’s local media as promising also to solve the difficulties that related to the industry of press. He even went further to affirm that the government will not allow the inputs of the press to lead to the collapse of the printing press, pointing out that the government will urgently and actively contribute to resolving these difficulties by contacting the finance ministry and Sudan Central Bank to allocate funds for importing paper and other press inputs as one of the prerequisites of the industry of press.

I’m not going to disappoint the new minister, but my question to him is this: what are the practical steps he has taken fulfill his promises, taking into account the fact that the annual budget of the finance ministry cannot be change as they told the former minister?  Is the press industry now a priority for the finance ministry, especially with regard to the spiraling prices which spread to include every aspect in our daily life?

Last but not least, does the government really want independent journalism in the country? And if the answer for this question is (YES), what can we make out of the unfair distribution of the government's advertisements, taking note of the fact that government departments do not advertise on newspapers that have opposite views, and as we all know that advertising is a very important contributor to the newspapers circulation?

Anyhow, we welcome the minister's statements regarding any positive role to be played in supporting press which is nowadays in dire need for such support, hoping that such promises will not be broken also…. Let’s wait and see