Don’t try to kill them before they grow!

By Ephrem Madebo

"Every time I plant a seed, he said kill them before they grow". This is a living lyric from the late vibrant Reggae singer, Bob Marley’s classic - “I shot the Sherriff". If Marley was alive, I am sure he would have sang another song with the same lyrics to the "Ethiopian Review" editor who like a bad tag boat shoves away every new idea that he doesn't agree with. I had a close association with the Ethiopian Review editor years ago in the heydays of "Tigbar League". In fact, I joined the "Tegbar League" group discussion forum at the request of the moderator [Ethiopian Review editor] and I was expelled out after a while when I openly criticized Lidetu Ayalew for his 2002 crude action. Mind you the ER editor is the very person that blames Meles Zenawi for muffling the free press, but he himself didn't even think twice before he silenced me in his little world. What a hypocrisy! Regardless of the nature of the ideas, I usually keep small ideas at the personal level. This week after I read two indiscriminately misguiding articles on Ethiopian Review website, I decided to go public because I thought total silence does not do any good to the public.

Towards the end of last week, I read an article on Ethiopian Review that brought to light a covert negotiation between OLF and Ginbot 7. The article inadvertently reveals a possible political breakthrough that has the potential to change the course of history in Ethiopia. If the information that came to light is authentic, I applaud the investigative cleverness of the ER sources for digging deep and informing the public on what is to come, I also appreciate their effort in trying to directly or indirectly put pressure on the leaders of the opposition camp. Here is the part that I totally disagreed and demanded an explanation. For those of you who didn't have the chance to read ER’s article on the clandestine meeting of Ginbot 7 and OLF, here is the warning of the ER editor to the two organizations [OLF, Ginbot 7] and to the rest of us: "ER sources in both Ginbot 7 and OLF are not ready to disclose where the secret talks are being held, but for maximum political effect, any agreement that they reach needs to be signed in Asmara. Any one who doubts the significant role the Eritrean government can play in destroying Woyanne is either politically ignorant, or a closet Woyanne sympathizer, or does not fully comprehend the severity of the crisis our country is facing".

I'm not sure whether the editor is acting from his inner feeling, or out of his imagination, but at least I do understand that when people act under the influence of imagination, there is no boundary for their passion. Imagination is the formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses. It is good to allow the image of the outside world have an input in our way of thinking, scheming, contriving, remembering, creating, fantasizing, and forming opinion, but we must understand that politics and everything we do must be accompanied by passion and driven by principle because too much imagination kills both principle and passion.

I wonder what in the "Hell" Asmara has to do with the likely outcome of political events in Ethiopia. Isn't Asmara the home of Esayas Afewerke, a man who never sleeps before he makes sure that Ethiopia is dwindled in to multiple mini states? Had there been an inch thick of a heart that worries for Ethiopia under the chest of Essays, Asmara wouldn't have opened its door for separatist elements that fight to dismantle Ethiopia, and for EPPF; an organization that firmly stands for the unity of Ethiopia. If there is anything that the opposition gets from Asmara today, it will definitely be paid back at an exorbitantly high rate tomorrow. The question of Assab, Bademe, Tsorena, and other border areas that I can’t even name are issues that face the current opposition in the future when it assumes power. If we believe that Esayas is willing to raise a lion that may ultimately devour him, we’re not just lying through our teeth, but we are also simplifying very complex national issues.

Another very important issue that the Ethiopian Review editor must understand is that we Ethiopians can respectfully disagree with him in many issues without he calling us “Politically ignorant, or a close Woyanne sympathizers”. As an editor, he must strike the balance between the flow of ideas and the interest of the public. An editor must appreciate dissent and accept criticism. By the way, isn’t the very essence of our struggle built on the values of respectful disagreement and on the principles of working together for a common cause? When an editor seeks freedom of speech for himself, he/she becomes captive of his/her desire and misguides millions of people. But, when an editor seeks discipline, he/she guides the freedom journey of the masses to victory. The era of blanket condemnation and character assassination is over. Editors, or readers, what we do and what we say should clearly identify which part of the isle we stand.

Here is a script from ER editor’s message this week:
“Let’s go straight to the crux of the matter: UDJ by its actions and positions had demonstrated itself to be a political party without a popular base. It is a fake party without popular constituency”

How do we measure the popularity of political parties? What makes some parties real and others fake? I might not give you the answer for these two questions, but I can at least say the following: The ER editor has neither the moral background nor the empirical authenticity to publicly declare that UDJ is a fake party with no political constituency. How dare a man who like me enjoys burgers at the comfort of a “drive-in” calls UDJ a fake party with no political constituency? Which constituency are we talking here? Isn’t UDJ a party that collected more than 10,000 signatures in few days when the government required 1500? Isn’t Birtukuan a lady who with no fear confronted Zenawi’s wicked legal system in her professional life? Didn’t this same relentless defender of democracy waste two years of her precious young life in Kaliti prison for our common cause? Regardless of their choice of strategy, Birtukuan and other members of UDJ have demonstrated their undeterred will to endlessly stand for the true cause of democracy.

There are many people in Ethiopia who preferred to live a quiet life than confronting Meles. Again there are many of us who raced out to the Western world because Meles screamed at us. Members of UDJ are still in Ethiopia knowing that they might be targets of Zenawi’s killing squads. These people need support and protection, not abuse and senseless mortification. UDJ has taken its first step; let’s give them the necessary time and support to have them shows us the whole staircase. If we have no patience of looking deep into the future, then we need to take a lesson from the Biblical story of Noah. Remember, there was no rain when Noah built the ark. He built it anyways when others ridiculed him because he had a good vision of the future. Criticizing our political parties is the right thing to do, but killing them before they grow is wrong. There are many things that we can do to collectively get closer to victory. If anything else, please let’s avoid any felling of bitterness towards others because bitterness is a cancer that eats upon the host.

Evidently, the proliferation of political parties has a tendency to water down the strength of the opposition camp, but this does not and should not imply that we as a nation should be limited to one party. Even if we believe in the idea of one party, we just don’t have to kill existing parties when we embrace new comers. Our belief is ours and ours only, we can sell it to others, but we must not impose our belief on the general public. UDJ has chosen to stay in side Ethiopia and wage a peaceful struggle. To those of us who have a different strategy, UDJ can be our good ally inside Ethiopia. Some of us might not want to have UDJ as an ally, so be it; but this doesn’t mean that UDJ is our enemy. We must make a distinction between a friend, a potential friend, and a foe. In politics, there is neither permanent alliance nor permanent animosity.

Firefox 3

Mozilla released Firefox 3 yesterday and it set a world record for a software download in a 24 hour period. There were only 215 downloads from Ethiopia in that period of time. Kenya had 1367. African countries with the most downloads were South Africa (20514), Egypt (7767), Morocco (5845) and Algeria (4221).

Congratulations Obama!

Now that Senator Hilary Clinton has gracefully exited out of the race to represent the Democratic Party for President of the United States of America, congratulations to Senator Barack Obama on his historic achievement is in order and best wishes in his campaign for the November election against Senator John McCain.

A leader with no heart and a nation with no rage

By Ephrem Madebo


“The marriage of of leader with no heart and a nation with no rage is a recipe for disaster” My father

In 1991, Zenawi handed Ethiopia’s port of Assab to Eritrea against the will of the Ethiopian people. In 2002, he obstinately gave Bademe to Eritrea after shading the blood of thousands of brave Ethiopians. In 2008, he gave a large strip of land to Sudan. In 2010, 2012, and in 2014 ... What else, and who knows? Does anyone want to know what is left in Zenawi’s gift bag? Well, it is you; it is me; our children, our legacy, and everything that we’re proud of having. Recently, after he gave a good part of Gondar to Sudan, PM Meles addressed the parliament to explain his action. This is what he said:-“The demarcation of the Ethiopia-Sudan border will not displace anybody on either side”. Surprisingly, the applaud in the comatose parliament sounded as if Omar al-Beshir was addressing the Sudanese parliament. What a same! I don’t blame Meles; the problem is all with us. Meles observed us for 17 years and he saw in us what he eagerly wanted to see. Hey, wake up Habesha! Meless’ next move is to export our wives to Dubai and Abudabi and tell the parliament - Don’t worry they will not sleep with another man. Sorry for the foul language, but this is what is looming and I can’t hold it anymore. After all, the plot is on my country!

Oh! My God! What is wrong with the Ethiopian parliament? What is it composed of? Representatives of the people, or a bunch of nitwits that blindly follow the blind move of Meles Zenawi? I can buy your notion of party loyalty, but there is no party loyalty that defies national responsibility. Your ultimate loyalty is to your country, not to your party. Constitutionally, in Ethiopia, sovereignty resides in the parliament i.e., parliament is the ultimate legislative body in the country. Article 8.3 of the constitution states: “Sovereignty shall be expressed through the peoples' representatives, elected by them in accordance with this Constitution, and through their direct democratic participation”. In 1998, the Ethiopian parliament approved a war bill to liberate Bademe. In 2002, the same parliament approved a bill that handed over liberated Bademe back to Eritrea. Dear honorables and fellow country men, do you know that Meles has no business of defining the Ethiopian border? Territorial and border issues are considered only by you [parliament]. You were supposed to be the last line of defense to Ethiopia's unity and territorial integrity; yet, last week, when Meles Zenawi told you that a land has been awarded to Sudan, you applauded just like a fool that missed the joke, but laughed anyway. As long as a bill comes from Isayas Afewerke [through Meles] to annex Tigray, I have no doubt that our lousy ‘yes only’ parliament will gladly pass the bill. Dear honorables, when you as a legislative branch agree with Meles 100% of the time, our nation needs one of you, not both. At least my readers will agree because it’s less of an evil.

