What do majority of Ethiopians have in common?

We never acknowledge our weaknesses!

I think this is one of the root causes for the dismal state of the nation. Just check out the response of these ELITISTS to the question: "What has been your worst business decision?" More than half out of the 18 business leaders that were question by Fortune failed to honestly respond to what they think is their worst business decision was. Even the once that responded, they did so in a vague and general terms that can't be considered a full acknowledgement of failure. I think this is at the heart of the problems why we Ethiopians are failed citizens and why our nation is a failed state by all measures. I think the below so-called "leaders" responses are a reflections into our society's failure to accept failure and work hard to fix those failures. It is specially troublesome when our leaders in all sectors (politics, religion, business, or otherwise) FAIL again and again to stir the public in the right direction by acknowledging their mistakes publicly and honestly and attempt to correct them.

To be fair, there are few that appear to have honestly answered this question and I have a lot of respect for such people and leaders.

Anyways, here snap shot of the responses this leaders gave to Fortune. To read the complete responses please go here.

1. Ambachew Abraha, managing director, Ethiopian Shipping Lines

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. There has not been one.

2. Begziabher Alebel, general manager, Ultimate Plan Plc

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. Nothing that I recall.

3. Biniam Berhe, general manager, Country Trading PLC

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. There is not one that I recall.

4. Berhanu Getaneh, president, United Bank

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. ----- (I don't think he even bothered to answer this one!)

5. Getu Gelete, owner, Getu Commercial Centre

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. I do not hastily make business decisions. Rather, I make decisions after careful evaluation. (This guy seems to self aggrandizing!)

6. Habte-Selassie Tafesse, general manager, International Business Plc

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. A decision the consequences of which affect negatively people other than myself.

7. Muluwork G. Hiwot, general manager, Brehanena Selam Printing Enterprise

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. It's not my worst decision, but the hardest is to discipline staff and sack them, knowing that they may not find another job easily. That part is hard.

8. Salvatore de Vita, general manager, Salvatore de Vita & Family PLC.

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. I have been lucky: I do not think I have made one.

9. Tadesse Tilahun, CEO, National Oil Company (NOC) Ethiopia

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. Though unavoidable, firing people is the decision I hesitate to take.

10. Tsegaye Abebe, general manager, Ethio Flora PLC

• Q. What has been your worst business decision?
• A. I do not have one I made and call it worst but I consider the worst kind of business decision would be entering a short-term and baseless business.

ጩኸት ከምድረ ወልቃይት!

በጎንደር ክፍለ ሃገር በተለይም (በወልቃይት ጠገዴ, ጠለምት) እና በትግራይ ሕዝብ መካከል እስከ 1970ዎቹ መጨረሻ ድረስ ከነበረው ታሪካዊ አንድነት ባሻገር፡ በመፈቃቀድ የተመሰረቱ ግቢዎች የንግድ ልውውጦሽ በጋራ የተፈጥሮ ድንበር የሆነውን የተከዜ ወንዝ የመጠቀም ወዘተ…. የመሳሰሉ ጠንካራ ግንኝነቶች እንደነበሩት ይታወሳል።

በተልይም የተፈጥሮ ድርቅ በተደጋጋሚ በትግራይ ክፍለ ሃገር በተከሰቱባቸው ወቅቶች እጅግ በርካታ የሆነ ሕዝብ ወደ ጎንደር ክፍለ ሃገር (ወልቃይት ጠገዴ) በመሻገር የተፈጥሮ ርህራሄ ቸርነትንና ለጋሽነትን ተለይቶት ከማያውቀው ወገኑ ጋር በመቆየት ጊዝያዊ ችግሮችን እንዲወጣ፤ እዲጠናከር በማገዝና ከተጠናከረ በኋላም የሥራ እድል በማመቻቸት የመልሶ ማቋቋሚያ ገንዝብ ይዞ እንዲመለስ ሲደረግ ቆይቷል።.......
ሙሉውን ለማንበብ እዚህ ይጫኑ - Read More

