Sudan in the Grip of Corruption: Soaring Prices and Dengue Fever as a Mirror of al-Burhan’s Government Failure

1st September 2025

2 minutes read

Sudan in the Grip of Corruption: Soaring Prices and Dengue Fever as a Mirror of al-Burhan’s Government Failure

The crises Sudan is facing today no longer require complicated explanations; the situation is starkly clear: skyrocketing prices, the spread of diseases, and the collapse of basic public services. Behind it all stands the regime of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, which has turned power into a tool for looting and personal enrichment, leaving the state without governance or functioning institutions. What Sudanese citizens endure is not merely an economic hardship or a health crisis, but the direct result of entrenched political and military corruption.

The cost of living: the economic face of corruption
Everyday life for Sudanese citizens has become a struggle against unbearable inflation that has transformed basic necessities into unattainable luxuries. Prices of bread, oil, fuel, and medicine rise at unprecedented rates, while incomes stagnate or erode.

This situation did not emerge by chance:

Authorities allowed major traders and monopolists to dominate the market without regulation.
Natural resources, especially gold, are managed outside official structures, benefiting a narrow elite tied to the military regime.
No coherent economic strategy exists to curb inflation or protect the national currency.

Thus, the soaring cost of living is not a “natural” reflection of circumstances but the deliberate outcome of systemic corruption that drains national wealth while leaving citizens impoverished.

Dengue fever: a collapsing health system exposed
Alongside the economic crisis, the outbreak of dengue fever exposes the weakness of the healthcare system. Hospitals are overcrowded, medicines are unavailable, and rural health centers are incapable of handling the growing number of patients.

The spread of such epidemics could have been contained with responsible governance:

Lack of environmental oversight and failed prevention programs.
Misallocation of healthcare budgets to non-essential sectors.
The mass exodus of medical staff due to neglect and lack of support.

The rise of dengue fever is therefore not a purely natural disaster, but a direct consequence of negligence and corruption, where public health has become the least of the regime’s concerns.

A politics of distraction
Even worse, al-Burhan and his government continuously attempt to deflect responsibility. At times they blame “global crises” affecting Sudan, at others they point to security conditions. Yet such narratives do nothing to change the reality: the crisis is domestic, driven by a corrupt system that plunders the country’s wealth and lets institutions collapse.

The people trapped between hunger and disease
Sudanese citizens now find themselves caught in a harsh dilemma: hunger consumes their bodies while disease threatens their lives. In between stands a regime that treats the state as spoils of war, indifferent to the future of millions.

Neither inflation nor epidemics can be addressed without tackling the root cause: corruption, the defining feature of al-Burhan’s rule. Change is not a political luxury but a vital necessity to save Sudan from total collapse. A secure future and a dignified life will remain out of reach as long as corruption prevails and the people remain the regime’s last concern.