Thanks to our fathers and forefathers, the name Ethiopia was synonymous with national pride and valor. I wonder if this is still true and if we still call ourselves the sons and daughters of Tewdros, Menelik, Abdissa, and Balcha. Each of these heroes died so that we can live valiantly today. Actually, they didn’t die; they gave a new beginning to Ethiopians and continuity to Ethiopia. All of these heroes have one thing in common – They all loved Ethiopia more than themselves! Do we? Tewdros and Menelik created a larger Ethiopia. Balcha and Abdissa maintained the greatness of Ethiopia. Emperor Haile Selassie was a failure in his domestic polices and the one who replaced him was a failure in everything. However, both Haile Selassie and Mengistu fought with unmatched tenacity to make sure that each inch of land that belonged to Ethiopia stayed within Ethiopia.

Today, we have a leader that gives our land to outsiders and tells us about a GDP growth to keep us passive. I’m afraid, if our land is sold at this rate, I don’t care if our economy booms or explodes, by the time Ethiopia grows in to the group of middle income nations, there will be no more Ethiopia. All of our past national leaders settled or solved territorial problems before they become national emergency. Emperor Yohannis made a one-way journey to Metema, and “Emeye” Menelik traveled all the way to Adwa to stop aggressor. Today, we have a leader afflicted with psychosis that gives our land to a foreign nation and addresses his parliament to justify his wickedness. If a psychotic glib tongue from no where has the heart to justify the breakup of our country, then either we are created with no heart what so ever, or our existence has no justification. An existence that can not be justified has no value and purpose; and when life is so empty and filled with invariable misery, I think it is worth sacrificing if for the good of the next generation. Are we scared of dying? Well, we all died long time ago when we quietly allowed Meles to realize his dream, so why fear the past? By the way, the strength of our enemy emanates from our fear and weakness. If Mandela was scared of dying, apartheid would have still been the norm in his country; and he wouldn’t have lived to be the first black president of South Africa. Are we scared of losing our property or wealth? Forget wealth or property! We are on the verge of losing mother Ethiopia. What more can we loose? No more hallucination! Ethiopia is making her last call from a virtual grave, let’s wake up and answer the call.

There is no human being that snores when his/her life is in jeopardy, and there is no nation that has no will to fight when its sovereignty is endangered. Why should we? It is true that Ethiopia is a country where principle dominates emotion. This has been proved in the 1960 coup d’état, in the 1974 revolution, and in the very dangerous days of 1991 when we virtually had no government for almost a week. It is good to be a nation of principle, but it is also very important to blend principle with emotion when the moment is right. Emotional reactions are not inherently bad, wrong, rude, or immature. They can often add valuable context to our struggle, making the human element impossible to ignore. The TPLF mobs have hurt us, angered us, and belittled us for seventeen straight years. I don’t understand why our anger doesn’t grow in to rage. Rage, especially now, in this most crucial time of our history, is the most important emotion to heal. Yes in deed, range is necessary to heal a nation that suffers from past and present wounds. Mind you, like I said it above, we are not healing rage when we use angry words in scathing articles. When principle fails to work due to lack of reciprocity, rage is the only way that carries our ability to say NO! Rage helps us to rise to the occasion and forces the bad guys to follow principle.

Is it PM Zenawi’s never-ending conspiracy against our country and his disrespect to the people that shapes Ethiopia of the new millennium, or our determination to continue as a nation? Whose will is stronger; his, or ours? This is not about Tigray, Gondar, Sidamo, or Wellga etc, this is about Ethiopia. Our greatness comes from our indivisibility, and our survival as a nation comes from our collective oneness. For many years our response for the treasons of Zenawi has been a little anger, a little cursing, and a little denouncing. Such soft and toothless responses did not and will not stop Meles Zenawi from completing his diabolic mission. Obviously, it is easy to denounce a traitor like Meles, what is not easy is to understand him and to stop him from committing the next harm. Do we understand Meles? If our answer is yes, then we need to stop him from diminishing Ethiopia. Meles can not and must not prevail; all that is necessary for him to prevail is that we keep on acting like a toothless lion.

I wish I had the opportunity to campaign all over Ethiopia and express my emotion by shading my tear like Hilary Clinton. I’ve had many joyous and sad moments in my life, but I have never felt so empty and powerless in my entire life. When you finish reading this article, please don’t just sympathize with me, gnash your teeth, and go back to dormancy. No, please don’t! We all know that the past hasn’t been so easy and there were many wounds that were never allowed to heal. However, you, I, and we as a society have to depart from the past for the sake of a new begging. Forget the past? Absolutely no because the past is a lesson for tomorrow; we just don’t have to dwell on it. When we have a common destination and a common country that we call home, trust is the only relationship of reliance between us. What is trust? Trust is letting others know our feelings, emotions and reactions, and having the confidence in them to respect us and to not take advantage of us. Trust is the ability to let others into our life so that we and they can create a mutual respect, caring, and concern to assist one another in growing, and lifting our nation independently and collectively. Trust is the only way to transform our individual weaknesses into collective strength; therefore, we should trust each other individually and as a group. Ethiopia is much stronger when the Oromos trust the Amharas, and most importantly, our country will be indivisible and her growth shall be guaranteed when all the other nationalities of Ethiopia trust every move of the Amharas and the Oromos.

Ethiopia is a country that fought for the freedom of other countries, but her own people are dispersed around the globe looking for the very thing that they fought for others. Ethiopia had a well-defined border way before the Norman Conquest of England, today; thanks to a thoughtless leader, Ethiopia’s border is being redefined to appease a country created by England at the dawn of the 20th century. Ethiopia is one of the ancient countries that roamed the seas, today, Ethiopia’s 75million people depend on the port of tiny Djibouti while their pig-headed leader tells the world - “the majority of Ethiopians love to be landlocked” Mind you, this is a script from his interview broadcasted to his own people. Yes, you heard me right! Broadcasted to his own people. What a disgrace and what a pathological liar! My fellow Ethiopians, the story goes on and on and on unless we go out of our way to stop it.

As much as we love our adopted culture of outdoor cooking and a journey to the beach, this summer we must hold back ourselves from all summer rituals to redefine our association with our native land. Yes, summer is a time to renew ourselves with the solar power of the sun; but this summer must be a moment of reflection and a time to renew our covenant with our country. This summer we have to choose between “to be” and “not to be”, between respect and disrespect, between Ethiopia and no Ethiopia. If we fail to make the right choice, we will be ridiculed as a human being, humiliated as a nation, and possibly nicknamed - “African Gypsies”. A war has been waged on our identity. My fellow country men/women, this is not just a war; it is a conspiracy to diminish our geo-political importance in Africa. NOT ON OUR WATCH! I repeat, NOT ON OUR WATCH! We are in a promising horizon and in a new millennium. Our nation is in labor, the cramping and the contraction has begun. Let’s induce this unique labor and welcome the birth of a new leader, a leader that loves Ethiopia and restores the pride of Ethipiawinet. A leader that has the wisdom to lead and the loyalty to follow. Fellow Ethiopians, we are confronted with two choices: a choice to die for others, or a choice to see others die. Well, either way we die. When we die for others, we give them hope and a sense of purpose to live. When we choose to see others die, we die, they die, and we all die. Let’s lead by example, let’s make the right choice. True leadership is not the urge to stand above all; it is the urge to stand for all. God bless Ethiopia!

Uncommon Valor, the Life of Kedir Mohammed

On May 8, 2008 the man who devoted his life to the service of his country as a soldier for the aggrieved and the downtrodden finally gave up his valiant battle with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a scrooge that kept him bedridden for a couple of years. Kedir Mohammed’s death ended his unyielding pursuit and the selfless commitment that he made as freshman at Haile Sellassie I University in the early nineteen sixties.

Kedir was born in 1953 in a place called Mekere at the district of Silti from his father Mr. Edris Abdulwahib and his mother, Mrs. Marima Ahmed. Kedir’s father died when he was very young and he was raised by his uncle Hajji Mohammed Ahmed, a business man who lived at Wolkitie. Kedir’s primary school education was at Wolkitie where he completed 6th grade and moved to Wolliso. After he completed 9th grade, his sister, Rewda Idris took him to Addis Ababa and enrolled him at Kotebe High School. At 11th grade Kedir passed an entrance examination to Beide Mariam, a prestigious School for seniors inside Haile Selassie I University (now Addis Ababa University) at Sidist Kilo. The proximity of Baide Mariam to the University gave Kedir an opportunity to live his dream of joining the progressive forces that challenged the monarchy and the feudal system that dispossessed and abused the Ethiopian peasant.

After Tilahun Gizaw, the iconic student leader and president of the University Students Union of Addis Ababa, was gunned down in 1969, Kedir with five of his fellow students escaped to Sudan to avoid persecution by the government. The monarchy accused Kedir and his friends of crime and attempted to get extradition from Sudan. The students were however granted a refugee status with the aid of UNCHR and Sudanese students. Kedir lived in Sudan for 8 years as a teacher until the monarchy was overthrown in 1974.