ተዛማጅ ዜናዎችና ሪፖርቶች፡

1. ጩኸት ከምድረ ወልቃይት
2. የሱዳን ጦር ዘመቻና የወያኔ ድብቅ ሴራ
3. በጎንደር የሱዳኖችን ጥቃት በተመለከት
4. ዳርፉር በኢትዮጵያ
5. ጠንቀቅ እንበል! ፕሮፈሰር መስፍን ወ/ማርያም
6. ሊቀ መአምራን አበባው ይግዛው ከኢትይጵያዊነት ሬዲዮ
7. German Radio Report የጀርመን ድምጽ ሪፖርት
8. Ethiomedia.com Report
9. TPLF Betrayal
10. Violation of Ethiopian Territorial Integrity
11. VOA Interview with Local Farmers & Proff. Mesfin W/Mariam
12. Kinijit NA Press Release
13. SOCEPP Press Release
14. EPRP Press Release
15. Eastern Sudan Farmers Get Back Ethiopian Farm Lands
16. Proff. Tecola Hagos Analysis
17. Shrinking Ethiopia (Map)
18. Ethiopians Bravely Defend their Border - Capturing 8 Sudanese Soldiers
19. የሱዳን ጦር ድባቅ ተመታ! 8 ወታደሮች ተማረኩ!!

More reports and opinions will be added as they become available.

Electoral Frustrations

Two weeks of elections have come and gone, and I have not yet experienced a more comic election process than the ones just completed in the capital as well as across the country. I suppose the word ‘farce’ would be the best way to describe the events of the last two Sundays and the obvious results that they are to yield.

To begin with, the only active and well organized political party that participated in the race was the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which registered nearly four million candidates, an outrageous number as far as I am concerned, considering that they did not have much competition. The main reason, for this is the simple fact that many opposition parties decided to abstain or withdraw from the process because the requests they made to the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEB) for transparent, free and fair elections with as equal coverage time on public media as the incumbent has, were not even considered, let alone met. Many of the parties also claimed harassment, which some international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, have agreed existed.

The Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) withdrew its candidacy after the initial elections had already taken place, claiming intimidation and a lack of fairness and transparency. The United Ethiopia Democratic Front (UEDF) did not have its name on the ballot to begin with; they withdrew two days before the elections began two weeks ago. The Ethiopian United Democratic Party (EUDP-Mehdin), in one of their most famous manoeuvres, tried claiming that they should retain the seats that they had won three years ago. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), or what used to be the CUD, did not participate, although the new bearers of the name were asking for voter support “just like they had in 2005” on public media, despite the fact that it was not their victory.

But it is not just the drama on the side of the political parties that makes this quite a funny situation; it is rather the reaction of the voting public. To begin with, I do not believe voter turnout was far from being the same as it was in the last elections, although the NEBE claims otherwise.

I received a knock on my door from someone reminding me that it was Election Day. I made it a point to remind him that I had not registered to vote. I was given an account of voters writing notes like “we are tired”, “please step down”, and “we want someone else”, on the ballot papers, instead of voting for the candidates on them.

I am not entirely sure what the Revolutionary Democrats were thinking of when preparing for these elections. We, as a political public, are not happy with the leadership that is currently being offered to us. This should have been our rightful time to put into position the people that we felt would take us out of the crippling rise in daily expenses and general discontent that has taken over our city. As a political public, we were not given a choice; rather we were mocked in the same manner as when one is invited to the theatre and then offered a puppet show instead.
To be honest, I do not blame opposition parties for not taking part in these elections, despite their shortcomings; this decision certainly was not one of their making. Rather, I blame the utter and total failure to bring about significant and tangible change on the part of the Revolutionary Democrats, because it was their responsibility to restore voter confidence. It was, after all, they who had lost them to begin with.

