Donkeys before horses

Sad news: the close race between Tabaku and Alimehmeti is being won by the former. It is sad not because the economist is entering parliament, but because the doctor is being shut out. If things were to function on a meritocracy basis, both Jorida Tabaku and Ilir Alimehmeti should have been among the first to be selected, as two experts who do honor to politics with a public image created with competence and proven over time.

The news becomes even sadder because it reminds us of the lack of meritocracy, not just within the ranks of a political party like the DP.

Whether I'm wrong, we lack meritocracy in all areas, starting from the state and moving on to civil society, and even the private sector, which, a good part of the time, does not function based on competition but on a clientelistic basis.

We have been and remain a backward country, a people that caught the train of history at the last moment. This happened with the declaration of independence, then with the fall of the totalitarian system and, after some time, the democratic transformations and the installation of a market economy are happening to us.

Historically late, always at the end.

And one of the main reasons for this proverbial backwardness is that we have always operated based on tribal interests and have trampled on competition, competition, and meritocracy.

In a word, we have a vein and we continue to put the donkeys before the horses.