Even as a refugee, Kedir never ended his activism and the struggle for justice, human rights and equality of citizens of his country. He joined a budding organization that was cultivated by the Ethiopian students’ movement that culminated in the formation of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP). It is said that Kedir was one of the delegates that participated in the 1972 founding congress of the EPRP.

The Dergue that deposed the monarchy in 1974 offered amnesty to those who took refuge from the government of Haile Selassie and Kedir took the opportunity to return and continue his activism as an employee of “መሬት ይዞታ”, a state agency that dealt with land tenure. EPRP at this time has openly declared its existence by clandestinely distributing its political program and Kedir as a senior member of this organization was involved in implementing the Party’s program. Working at “መሬት ይዞታ” opened many opportunities to Kedir who was a fervent fighter for Tilahun Gizaw’s and the Ethiopian student’s motto – “land to the tiller”. It granted him unfettered access to the very people he adored and fought for- the rural subsistent farmer that constituted about 90% of the Ethiopian population.

EPRP made an advance of historical proportion by reaching all sectors of the Ethiopian population in very short time. Unfortunately, in due time, the EPRP was weakened by the assault of the military regime in the urban areas and by TPLF and EPLF in the North were its military wing had encamped. The Party also split due to an internal factional fighting, and this exposed influential leaders and party activists that were covertly functioning. Kedir at this time decided to disguise himself and hide in the Northern part of Ethiopia leaving Addis Ababa. Since he remained in the Party’s structure, Kedir was delegated the task of facilitating the departure of EPRP members who were being pursued by the junta to join the military wing of the party. In 1977, a cadre that lived in Kedir’s neighborhood in Addis while visiting the area where Kedir was hiding recognized him and informed the agents of the military government and Kedir was apprehended. He was taken to Addis Ababa and was imprisoned in the Fourth Army Division Headquarters in Addis Ababa and the main prison where he spent five years. Kedir was released from prison in 1982 when the military regime granted a pardon.

Kedir was unemployed for many years after his release from prison because the regime through an internal communiqué had banned the bureaucracy from hiring political detainees after their release. Kedir was however employed in 1985 by the Ethiopian standards (ደረጃ መዳቢዎች) and then at the internal revenue office of excise and Taxes. When TPLF/EPRDF took power in 1991, Kedir was promoted to a position of branch manager at office of excise and Taxes. He fell abruptly out of the TPLF/EPRDF grace when the group within the Southern Ethiopian political block participated in the first Paris Conference that was attended by many exiled organizations. Kedir’s organization, the Guraghe People’s Democratic front (ጉሕዴግ), and other organizations that constituted the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Coalition (SEPDC) were members of the transitional government at that time. However, SEPDC chose to withdraw from government when the party in power demanded the denouncement of the resolution of the Paris conference that criticized the party that usurped power from Mengistu. At this time TPLF/EPRDF falsely accused Kedir of corruption and imprisoned him. The courts however affirmed his innocence and set him free, but Kedir lost his employment.

In 1994 Kedir as SEPDC delegate participated in a meeting sponsored by the Carter Center and returned to Ethiopia after the meeting. But on his return to Ethiopia Kedir was harassed and ill-treated by the agents of the ruling party. His organization (SEPDC) at this time decided to send him outside of the country as the organization’s foreign representative. Kedir had served at this capacity until his illness. Kedir was an ardent voice of Ethiopian unity and an advocate for a united front of Ethiopian opposition against the TPLF/EPRDF regime. He played a selfless role in the realization of the Rockville meeting that formed the Unity of Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF). A representative of an organization that worked with Kedir for a year in organizing the Rockville conference gave the following testimonial: “I have known Kedir since 2001. He was a true Ethiopian and I have observed him exerting untiring effort by sacrificing his resource, time and energy for the unity and prosperity of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. Kedir was truly very instrumental in bringing together about 15 Ethiopian opposition political parties to a table for a conference in Rockville, MD, USA”. Another veteran of the Ethiopian student movement and a member of UEDF stated that “Kedir was a man who lived to struggle for the cause of all Ethiopians whole-heartedly. We have lost a life-long fighter for equality and a democratic system. We miss him a lot.”

Another person who has spent time with Kedir in prison from 1977 to 1982, and later worked with him as SEPDC representative gave the following testimony:

Kedir was respectful and loyal to his comrades. His most visible qualities that are in short supply among members of today’s generation are commitment to peoples’ cause and willingness to help others. Kedir celebrated successes of others as if they were his own and his heart rejoiced when good things happen to others. His world has always been that of collaboration rather than competition and his friends have always been from the ranks of the ordinary people. He provided service to his people at no cost to them and he taught his friends through his modest life style and giving heart. Kedir lived and died loved, respected and honored. May his soul rest in peace!

Kedir was a man who had a strong spirit and vibrant personality that was never diminished by complaint or negative attitude. Those of us who knew him as a friend and colleague will not forget him. We will celebrate his life and will continue to demonstrate gratitude for his service. He will be sorely missed by a host of friends, family, and those who fought and suffered with him to bring good governance and justice for the Ethiopian masses.

May 24, 2008

Economic Growth & Misery, Ethiopia’s paradox

By Ephrem Madebo

Three years have passed since Sufian Ahmed hastily and injudiciously predicted Ethiopia’s economic wonder and its high-speed transition into a middle–income nation in 20 years. I have no problem with the prediction itself; I love to see the prosperity of Ethiopians no matter which party is in power and regardless of my personal economic and social achievement. As the top executive officer of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance & Economic Development, Sufian Ahmed has all the necessary information to estimate future economic growth in Ethiopia. I wonder what kind of objective data (other than his subjective judgment) he used to make one of the most preposterous predictions of all time. Unfortunately, three years after his optimistic predication, Ethiopia is yet heading to another phase of drought and starvation.

The term "economic growth" refers to the increase of a specific measure such as real national income (NI), gross domestic product (GDP), or per capita income (PCI). GDP is the measure of the goods and services produced by an economy in a specified time usually a year commonly expressed in terms of a measure of the aggregate value-added output of the domestic economy. When the GDP of a nation rises economists refer to it as economic growth. The real progress of nations is not measured by a single measure of growth such as GDP, it is also measured by the degree of access its citizens have to economic institutions and to the political process.

Recently, statistical indicators have been used as a powerful tool in promoting human rights by effectively quantifying conditions under which people live. The UN is one of the vanguard organizations that uses statistical indicators to measure the well-being of people in member nations. In fact, the UN is not just an organization that measures the well-being of people; it is also an organization that injects capital into the economies of poor countries to help them fight poverty and build participatory political institutions.

The World Bank has been in Ethiopia since 1945 with a primary objective of tackling poverty bad-governance. In Ethiopia, and in many other developing countries, the World Bank supports governments in the development and implementation of programs geared towards accelerated pro-poor growth. Despite its constant pumping of capital, for the last 63 years, the World Bank could not shield Ethiopia from being the symbol of poverty and bad-governance in the world, i.e. the World Bank did not meet its dual objective in Ethiopia for 63 years. What went wrong? Before answering this question let me introduce you to the key idea of this article.

Evidently, the injection of a large dose of aid fund, loan, transfer capital, and domestic capital formation has induced uninterrupted GDP growth in Ethiopia between 2001 and 2007. In the last five years, the government of Meles Zenawi, the World Bank, and the IMF have produced voluminous documents that highlight the growth of the Ethiopian economy. As poor as Ethiopians are, such a claim would have been valid only if the heralded growth had a positive impact on the daily life of poor Ethiopians. Economic growth has no meaning to the majority of Ethiopians unless its benefit trickles down to them. So if the economy is booming why do many Ethiopians suffer in poverty? Why does the UN Misery Index report show Ethiopia at the bottom of its list three years after Sufian Ahemed’s optimistic prediction? By the way what is Misery Index?

Misery Index is a measure of economic well-being for a specified economy, computed by taking the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate for a given period. An increasing index means a worsening economic climate for the economy in question, and vice versa. With a visible high inflation and unemployment rates, one shouldn’t be a Princeton economist to estimate Ethiopia’s misery index.

A recent United Nations Human Development survey indicates that besides war, AIDS, and natural disaster, Ethiopia and many Sub-Saharan countries suffer from the broadest range of social & economic disadvantages. The survey examines the availability of schools, clean water, medical care, and whether people can play a role in politics. Moreover, the experimental survey measures a nation's growth not by economic figures but by statistical profiles of its people and by what they can expect from life. Apart from Sierra Leone, which is ranked last, the UN survey indicates that the other most disadvantaged nations from the bottom up are: Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Chad, and the Central African Republic. Out of 195 countries, Ethiopia is 192nd, better than only three nations.

What happened to billions of dollar that the World Bank has been transferring to Ethiopia for over half a century? As I clearly indicated above, the World Bank sets objectives to every aid recipient before dispersing aid fund. Since the beginning of the World Bank's presence in Ethiopia, its support has been directed towards assisting the country to achieve sustainable economic growth while reducing poverty. Currently, the Bank's Interim Country Assistance Strategy (ICAS) focuses on both good- governance and economic growth as the central pillars of the Bank’s support to Ethiopia.

