By Samuel Estefanous
It is the absolute natural right of every single citizen to support and speak in defense of PP. By the same token one is naturally entitled to oppose the incumbent. If the government gives in at the slightest poke from some citizen journalist testing the waters or appears like it is going to crush into the abyss by the inconsequential gentle nudge of a disoriented time traveller, it only proves that it doesn’t have the mettle and strong constitution to go the distances. On the contrary it should encourage the free press lest it should be enfeebled and eventually be consumed by complacency and that very familiar lethal curse of entitlement.
Unfortunately African leaders have a tendency to succumb to the J.B.Bokassa Syndrome and readily gravitate towards the glitz and glamour of the Crown. There will always be this class of slavish poodles and false devotees pressing the crown on the willing heads of the aspirants. Obviously when misfortune strikes they would be at the forefront of the opposition brandishing machetes in total disregard of their hitherto persisting demand entreating – ስምህን ንገረን እናንግስ እኛ፡፡
I have no problem with folks blindly rooting for PP, I mean even when the motive happens to be questionable in the very least and embarrasses the government. Again I don’t have to be well versed in the treatises of Voltaire to understand and espouse the right to freedom of expression. Voltaire’s saying that he disagreed with his opponent’s view but he would readily face the gallows if necessary to ensure the latter’s right to oppose him is easily relatable to the average person-because it is a God given natural right.
‘Speak now or hold your Peace forever’
Time after time the government of PP reminds us that it had won the 2013 E.C General Election fair and square. I am not one to doubt that and that is the only reason I refrain from subscribing to the radical views of those who have taken to arms. When one is in politics and says something like the Ethiopian people is wrong or ungrateful or laments as Lidetua has recently taken to humming-ያንቺ ፍቅር ጅል ነዉ ወዳጁን አይወድም- I begin to doubt his or her sanity. People are never wrong, people. That is why American Presidential candidates swallow hard and concede defeat with the words –the American people have spoken.
Granted PP had won the election- albeit with considerable irregularities- yet that doesn’t give it the license to roughshod us at will. We can still protest ‘to hell with the corridor development whose only purpose is whitewashing the ugly face of urban poverty’ and to curse the beautification campaign as the antithesis to the fight against inflation.
We can argue that had it not been for the nationwide beautification projects the government could have kept inflation at single digit with little effort. We have every right to hold the government to account for the unauthorized expenditure the Ethiopian public hadn’t warranted when it elected PP into office. PP doesn’t have the right to tell us that we had forfeited our right to rein it in when it was elected back in 2013.
And most important of all the notorious Afe’Caesars should quit intimidating critics by retorting to mean badmouthing. When it was elected the public didn’t enter into a contract of matrimony ‘to hold its peace until the next election’. Speaking of holding one’s peace I think the saying is valid to folks in government.
‘An African Beacon of Prosperity’
I pay respect where respect is due. Ethiopia’s Ten Years Perspective Development Plan is less fraught with jargons, its presentation is simple and the ‘Departures’ noted are reasonable and laudable. But God knows you will have a hard time trying to fit in the infamous Corridor Development’ in the refined trajectory. It would be an absolute shame if Dr.Fitsum is going say (a year or two after the next election) ‘my team in collaboration with the macro-economy kitchen cabinet had done our homework; bottom line the corridor wasn’t our idea and if you really want to know the unvarnished truth there was a parallel ‘beacon of prosperity plan’ to which we weren’t privy.’ To her and distinguished colleagues I would say ‘speak now or hold your peace forever.’
We have reason to harbor the suspicion. These past seven years we have seen folks with a coarse and disagreeable sense of duty. They change loyalty with such readiness and speed that they would put Gogol’s Chameleon to shame. I hope to God the architects of the ‘African Beacon of Prosperity’ wouldn’t fall into this category and utterly disrepute themselves. Never mind them, it is the self-designated spokespersons of PP that give me the creeps.
The Afe’Caesars wouldn’t let anybody take issue with whatever the government is doing. Ironically even when the government tries to they would take mortal offense. They would throw tantrums, I swear to God they do, foaming at the mouth and all. ‘How come any person free of insanity object to the corridor development’, they would say. ‘Only a sick mind opposes the beauty of Piassa as made possible by PP.’ and they would go on and on demonizing the detractors. Even the notorious Afe’Caesar Ato Afework Gebereyesus didn’t go to this length however much he preferred the infra-structure arteries Italy had introduced to freedom.
Economics is all about the wisdom of extracting maximum marginal utility from the finite resources and not pandering to our bottomless flights of fancies.
Makes me wonder, would they purchase a pair of Air Jordan for 200k birr in lieu of a desktop for less than 20k when their school age kids want/need both? If you ask me the Ten Year plan dubbed Vision 2030 goes all for the desktop and wouldn’t be able to ’squeeze in Air Jordan’ any place in its narrow corridors.
God Bless.
The writer can be reached at : estefanoussamuel@yahoo.com
Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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