Good riddance

There is no sight quite as pathetic as that of a dictator who refuses to accept his time is up. It took 18 days of peaceful but resilient protests to convince Hosni Mubarak to finally step down. Just a day before his resignation, the despot gave a foolishly defiant speech in which he declared that he would continue in office till September. As a sop to the protesters, he said that he would transfer some of his powers to Vice-President Omar Suleiman. It appears that he has handed over the reins to the Higher Military Council with Defence Minister Hussein Tantawi in charge. Of course, this should be seen as a transition to a free and fair election so that the people of Egypt can choose their own leader. This is because Mubarak came from the army which is very much part of the status quo. So even if the army is to run the country for now, it must set a clear timeframe for polls and transfer of power to an elected government.

The protesters don’t want a new boss who is in all respects the same as the old boss. They have clearly shown, in over two weeks of largely peaceful demonstrations, that their only goal is democracy and the Egyptian military cannot provide that.

The fact that Mubarak had to go must also have dawned on the Obama administration which had cautiously been hinting that the days of the US propping up the Egyptian dictatorship were over. They must now put their fears about the Muslim Brotherhood taking over to one side and make this shift official by threatening to turn off the spigot of funds unless free and fair elections are speedily conducted.

After the disastrous reception to his speech, Hosni Mubarak had only two options. Knowing that the protests were only going to get more fierce after his latest speech he could either relinquish office or unleash the full might of the military on his citizens. Of course, had he opted confrontation he would have lost all his allies and there was no guarantee that the military would follow his orders. One thing is for sure: he will not be missed.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2011.