Khartoum governor dissolves local cabinet

The Wali (governor) of Sudanese capital Khartoum, Abdelrahman al-Khider, dissolved the city government on Wednesday and accepted the collective resignation of his cabinet's members submitted by the Minister of Health in the state, Dr Maamoun Humaidah, on behalf of his colleagues. The move was a response to economic reform measures adopted by the State. The resigned cabinet members were asked to run their ministries pending the restructuring of the cabinet in Khartoum State. Speaking at a press conference held on Wednesday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance of Khartoum State, the Wali of Khartoum said his government was committed to decreasing the bumber of staff in the executive and legislative bodies of the government as well as reduce the number of ministries in the state to six or eight bodies. The Wali said 70 percent of constitutional posts would be cancelled at the headquarters of the state, while departments would be restructured. The contracts of government experts and will only be retained on an emergency basis. Khider further reviewed the measures in 20 articles prepared by the finance ministry in order to cut government spending, top of which are the cancellation of allocations that have no legal basis, ending the purchase of vehicles and furniture, controlling 40 percent of spending for all services except health, health insurance, police and food. The Wali also said that though transport fares have been increased, bus services will also go up by 30 percent. He also reiterated that there will be no more increase in bus fares the fuel subsidy is lifted, saying students in the state would get a 50 percent ticket concession. Khider announced that his government decided to support sugar production following the liberalisation of its prices by the federal government, saying it would be distributed to citizens in the state by cards in a certain quota -- amounting to half a kilogram per day for each family. He also announced an increase in direct financial support to 30,000 poor families and expanding health insurance to 350,000 families in Khartoum State.