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.