During six decades of independence, Algeria has built itself as a state of individuals and loyalties, not as a state of institutions. Therefore, the destiny of the country has been linked on multiple occasions to the fate of individuals. Since 2014, Algeria lived as a patient because the president was sick. If there were genuine presidential and parallel institutions, the situation could have been contained in a very normal way.
The Algerian street has become divided between those who are completely detached from the public scene and the task of choosing their representatives, or between those who view the future through the lens of the past rather than the present. This is why (for example) Mohamed Rouraoua (80 years old) is being presented as a saviour for Algerian football from the state of chaos and corruption, instead of looking for another figure. The same thing is happening in the case of various institutions of the country. One of the biggest political lies circulating in the country is the emphasis on youth and women in official and political institutions.
Indeed, there may be no one better than Mohamed Rouraoua to look after the affairs of the Algerian football in the current circumstances. Not because he’s an otherworldly creature with magical keys, but because the chaotic and corrupt football institution lacks a man like Rouraoua or better than him. The policy of building institutions, which ensures transition, continuity, and rotation, placing the state on the path of stability, is absent.
[by Sabir Blidi in Al-Arab, London]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque
