Sidioca! “Even You, Brutus?”

It’s hard to believe that within such a limited span of time there can occur such a dramatic swing of moods and reversal of expectations. From the celebratory mood of the president’s installation to the shocking appointment of his head of cabinet, the country has been jolted out of its slumberous optimism to the grim realities of politics. Of course there has always been a surreal aspect to our political life but none has been so unpredictable and hazardous as to prepare us for this reckless decision. For all the high hopes of democratic change nurtured all along none of us would have expected that it will end up with someone like ZZ at the top of our first ever democratically elected cabinet. There is only one explanation to this sad denouement of what the world entire expected to be an unfolding story of historical change: either the new president has nothing new about him at all, being just another surviving member of Taya’s regime or a weak leader brought to power to allow yesterday’s rulers to continue to run the country by proxy. Either case he would have failed the historical promise of genuine democratic and institutional transformation in the country. Full stop.

We will never run short of people from different backgrounds who will come up with excuses for the wrong decisions taken by the government, in spite of the disastrous effects of these decisions on the ground. So, be prepared to see them trying to sell ZZ on the premise that he is an experienced economist, graduating from high-flying God knows what institution. The question that these overoptimistic dreamers cannot answer is very simple: what does all this have to do with ZZ’s history as senior state official holding some of the most sensitive posts in the country. Prove me wrong if they would come up with anything more serious than blaming his miserable record on the others, like his mentor Taya, when faced with this question. The problem is that there is a general culture of leniency toward the misconduct by government officials which makes it difficult to hold them accountable for their deeds. There will always be some people asking for the benefit of the doubt to be given when these officials should be taken to court. Thanks to this indifference, power had exchanged hands only between criminals and dictators and each time a voice of dissent contested their legitimacy it was silenced by this mentality of “criminals can change to an angles overnight.” Although I was cheated into believing that Sidioca could lead the country through to stability and prosperity, no way I’m going to lose my grip on reality again and imagine that ZZ can lead us anywhere.

I have always taken this dramatic saga of democracy with a pinch of salt but never thought it will derail so quickly and so dramatically. There is no way I could have figured out that while Sidioca would be reiterating his campaign promises in front of the world during his oath taking ceremony, when elsewhere we were preparing the announcement of ZZ as prime minister. Frankly, I don’t see how this decision will reinforce the national unity, curb unemployment, turn the economy around or fight rampant corruption- the five key themes which Sidioca vowed to tackle in his term. In addition to my blog on the swearing which was too optimistic to be published, the second victim of this nomination is these five ambitious points which constitute Sidioca’s program and for which he was shortlisted by Mauritanians as their president, or did they? (lol). Add to these promises ZZ’s famous free-housing policy and you’ll get a sense of what it means to be let down at this early stage of the five-year term.

I know we all still hope that somehow this will turn out for the better. We hope that we got it wrong about all this and that ZZ will live up to our expectations and be the cold and rigorous economist we want him to be. We hope our view of him is right and not mere wishfulthinking and that Sidioca has made the right choice. We hope also that ZZ will chose the right members of cabinet, bold, non-ideological and technocratic ministers. As much as I know none of us is ready to let go of these hopes, I’m convinced that Sidoca didn’t make a random choice when he named ZZ as his PM. The same way ZZ will not be making a haphazardous selection when it comes to his cabinet. Like all presidents and prime ministers worldwide, both guys are making picks from their closest friends, people whom they trust and can bet on their loyalty. Only it happens that unlike in the other parts of the world, our two guys’ friends are not the right people, for the reasons mentioned above.

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