Aside from being the dominant party in the parliament as well as on regional, woreda and kebelle levels, it is the responsibility of those in power not only to restore, but also to implement the transparency and fairness of the state’s affairs. Not only has this not taken place, those in power have gone so far as to use those very means to ensure that they strengthen and consolidate their power instead of listening to the pulse of the people who they are trying to rule.
I have stated before in this column that I did not think that our country and people were ready for democracy. I take that back, it is not the people who are not ready, but rather it is the government, and to a certain extent the opposition. If indeed free and fair elections were the aim and final goal of all the players in the political sphere, then I would like to believe that there would have been a lot more compromise, better achievement and a lot more improvements.
On the contrary, we find ourselves in a throwback situation; it is like some bad story out of 20th Century African politics. Military leaders eras, times that we do NOT like to talk about in public. Since we are going to be having EPRDF as our leader for some time, I think it is time that they begin working a hell of a lot harder to make the political situation in the country more coherent to global standards.

At least, they should make the political space in the country more accessible to the public and more susceptible to change, energy and transparency.
BY Lulit Amdemariam

Source: Addis Fortune

እናንተ ዓይጋዎች፤ ተጃጅላችሁ ባታጃጅሉን ምናለበት!?

በአንድ በኩል ታማኝ ተቃዋሚ ነን ዬምንንሻው ስትሉ ይሰማል፣ ዞር ብላችሁ ደግሞ እነዚህ ታማኝ ተቃዋሚዎች ግን መንግስትን ከማሞገስ ባለፈ ሲቃወሙ ወይም ሲኮንኑ ከተገኙ ግን ፀረ-መንግስት እንደሆኑ አድርጋችሁ ትወነጅሏቸዋላችሁ። እንዳው ነገረ ስራቹህ ሁሉ ግራ ቅጡ የጠፈበት ነው። በርግጥ እውነታው ምን እንድሆን ሳትረዱት ቀርታችሁ ሳይሆን አይናችሁን ጨፍኑ ላሞኛችሁ እንድዲሉ ስለሆነ ብቻ ነው።

ይህም ሳያንሳችሁ ተቃዋሚዎቹ ምንም የተሻላ አማራጭ የሌላቸው አክራሪዎችና ብቃት የሌላቸው እያላችሁ ስታወግዙ በአንጻሩ ደግሞ ተቃዋሚዎች ይህንን ብቃታቸውን እንዳያጎለብቱ የማትፈፈነቅሉት ድንጋይ የለም። ለምሳሌ ፓርቲያቹህ (ወያኔ) ከኢትዮጵይያ ሕዝብ በዘረፈው ሀብትና ንብረት በልጽጎ ራሱን የቻለ የፓርቲ ሕንጻ ለማሰራት ሢንቀሳቀስ፣ ፓርላማቹህ ደግም ተቃዋሚዎች የገንዘብ ምንጫቸው እንዲያስታውቁ የሚል ሕግ አውጥቷል። በርግጥ ይህ ሕግ ተፈጻሚነቱ ሕግና ዴሞክራሲ በሰፈነበት አገር ቢሆን አግባብነት በኖረው። ሆኖም ግን ራሱ ገዢ ፓርቲው ለህግ ተገዢ ባልሆነበትና ምንም ዐይንነት ዓርዓያነት ባላሳይበት ሁኔታ የሕጉ ቅንነት አጠራጣሪ ነው።

በቅርቡ ደግሙ ከ4 ሚሊዮን በላይ ሕዝብ ይኖርባታል ተብላ በምትገመተው አዲስ አበባ በመቶዎች የሚቆጠሩ ዴጋፊዎቻቹኅ በሥርቆት የተገኘን ድል ለማክበር ስለተገንኙላችሁ ብቻ ከተማዋ የወያኔ ሆነች ማለታችሁ በጣም አስቂኝ ነው። አባይን ያላየ ምን ያመሠግናል ነው የሚባለው እንኳን!? እስኪ ወደ ኋላ መለስ ብላችሁ በ1997 በመስቀል አደባባይ የተከሰተውን አስትታውሱ።

ቢቻል መጀመሪያ ራሳቹህን ሳታሳምኑ ሌላውን ሌላውን ለማሳመን አትሞክሩ!