In spite of the recent economic growth that benefitted a handful of élites, the World Bank’s overarching objective of poverty reduction has been a complete fiasco in Ethiopia. In addition; the quality of governance has been deteriorating in direct proportion to the number of years the World Bank has been in Ethiopia. Here any rational person can draw the following three conclusions: The World Bank does not enforce its objectives, or the bank does not have a monitoring arm. Aid funds are not properly used in Ethiopia. Despite the constant flow of bilateral and multilateral capital, bad-governance has stifled economic growth in Ethiopia.
The information that comes from government sources definitely polishes Ethiopia as a peaceful place where people live in harmony. However, the political landscape in Ethiopia remains tainted by the aftermath of the May 2005 parliamentary elections and by the recent hard to believe and depressing story of territorial sale to Sudan. Yes, leading opposition leaders have been released from jail, but the number of political prisoners is increasing with the passing of every single day. To make things worse, the recent exclusive intra-TPLF party election has deepened the rift created by the 2005 election.

Ethiopia is one of those nations that can not survive without foreign aid, therefore, I don’t have the heart to tell the World Bank to stop helping Ethiopia, but I do have the moral and national obligation to advise, or notify the World Bank to at least make sure that the capital it transfers to Ethiopia is meeting the bank’s fundamental objectives. I am confident that the Ethiopian government will efficiently use aid funds if the stakes for not doing so are high, or if there is a consequence for misusing funds transferred from the World Bank. I am not saying the World Bank should be a watchdog over the government of Ethiopia. I have many relatives that live in rural Ethiopia who need clean water, healthcare facilities, schools, roads, and better farming methods. I just want the World Bank to make sure that the Ethiopian government is using the bank's capital to change the life of my relatives and millions of other rural Ethiopians. I do believe the World Bank must establish and follow strict monitoring & enforcement polices to pressure governments in poor countries to change their behavior. Otherwise, the very capital destined to change the lives of poor Ethiopians, will end up disenfranchising millions of people from the political and economic establishments of the country.

The World Bank has operated in Ethiopia for a little over six decades and has helped the regimes of Emperor Haile Selassie and Colonel Mengistu fight poverty and bad- governance. Today, the WB is still pumping a large amount of capital to the government of Meles Zenawi; yet in the WB list of poor countries, Ethiopia is still a leader from the bottom up as it was six decades ago. Currently, the Zenawi regime is re-writing the relationship between "human rights" and "economic development" in its own terms. Sadly, it seems that the WB is treating Ethiopia on the terms of Meles Zenawi. This ugly reality should not be allowed to continue. Either the policy of the WB towards Ethiopia, or the behavior of Zenawi's regime must change. Major donors and international financial institutions are increasingly basing their aid and loans on the condition that recipient nations undertake reforms that ensure good-governance. Why not the World Bank?

The recent shifts in the conceptualization of development and the emphasis of the international community on human rights have re-defined the relationship between development and human rights. As a result, today, human right is not anymore seen as the by-products of development; rather, human right is a critical factor to achieving economic and social development. In another departure, globalization has created the need for a rapid global development. For the sake of poor countries, this rapid global development must not be viewed independently; it should be contrasted with localized ideas of “rights”, “development”, and “civil society”. Here readers ought to understand that “rights”, “development”, and “civil society” may vary between societies and countries. Meles Zenawi and his advisors assume a unidirectional cause and effect relationship between "human rights" and "economic development". According to their assumption, People are not "ready" for democracy until some hypothetical level of economic development has been achieved.

Today, based on the above hazy assumption of their masters, many vocal proponents of the TPLF regime argue that human rights are rewards of development; hence they postpone the fundamental issues of liberty until economic development is achieved. According to this unsubstantiated assumption, to enjoy American type of liberty, Ethiopians must be at the level where Americas are now. These barefaced muggers are telling the Ethiopian people to shut their mouth and expect material comfort and their God given liberty from them. The WB and the government of Ethiopia must understand that no nation can see economic prosperity and no people can genuinely take advantage of economic freedoms without political freedom and without the right for all citizens to participate equally in all aspects of society. Human rights and political freedom are fundamental prerequisites to build a prosperous nation. In the 21st century, human rights and political freedom are no longer separated from economic and social conditions.

I think by now it must be clear why the WB failed to reduce poverty in Ethiopia, and it must also be clear why the majority of Ethiopians live in dismal living conditions despite the billions of dollars directed to them for the last six decades. Ethiopia as a nation lost its battle against poverty due to lack of good-governance and the unwillingness of its elite to stand together for a sweeping system change.

Contemporary development literature frequently contrasts "good-governance" with "bad-governance". In this contrast, “bad-governance” is regarded by many scholars as one of the root causes of vicious circle of poverty in poor countries. Today, lack of money is not the main reason why Ethiopia hasn't been able to pull itself out of poverty; if it was, the UN, EU, the World Bank, and a number of Western governments have thrown a large sum of money at poverty reduction programs Ethiopia. However, a very large number of Ethiopians still live below the threshold of poverty. Ethiopia and other poor nations must concede that the critical building block for poverty reduction is not money, it is governance; a factor that they fully control.

In a concise plain language, "governance" is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented. There are many actors involved in governance and one of them is government. Other actors include influential land lords, trade unions, cooperatives, NGOs, research institutes, religious leaders, financial institutions, political parties, and the military.

What is good-governance? Well, if governance is a decision-making process, then good-governance is a decision making process that follows the rule of law, is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, equitable, and inclusive. Good-governance assures that the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. Good-governance is responsive to the present and future needs of society, and it also assures that corruption is minimized.

As much as we love our country, we should also be very cautious not to be fully taken by the above characteristics of good-governance. It should be clear that good- governance is an ideal state which is difficult to achieve in its totality. However, to break the vicious circle of poverty and to ensure sustainable economic development, we must take actions towards this ideal with the aim of eradicating bad-governance from our land. We should never be preoccupied with eminence, political power, or with building personal economic conglomerates. Our sole objective must be an oath of personal commitment to the vision of united, prosperous, and powerful Ethiopia. If we have the determination, “the God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build our land” [our land added by me] Nehemiah 2:20- Amen!

The “Sleeping Giant” is half awakened

By Ephrem Madebo

"We are getting out of the whole process. The whole process is an illegal process," Honorable Beyene Petros "

We did not want to be the cause of any crisis. But when the government shows no willingness to cooperate, and wants to be the only party which governs Ethiopia, then we have no hope. We cannot work with this kind of party. We have to quit and show the world we are not able to work with them." Honorable Bulcha Demeksa

"Election results will be quicker than in Zimbabwe" Bereket Semon, Chief of the Political Bureau of the EPRDF

I guess Mr. Bereket is right, and in deed election results are much quicker in Ethiopia than in Zimbabwe because Bereket’s party new super-computer has the capability to accurately forecast election results weeks ahead of the election. This past Sunday Ethiopia held a National Intra-TPLF party election to once more bless the ruling minority party with an end-less and limit-less power. Unlike the May 2005 election, the elections of April 13 and April 20, 2008 were carefully designed and allowed to take place after avoiding the non-TPLF cloned opposition parties, and after making sure that each and every vote goes to the TPLF ballot box. Sunday’s National election was a mock election where the Ethiopian people were denied to make a choice. Form start-to-finish, the organizers, the candidates, the monitors, the ballot inspectors, and of course the winners of the politically homogeneous election were the TPLF agents.

If there is any opposition political leader that knows the "anatomy" of Meles, it must be none other than "Microbiologist" professor Beyene Petros. So why did a person who knows the in-and-out of PM Zenawi for the last 16 years decide to boycott the election at the 11th hour? To boycott an election one should first agree in the existence of a legitimate election where all parties play by agreed common rules. In Ethiopia, there are no rules or policies that favor an all inclusive participatory election. So why did Beyene Petros and Bulcha Demeksa enter the election in the first place? Professor Beyene has alternately lead the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) since its inception in 2003, is he still the leader of UEDF, specially after he dismissed UEDF’s majority decision in 2005 and joined the Parliament?

On April 10, 2008 just three days before Sunday’s election, Professor Beyene’s party boycotted the election citing the illegality of the election process. The boycotting drama continued after Sunday’s election and OFDM boycotted the election alluding to the unwillingness of the ruling party to honestly include other parties in the election process. Thanks to God, finally, after three years of dancing with the wrong partner, the willfully sleeping giants have awakened. However, only time will tell if this is a change of heart, or a habitual change of gesture!

A political election is a mechanism by which modern democracies fill offices in the executive, legislature, and sometimes in the judiciary. It is a decision making process where citizens are provided with a choice of individuals to choose from for a public office. The election process may differ from country to country, but the fundamental rules and pre-conditions are the same. The electorates must be given a clear choice and must be left free to vote for a candidate of their choice. There must be an independent election institution that examines and arbitrates election disagreements. These three pre-conditions are non-existent in Ethiopia. TPLF is the lone player in the campaign trail and the Ethiopian Election Board officials are hand picked by PM Meles Zenawi.

In 2005, when TPLF followed a relatively liberal election policy, it was Professor Beyene who repeatedly vowed to boycott the election. Surprisingly, it was the Professor himself that gave legitimacy to the 2005 sham election by blaming the pro-democracy demonstrators as rock throwing thugs. During the fruit less negotiations of 2005, it was again Professor Beyene who gave Meles the moral justification to imprison high level CUDP leaders by calling off the "Stay home" strikes and by joining the parliament against the decision of his own party. Between November 2005 and August 2007 when millions of Ethiopians and the international community cried for the release of CUDP leaders, Professor Beyene was quietly making non-reciprocal concessions with Meles. As a leader of one of the oldest opposition coalition [SEPDC], Professor Beyene did not publicly denounce the imprisonment of his fellow opposition leaders, nor did he congratulate them when they were released. In the absence of the CUDP leaders, the honorable Beyene Petros, a man whom the Associated Press called "leader of the largest opposition" in Ethiopia, was working hard to inherit Lieutenant Girma’s worthless chair to serve a party and a man he opposed throughout his entire public life.

