Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 17:56:56 +0200
What does President Obama "know" about Ethiopia's "election"?
Alemayehu G. Mariam
2014-10-10, Issue 697 <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/697>
http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/697/ob.jpg
Ethiopia will hold national elections next year. It is certain that the
US-backed TPLF regime will rig the poll and proclaim a landslide victory. A
look at the present repressive political climate shows clearly that there is
not a chance for a free and fair election.
Last week, US President Barack Obama
<http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/2014/09/26/shame_on_me_for_being_proud_
of_president_obama> met with a delegation of the regime in Ethiopia and
said, ". the Prime Minister [Hailemariam Desalegn] and the government is
going to be organizing elections in Ethiopia this year. I know something
about that. And so we'll have an opportunity to talk about civil society and
governance and how we can make sure that Ethiopia's progress and example can
extend to civil society as well."
(Let me state at the outset that I am addressing my commentary here in
relevant parts personally to President Obama because he voluntarily injected
himself in Ethiopia's electoral politics by specifically commenting that he
"knows something about" it. In light of his extraordinary declaration, I
want to hold him accountable by demanding to know what he publicly declared
he "knows about that" election. I also want to share with him the
"something" I "know" about elections in that country.)
I was intrigued, confused and galled by the President's curious choice of
words. Did he mean he "knows something" in the sense that intelligence
agencies "know something"? Could he have meant he "knows something" funny
(monkey business) about elections in Ethiopia? I really want to know what
President Obama "knows" about the 2015 "election" because the way he said
it, it sounded like he was trying to make a "lie sound truthful", as George
Orwell might have said. Aren't we all on pins and needles trying to find out
the "something" he "knows"?
Does President Obama know that in the 2010 election, the ruling Tigrean
Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) won 99.6 percent of the seats in parliament?
That is four-tenths of one percent away from a perfect 100 percent.
In May 2010, President Obama's National Security Council issued a statement
declaring, "We are concerned that international observers found that the
elections fell short of international commitments. An environment conducive
to free and fair elections was not in place even before Election Day. In
recent years, the Ethiopian government has taken steps to restrict political
space for the opposition through intimidation and harassment, tighten its
control over civil society, and curtail the activities of independent
media." Does President Obama know opposition parties and leaders today are
harassed, intimidated, jailed, persecuted and prosecuted?
Does President Obama know that the best and brightest Ethiopian journalists
who reported on the last "election" in 2010 are today languishing in
subhuman prisons in Ethiopia? Does he remember naming and shaming the ruling
regime in Ethiopia specifically for suppression of the independent press in
his
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-world-press-
freedom-day> 2010 Statement on World Press Freedom Day declaring , "While
people gained greater access than ever before to information through the
Internet, cell phones and other forms of connective technologies,
governments like China, Ethiopia, Iran, and Venezuela curtailed freedom of
expression by limiting full access to and use of these technologies"?
Does President Obama know that as a result of the so-called "Proclamation on
Charities and Society", "the number of civil society organizations in
Ethiopia was reduced from about 4600 to about 1400 in a period of three
months in early 2010? Staff members were reduced by 90% or more among many
of those organizations that survive"? Does he remember his
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-The-President-At-Para
llel-Civil-Society-Summit> Remarks on Civil Society in 2009 in which he
said, "Make no mistake: Civil society -- civil groups hold their governments
to high standards." Does he know in 2014 that there is a tiny fraction of
civil society institutions (nearly all of them owned, operated and managed
as cottage industries by regime supporters and cronies) in Ethiopia than
were in 2009 or 2010?
Does President Obama know that in the past couple of months alone young men
and women barely in their 20s have been arrested and jailed on "terrorism"
charges merely for blogging on Facebook and speaking their minds on other
social media? Does he know the free press in Ethiopia is suppressed, muzzled
and shuttered? In the past few weeks alone, six popular independent
publications including Afro Times, Addis Guday, Enku, Fact, Jano, and Lomi
were shuttered and dozens of journalists jailed and exiled. Does he remember
his
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/03/statement-president-w
orld-press-freedom-day> 2012 Statement on World Press Day "calling on all
governments to protect the ability of journalists, bloggers, and dissidents
to write and speak freely without retribution and to stop the use of travel
bans and other indirect forms of censorship to suppress the exercise of
these universal rights." Has President Obama ever called on the regime
leaders in Ethiopia to release the young Ethiopian bloggers and
internationally-celebrated journalists like Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu and
Woubshet Taye?