Quote of the Day!

The following paragraph is quoted from this article posted at Nazret.com by Golto Aila. I really liked how s/he put the mentality of the Eritrean liberation and the rest of liberation fronts in Ethiopia today.

When Eritrea got independence, the calculation from its leadership was obvious – they’ve got Ethiopia where they wanted - by the scruff of her neck! They had decapitated Ethiopia, it would not survive and if it did, it would be at their mercy! Miraculously, don't ask me how but Ethiopia sprouted another head/heads and survived - after some fashion! Little did the Eritrean leadership know of the fact that a head without a body to nourish it cannot survive either! No strategy of mutilating Ethiopia will work for anybody! It is simply foolish because it amounts to a deliberate self mutilation! Also it pays to understand that the task of retrieving Ethiopia from this anarchy and rehabilitating it is squarely on the shoulders of all Ethiopians. It will be Ethiopians who will determine whether or not the country and its peoples will be free and democratic. “Liberation movements” whose strategies are based on exploitation of peoples’ emotions based on past experiences, instead of using those experiences to craft solutions for challenges of tomorrow, are movements towards doom for the country and its entire population! Friends, however well meaning, can only help Ethiopia achieve what Ethiopians set out to do."

The Hypocrisy of Aigaforum....

The apologists of the TPLF dictators would like us to believe that the people of Kelesha Emni had the opportunity to choose the adminstrative region (Afar or Tigray) in which they would like to be governed and that the people made their decisions based on their language. While there is no proof to back their claim, the TPLF dictator redrew the administrative map of Ethiopia without any consent or referendum of the Ethiopian people. One of the first victims of these act were the people of Welkayt Tegede, Telemt, and northern Wolo regions.

The propagandists at Aiga unashamedly state that, "The Kelesha Emni were asked to decide who they wanted to identify with when Ethiopia redrew its political map. Since the people spoke both Tigrigna and Afar, there was no unanimous decision. Hence those who spoke Afar chose to join Afar and those who spoke Tigrigna chose Tigrai. The issue was settled and the people that chose Tigrai had their area included in the Tigrai region." How did the people make their decisions? Did the TPLF cadres went door to door asking the people of their choice? Was any sort of election or referendum conducted seeking the people's approval? Again, how exactly were those decisions to redraw Ethiopian administrative decisions made?

For argument's sake let's agree that the people of Keslesha Emni were provided with opportunity to make the administrative choices. How come the people of Welkait Tegede, Telemt, and Northern Tegede were denied these rights? Don't the Welkait Tegede Ethiopians have the same rights as their fellow citizens of Keshela Emni? The truth is neither the people of Welkait Tegede nor the people of Kelesha Emni were provided with opportunity to exercise their right. Had these people been provided the opportunity to make their decisions in a free and fair referendum, we would be in the current mess our Ethiopia is today from east to west and north to east. People who for generations lived in harmony are now cutting each other's throat day-in and day-out. The sole cause of all this is none other than the TPLF led dictatorship that has instilled an ethnic based political and adminstrative reconfiguration of Ethiopia.

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Here is the Aiga diatribe..........

VOA and Girmai Gebru and News from Tigrai

(Aigaforum April 09, 2008): - The Voice of America Amharic has been churning all kinds of news about Ethiopia . Most if not all of its stories on Ethiopia has been biased news in support of the dissolved Kinjit (CUD) which notoriously aligned itself with anti EPRDF forces. With the current fast disintegration of CUD, the VOA has come up with a fabricated new story. This time the story is targeted to undermine EPRDF and the focus now is Tigrai instead of Addis Ababa and Wollega. Their correspondent is none other than Girmai Gebru whose sole intention is to disseminate biased inform ation.

