Is it possible to find just one government official that can explain why the Hrazdan Sports Complex must be the property of MP Ashot Aghababyan, a member of the ruling Republican Party?

Can any of our government officials explain why this individual must be lord and master of the structures and buildings planned for this 14 hectare parcel of land?

If this is a matter of national security, let one of them provide an explanation, so that the rest of us understand.

If it is a measure taken to strengthen the foundation of the state, let them say as much.

Perhaps Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan can explain what pivotal significance it will serve the shaping of the Armenian nation to have one of his party colleagues build a huge commercial center on the site.

The authorities have familiarized themselves with all possible ways to squeeze the state and now they are writing an encyclopaedia on the subject.

The bowels of the country will soon be opened for exploitation; all the exploratory licenses have been doled out.

It’s as if the end of the world has been declared and our officials have decided to make the country’s riches their own. But the country’s natural wealth doesn’t belong to this generation alone. Doesn’t anyone in the corridors of power bring this inconvenient truth to the table?

Aram Haroutyunyan, the Minister of Nature Protection, couldn’t care less about the fate of the Trchkan Waterfall. His business interests continue to flourish. The construction and planning interests he owns are winning the tender bids launched by the very ministry he runs.

This minister, who has become a natural disaster for Armenia’s environment, rubber stamps any document placed on his desk. That’s how the green light for the construction of a hydro-electric plant at Trchkan was given. If he doesn’t sign off on the permit papers some other state agency will.

The forests of Armenia are being massacred under the government’s nose. Furthermore, it is the state agency HayAntar (Armenian Forest) that is wielding the axe.

If there are still non-believers in the government, we can escort them to the forests of Tavoush and Lori at any time so that they can see for themselves the results of the organized rape of the land.

Political duplicity, the doling out of plum government posts, searching out new avenues to embezzle state funds – this is what really interests our “elected officials”.

The rest of us are just cogs in a bigger wheel.

True to form, we and the nation as a whole are dutifully going along for the ride.