Does President Obama know that there cannot be an election worth the name
where the press, opposition parties and civil society organizations are
suppressed and persecuted and there is no level playing political field?
Does he remember what
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-ghanaian-parli
ament> he told the people of Africa in Accra, Ghana in 2009, ". This is
about more than just holding elections. It's also about what happens between
elections. Repression can take many forms, and too many nations, even those
that have elections, are plagued by problems that condemn their people to
poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the
economy to enrich themselves. No business wants to invest in a place where
the government skims 20 percent off the top. No person wants to live in a
society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and
bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you
sprinkle an election in there. And now is the time for that style of
governance to end."
Does President Obama know that Ethiopia today is under tyranny where corrupt
thugs masquerading as leaders and their cronies who have a chokehold on the
economy enrich themselves skimming international aid and loans while
occasionally sprinkling their thugogracy (thugtatorship) with elections to
make it look like a democracy? In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama
said, "You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You
can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called 'change.' It's still gonna
stink after eight years." Does President Obama know that you can put the
lipstick of election on thugocracy to make it look like a pretty democracy,
but at the end of the day it is still a thugocracy? Does he know that they
can wrap a thugocracy in a piece of ballot paper called "election" but after
23 years it's still gonna stink?
KNOWING WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT: IS THERE AN "ELECTION" IN ETHIOPIA IN
2015?
In a 1946 essay, "Politics and the English Language", George Orwell wrote,
"if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad
usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and
do know better." Orwell argued, "Political language is designed to make lies
sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity
to pure wind."
All of President Obama's talk about an election in 2015 in Ethiopia is "pure
wind", language designed to make a bogus election sound truthful and a
thugocracy appear to be a respectable democracy. The word "election" in the
Ethiopian political context is nonsensical. To say, "An election will be
held in Ethiopia in 2015", or "I know something about the 2015 Ethiopian
election" is akin to repeating Prof. Noam Chomsky's semantically nonsensical
but grammatically correct sentence, "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."
An "election" in Ethiopia is nothing more than an organized theft and
robbery of the peoples' voice in a three-ring circus called "election". To
call such organized election racket is to make a "lie sound truthful".
Even before President Obama publicly declared he "knows something" about the
2015 "election" in Ethiopia, some Ethiopians and certain members of the
international media have been talking about it. I have been asked to comment
on whether there is a chance for a free and fair election in 2015 (implying
whether there is hope for a free and fair election in the absence of the
master "election rig-ster extraordinaire" Meles Zenawi?) "What election?", I
exclaim with exasperation. "Woyane will steal the election again", some
snicker with apparently justified cynicism. Some tell me that a plan for a
massive crackdown on opposition leaders and parties will be unleashed once
the official campaign season is underway. I am asked, "Will opposition
leaders and parties boycott the election?" The million dollar question I am
asked in one form or another is, "Will the politburo of the TPLF dump
Hailemariam Desalegn (the sitting ceremonial prime minister) and replace him
with one of the old guard from the bush?" (I think the TPLF bosses will
hustle Hailemariam straight to Dumpsville in 2015!)
WHAT DOES "PRIME MINSTER" HAILEMARIAM DESALEGN KNOW ABOUT THE 2015 ELECTION?
In an interview with
<http://www.theafricareport.com/East-Horn-Africa/this-is-a-generation-that-h
as-to-sacrifice-ethiopian-pm-hailemariam-desalegn.html> The Africa Report on
June 11, 2014, "Prime Minister" Hailemariam Desalegn tried to clothe a
manifest travesty of election in a golden gossamer robe of free and fair
election.
"Looking forward to the 2015 elections, are you expecting the opposition
will gain more seats in parliament?"
"As far as the elections are concerned, we want to focus on the process. We
have to make the process democratic, free, fair and credible in the eyes of
our people. Then the result is up to the people. I cannot predict that these
many seats are going to be given to the opposition or the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)."
"Do you feel that the process is democratic?"
"Our institutional process and our laws and regulations are perfect. It is
not the law that hinders but the implementation of these laws. Therefore, we
have put in place the code of conduct for all parties. Strictly abiding by
this code of conduct will help the process to be more democratic, free and
fair and also credible."
"If there is a similar outcome to 2010, where only one opposition candidate
won a seat in parliament, do you think that may affect the credibility of
the government?"
"I don't think so because if the decision is taken by the people, all of us
have to agree to it. We have to accept it whether it is sometimes irritating
to some of us."
