between stability and the illusion of stability

The executive bodies of the Life Return government have begun putting the finishing touches on the maintenance of the Tripoli International Stadium, and preparing everything around it, including the maintenance of the road leading to it, which has been left unfinished for about a year. On February 17th, when the Prime Minister and his followers and entourage come to inaugurate the achievement of the stadium, most people will forget that this historical achievement took the Life Return government more than two and a half years and tens of millions of dinars to accomplish, with the leader of stability capturing photos for posterity to immortalize himself as an inspirational leader of the Life Return journey. 

Two and a half years and tens of millions of dinars are sufficient to establish integrated sports cities and facilities around them. However, in Libya, achieving regular maintenance of existing buildings in this time frame and with these amounts is considered an achievement worthy of praise and celebration. Criticizing it or suggesting that it is closer to theft than accomplishment will brand you as a traitor. Celebrating a suspicious achievement is not far from the nature of our society, which celebrates failure, let alone expensive success. Examples of this abound, notably the roads of Life Return and its rotating islands, which cost millions of your money and sank in the first winter tests, as well as the achievements of the electricity company, which managed to achieve what was considered impossible a few years ago, stabilizing the public electricity grid and almost eliminating load shedding. This achievement is enough to make questioning its cost a form of treason, or even asking about the source of the funds used by the Chairman of the General Electricity Company to fund deals for the recruitment of players for one of Tripoli's clubs, place you in the category of an undercover agent who does not want stability for the nation and its citizens. 

We are not against stability and the return of life and its real and even illusory projects, but we are against the illusion of stability. We will try to expose and reveal it, and stir its stagnant waters, perhaps causing a minor storm that casts shadows of doubt on what the thieves lurking in the country's riches and the strength of its sons under the guise of stability and projects are doing. 

I believe that the most significant achievement of the Life Return government is not the international conferences and forums it successfully hosted, nor the completion of projects that had been stalled for years and which successive governments had failed to complete, nor achieving stability in the electricity grid and almost eliminating the burdens that had weighed on people for over ten years. Rather, it is its success in domesticating most of the armed formations in Tripoli and its surroundings, turning them from predatory formations that only thrived in wars and conflicts into domesticated formations participating in stability projects, filling the pockets of their leaders and making them the most prominent beneficiaries, protectors, and defenders, because the continuation of illusory stability and its projects is the continuation of the stability of its financial affairs, whether in terms of the livelihoods and salaries of its humble members or the immense wealth accumulated by its leaders, who have transformed from poor people before 2011 into emperors of stability in the era of Life Return. 

The difference between stability and the illusion of stability lies in the fact that the former is governed by well-thought-out plans adopted by an elected government with constitutional laws. This elected government commissioned accredited councils of experts and advisors who presented implementable plans within the framework of the state's capabilities, resources, and strategic vision. These plans were presented to a parliament elected by the people, which studied them and their feasibility, then approved them, prompting government agencies to begin implementing them. After commencing their implementation, state oversight bodies closely supervised them and held accountable those who were completing them, auditing their budgets to protect them from theft and ensure their quality and effectiveness. 

As for illusory projects, they are paper projects resembling mirages seen by the viewer in the desert, mistaking them for water until they find nothing when they reach them. They are projects inflated and hyped for the purpose of marketing them to the public as historical achievements. In any case, they are achievements on paper for a government that was not elected by anyone, implementing plans that were not approved by the elected parliament; and there is no elected parliament to begin with. These projects are implemented without oversight, and if there is oversight, it is ineffective because the relationship between them and the government and its agencies is ambiguous, not governed by a constitutionally based law because there is no constitution to begin with. These projects are implemented by companies, most of which are contracted under the table, owned by ministers, agents, leaders of armed formations, or their relatives. Because the Life Return government is not in agreement with the esteemed House of Representatives, the latter did not allocate a budget for it. So, where will the government spend on its projects and its stability? Here comes the genius 1/12 plan, whereby the Central Bank of Libya commits to covering government spending each month equivalent to 1/12 of the last approved budget. This means billions of dinars without accountability or oversight, as the public money barons fear neither God nor do state agencies hold them accountable, either because they are incapable of doing so or because they are complicit with them. Thus, theft, draining of public money, and exploitation of citizens continue. This time, however, they delude him into thinking that his life is safe and stable, and that the government is striving for the stability of the country and the return of life to it, while in reality, it is only seeking to prolong its stay in power. Because it does not possess the overwhelming military power wielded by dictators and tyrants, it has decided to resort to soft power provided by its 1/12 budget, spending the people's money without accountability, ensuring your continued stay in power and the continued prosperity of your henchmen in their cushy positions. It provides a cover of legitimacy for armed formations to practice terrorism for its own benefit and yours, and ensures the people remain in the coma of illusory stability because you have succeeded in achieving the equation that your predecessors failed to achieve. 

Return government in achieving the equation that no one has succeeded in achieving since 2011 – which is domesticating the armed formations – may not be considered intelligence and planning on the part of the government and its leader as much as it is exploitation of favorable conditions that emerged after emerging from a long war of attrition that lasted nearly a year and a half, in which no one emerged victorious. The war drained the financial and human resources of the armed formations and produced new alliances and formations, weakening some and strengthening others. Acceptance by their leaders of making some concessions in exchange for a share in the lucrative stability cake became a possibility after being beyond reach before 2019. 

In conclusion, reconstruction projects, the return of life, stability, and other slogans, whether in the east or west of the country, are nothing more than flashy signs that occupy us with talking about them and praising their accomplishments. They make us – in the midst of our intoxication – overlook the theft of our money and the money of our children, and the schemes surrounding them that only seek to maintain the current situation and the entrenched ones in the power fortresses on their thrones of authority. We continue to gather the crumbs of their tables to satisfy our hunger, then raise our hands to the sky to pray for their long-lasting existence, without a constitution or elections. What truly matters to us is just stability, or even its illusion!