Until the day he unilaterally joined the parliament, Professor Beyene was the leader of UEDF, but he was stripped off his leadership role when he broke the very decision that he was entrusted to execute. Professor Beyene can not be the leader of an organization that he does not belong to unless UEDF is a house hold item of the Professor, or the name UEDF is synonymous with SEPDC. I hope the true UEDF will give us a better clarification and defend the indivisibility of its leadership.

In the 1990s Professor Beyene was the emblem of non-violent political struggle in Ethiopia. He was also a man who organized one of the strongest coalitions in the political history of Southern Ethiopia. He and his fellow parliamentarian, the honorable Bulcha Demeksa have had some symbolic moments in the parliament. However, in politics, all the good stuff that politicians did in the past is an archived history. What really matters is their position of today and their vision for tomorrow. Even the charismatic and the well articulated Tony Blair who scored many political & economic victories could not survive Political mistakes. In the past 16 years, professor Beyene has made numerous strategic mistakes. Yes, he has stood with the Ethiopian masses, but his grave mistake is that he displayed loyalty to Meles in those critical moments that counted the most. I usually tolerate those who make mistakes while serving the public. Every body including those whom I trusted the most have made a heart breaking mistake, but kneeling down for a pat from Meles and making repeated mistakes on the interest of the people is unacceptable, inexplicable, and intolerable.

I applaud the non-violent struggle of the honorable Beyene Petros & Bulcha Demeksa, but I also want to let them know that there is a significant difference between "loyal opposition" and loyalty to Meles. All parties and individuals (including SEPDC and OFDM) that follow the non-violent path of struggle are parts and parcels of the loyal opposition. But, make no mistake, your loyalty is not to Meles, or to any specific policies of the government. Your loyalty is to the fundamental legitimacy of the state and to the democratic process. When your loyalty is to the state, irregularities will be administered by the law of the land; but when your loyalty is to Meles who bends the law, you will always end up being betrayed as he constantly twists the law to suit his agenda. In the past three years, both Honorable Bulcha and Beyene Petros have aided the ruling party by jointly drafting rules and procedures that undermined the entire opposition camp [does not include parliamentary bills]. They have entertained the international media by sponsoring a joint communiqué with the ruling party, providing a badly needed legitimacy to a naked regime. In spite of the bullying, the harassment, targeted imprisonment, and cancellation of their candidates, these two veteran politicians entered the 2008 election clearly knowing their zero chance of winning a consequential amount of seats.

The validity of a democratic process in any society depends on the existence of a legitimate government. I believe, even the TPLF thugs agree, at least nominally, that political elections are the corner stones of any democratic process. Jumping in to an election in the total absence of common rules and a legitimate government is tantamount to selling the trust of the electorate to a bunch of traitors that deserve no trust. More than boycotting the election, the two veteran leaders including other puppets of the regime must understand that the TPLF model of the "false diversity" type of pompous election is a sham process that appears to be a genuine electoral contest, in order to present the façade of popular consent and support. Yes, EPRDF has several registered parties [TPLF, OPDO, ANDM etc) and several candidates (close to 4 million), but all of them have the same face and support the status quo.

Though they have publicly stated obvious reasons, I don’t really know why the two parliamentarians boycotted the election. The Ethiopian electorate, including the very people that the honorable Beyene Petros and Bulcha Demeksa represent in the National Parliament knew the true nature of TPLF and its election methodology in the early morning hours of May 16, 2005. I don’t understand why these two giant leaders of the opposition waited for so long, specially, the OFDM leaders who have to wait three more days [After Prof. Beyene] to taste an election so sour to swallow. Unless it is a sign of an honest strategic shift, the recent election boycott of Professor Beyene and Ato Bulcha Demeksa is meaningless because it came too late after the political damage has already been done.

If the boycott is accompanied by a strong verbal and written public condemnation of the TPLF regime, and joining the alliance of the progressive forces of Ethiopia; the far-sighted people of Ethiopia will forgive Professor Beyene for there is no future without forgiveness! Otherwise Ethiopians are sick and tired of politicians whose skin color changes to satisfy the indefinite taste of Meles Zenawi.

Touched by an “Angel”, the Fairy Tale of Washera_2000

By Ephrem Madebo

I was born and raised in south Ethiopia where most of the people have less or no knowledge of monasteries, or monastic life. However, the famous Waldiba monastery in Gondar where monks are believed to be jamming once in a blue moon [Andeande Waldibam…] and the exclusive “qene” school of Washera- Mariam in Gojam have been part of my memory since I was 13 years old. Today, I’m not here to tell you about Washera-Mariam, yet line after line of this article deals with “Washera”. Confused? Please don’t. I promise, I will never live you in the dark. When you’re done with this article, you will definitely be aware of the difference between Washera-Mariam and “Washera- Washo”.

As there are many hoi polloi supporters of the TPLF gangs, obviously, there are some zealous and irrefutably articulated defenders of the TPLF regime whose articles are worth reading to gauge the strength of the forces of tyranny. One of these fanaticals is a person who writes by a pen name of Washera_2000. Please read Washera’s article before you start reading this article.

Last week I visited aigaforum.com and read Washera’s latest piece on the “intelligence” of PM Meles Zenawi. This is what I read at the beginning of the 2nd paragraph: “It has been a while since I concluded that the PM is a hard working and very intelligent individual”. At the first glance, I thought “Washera” was applying the lessons he learned in Washera Mariam; and I started looking for the hidden word until I realized that the trans-Atlantic “biographer” was trying to immortalize a desecrated person. What I actually read was not even a biography; it was a “White Paper” on the intelligence of Ethiopian leaders. I applauded his “noble” start and top-down analysis, but condemned his motive and dissipated intellectual paralysis. I’m one of the most animated opponent of Meles, but I’ve never questioned his intelligence because Zenawi’s problem is not his intelligence; it’s his arrogance and his atrocious attitude to those who oppose him.

Josef Mengele is a person that I believe is more intelligent than Meles, but he is also a person who engineered a methodology to wipe out non- Germans. Is Mengel intelligent? Yes, he is, but despite his intelligence; today the world calls him “Angel of Death” Is Meles intelligent? Well, let me say yes, but our children and grand children will remember him for his nonsensical street killing, not for his intelligence.

Here is another excerpt : “He [Meles] refers to this as a Democratic Developmentalist Paradigm and backs it up with an impressive argument for the establishment of a dynamic agrarian democracy; much like the one advocated by Thomas Jefferson” Mr. Washera, I live in Virginia where memories of Thomas Jefferson are still alive in places like the University of Virginia and Monticello. I don’t think Meles should be mentioned in the same page with Thomas Jefferson, not even in the same book. Meles, who once was a drifter in Tirana, still carries Enver Hoja’s blue print of communist land policy. Thomas Jefferson is a person who idealized private ownership of farmland as a prototype of republican virtues in America. How dare do you put the name of this great state man along side a person who confuses a nation with a locality, and history with a fairy tale?

As your own subliminal phrases indicate, Meles’s land policy is highly influenced by the now defunct communist ideology. Jefferson is a person who believed and stood for private ownership of property. Zenawi’s place in history has yet to be determined, but I can sense it is closer to Chauchesco than it is to Thomas Jefferson. For Meles, there is TPLF ownership, public ownership, and private ownership of property. Had they lived together, I don’t think Meles would have qualified to carry Jefferson's manuscripts of the declaration of independence.

Washera said: “For PM Meles, that coalition building starts with the rural agriculture-dependent population which will be responsible for much of the work of accelerated growth. Whether through his socialist leanings....” (Italics and line by me). Washera, I believe you live in the US and you know how this great nation transformed its agricultural sector. If your prodigy is brave enough to put his money where his mouth is, why doesn’t he start a real agrarian transformation by distributing land to farmers? If his priority is the rural farmer, then the rural farmer has no other priority, but land. There is no economy in the world that fully transformed its agricultural sector without privatizing farm land. The policy of Public ownership of land was a complete fiasco in the former USSR and its satellite states of East Europe. Do you think a student from Albania [Comrade Meles] will succeed in an endeavour where Lenin, Stalin, Chauchisco, and Mao failed? If you do, you’re like a man who snobbishly keeps on ditching a ditch with a scoop when everybody else puts the earth back to your ditch.

Ethiopia’s agricultural sector makes up for about 85% of the country’s population. This sector must supply labor, capital, and raw material to the industrial sector, but due to Zenwi’s ill-advised land policy, Ethiopia’s agricultural sector can’t even feed it self. Zenawi wants the peasantry to remain in rural areas dependent upon the state for its basic needs. Farmers who don’t own their own piece of land can not borrow capital and have little or no incentive to improve a government owned land. All in all, the invisible hand is non-existent in rural Ethiopia. Yes, there is abundant supply of labor in the agricultural sector, but capital and land, the two indispensable factors of production are absent. Such an absence is the biggest obstacle to the development of agriculture and industry. Washera, I’m sure you might have bought a residential place here in America, if you didn’t, so many of us have. Look Washera, our fathers, mothers, and brothers do not have the same right that you and me enjoy here on a foreign land. Yet, you are proud of man who is the corner stone of a failed agricultural policy. To me, you sound like a good Christian who denies the death and resurrection of Christ.

