How I met Artan Lame

2025-05-24 10:05:00, Opinione Ulsi Manja

By Ulsi Manja

I didn't write yesterday, hoping that God would perform a second miracle – after the first one in 2016 – but it didn't happen. So today, these few lines that come from my pain, I write for Artan Lamen, convinced that he expects them from me.

After every conversation, he would say to me: "How could we not get along, man! We are one-worded, and we don't understand each other... or we understand each other, but you and I have trouble telling each other who is right!" We would laugh - but after every argument, we would hug, even though I couldn't reach him, because he was much taller than me.

I have always called him "Lame" - a name that for me was not just a surname, but a symbol of dedication, confrontation and vision. I believed until the end that God would bring him back among us, to once again be the permanent opponent of great social, public and national causes.

He didn't succeed... because that's what the Creator had written for him. But what Artan Lame did achieve is eternal: in more than three decades, he left an indelible mark on every issue of public and national interest, especially in the titanic efforts to establish urban normality in an informal Albania from head to toe.

I have known him as a publicly engaged voice since before 2009, when I joined the Socialist Party. But after that year, our professional relations were frequent, direct, and sometimes even confrontational. We clashed more than anyone else over work – but never over personal matters. In those long debates with him, I liked that I could wait for him with my mind and follow him with his mind.

He was compelling in argument, profound in analysis, and often easily out-performed me – especially in property matters, where he often out-performed even the best lawyers in the field. He had an opinion on everything, knew how to do everything, and above all, had the courage to speak and act.

Today, when someone dies, kind words are said. But in the case of Artan, these words are not clichés. The family has lost the pillar of the house. Albania has lost an excellent advocate of the national cause and an unwavering defender of our European roots, while civil society has lost a man selflessly committed to every cause of public interest.

Whoever sees his role narrowly, through his own interests, is gravely mistaken. Lame was unique. He was much more than a public official. He was a man of great ideas and difficult battles.

I was fortunate to have him as a companion for a significant part of my journey in politics and public administration. We were not close friends, but we shared much more than that: we shared respect for different opinions and the friendship that stems from the sincerity of confrontation.

I feel an unusual void from his absence. Just the idea that he is no longer in Tirana creates a deep sense of longing in me. Maybe Tirana is losing smart people faster than it should…

Farewell, friend. Rest in the eternal peace of the Creator. I will always remember you as the patriot who never gave up on Albania./ CNA