Ethiocross Blog

Addis Fortune:-Maybe it is not as jaw dropping as a Revolutionary Democrat becoming a committed follower of Jesus Christ. Repentance may be an affair between the repentant soul and its creator. But the public, too, is a sort of a deity, albeit largely powerless, and it wants to do its own forgiving.

But this god did not get the litany of sins it expected, only the expression of new faith in Jesus Christ by a man who was a rebel fighter for 17 years and then Prime Minister during the transitional period in the early 1990s and finally a convicted felon in relation to large-scale corruption.

In the government that has been run by the Revolutionary Democrats, there has been a noticeable effort to avoid expressions of faith in God or Allah, although there have been a number of occasions when the government had to interfere in problems that involved religious institutions.

God is now getting a mention in election campaigns. It appears He is an important element in the campaign of the Ethiopia Vision Party, whose list of “To Combat” items, if elected, includes khat and the Premiere League of British football.

More subtle and hardly noticed is the expression of faith by another former EPRDFity who took his place at the podium during a recent public meeting in Mekelle, Tigray Regional State, and started his speech by giving “glory and praise to the Creator.”

So far Seeye Abreha, once a powerful military figure of the TPLF and a former defence minister in the government of his once close ally Meles Zenawi, did not pass through the kind of dramatic conversion experienced by his former comrade, Tamrat Layne. When Seeye praised God in front of Mekelle residents, doing something that he might not have done as an EPRDFity and as a defence minister that was either a small scale conversion or freedom of the expression of faith obtained by separation from the Front. Or he was just using it as part of his effort to smear his old party.

Negasso Gidada (PhD), who joined the Forum for Democracy and Justice, a.k.a. the Forum, together with Seeye had an easier escape. His political past was not very consequential and his position in government, which he got by flirting with the EPRDFities, was a symbolic presidency, which did not amount to much more than welcoming and bidding farewell to ambassadors. He had little consequences to fear when he powerfully apologised to the people for his past relationship with the incumbent.

But it is a bit different with someone like Seeye Abreha. When he and other former TPLF leaders, such as Gebru Asrat rebelled against their party, some, like Abay Tsehaye, had to genuinely regret their siding with the splinter group. All of a sudden they had found themselves on the losing side, for which they were not prepared. They had to apologise in public and in writing, express that they knew no other form of life to support their families, and return to government employment and party positions.

Of course, the regret came after it became clear that the TPLF had survived the threat of collapse and vanquished its former powerful men and women and sent some of them to jail on corruption charges. It is funny how the alleged corruption of those people was found worthy of a court hearing only when they left.

Today Seeye, in his campaign speech, claims that the reason he and his colleagues were ousted from the party was that the agenda they had for a 2001 central committee. The party was to meet over sovereignty and national interest issues, with reference to Eritrea, and Ethiopia’s right over the Port of Asseb or some kind of access to the sea.

The agenda was hijacked by introducing additional issues, such as corruption and democracy. Seeye says his side then suggested that the personal property of TPLF leaders be registered first if the interest to combat corruption was a genuine concern. He goes back and forth in time and lists problems with his former comrades in the current leadership of the TPLF. There surely must be a lot to tell related to a rebel group that fought its way to solid power. There is a lot of murky ground there.

In the early days of the post-Derg era there were a lot of not-so-good reports related to the new rulers, related to various issues including the way the business empire under the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) was established.

The full story will be told one day, in a different era, even as the story of the Derg is being told with numerous publications upon its grave, on which the EPRDF era is flourishing. The hidden story will force people to cling to power at all costs for that is the only insurance to save their skins. For surely reconciliation will not be an issue under a political system dominated by Meles. The darker part of the near history will continue casting its shadow on democracy that Ethiopians may want to have.

Meanwhile, people like Seeye will continue trying to flourish under the sunshine of partial truth. He himself told an Amharic weekly recently that that he knows a lot does not mean he would tell all. It is not likely that people like Seeye will step ahead with the complete truth. It is equally unlikely that their foes in the EPRDF will very seriously counter the partial truths they hear. When it comes to absolution, both sides may have to stand in the box and answer to many similar questions.

And yet Seeye may collect some political dividends against the incumbent. Speaking to a packed hall of audiences in Mekelle, he did more or less a good job of attacking his old comrades, including for wrongs done while he was a part. By the fact of having moved out, and subsequently having been imprisoned, he seemed to absolve and portray himself as such to the crowd.

That leaves the EPRDF under the disadvantage of repeating the same old arguments about how good its conduct of the war, with the Derg and Eritrea, and its handling of the politics and the economy have been - all of that has been forced into the public eyes and ears for 18 years; the EPRDF has not even changed the tune. The EPRDF cannot sensibly reveal the bad sides of the past history of Seeye, Gebru Asrat and Aregash Adane without landing two blows on itself for each blow it delivers on them. A hall packed by Mekelle residents to hear opposition leaders speak, to applaud for Bulcha Demeksa - that is a big earning for the incumbent, even a message that it might have been doing the wrong type of campaign all along.

Seeye and Gebru may have easier races. But Aregash may shock the nation by proving to be the David to the Goliath of Meles’ stature.

With all the troubles the Forum is going through, Tigray may be the site of the most dramatic showdown in the 2010 election.

Source:- Addis Fortune