Did I hear you saying that Ethiopia is in the right direction with Zenawi behind the wheel? Washera, this is a shame of all shames that lingers over to posterity. You have the right to be proud of Meles, you can even worship him, but I can assure you Meles is not the right direction to heaven. Ato “Washera”, I think articulating the truth is more of a “Latin” to you than economic terminologies are to average readers. By the way, why did you choose the word Latin? Your choice could have been French, or even Navajo. Anyways, Latin, French, or Navajo; the average Ethiopian farmer needs his own share of private farm land, not Meles’s doctoral dissertation, or your doodles on his intelligence.

Washera said: “It behooves Ethiopian political opposition groups to understand this man very clearly and articulate an alternative vision for the country if they disagree with him, or stop wringing their fingers and join his efforts in tandem” Oh my God! You’re making me sick to my bone. Did you say join Meles? What a ridiculously ludicrous call ! Are you re-writing Malthusian theory of population? If so, please reverse your call. The mission of the opposition is to save Ethiopia from Meles, and most importantly; Meles doesn’t need the help of the opposition to kill more, he knows how. Your pseudo name insinuates that you’re from Washera-Mariam, and we all know your prodigy is from “Dedebit”. So which school is the opposition supposed to go to understand Meles? Do you jointly own a school with Meles? Please say no, I don’t want to know what a joint school of Washera-Mariam and “Dedebit” looks like.

You also talked about a zero-sum politics of the opposition. Washera, how can the opposition reach to a win-win situation when Meles is the rule maker, the player, the official, and the spectator of the game? I don’t know about your math skill, but I thought you were good in “addition”. In Ethiopia, there is only negative-sum politics (Loss-Loss). By the way, thank you for positioning the opposition in the middle of the number line. Washera, you can write about Meles, but please don’t magnify what ever he spits, let the dust take care of that.

You said: “His [Meles's] own personal experience and dedication to see the establishment of a healthy democratic pluralism of a broadly based agrarian democracy that is capable of evolving into a mature urban-based democracy is to be applauded” Washera, when I read this statement, I stood still like the late comedian Redd Fox [Sanford & Son], and started calling my version of “Elizabeth”. Is this a go-and tell them urban legend from 4 Kilo? Washera, I have seen so many fools, but I haven't seen, or heard of a fool that applauds when he is cloned to produce another fool like him. The Meles way of democratic pluralism is to make sure that every party in the country is genetically tied to his TPLF party (clone of TPLF), anything else is doomed to be suffocated to death. The truth is that Meles fights pluralism by far more than he fought the fascist regime of Colonel Mengistu.

You said you’re proud to know that Meles is at the helm of the Ethiopian state steering it in the right direction. If you think Meles is steering the nation in the right direction, I believe you need a powerful GPS device to augment your lost sense of direction. Washera, I am not worried for Meles, I am worried for you. Meles is a totally lost person, he doesn’t need GPS; he needs a new direction, or a new beginning. GPS is for people like you who know where they are going but don’t know how. The choice between hell and heaven might be a Devine choice for the people of faith, but the choice between right and wrong is a choice for humanity; and no human being should be proud of her/his bad choice knowing that he/she is wrong.

Washera, what else are you proud of? Are you proud of a land locked Ethiopia? Are you proud of a young boy whose mother was killed in front of him? Are you proud of the mass killings on the streets of Addis, Awassa, and Ambo? Are you proud of millions of poor land less farmers ? Are you proud of thousands of Ethiopians who died defending Bademe in vain? Eight years ago the Ethiopian heroes decisively crushed the Eritrean invaders. Today, Eritreans are considered winners of the 1999-2000 war. Well, we won the military phase of the war, but thanks to Meles, we lost the political cause of the war when he negotiated on the blood of thousands of Ethiopians. Is this the man whom you said you’re proud of? “Kezihis Sewerign” Washera, it’s much better to admit shame with dignity than to be proud of your own nudity.

You also talked about Pareto Efficiency. Well, since I am one of those average readers, It took me a while to understand the concept. As you correctly summarized it, Pareto Efficiency, or Pareto Optimal is a condition where given alternative allocations of income for a set of individuals, a movement from one allocation to another that can make at least one individual better off without making any other individual worse off.

The economic divide between the rich and the poor has polarized our nation, living the majority of Ethiopians in abject poverty. Today, poor land policy, uneven economic development, and lack of political stability in the Horn of Africa coupled with international economic crisis have pushed millions of Ethiopians far below the poverty line. The IMF and World Bank Annual Reports show some economic progress in Ethiopia, but the beneficiaries of this trumpeted economic progress are those who are closely associated to the ruling TPLF elite. A variety of economic indicators show that the economic development in Ethiopia has not trickled down to the poor. What we see in Ethiopia is the making of “Brazil” in Africa. Is this what you call Pareto Optimal? Signor Vilfredo Pareto might have been dead for decades, but he will definitely look down at you and cry – “Oh mio Dio… Non è questo che mi hai insegnato”. [Oh my God, this is not what I taught you ]

By the way, did you hear that the Ethiopian army and Police forces are on a stand-by to fight Inflation? I think we need to tell this to Jay Leno so that America giggles for a week. Washera, aren’t you ashamed when a man to whom you proudly tip your hat off acts like a mad-cow and uses force to solve every problem including Inflation? Yes, you heard me right; Inflation! This reminds me one of Megistu’s slogans – “Eyetewagan Enamertalen”. Well, no wander, Mengistu and Meles are heads of different evil regimes planted by bayonets. Capitalism is the best alternative for development that the world has seen so far. However, we all know that without any kind of over site, capitalism could be a cancerous cell that feeds on itself. Inflation, recession, stagflation, and uneven distribution of income are some of the down sides of capitalism, however, none of these shortcoming of capitalism are corrected by using force like Zenawi. If guns were solutions for inflation, the Federal Reserve (Fed) would have controlled military contractors, not the money supply.

Washera,our country Ethiopia finds itself in one of the most defining moment in its long history. I’m not sure why you support the minority TPLF regime, as to me, I am with the opposition because the choice given by Meles is between bad and worse. If we choose bad, we will be headed to the worst. If we chose worse, we all are domed to die. My fellow country man Washera, If we want to survive as a nation and make Ethiopia a better place to live, what better alterative do we have other than the opposition? I am not talking about this or that party, I’m talking about a much better alterative to Meles. Washera, you may dislike some opposition parties, so do I. The opposition is a large puzzle while any single party is part of the puzzle, so why dislike the whole puzzle? To you, to me, and to millions of Ethiopians, Ethiopia must come before Meles and before any one in the opposition. If you agree with this, then your shame should be my shame and my pride should be your pride. May God bless Ethiopia.

A Lesson from Nairobi

By Ephrem Madebo

Through out history, Ethiopia’s determination to stay as a free country and the willingness of its heroes to die for the territorial integrity of the nation has put Ethiopia in a unique group of nations that have been independent since the time of Adam and Eve. The prominent saying “We are the only non-colonized black nation” has always been the trade mark of Ethiopians around the world. Whether it is at a local bar when we get tipsy, or in discussions with people of other countries, Ethiopia’s perpetual independence has always been the source of pride for its people. Indeed, we Ethiopians are not strangers to political independence, the only thing that eluded us for many years is liberty and justice that people in many democratic countries take for granted. Many generations of Ethiopians have been pitiless fighters against foreigners who tried to snatch their freedom. However, for Ethiopians and the rest of the world, it has always been perplexing why we Ethiopians quietly allow our own country men to steal our freedom and treat us inhumanly. As a nation, if there is one thing that we repeatedly failed, it should be our inability to rise as a single entity and declare victory over dictators.

In May 1963, when the OAU was established in Addis Ababa, billboards all over the city read – “a country with 3000 years of history” while Kenya was still a British colony. In fact, Kenya’s independence didn’t come until December 12 of the same year. However, today; the question is not what Kenyans can learn from the long history of Ethiopia, it is what Ethiopia can learn from Kenya’s steadfastness for freedom and liberty. In 1991, the writer of this article was a refugee living in a place not far from the infamous township of Kibera where ethnic Kikuyus were battered by the Luos in the aftermath of Kenya’s descend into violence following the December 2007 presidential election. In my brief stay in Kenya, I witnessed the birth of multi-party politics which was architected by Martin Shikuku, Michael Kijana, Kenneth Matiba, and the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the father of the current opposition leader Raila Odinga.

For many Kenyans, the early years of the 1990s were times of great hope and excitement. Towards the end of 1991, Kenyans optimistically saw the resurgence of democracy as they forced the then-President Daniel Arap Moi to legalize multi-party politics. As democratic competitions increased and grass root movements flourished throughout the nation, Kenyans were unwillingly stumbled with a danger that eventually wiped out the short lived euphoria of progressive Kenyans. The Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD), responsible for most political victories, split and re-split until it no more stood as a formidable force in the face of Kenyan African National Union (KANU) party. As a result, in 1992 and 1997, the incumbent Moi was re-elected with a relatively small minority of the vote. In 1992 and 1997, KANU won with 36.3% and 40.12% of the vote while the fragmented opposition shared 63.7% and 59.88% of the vote. In 2002, Kenyans learned from past mistakes and they stood together. After two consecutive heart breaking losses, finally, Mwai Kibaki kicked Moi out of office by winning 62.2% of the vote. In 2002, Kenya reached a huge political milestone in just 39 years what Ethiopia couldn’t in 3000 years.

