Eh, Mr. Kebich ...

Tsikhanouskaya Voices Intention ‘To Continue Kebich’s Legacy’

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, expressing condolences to the family of Viachaslau Kebich in her telegram channel, said that she would “continue his legacy”. Leader of the European Belarus civil campaign, presidential candidate in the 2010 elections and former political prisoner Andrei Sannikov published a note on Facebook that helps to understand what happened to Belarus during the Kebich premiership era, and how he himself designed the “Frankenstein’s monster” Lukashenka, who took 26 years of history and development away from the Belarusian people..

Eh, Mr. Kebich ...

The very beginning of the summer of 1993. The representative international forum in Switzerland, in the mountains. I was working in our mission to the UN, organizing the visit of a delegation headed by Prime Minister, Kebich. The delegation arrived, settled down, and some little things were needed, such as batteries and decent ties for suits. The forum was held in a resort town, and the shops there were peculiar, expensive, and the assortment was not satisfactory. We decided to go to the city nearby to buy everything we needed at normal prices.

You have to understand how we, the diplomats, worked then. Scarce money. Not enough qualified staff. I had to work both as the most important diplomat and the most important driver. There was some kind of driver, but he didn't even know the language, he didn't even know Latin letters. How can you trust such a person to transport a government delegation?

So I sat at the wheel.

We got into an old ambassadorial Peugeot and drove off. I was behind the wheel, Kebich at the back seat, as expected, diagonally from the driver, next to him is the head of the bank, and next to me in the passenger seat was one of the ministers.

We were driving, discussing the weather, and suddenly, at a rather sharp turn on the serpentine, the brake pedal, without any resistance, softly went into the floor. The car wobbled, would not slow down, raked the gravel off the side of the road with its wheels .. It was an old car after all. I start to convulsively brake with the engine, that is, switching the gears down, since the gearbox is mechanical. The banker screamed from behind, the minister on the right turned white. Kebich gave a short laugh and continued talking as if nothing had happened.

I am not exactly a mechanic, but somewhere I heard that it is necessary to “rock the brakes.” Several times I pressed and released the pliable brake pedal, and - oh, miracle! - it became flexible again, and the braking function returned.

At the nearest parking lot, I stopped, got out of the car, lit a cigarette, just to decide what to do. Kebich came up: “Will we get to the place, with such brakes?”

“Hopefully,” I said.

“Let's go then.”

Then we crossed paths with him more than once, and I saw him changing. Unfortunately, not for the better. But he appeared in Belarusian politics as a reformer. A technocrat, a chief engineer of an advanced machine tool plant.

And I also well remembered his act when he came out to the square for the hundred thousandth demonstration of workers in April 1991. Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Mikalai Dzemiantsey chickened and hid in the office, but Prime Minister Kebich did come out.

However, Viachaslau Kebich was just a model Soviet nomenklatura man who found himself in a new situation of independence of the former Soviet republic. He did not need that independence, especially since it did not solve any economic problems, but, on the contrary, was just an extra pain in the ass.

He did not even try to build the economy of an independent state, firmly believing that the path to happiness lies only through the Kremlin. He wanted power, he was not satisfied with the state of uncertainty and the need to share power with Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Stanislau Shushkevich. However, his idea of power was limited to the level of the head of the republic, dependent on Moscow, and subordinated to it.

His inability and unwillingness to use the independent status of Belarus to reform the economy quickly led to the stagnation of the entire system.

And he was catastrophically unable to select personnel, but he considered himself obliged to remain faithful to them, even to those who openly betrayed him.

Let’s take as an example two of his closest associates, who did not bother to change after the election campaign, and ended up in the team of Lukashenka, his main rival in the 1994 presidential election. One of them was the head of his headquarters, Mikhail Myasnikovich, and the second was ideologist Uladzimir Zamiatalin, now deceased. Both, together with their new boss, brought a lot of harm to Belarus.

Kebich's main fault before the Belarusian people is that it was he who designed Lukashenka.

Because of his desire to become the most important boss in Belarus, he created this Frankenstein’s monster, who ate him.

But he could have used the power to prevent Lukashenka from taking part in the elections. He could have set in motion at least two criminal cases against a zealous opponent, real, not far-fetched, which Lukashenka is impudently riveting today.

Kebich didn't want to mess around with this, although history would forgive him.

His main difference from Lukashenka is that he was not mean. Maybe he would, but did not allow himself to act with mean methods even against the arrogant bawdy Lukashenka.

But what would have happened if he had won?

Most likely it would be bad, but not long ...

And then we would have rocked the brakes, and taken a normal road!