In the foregoing few words, Hailemariam Desalegn actually revealed his (I
mean the TPLF's) entire three-pronged strategy on how they plan to organize
the theft of the 2015 election and repeat the 2010 crushing victory:
1) use state media and all other resources to hoodwink the people of
Ethiopia that the 2015 election process will be democratic, free, fair and
credible;
2) implement "our institutional process and our laws and regulations [that]
are perfect" by
3) imposing on all political parties "the code of conduct" that his party
has "put in place".
The TPLF's three-pronged strategy is actually the perfect game plan for the
perfectly rigged election. The late Meles Zenawi wrote the perfect election
rigging rulebook and "implemented" it in 2010. As a result, his party won
the perfect election with 99.6 percent of the parliamentary seats. Is it
humanly possible to get a more perfect "election result"? (Only the late
Saddam Hussein could boast a more perfect record when he won 100 percent of
the 11,445,638 votes cast in the 2002 presidential election!). Meles' ghost
will be hanging over the 2015 "election" like "pall in the dunnest (dark)
smoke of hell", to paraphrase Shakespeare.
AN "ELECTION" THAT IS NOT "ABOUT PEOPLE'S RULE, BUT ABOUT RULING PEOPLE"
As absurd and irrational as it sounds, in 2014, the powers that be behind
Hailemariam still believe that they not only have the "perfect institutional
process, laws and regulations" to run and win the perfect election in 2015,
but also that they are the "perfect" rulers of Ethiopia who have "earned"
the eternal right to be Ethiopia's sole and exclusive rulers. In their
thinking and worldview, the question of who will rule Ethiopia is out of the
question. That issue is non-discussable, non-arguable and non-negotiable.
Meles actually made that crystal clear in his
<http://www.pdfio.net/k-19538193.html> victory speech following the 2010
"election":
". We make this pledge to all the parties who did not succeed in getting the
support of the people, during this election, that whether or not you have
won seats in the parliament, as long as you respect the will of the people
and the country's Constitution and other laws of the land, we will work by
consulting and involving you in all major national issues."
Simply stated, anyone who is unable or unwilling to accept the perfect
results of the perfect 2015 "election" will be crushed. Period! Those who
are willing to be good boys and girls, bow their heads and lick boots will
be rewarded by getting the opportunity to be "consulted on all major
national issues." Woe to all opposition leaders, independent journalists,
human rights advocates and civil society leaders who may refuse to accept
the perfect outcome of the 2015 "election": "Accept the ass kicking in the
'elections' or get an ass kicking in jail."
WHAT DO OTHERS KNOW ABOUT "ELECTIONS" IN ETHIOPIA?
In October 2009, I wrote a <http://www.ethiomedia.com/course/4303.html>
commentary entitled, "The Madness of Ethiopia's 2010 "Elections", posing the
question: "Is it possible to have a fair and free election in a police
state?" (That is a prosaic formulation of President Obama's metaphorical
question about the pig with lipstick.)
That commentary drew on campaign reportage by Dr. Negasso Gidada, who held
the office of "President of Ethiopia" until his departure in 2001. Dr.
Negasso, who was campaigning for a seat in parliament from Dembidollo in
western Ethiopia depicted a system of command and control at the local level
operated by the ruling regime that rivals those in the old communist bloc
countries. He described the ruling party's local party organization in
Dembidollo as an interlocking system of security, police and other
grassroots quasi-civil organizations which maintain integrated control over
zones, towns, districts, villages, hamlets and households.
Dr. Negasso described the operation of a network of informants, agents and
secret police-type operatives who use heavy-handed methods to harass,
intimidate, gather intelligence and penetrate opposition elements with the
aim of neutralizing them. He argued there is no structural or functional
separation of political party and public security in Dembi Dollo. The two
are morphed into a single political structure which totally controls and
dominates the local political and social scene. Public employees, farmers,
local youth, women, members of micro-credit associations and others are
involuntarily inducted into the security-party structure. The intensity of
control is so paralyzing, Dr. Negasso wrote, "Each household is required to
report on guests and visitors, the reasons for their visits, their length of
stay, what they said and did and activities they engaged in." That was the
failsafe strategy used by Meles in 2010 to produce the perfect election
result of 99.6 percent. It will certainly be used to obtain theperfect
result again in 2015 by the faceless, nameless, ruthless and visionless
powers that be behind Hailemariam.