In 2008, when Mwai Kibaki attempted to apply the bad lessons he learned from his northern border, Kenyans said no. They just didn’t say no, they made Kenya ungovernable. The entire world condemned the killings in Kenya and stood with the Kenyan opposition. Last week (February 28, 2008) Mwai Kibaki and Ralila Odinga agreed to share power and opened a new era in Kenyan politics. When Kenya was in political turmoil, unlike Ethiopia, the whole world looked at Kenya, not because the world loved Kenya more than Ethiopia. To be honest, it was the Kenyan opposition specially the determination and resolution of the Kenyan people that forced the world to look at them. In Kenya, just like in Ethiopia, ethnic identity has been manipulated by some self-serving political elites, but make no mistake, Kenya’s political disorder after the election has nothing to do with ethnicity, it was all about the rule of law and respect to the will of the people.

In 2005, when the then loose alliance of CUD and UEDF called the “stay home” strike, the so called western ambassadors tried to bring Meles and the opposition to the negotiation table. Both Meles and the opposition agreed. However, Meles walked out victorious as the western ambassadors doubted the will and unity of the opposition when CUD and UEDF called off the strike and made different decisions on how to continue the struggle. During the negotiation, Meles, who in advance knew the consequences of the strikes and the demonstration, did not want to see both before the opening of the parliament. He managed to avoid both by begging western diplomats to exert pressure on the opposition. The naive opposition called off the strikes and helped Meles to cool off the people’s wrath, the only power that could have brought his totalitarian regime to an end. The opposition failed to use its ultimate power, the people’s power.

Today, three years after the May 2005 election, the Ethiopian opposition is in total disarray. Instead of asking what went wrong, the opposition is busy making mistakes after mistakes to the extent of killing itself. In my opinion, the greatest thing that the Ethiopian opposition should learn from history is that it has never learned from history. The Kenyan opposition learned from its 1992 and 1997 mistakes, and in 2002, opposition parties in Kenya unseated KANU for the first time since independence. The Ethiopian opposition (especially CUDP), instead of learning from mistakes, it repeated the 1992 and 1997 mistakes of Kenya. It will be a long time before we know what in the hell [sorry for my French] the CUDP leaders were thinking when they reduced the party that petrified Meles in to numerous feeble factions. Will CUDP redeem itself by learning from the 2008 success story of Kenya?

In the last 8 years, elections results were manipulated in many unsteady democratic countries including Ethiopia (2005), Serbia (2000), Ukraine (2004), Nepal (2006), and Kenya (2008). Except in Ethiopia, in all of the above countries, opposition parties led a successful popular movement that restored the democratic process and forced dictators to give up power. Just like Serbians and Ukrainians, in 2005, the Ethiopian people were ready to do what ever it takes, but they did not have a seasoned party to guide them and a motivating leader to lead them.

Evidently, progressive sentiment in Ethiopia is very strong, but progressive institutions (political parties) are not. Leaders of opposition political parties are blown like dry leaves by the forces of egoism and strong ambition to power. The inability to distinguish between the burning needs of their nation and their political greed is one of the undesirable weaknesses of our political leaders. Today, the Ethiopian opposition is divided more than ever, and it is weaker to the extent of not being able to defend its own existence. The Ethiopian opposition camp has one common enemy that makes use of its weaknesses. The weak appearance of the opposition is a moral boost to the enemy. All in all, the failure of the opposition to stand undivided is a gratuitous reassurance to those who continue to rule us by force.

Ethiopians have started every decade with elevated hope and ended with startling despondency. They gave their money, time, and most importantly their life to create a prosperous society where liberty and justice are treasured above everything and more than anything. Every new coming regime promised a bright new era, but from Emperor Haile Selassie to Colonel Mengistu and from Mengistu to Meles Zenawi, Ethiopians were repeatedly betrayed as dictators succeeded authoritarians. The Ethiopian people feel a sense of vulnerability; they feel pain and hurt because their liberty, freedom, and peace have been snatched from them.

In the last 25 years a myriad of political parties and alliances have come and gone. We have seen countless faces, names, and name changes. The only thing we never saw is a tangible political victory attributed to these parties, or political alliances. I strongly believe that the “golden generation” that dominated the Ethiopian political landscape for the last four decades has failed individually, organizationally, and as a generation in bringing any landmark democratic transformation. Don’t take me wrong, this generation is credited for many positive changes, but it is so entangled with the past and with itself, therefore, I don’t think it has any gas left in its tank to complete the change it started decades ago. To satisfy the democratic appetite of Ethiopians, the “golden generation” unavoidably needs the help and participation of the younger generation.

Young people make up more than half of Ethiopia’s population. Today, in many places of the country and here in the US, young Ethiopians are speaking out and taking active leadership roles throughout the society to ensure that the youth plays a vital role in building a nation that truly fits the future generation. Many young Ethiopians are key community activists making differences in their communities. They are representing the concerns and views of their peers in different forums and are actively engaging in ‘inter-generational dialogues’ with adults in key decision-making positions.

The “golden generation” of Ethiopia has wisdom, but no tolerance for dissent. It has a great deal of knowledge and experience, but it is un-compromising like the mountains that protected the nation from invaders; it is also immeasurably patriotic, but appallingly self-centered. It is about time that this generation opens the door for young leaders, accepts new ideas, and invites unheard voices to the Ethiopian political forum. After all, Ethiopia is predominantly a country of the young. We need young leaders who can communicate vertically and horizontally.

The Pre-conditions of Liberal Democracy

By Ephrem Madebo

Outside the academic world and the network of the few enlightened, to many Ethiopians, the word “Liberal Democracy” is a new buzz word; and to those of us who live in the Western world, especially in the US, the word “liberal” is one of the most confounding word. Is Liberal democracy good for Ethiopia? What is liberal democracy? What does the word liberal mean? Liberal democracy is a form of government in which the ability of the elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law and moderated by a constitution. In Liberal democracy, the constitution gives emphasis to the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals and places constraints on the extent to which the will of the majority can be exercised against the rights of minorities. Liberal democracy may take the form of constitutional republic (USA), or constitutional monarchy (England). The objective of the article is not to define “Liberal democracy”; it is to provoke public discussion on the specific democratic practice that our country should adopt. I beg my readers to patiently read this relatively long article.

In the US, the words “liberal” and “conservative” are used interchangeably with the word “Democrat” and “Republican”. Though the extent of liberalism differs within the Democratic Party, democrats are usually considered to be liberals. In America, liberals endorse regulation for business, a limited social welfare, and support broad racial, ethnic, sexual, and religious tolerance. Often, but not always, liberals are tolerant of change and are not bounded by tradition. The term “liberal” in “liberal democracy” does not imply that the government of such a democracy must follow the political ideology of liberalism. It is merely a reference to the fact that liberal democracies feature constitutional protections of individual rights from government power. Liberalism refers to a broad array of related ideas, ideologies, philosophical views, and theories of government that consider individual liberty to be the most important political goal. Today in the world there are numerous different political ideologies that support liberal democracy (Christian Democracy, Social Democracy, and different forms of Socialist parties).

From the above statement, it goes without saying that liberalism is the philosophical foundation of Liberal Democracy. The ideology of liberalism is highly individualistic and concerns itself with limiting the power of the state over the individual. In contrast, democracy is concerned with empowering the masses. Competitive elections are among the common features of democracy that require freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the rule of law. It is important to notice that there are non-democratic governments that follow the principles of liberalism [liberal autocracies]. For example, Hong Kong had never held a meaningful election (until 1997), but its government epitomized constitutional liberalism protecting its citizens basic rights and administering a fair court system and bureaucracy.

Liberalism is a very wide concept, but for the purpose of this article, liberalism is a philosophical thinking that dominated the Western world for over two centuries, in which individual rights are protected and governments are limited. I hope I’ve introduced you to “liberalism” and “liberal democracy”, however, such an introduction will be limited if I fail to mention the moral principles of liberalism. In fact, the most important aspect of this article is to look deeply at the moral principles of liberalism and figure out how to adopt these principles and make them flourish in our cultural setting. The moral principles of liberalism are formed on two seemingly conflicting behavioral postulates. First, there is a general postulate that rational self-interest motivates all human actions. Second, there is also recognition that rational self-interest does not characterize human motivation always; instead, people are often driven by passions and irrational emotions. These two behavioral postulates form the four moral foundations of liberalism.

The universal self-interest postulate and the limited rationality postulate underlie several important moral principles of liberalism. The first moral principle is that everyone should be a judge of his or her own interest and welfare (principle of autonomy) The second is that different persons' interests are morally equal, i.e. no person, or no one class of persons, can claim its interest is nobler, or morally more superior, than any other persons or classes of persons (Principle of equality) The principle of equality implies that everyone's interest should receive equal consideration from a social perspective, and that every human being has the same intrinsic worth. The third moral principle is that everyone should be free to pursue his or her own interest and choice, subject to the "harm principle", i.e., in pursuit of his or her own interest, he or she cannot harm another person's legitimate interests. (Principle of freedom).The fourth and final principle is that everyone should bear the consequences resulting from his or her actions in pursuit of individual interests (principle of responsibility).

