".. ..If we say there is a government (defined as an organization that is committed to improving the well-being of the people) in Ethiopia we will be deceiving ourselves. It will be nearer the truth to say that we have an executive committee of a share company with unlimited IRRESPONSIBILITY."

These words were of course stated to denounce the way the Haile Selassie regime handled the famines of Tigray and Wollo of the late 60s and early 70s. These famines together are estimated to have claimed about 4,000,000 lives. Taking note that Mesfin's words were published in 1986, it is certain that the author was also trying to indict the Mengistu regime for the same "unlimited irresponsibility" that brought about the 1984-85 famine. This well publicized famine too had claimed it fair share of over a million lives.

Would Professor Mesfin, a die-hard Amhara and a well-known critic of the TPLF regime, have any nicer words to say about the way the TPLF is handling the current famine? Definitely not unless the man had changed in the past two years! Notwithstanding Mesfin's opinion on the TPLF, the group's act of unlimited irresponsibility is not limited to the way it had handled the current Ethiopian famine only but also the way it is conducting its senseless war against Eritrea and with the way it is managing the ethnic federalism as well.

Meles, using his big, foul and shameless mouth might harp on "rouge government in Eritrea", but the truth of the matter is that he is the one who is in charge of a rouge government, army and party. In fact the way he and his clique are conducting business makes them look more like an inner-city gang and big city Mafia. This TPLF Mafia is the one that has been holding and still is the Horn of Africa a hostage.

Yes the current minority government in Ethiopia is acting like an "executive committee of a share company with unlimited irresponsibility." The company, Ethiopia, is about to go belly-up and it will soon declare bankruptcy, yet the TPLF leaders and their supporters are squandering billions of dollars, to have the joy of seeing the Eritrean pride crushed and being replaced with Tigrean pride. What a sick mind!

The fact is that Eritrean pride was only premised on working hard and having confidence in its own identity. It doesn't believe in thriving by destroying and dreaming of the destruction of others. Eritrean pride is one of inner-looking self-esteem and self-confidence. No matter what this holly pride of what the African man can do will not be taken away and it will neither get crushed nor will it bow to foreign aggression. It never did and it will never do. At the same time Eritreans never seek their pride by feigning mythical origins with religious connotation. The Eritrean pride derives itself from what Eritreans could do for Eritrea and not what mercenaries and foreigners could do for Eritrea. Will this pride of Eritrea submit itself to the dream of the TPLF thugs? Not even one in a million chance.

It would have been better if the gang in Makele could help the Tigrean population restore its pride on what it could do for itself rather than on what it could destroy as well. Pride should come by eliminating poverty and dependency rather than getting intoxicated in destroying Eritrean property.

As Ethiopians, what could help the people of Tigray is not going to Tessenei, Senafe, Barentu or Guluj and stealing and looting, but building friendship with their neighbors. The TPLF had already succeeded in alienating the people of Tigray from the Amhara, Oromo and other Ethiopians. Now as a continuation of its policy of making enemies for the people of Tigray from all directions the TPLF is trucking Tigrean civilians into Eritrea to loot and steal. This is another TPLF design to make sure the people of Tigray live in a sea of hate. The TPLF leaders are playing with the future of their own population. They are committed to improve neither the well-being of the people of Tigray nor the rest of Ethiopia, they are just a bunch of lunatics ruling with unlimited irresponsibility.

The recently released health ranking by the World Health Organization, WHO, (www.who.org) for 1997 for whatever its worth has an interesting testimony on TPLF's irresponsibility. It helps expose yet another lie of the TPLF. The TPLF leaders have been telling the world a lie, a lie that says that they were doing "great" before the war. Eritrea had in fact "invaded" them because it was "jealous" of the "Ethiopian miracle". Where was this "Ethiopian miracle"? We cannot say in the economy for the IMF and World Bank indices will tell otherwise. It cannot be a political miracle for Ethiopia is politically more divided than it ever was in its history. It could not also be a social welfare for Ethiopia is more destitute now than it ever was.

A look at WHO's 1997 health report shows clearly the Woyane nakedness. From a list of 191 countries worldwide Ethiopia is ranked number 180. Yes among the bottom 5%. Though equally dismal the ranking of Eritrea was 158. According to Woyane propaganda it meant Eritrea that was ranked 158 was jealous of the 180/191 ranking of Ethiopia. There is on issue TPLF supporters keep on harping on "Eritrea had nothing to show for after independence." Our answer to them is that they should read and compare the rankings of the two countries in virtually everything. For starters until this spring Eritreans were heading towards self-sufficiency while Ethiopia is still dependent as it was for generations on handouts from donor countries. This being the case Ethiopia's intellectuals love to bash Eritrea and how it cannot survive on its own. If that is their premise then let Eritrea live in peace and we can compare the status of the two countries a decade later.

Going back to the WHO's report, Ethiopia is ranked number 39 out of 48 sub-Saharan countries in Africa. Who are those that are ranked lower than Ethiopia? No other than countries like Liberia (187), Mozambique (184), Democratic Republic of the Congo (188) and Sierra Leone dead end (191). What is interesting in this ranking is that with a ranking of (134) the health system in the Sudan is the top in the Horn of Africa followed by that of Kenya (140), Djibouti (157), Eritrea (158) and Ethiopia (180). Get this, Ethiopia is coming dead last even after stateless Somalia that is ranked (179). More than what it reveals about the health system ranking, the WHO data shows that there is no responsible group in power in Ethiopia. Ethiopia a country that boasts of "3000 years of independence" is still being ranked worse than Somalia, a nation that had had no government since 1990. If this is not governing of Ethiopia with "unlimited irresponsibility" then what is? If this doesn't make any Ethiopian cry then what will? Is there any other shame to a person than to witness your own country being seen as a symbol of poverty, famine and misery decade after decade and no solution seems to be in sight? Yes indeed there is no responsible government in Ethiopia. FYI, a table out of the WHO report showing the Horn of Africa countries is shown below.

	Sudan	Kenya	Djibouti	Eritrea	Somali	Ethiopia
Health Level	154	162	166	169	173	182
Health Distribution	159	135	169	167	179	176
Responsiveness Level	164	144	170	186	191	179
Responsiveness Distribution	148-149	142	140	169-170	190	179-180
Fairness in financial contribution	160-161	79-81	3-5	108-111	136-137	138-139
Overall goal attainment	148	142	170	176	189	186
Health expenditure per capita in international dollars	169	152	163	187	191	189
Performance on level of health	149	178	163	148	154	169
Overall health system performance	134	140	157	158	179	180

I would like to close by quoting Tekie from his masterpiece "Pity the C Accursed Land" He had aptly put the Ethiopian predicament this way:

".. Call it fate or whatever, Ethiopia has been dealt a cruel hand. God or fate, it matters very little which one, the sad fact is that either or both have been most unkind to Ethiopia. In less than a generation this haunted land has gone three famines, the Derg, and now this. It's Ethiopia's continuing misfortune that it's now TPLF's turn to rule. Why has God been so unkind to Ethiopia, home of the most pious people on Earth? .. .. They have every right to expect a better deal from Providence. If nothing else they should have been spared the catastrophes that have been cascading on them with numbing regularity the past twenty-five years. Who would have thought that a quarter of century after the Emperor was deposed, the Lion of Judah's reign, in retrospect would look the most enlightened when compared to the last two that followed? .. ..Only in Ethiopia does each tyrant look worse than the previous tyrant whom he deposed in the name of the people does. This is Ethiopia's curse."