In commenting on the outcome of the perfect 2010 "elections",
<http://www.geo.uzh.ch/fileadmin/files/content/abteilungen/polit/Staff/Hagma
nn_CH_2010_Ethiopia_elections_2010__Transcript_.pdf> Prof. Tobias Hagmann
observed:
"The 2010 elections are the culmination of a political strategy, on which
the Ethiopian government had embarked after the humiliating 2005 elections.
This strategy consisted of both sticks and carrots. The sticks included
threats, harassment and imprisonment of opposition politicians and their
potential supporters, while the carrots included mass recruitment of new
party members and - as new analysis reveals - federal disbursement of
funding to districts with a strong opposition showing for appeasement or
buying of votes. [The] 99.6 percent result is a very strong indicator that
in Ethiopia, democracy is not about people's rule, but about ruling people.
After 20 years in power, EPRDF has not only a de facto monopoly over
political representation and decision-making, but also a de facto monopoly
over the definition of what democracy means in Ethiopia."
Prof. Hagmann's observations also point to the total absurdity and futility
of any "elections" in Ethiopia in light of the dogmatic belief of the
leaders of the TPLF (and its handmaiden the "EPDRF") in their birthright to
rule:
This is visible in the way EPDRF sees itself - namely as a vanguard party
that has earned the right to lead the state, to determine what development
is and how democracy is to be organized. Therefore, whoever is against the
EPDRF is 'anti-development' or 'anti-peace' and whoever opposes its policies
is anti-state.
WHAT DO I "KNOW" ABOUT THE 2015 ELECTIONS IN ETHIOPIA?
What I know about the 2015 Ethiopian elections is rather complicated. I
often ask so many questions that there are things that are known knowns,
known unknowns and unknown unknowns to me. Excuse me if I sound like former
U.S. Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld who sometimes liked to speak in
conundrums (riddles). He said, "there are things that we know that we know.
We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some
things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we
don't know we don't know."
Let me be perfectly clear. I "know something" for sure. I know the TPLF
regime will rig the 2015 "election" like a two-bit carnival game. I also
know the TPLF regime will proclaim a landslide victory before the polling
stations close on "election" day. That is a known known no brainer to me.
But there are known unknowns to me. That is to say, I know the TPLF regime
will win the 2015 "election" by at least 99.6 percent but it is unknown to
me whether it plans to win it by 99.7, 99.9, 100, or even 110 percent (that
is if they count all of the dead voters since 2010). But it is an unknown
unknown to me whether Meles will roll in his grave if the margin of victory
for the TPLF in 2015 is less than 99.6 percent.
It is a known known to me that President Obama gave his implicit blessings
in 2010 when the TPLF regime declared victory by 99.6 percent. He turned a
blind eye and deaf ears. (Not so when he lectured Robert Mugabe for winning
the presidential "election" in Zimbabwe in 2013 by 61 percent: "Zimbabweans
have a new constitution. The economy is beginning to recover. So there is an
opportunity to move forward but only if there is an election that is free
and fair and peaceful so that Zimbabweans can determine their future without
fear of intimidation and retribution.") An election that was won by 61
percent is not "free and fair" and deserves public condemnation but an
election won by 99.6 percent is free and fair and deserves private
accolades?!
It is an unknown unknown to me the "something" President Obama said he knows
about the 2015 "election". Maybe he "knows something" no Ethiopian knows
about the 2015 election.
It is unknown unknown to me whether the various factions of the TPLF will
self-destruct in a battle royale for the office of prime minister in 2015.
It is unknown unknown to me whether the various factions in the TPLF will
stick together like dirty birr (dollar) notes out of pure economic interest.
But it is a known known to me that (election) thieves have unwritten code of
(dis)honor: "A thief shall not war on another thief in an election because
there are no winners in an election war among thieves." There are just too
many unknown unknowns about the inner workings of the TPLF. Unfortunately,
those who know the unknown unknowns about the TPLF do not talk and those who
talk do not know the unknown unknowns about the TPLF. Aah! It is so
confusing!
THE REAL MEANING AND PRACTICE OF "FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS"
There are elections and there are elections. Rigged and fraudulent elections
are just that. Determining whether an election is free and fair is not a
matter of proclaiming, "Our institutional process and our laws and
regulations are perfect." The problem is also not having perfect processes
and laws in the hands of imperfect people who cannot implement them. The
problem is with the people whose hands wrote the perfect laws and created
perfect processes who genuinely believe they are themselves perfect. After
all, how could imperfect people create "perfect laws and processes"? Those
who believe in their own perfection are incapable of understanding or
recognizing that attitude is the height of gross imperfection. I am
absolutely convinced that the powers that be behind Hailemariam Desalegn
believe they are perfectly ordained to rule an imperfect Ethiopia and bring
it up to their standards of perfection which includes Bantustanization
(kililization), corruption and massive human rights violations.