In this article the focus will be on the moral principles of liberalism because I do believe the lack of these moral principles is one of the factors that holds back the political process in our country. Other than the moral principles, in Ethiopia, the adoption of liberal democracy presupposes other preconditions. The formation of a significant middle class and a flourishing civil society are often seen as pre-conditions for liberal democracy. As is the case in Ethiopia, the introduction of free elections alone has rarely been sufficient to achieve a transition from dictatorship to democracy. A much wider shift in the political culture and a gradual formation of the institutions of democratic government are badly needed (Free press, transparent judiciary, and a politically independent military).

Instead of considering the above four moral principles, I want to make a head start with the two behavioral postulates which are the foundations for the four moral principles. The first postulate, universal self-interest, has important implications for our political way of thinking. It is absolutely true that every one of us is self-interested, so isn’t it true that our rulers are self-interested too? Isn’t it also true that they need to be ruled? Or, don’t political leaders need a constitutional brake? Yes they need,otherwise, the political system will be turned into a self-serving machine of politicians. In fact, the fundamental liberal claim of universal self-interest is the basic assumption behind the vital liberal political theory of separation of power, checks and balances, and limited government. Without separation of power and checks and balances, self-interested politicians will use their power for their own advantages, often at the expenses of the public good.

Like the assumption of universal self-interest, limited rationality and irrationality have important implications for liberal political thinking. First, limited rationality means that one goal of political institutions should be to enhance the cognitive intelligence of public decision-making. Second, limited rationality or irrationality implies that concentration of power can be very harmful or even disastrous. Separation of power as well as checks and balances are necessary, not only to prevent abuses of power due to the calculating self-interest of power holders, but also to make sure that the process of public decision-making is not seriously corrupted by decision makers' irrational passions and limited foresight.

We live in a society where politicians do everything to glorify themselves. As egoists as politicians are, they want to be the “bride” in a weeding, and the “coffin” in a funeral. However, this attitude of self-centeredness has nothing to do with the concept of “self-interest” in this article. Self-interest is a dominant moral principle, not only because of its egalitarian and democratic implications, but also because the rational pursuit of self-interest is a better alternative to the violent passion for glory. People may not always be rational in politics, but they are self-interested. There is no insinuation whatsoever that the self-interested behavior of politicians is always harmless; the truth is that it is far less dangerous than their violent and burning passion for power.

So what is the good of all these to our country? Well, first of all, knowing and fully understanding the moral and ideological foundations of liberal democracy helps us to make an informed decision if “liberal democracy” is among the alternatives that we prescribe for mama Ethiopia. Secondly, we know that liberal democracy and its moral foundations have their roots in the 18th century Europe. Obviously, we don’t have to adopt it in its entirety. Third, there is one very important thing that we should always bear in mind; democracy in our country must be implemented largely as a response to domestic out cry for liberty and democracy. They can definitely help us, but neither the US nor the Eu can give us the blueprint of democracy. Imposed, or induced democratization might not work in our country like it did in Post war Germany and Japan because Ethiopia does not have the domestic traditions and institutions that these two countries had.

Is liberal democracy good for Ethiopia?

Yes, liberal democracy is undisputedly good for Ethiopia, but if and only if its adoption is initiated by Ethiopians, and if it is adopted with the right dosage to fit the Ethiopian way of life. In Europe, the birth place of liberalism, no two democracies are identical, and in the US, the grand son of UK, liberal democracy is implemented differently. Liberal democracy as a political culture needs a fitting atmosphere for its endorsement, it cannot be imposed and expected to produce favorable political result. Any attempt to impose a western type of democracy without either the domestic resources or the political traditions is a recipe for illusion. Most Ethiopians view democracy as a system where people participate in vital decisions that affect their lives. But, when powerful countries like the US and UK impose their democracy and their values on our society, then we start loosing parts of the meaning of democracy as it becomes an imposed rule on us.

The cultural setting of our nation is dominated by traditional life style where the communal way of life dominates individual life style. Therefore, the emphasis of liberalism on the individual and individual rights may conflict with the community ethos of the Ethiopian society. In the US and Western Europe where the state is strong enough to protect collective rights, I think it is appropriate to focus on the protection of the rights of individuals. In Ethiopia, where we don’t have such a state, the level of individualization called by liberal democracy has a tendency to contribute to a rapid weakening of families and communities. Therefore, the transition to liberal democracy must be gradual and at the pace of our society without creating a cultural shock that may have a ripple effect on many aspects of our national life.

Evidently, democracy is a sought-after mode of political interaction, but in our case, problems may arise when we decide which specific democratic practice is more suitable for our social system to adopt. As far as multiparty politics is concerned, in ethnically divided societies such as ours, majority rule might drive the society in to a problem because it has a tendency to allow perpetual majority domination. In this case, ethnic minority groups may fear the tyranny of the majority whereas majorities constantly resent a minority rule. (In this article, ethnic majority or minority is strictly numeric).

Belgium is one of the ethnically divided countries of Western Europe which can be a good model to our country. In Belgium, political parties represent the political and linguistic interests of the communities, i.e. the parties are organized along community lines; especially for the two main communities, French speaking Walloons and Dutch speaking Flanders. Today, the core difference between the main ethnic groups of Belgium is not very much ethnic; their major disparity is based on political and demographic issues. The trade mark of the Belgian national politics is the highly federal nature of decision-making process. In the Belgian parliament, important decisions require 2/3 majority and the majority of the two main language groups (Flanders, Walloons). This by no means is a call for ethnic parties in Ethiopia, but just a reminder to stress that in a democracy there are non-ethnic solutions for ethnic problems. Fifty eight percent of Belgians are Flanders, but Flanders as a majority can not impose their will on the Walloons and the Cantons, not because they are saints, but the way the Belgian parliament is instituted.

The moral principles of liberalism and our political elites

The culture of democracy (tolerance of dissent, representation, and consensus) needs to develop from the very bottom of the society to the top. In our country, the negative political culture of the elite is characterized by intolerance, egotism, discrimination and contempt for a common person (particularly for “unlettered” rural residents). One of the moral principles of liberalism states that everyone should be free to pursue his or her own interest and choice without causing harm to others. This principle must be the credo of all Ethiopians and must be practiced by political leaders, intellectuals, professionals, students, business people, and common people. We, the Ethiopian elite must acknowledge that when we oppose the incumbent government, there are others who support [oppose us], therefore, we must pursue our own interest respectfully letting others who oppose us peruse theirs. If we believe and act as if our interest is nobler, or morally superior; we will be not only irrationals, but also self- centered bigots. With such an attitude, we cannot lead a household of two, leave alone a nation!

One of the key aspects of a democratic culture that the Ethiopian elite utterly lacks is the concept of a “loyal opposition”. In places like Ethiopia where transitions to power have often taken place through violence; the concept of loyal opposition is unthinkable to almost all of us. For example, parties within the opposition camp (CUDP, UEDF) have constantly been seen sticking stick on each others throat. UEDF, CUDP, or any other party may disagree on issues, but they must tolerate one another and acknowledge the important roles that each play. We as a society must establish ground rules that encourage respect, tolerance, and civility in public debate. Losers of a public debate must be ready to accept the judgment of the voters when elections are over, and allow for the “handshake” transfer of power. The losers must feel safe that they will neither lose their lives nor their liberty, and will continue to participate in public life. The losers of an election are loyal not to the specific policies of the government, but to the fundamental legitimacy of the state and to the democratic process itself.

The principle of responsibility implies that everyone should bear the consequences resulting from his or her actions in pursuit of individual interests. In the last thirty years, neither those in power nor those in the opposition were hold accountable for their actions. Colonel Mengistu killed countless Ethiopians, today, he lives peacefully in Zimbabwe. Meles Zenawi killed peaceful demonstrators in a broad day light, today; he is still in power to kill more. Through out the years, the Ethiopian opposition killed the hope of millions of Ethiopians, today; many of those same faces are running to forge yet another party. This is a very sad tradition that must be reversed as soon as possible. A nation that does not hold its leaders accountable for their action is a hot breeding place for political criminals.

In Ethiopia, elections have repeatedly failed to bring about radical changes to the leadership, to the political institutions, or to the polity. For example, in the last election when changes seemed eminent, the TPLF narcissists refused to accept the outcome as fair. Hence, instead of progressing, the country switched to political turmoil shortly after multiparty elections that were supervised by international observers. Almost three years after the May 2005 election, the TPLF regime is still unaccounted for the pitiful consequences that resulted from its in-humane actions.

The healthy growth of Liberal democracy in our nation depends on the earnestness and perseverance of those who plant democracy, and the readiness and fertility of the soil on which liberal democracy is planted. Yes, we can import the seeds of liberal democracy to our country, but we must genetically re-engineer the seed to make it grow in the Ethiopian atmosphere. Liberal democracy comes with rules and responsibilities. These rules and responsibilities must mean the same to all of us, and should be respected by all of us regardless of sex, ethnic background, level of education, and political power. As free as individuals are to pursue their own interest and choice, they should also be willing and ready to bear the consequences resulting from their actions. In Ethiopia that we dream, no person should be impeded from making choices, and no person should be left unaccounted for the consequences resulting from his/her choice. Are we ready to practice what we preach? Are we ready to agree to disagree? If yes, so help us God!