Expecting Sobriety In The Land Of Drunkards

In view of the recent accusations and counter accusations exchanged among the scanty but noisy boycotters and the masses, who have attended, supported or sympathized with the National Conference for Democratic Change in Eritrea (NCDC)  which concluded successfully in Addis Abeba this last summer, no matter how hard one tries, one is at loss to find a palatable excuse for the acrimonious and unjustified attacks propelled by those who have been bared naked and exposed to the Eritrean people and hence by extension to the whole world as a duplicate of the Asmara Regime and an identical replica of the local despot in the Diaspora.

All the excuses put forward by the opponents, detractors and / or apologists against the successes achieved by the NCDC, whose very convening was a resounding success in itself, are just a hocus pocus of unconvincing, self-contradicting, glaringly malicious and deliberately deceptive arguments. Despite the loud noise these accusations and pseudo excuses for boycotting the national gathering may make, and the smears they may paint the national conference with, in reality however, and upon a casual scrutiny and mere cursory examination they all are flimsy, can not stand on two legs and certainly can not hold an iota of water at all. Those who are behind these shrilling cacophonies know very well these facts.  They surely do. But as full time politicians with vested interests and narrow agendas of their own ,they know  very well the art of playing with the contradictions and religio-ethnical sentiments  of the people –  albeit dressed with progressive garbs and embellished   with Marxist-Leninist and or Maoist jargon as they have always done in the past or by craftily adopting terminologies from the current so called anti terror verbiage as the infamous and ubiquitous “Swat Valley …” ilk uttered by one of the tripartite leaders .In their all out campaign – every thing goes, as long as such dirty tactics serve their over-all agendas. They know very well how weak their stance is, and how naked to their bones they are; but once again as career politicians they master the art of riding from time to time on all kinds of band wagons as long as their shallow interests are achieved and the people’s genuine demands and cherished aspirations are perpetually ignored, and shelved under the carpet for ever. Raising false alarms by hypocritically yelling “National Unity” or their new substitute for the proverbial “Cry Wolf” is always a handy baton they can raise, exactly like their counter parts in Asmara do, at any time their interests are threatened; while every one knows them, amongst all the people they are the last ones to speak about National Unity! Their history, past and present – is a living testimony to the contrary. But in their book it is okay to cry. And for that matter as loud as your lungs can allow: – ‘Cry Wolf,’ I mean, ‘National Unity’, as long as there is the slightest probability that someone can be deluded and misguided. And as long as the evil specter of a genuine national unity is cast afar and split asunder – cry. Cry –“National Unity”! “Why not”, they argue, “it worked in the past and it can work now as well”. However, the current socio-political dynamics will certainly prove them wrong. Enough is enough. The self-righteous paternalistic attitudes and the “I am holier than thou” zealotry adopted as a policy by these career politicians will certainly prove to be the very tool for digging the befitting grave for their very own sinister machinations and the inevitable demise of their shallow sectarian agendas.

Swimming against the tide of the peoples’ struggle, and working against the national interests of the whole people and the entire nation is not a choice a wise person would make in his or her proper senses unless our power-hungry and control- freak, inebriated career politicians would like to venture espousing such folly and bear the ensuing consequences the least of which –  is the ignominy that they would be branded with and the misery of the shame they would carry for ever. But it appears that  the word ‘shame’ does not exist at all in the dictionary of some of our career politicians, or the ‘dellallas’ as someone has aptly dubbed them.

Can someone tell them please; to wake up and remind them before it is too late that it is high time they rode the band wagon, only this time – the genuine national brand? Or is it difficult if not impossible to counsel metaphorically the inebriated, the tipsy dropsy, liquor-drenched, domination – thirsty, ztestesu sekhranat, granting of course that the generic sikhraan has its own varieties of intoxications not necessarily limited to drinks? Giving advice to the drunkard may turn out to be a difficult or even an impossible task. May God help the Good Samaritan in his efforts as he may wait a long time and maybe for ever until modesty finds its way to the land of the “I am holier than thou” and sobriety dawns on the camp of the drunken imposters!

The reaction generated by the recalcitrant stance adopted by the nay sayers has unfortunately driven even the cool-minded amongst our writers to lose all hope in ever the Regime Replicas coming to their senses and desisting from treading the perilous path they have taken for themselves and are not hesitating at all to drag the whole nation along with them for the sole purpose of fulfilling their narrow selfish interests and obviously sinister agendas. “Après moi le deluge” has been the driving motto and guiding principle behind the dellallas and it is unlikely that they will be prepared to abandon it for the common good. No, not all, especially as it is an engrained behavioral pattern that had characterized their actions to date. And mind you, old habits die hard, as it is said. Therefore many a writer has called in desperation recently to let the national caravan proceed and never be delayed at all by the futile attempts seeking the rectification of the irremediable dellallas or succumb to their stalling tactics.

Some, in good faith are hoping and hopefully not against hope, that maybe the dellallas would realize the dangers their policies are creating in our national struggle for justice, equality and freedom, and that they would perhaps come to their senses and join the peoples march on the straight path of national unity. But inviting these self-deluded supremacists, judging from their history has proved time and again as a futile exercise and a waste of time, resources and efforts yet the crookedness, unfortunately remained as their distinctive trade mark  – crooked , twisted and as bent as the camel’s neck. And strangely, the camel probably thinks that he has a straight neck! So despite the schism these elements may create and thus polarize our people, maybe the time to move on, to go ahead and march forward without being distracted by the dellallas and their narrow agendas has unfortunately come. After all, you can not expect to elicit a response from someone who has deliberately decided not to hear in the first place. Can you? Nzetsqete – tswi’ka aytesm’onikha! And lastly can we remain ensnared hostages forever to the alarmist cries of imaginary threats that are only ploys of the selfish career politicians? And how long can a whole nation remain a victim to the machinations of the monstrous dellallas? Yes, despite the majority’s desire to unify and build consensus if the minority with vested interests insists to dissent and splinter, then it is time to declare that the only medicine left is either surgery or cutting. Sadly, not a pleasant choice to take. But a timely and necessary one to be resorted to and in that matter, firmly adopted as the only therapeutic option left. After all, the Eritrean political arena can withstand multiplicity in views and agendas provided integrity, transparency and clarity were to be adopted by all parties concerned. Gone are the days when the doctrines of one front, single party etc. were imposed at gun point upon us. As long as the dellallas stop hiding behind empty slogans and declare what they love to conceal, our wise people can always detect and separate the chaff from the wheat. Just stop the deception and say it in simple, clear words – what is it that you want? Go your own way and let the masses fulfill their dream to a peaceful coexistence of all the components of our beautiful nation.