Of course, no one is looking for a "perfect" election conducted by "perfect
regulations, laws and processes" in Ethiopia. A "free and fair" one with
minor imperfections, warts and blemishes will do. For such elections to
occur, there are internationally agreed upon standards and principles which
require opening of political space for the opposition, prevention of
intimidation and harassment of opposition elements, loosening of control
over civil society and guaranteeing the right of the independent media to
report and inform the citizenry.
Fair and free elections do not happen on election day when the people go to
the polls to cast their ballots. It takes place long before election day. As
President Obama said in Ghana, "This is about more than just holding
elections. It's also about what happens between elections." First and
foremost, a free and fair election is possible only where the rule of law
prevails and fundamental human rights are respected. The Ethiopian
Constitution, the "supreme law of the land", guarantees voters and
candidates (and citizens in general) full freedom of speech and expression.
It ensures freedom of press, which guarantees the right to publicly
disseminate and share political messages and information in the run up to
elections and post-election period. Why not abide by the Constitution?
The Constitution guarantees an electoral level playing field accessible to
all voters, parties and candidates with an independent, non-partisan
electoral organization to administer the process. There must not be
arbitrary interference in citizens' freedom of association and assembly to
form political parties and civic organizations and hold political rallies
and to campaign freely. The right of citizens to express political opinions
freely and with impunity must be respected. Their right to seek, receive and
impart information must be guaranteed. They must be able to move freely
within the country to campaign and campaign on an equal basis with other
political parties, including the incumbent party. Every candidate for
election and every political party shall have an equal opportunity of access
to the media, particularly the mass communications media, in order to put
forward their political views. There must exist independent institutions
capable of expeditiously and fairly resolving disputes over electoral and
political rights. Why not follow the constitutional prescriptions?
There must be mechanisms in place to ensure fair access to the public media
by opposition candidates and parties. Maximum care must be taken to ensure
against improper use of the police, the military, the judiciary and civil
servants and elections officials by the ruling party. Use of public funds
and equipment for partisan political purposes must be strictly prohibited.
The electoral process must guarantee unencumbered voter registration,
accessible polling places, dignified treatment of elections officials, open
and transparent ballot counting and verification processes, oversight of
elections by trained and politically independent election officials and
prevent election fraud.
<http://www.eueom.eu/files/pressreleases/english/final-report-eueom-ethiopia
-08112010_en.pdf> The Final Report of the European Election Observation
Mission of 2010 concluded:
"The electoral process fell short of international commitments for
elections, notably regarding the transparency of the process and the lack of
a level playing field for all contesting parties. Insufficient efforts were
taken to ensure a more equitable and representative electoral process. The
electoral process was therefore constrained, as was the full,
non-discriminatory, enjoyment of fundamental rights. The ruling party's
presence throughout the country was unrivalled by opposition parties,
especially in rural areas which house up to 80% of the Ethiopian population.
The freedoms of assembly, of expression and of movement were not
consistently respected throughout the country during the campaign period,
generally to the detriment of opposition parties. state-owned media failed
to ensure a balanced coverage, giving the ruling party more than 50% of its
total coverage in both print and broadcast media. The separation between the
ruling party and the public administration was blurred at the local level in
many parts of the country. The EU EOM directly observed cases of misuse of
state resources in the ruling party's campaign activities. Even taking into
account the inherent advantages of the incumbency, the Mission considers
that the playing field for the 2010 elections was not sufficiently balanced,
leaning heavily in favour of the ruling party in many areas."
The late Meles Zenawi ripped the final EU EOM election report as "trash that
deserves to be thrown in the garbage". He said, "The report is not about our
election. It is just the view of some Western neo-liberals who are unhappy
about the strength of the ruling party. Anybody who has paper and ink can
scribble whatever they want." Of course, Meles was legendary for his mastery
and exquisite delivery of gutter language in political discourse. He could
out-tongue-lash, out-mudsling, out-bully, out-vilify and out-smear any
politician on the African continent. Meles also called the 2005 EU EOM
Report a "pack of lies and innuendoes".
