The town is abuzz with a new ‘political script’
that seems to have come close to some sort of
‘news of the month’ status. Yes. I know there are other bits and pieces of ‘news’ vying for that spot. But this one is a little different; it seems to be the mix of some prophesy and a little dose of veiled ‘warning.’
Well, here is how the script plays out. After the last day of the first month of the coming Ethiopian new year, it would be free for all on the political front. Call it a prophecy, call it a sugar-coated intimidation, that’s the talk of the town. Free for all to do what? Well, for one thing it seems the gates to the power corridors will be wide open. What! (Living close to the legendary Arat Kilo, don’t blame me for being exited! I should start working out to improve my running speed because since reaching open gates or open anything ahead of the crowd will be about sprints and not cross-country running, mine would probably be about the finishing line and not the starting gun. Feeling sorry for guys who have to run all the way from the suburbs! By the time they arrive there’ll be no ‘chair’ or, no anything to be taken! OMG!)
Nothing could be more mind-boggling than such narratives; we were told that, come D-day early September, big institutions with muscle enough to do anything would not be taking orders from anyone. What! I have to paraphrase what some guy wrote on his Facebook page; “Is that a threat or what?” That exactly what most of us with a thousand and one worries are asking, do those things have anything to do with veiled threats? Or if people are playing the Nostradamus card we are entitled to know. We have so many questions of our own about the future… like “When’ll politics in this country and wisdom ink some memo to work together?” Only someone with Nostradamus DNA could answer that! Everything there for the taking! We’re talking about such things in the middle
of the most worrying days this world has seen in modern times! We’re part of billions of souls with no idea what tomorrow has in store for us and people are trying to scare the living daylight out of us!
Some of our political genes seem to b too restless for comfort. Acting like the guy who was in hiding four decades after the Second World War thinking it was still being fought is trouble. Someone was saying “Was that a threat or some blueprint for things to come?” Search me.
One thing I know is we have more than our share of spine-chilling worries. We need no more of that scary Frankenstein stuff! An entire nation is on a knife’s edge not knowing when and if that pandemic tsunami would come in roaring. And we are being told, come the new year and law and order would break! Who is anyone to scare people with this bad neighborhood mentality!
One can forget the patriotism stuff; that is one thing we would pardon quite a number of politicians for being acutely deficient of. What’s more, the term has attained so many odd definitions these days no need for throwing the mud balls at each other. But there is something called humanity! Or have we given a hundred and one ‘other’ definitions that term too?
If things go wrong they will be going wrong for everyone. We need no genie-out-of the- jar stuff to be aware of that. It is the simplest of things talking about the doomsday! Look guys who itch to play political softball should do it elsewhere. Hey, we need the breathing space to deal with the pandemic!. Trying to take away that from us is not only wrong doing; it is a cardinal sin of the foulest kind; the medical professionals are telling us the coming weeks and couple of months would be crucial. Isn’t that worrying enough for us! How much more can our tormented
shoulders carry!
This is not about taking sides or cheerleading for this or that group. It’s not a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down affair. It is about a nation’s that is yet to do find out what the global pandemic making weasels out of the giants would do to it! In most countries the last thing anyone talks about is politics! This is about survival! This is about continuing as a species! Why are they doing this to us! Why are they trying to give us more sleepless nights than we already are suffering?
Tired! Tired! Tired of the political…!
This is not about persuasion. One doesn’t scare people to persuade them. The moment one scares other one has forfeited the advantage. Not a very brilliant strategy, is it? Making people shake in their boots must be …
“Did you hear the news?”
“What news are you talking about?’”
“We’re heading towards very difficult months ahead.”
“Well that’s no breaking news for me. Isn’t the whole world in the same situation!”
“I’m not talking about the virus thing.” “Oh!” and that is a breathless ‘Oh!’ “Then, what about is it?”
“There is going to be massive political chaos.” Really!
“Where did you hear it from?” “I got it from a trusted source.”
Trusted source my &*%#! Believe me this trusted source probably got it from another
‘trusted source.’
Sorry to say it, but many times ‘modern’ politics in this country appears to be on big rehearsal for a world premiere of something
like ‘Stupidity Unlimited.’ Isn’t that one tempting title; absolutely no shortage of ‘raw material.’ Maybe I should think of a sitcom and make some hard coming bucks!
Come on guys, if your knowledge of politics doesn’t go further than making Che Guevara’s portrait your screensaver, give it up! Take on something easier… like preaching! You heard me right! These days one thing you s certainly don’t need to be a self-made preacher is knowing a single chapter of any scripture. Claim the hotline to the world beyond is in your living room and voila! The big bucks come rolling in.! Quite entrepreneurial, wouldn’t you say! If it brings in the mighty dollar then it is right! What do you mean, sin! Look, that informing this to you falls on my shoulder is your proof of life being unfair! I’ll do it anyway: for many of us the term sin seems to have been deleted from our every hardware, natural or otherwise! There you have it.
Everyone in the political arena seems to be aiming for the Red Carpet. That is not going to happen. Learn to live with it! The Red Carpet, political or otherwise is not for ‘mass use! ’ Ha! These days, forget the carpet, red or whatever, having the ground to walk on is a blessing! And some of us are after the Red Carpet illusion while the global pandemic’s RED light is becoming more intense making it difficult for us to see past a few weeks, let alone months! And we they have the spleen to tell us come September and it’ll be D-day! If some are expecting the twenty-one gun salute for the ‘prediction, let them go buy their own gunpowder!
To count or not to count, should we be asking “How many months to September!” No way! We are asking, “How much more time for the Covid 19 problem to be solved and for life to reclaim its normal rhythm?”
September, what!
The Ethiopia Herald May 8, 2020
By Ephrem Endale
