Press Release
The Government’s Failure to Provide Water and Electricity in Port Sudan Confirms the Failure of the System and the Corruption of the Rulers
(Translated)

The city of Port Sudan is experiencing severe hardship these days as temperatures have risen to 50°C (122°F), resulting in numerous cases of illness and fainting among the people, amid clear government incapacity and a complete absence of effective solutions.

What is happening in Port Sudan, and indeed throughout Sudan, with regard to recurring water and electricity crises is the product of a combination of the failure of the ruling system and the corruption of its rulers. The Red Sea State alone sits atop immense strategic wealth and resources. It constitutes the country's primary economic artery and hosts the main seaport, which now serves as the administrative capital. It is also surrounded by water sources, including the Red Sea and freshwater sources such as the Arbaat Dam. Yet its people continue to endure prolonged power outages lasting more than 18 hours a day, along with severe water shortages, at a time when practical and affordable solutions to energy problems are readily available, if only there were genuine political will. Instead, the government repeatedly fails to resolve the electricity crisis because it has never made solving it a priority, nor does it show concern for modernizing the deteriorating water distribution networks.

Addressing the severe water crisis and the persistent shortage of clean drinking water is likewise absent from the government's agenda. Residents struggle to obtain potable water, often at high prices, while homes throughout the city lack freshwater distribution networks and advanced seawater desalination plants capable of supplying water for everyday household use.

All of this confirms the complete failure of the system of government under which the state is run and the corruption of rulers who desire for themselves what they do not desire for the people. The failed system imposed upon us turns the ruler into a paid official who behaves as a master to be served, monopolizing power and wealth while impoverishing and subjugating the population.

As for Islam, under the Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly Guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood, the ruler is a shepherd and a servant of the Ummah. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: «الْإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وَهُوَ مَسْؤُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ» “The Imam is a shepherd and is responsible for his flock.” (Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim).

Such a ruler would never accept that electricity and water be available in his own home using the wealth of the Ummah while the Ummah itself suffers from their absence, because he is not a master to be served but a servant of the people who seeks the mercy of his Lord. If an emergency situation were to arise, its burden should be shared by everyone—and the rulers should bear it before the ruled, for it is their betrayal and failure that brought the country to this condition. Furthermore, sources of electricity and water are public property that should, by their very nature, be accessible to all people, either free of charge or at cost price, as they are among the collective rights of the community. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “People are partners in three things: water, pasture, and fire.”

«النَّاسُ شُرَكَاءُ فِي ثَلَاثٍ؛ فِي الْمَاءِ وَالْكَلَأِ وَالنَّارِ» (Reported by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah).

We in Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Sudan hold the government accountable and warn it of the grave consequences of its negligence and failure to care for the people. We also affirm that the people's problems will only be solved under the system of care and justice, the great system of Islam through its Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly Guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood, whose establishment is an obligation upon all Muslims. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

«وَمَنْ مَاتَ وَلَيْسَ فِي عُنُقِهِ بَيْعَةٌ مَاتَ مِيتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةً» “Whoever dies without having a pledge of allegiance upon his neck dies a death of Jahiliyyah.” (Reported by Muslim).

Ibrahim Othman (Abu Khalil)
Official Spokesman for Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Sudan