WHAT PRESIDENT OBAMA SHOULD KNOW AND DO ABOUT THE 2015 "ELECTION"
Not knowing what President Obama knows, there are a few things he shouldknow
and do to prevent a repeat of 2010 in 2015:
Pre-election environment: As the EU EOM observed in 2010, "the law provides
that all political parties have the right to conduct their campaigns freely
and on a level playing field." President Obama should know that the TPLF
regime continues to function as a police. He must use his leverage to ensure
that there is a level playing field in the months prior to the election
including free and equal access to public places to hold rallies and a
political environment free from threats and intimidation throughout the
country.
Use of state resources: The use of public resources for a particular party's
campaign is prohibited by law but in 2010 EU EOM observers witnessed wide
use of such resources (vehicles, civil servants on duty campaigning for
ruling party, in the ruling party's campaign throughout the country, use of
local administration offices to coordinate campaign activities, housing of
ruling party offices in local administration compounds, etc.) President
Obama should know that the TPLF regime has fully privatized state resources
and institutions for its own political use. He should use his leverage to
bring about an end to such practices.
Media environment: The EU EOM concluded that in 2010, state-owned
telecommunications monopoly, the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation
(ETC) controlled the country's only internet server. Internet access is
blocked and websites run by some segments of the Ethiopian diaspora are
filtered. President Obama should know that the TPLF regime has shuttered all
independent newspapers and magazines in the country, continues to block
internet access and spends millions trying to jam satellite and radio
transmissions. He should use his leverage to ensure that in the run up to
the "election" there should be not only equitable access to state-owned
media but also release of journalists and free function of the independent
media and access to all sources of information.
Civil society: The EU EOM in 2010 noted the role of Ethiopian civil society
organizations in the electoral process was severely curtailed by the
enactment of the new Ethiopian Charities and Societies Proclamation. This
"law" prohibits any organization that receives more than 10% of its funding
from foreign sources to be considered as a local organization. Only local
organizations are entitled to work in the fields of human rights and
democratization.
A little over a week ago at the
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/23/most-important-title-citizen-pres
ident-obama-importance-civil-society> Clinton Global Initiative in N.Y.
City, President Obama said, "It is the civil society leaders who, in many
ways, are going to have the more lasting impact. Because as the saying goes,
the most important title is not 'president' or 'prime minister'; the most
important title is 'citizen'. Citizens remind us why civil society is so
essential. When people are free to speak their minds and hold their leaders
accountable, governments are more responsive and more effective." President
Obama should insist on the repeal or significant modification of the
so-called "Charities law". Since he believes civil society is the core of a
democratic process, President Obama should use his leverage to ensure civil
society institutions function freely in Ethiopia before the 2015 "election".
What is President Obama's leverage? Aid money. The hard earned tax dollars
of the American people. American tax dollars given to African dictators in
the name of helping Africans but end up in African dictators' offshore
accounts. Aid money talks and is heard loud and clear by the tone deaf TPLF
bosses. As Dambissa Moyo documented in her book
<http://www.thenation.com/article/why-africa-doesnt-want-foreign-aid> Dead
Aid, the TPLF regime got a whopping 97 percent of its budget from foreign
aid. Simply stated, the TPLF regime will not survive a single day without
aid transfusion from the pockets of hardworking America taxpayers into its
blood stream. President Obama needs to wag the annual welfare aid check in
the faces of the salivating TPLF panhandlers and tell them what he told
Africans in Accra Ghana in 2009:
"Development depends on good governance. Governments that respect the will
of their own people, that govern by consent and not coercion, are more
prosperous, they are more stable, and more successful than governments that
do not. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the
economy to enrich themselves. No person wants to live in a society where the
rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not
democracy, that is tyranny. And now is the time for that style of governance
to end.."
THE 2015 ETHIOPIAN "ELECTION" WILL BE GONE WITH THE WIND
In "Nineteen Eighty-Four" Orwell wrote, "If you want a picture of the
future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." If you want a
picture of the 2015 Ethiopian election, imagine an election stolen in broad
daylight and the faces of those who chase after the thieves under the boots
of the election thieves, but not for long, but not for very long.
President Obama's talk of an "election" in Ethiopia in 2015 is "pure wind",
(a "pack of lies" to quote Meles Zenawi), political "language designed to
make lies sound truthful." History shows many things have "gone with the
wind". We should all know that "He that troubleth his own house shall
inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart." The
late Meles and his disciples today have profoundly troubled the Ethiopian
house and they shall inherit the wind!
There is an election in Ethiopia in 2015. It is an "election" about "ruling
people" and not about "people's rule." There is not an election in Ethiopia
in 2015; there is an election waiting to be rigged.
* Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California
State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
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