There was a recent story aired by VOA of some individuals being jailed in Tigrai. The VOA report does in no way reflect the reality on the ground. We spoke to officials from Tigrai region and found out that there is no one jailed for speaking up their mind or exercising their constitutional right. The two stories that perhaps can come close to VOA story are the story of the Kelesha Emni and Atsbi. The area Kelesha Emni the Kushet (neighborhood) is found in the border area between Afar and Tigrai region. The Kelesha Emni were asked to decide who they wanted to identify with when Ethiopia redrew its political map. Since the people spoke both Tigrigna and Afar, there was no unanimous decision. Hence those who spoke Afar chose to join Afar and those who spoke Tigrigna chose Tigrai. The issue was settled and th e people that chose Tigrai had their area included in the Tigrai region. Though there has been sporadic disagreement in the area, there has not been any incident of magnitude worth reporting. In the case of the Atsbi, there is land issue and the dispute has been going on for over three years. There has been an effort to resolve the issue but so far the issue has not reached amicable closure. These issues as well as others are now being exploited by opposition forces with the help of VOA and their reporter in Tigrai.

The real story that needs coverage is the apprehension of individuals that have caused the death of innocent travelers in the Humera region. Sources tell us that the security forces effectively and quickly were able to break and get information into the workings of terrorist trained individuals who are managed by the Eritrean one man regime.

The Following is an excerpt of sveral questions asked by Concerned Ethiopian Students that was addressed to PM Meles. Bellow is the open letter addresses to the Dictator in Ethiopia. To Read All the interesting questions CLICK HERE. (You might need a Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word 2007 File Format, which you can download HERE)

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"You claim to be guided by “the principle of self-determination. “ Why did you then annex by force of arms Raya, Azebo, Alamata and Ofla from Wollo Province, and Humera, Wolkait, and Tsegede from Gondar Province, which have never been part of Tigrai, and evicted the natives and settled some 700,000 Tigrean farmers and soldiers on their land? Why are hundreds of them languishing in dungeons in Tigrai? Why is land which belongs to Ethiopia being constantly transferred to the Sudan? It is estimated that over the last sixteen years, some $3 billion worth of agricultural produce has been marketed from these regions and pocketed by your friends and TPLF business concerns. The people of Gondar Province, for instance, are exploring the possibilities of taking the case to court. They not only want the release of all those whom you still keep in prison, and the return of their land, but also the retroactive payment of some $3 billion as compensation for what they have lost from their farms. Could you comment?"

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January 31, 2008

When governments fear the people, there is liberty.
But when the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson.

H.E. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi,
The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

It is often said that in a situation where there are no checks and balances, transparency and accountability, or an enlightened free press and civil society, those who hold power cannot wield it without instilling tyranny, or master corruption without being corrupted.

We have heard very many conflicting views about your government. As a result, we, a group of Ethiopian students in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Ethiopia who have no reason to fear your government, want to give you the benefit of the doubt. In that context, we have formulated the following series of questions for your consideration. We are also inviting Ethiopian civil society groups and discussion forums to study the questions. Your Excellency can be assured that your response to them will stimulate more discussion and research to the good of the country and your government. It is in this spirit that we took the initiative to forward the questions. Since we live in a globalized village, we have also sent copies of the questions to certain governments and international organizations of our interest.

Sincerely,

On behalf of the students,
Tadessese Abbebe ,
[ethiopianstudents@gmail.com ]

Cc:
Dr Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State;
Representative Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House;
Senator Joe Biden, Chair, Foreign Relations Committee;
Representative Tom Lantos, Chair, House Committee on International Relations;
Representative Donald Payne, Chairman, House Sub-committee on Africa;
Representative Chris Smith, U.S. House of Representatives;
Senator Russ Feingold, Chair, Sub-committee on African Affairs;
Ambassador Donald Yamamoto;
Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union;
Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union;
Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank.