The One-Eyed Government

Rashid Abdel Rahim

Abu Othman Amru Bin Bahar Al-Jahiz, the celebrated and widely renowned writer known for his mastery of language, eloquence, and vivid description, distinguished himself from the wider body of Arab writers through works that became classics in their fields, including Al-Bayan wa al-Tabyin and Kitab al-Hayawan.
Among his more unusual works was his book Al-Bursan wa al-‘Urjan wa al-‘Umyan wa al-Hawlan, in which he defines the one-eyed person as someone “whose one eye has gone dark and lost its sight” — meaning the eye may appear perfectly sound, yet it cannot see.
It is almost as though Al-Jahiz wished to describe for us this noble government of ours: its members complete, its ranks assembled, yet a government that sees what is good only to pass it by, and looks towards humiliation only to fall straight into it.
Last Friday, rebel forces arrested the teacher Bishara Suleiman in the town of Tawila, an area under their control in North Darfur. His crime — the reason that delivered him into the hands of those who know no mercy — was that he supervised the receipt and distribution of teachers’ salaries in the locality.
Yes, that alone was his offence in their eyes. The government had sent those salaries, while the teachers were supposedly working under the “Ta’sis” administration. How, then, could he accept wages from the “State of ’56”?
The rebels, at least, were honest with themselves: they seized what was sent to them by the very state they are fighting. But why is our own government sending money to its enemy?
It is meaningless idealism, misplaced virtue, and a desperate search for the approval of others.
Indeed, it feels entitled to squander public funds however it wishes — for it is a “one-eyed” government.
Our government also heard the cries of its citizens suffering under pitch-black darkness and unbearable heat these days, and the Ministry of Energy issued a lengthy apology. Yet such is the depth of its blindness that the statement spent its time discussing thermal generation projects, while entirely failing to notice that citizens have already fled to solar energy, seeking refuge under its shade despite the cost, preferring it over the government’s electricity and its endless crises.
The government could not overcome its blindness sufficiently to support its citizens and free itself from the burden simultaneously. At the very least, it could have removed taxes and levies on solar equipment and alternative energy sources.
Nor could it support this transition through bank financing, partnerships with companies supplying equipment at lower cost, or even by establishing companies dedicated to the sector.
We do not even dare hope that our government might establish solar-powered cities — or even villages — for we have not forgotten that it belongs among those whom Al-Jahiz described as one-eyed.
It is a one-eyed government indeed.
Nor is the government alone afflicted by this condition. The Prime Minister, too, seems to suffer from it. He saw two universities at the far edge of Europe and gave a lecture at both in a single day, proudly boasting of an achievement he claimed was unprecedented.
Yet nowhere did we see serious academics host him with dignity. Instead, we saw youths hovering around him in embarrassing excitement, prompting him to seek praise and admiration for what he had done — and even for what he had not done — forgetting that such places demand honesty and intellectual integrity. A university is a place of learning, not a battlefield for status and positioning.
He travelled voluntarily to lecture at European universities about matters of no benefit to them and harm to us, while leaving his own students scattered and displaced across countries. However, they are far more deserving of the attention his wandering eye failed to give.
Our government spent education funds on the enemy while withholding them from its own teachers, as though it seeks darkness to spread — through failing electricity, wasted teachers’ salaries, and the negligence of officials.

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