Dictatorial
Democratisim of the KIL and attempts to remove it.
Dictatorial Democratism
is a political policy pursued by dictators who acquire leadership without
gaining the votes of the people and who pretend to work for the spread of
democracy for the people they purport to lead or otherwise subjugate. Because
the dictators are not elected by the people they are not answerable to the
people.
Dictatorial Democratism is different from democratic governance in
which the leaders are elected by the people and are answerable to the people.
While we try to
oppose the Dictatorial Democratism of
the Wyane
regime in Ethiopia, it is amazing that the so-called Kinijit
International Leadership (KIL) asserts that it does not have to be elected by
the people over whom it wants to exercise leadership. It purports to gain
rights to leadership over Ethiopia or the popular Kinijit movement via an
alleged e-mail which it suitably claimed that it had received from the elected
and jailed leaders in Ethiopia. Some contest the veracity of the
claim. Others point out that even if the e-mail came from Kaliti, the Kinijit leadership at Kaliti does
not have the legal power to delegate its leadership to another group that the
electorate did not empower. Therefore there is no democratic theory that will
provide support to the existence of KIL as a democratic leader over Ethiopia or the Kinijit movement. Consequently, the
KIL is a dictatorial group which is answerable to no one, but which claims
dictatorial rights of leadership over Ethiopia. The dictatorial KIL wishes its supporters
to organize democratically and to provide it 100% cooperation and also give it
monetary support. To add insult to
injury the KIL effectively wants to decimate the Kinijit movement by indicating
that it has taken the leadership outside of Ethiopia. This has serious implications, which are
described below. Suffice it to mention
here that groups which might have been organized democratically and who support
the KIL sustain Dictatorial Democratism by volition
or inadvertence.
Background information.
The
Kinijit (CUDP), UEDF and EPRDF participated in an unprecedented
non-violent effort at electing Ethiopia's government in May 2005.
Ethiopians elected the Kinijit (CUDP) as the party to establish
a government. When the outcome did not favor it the EPRDF disrespected the vote
given by the electorate of Ethiopia and killed, wounded and
arrested thousands of Kinijit supporters, and placed all Kinijit officials
in jail. Ethiopians and Kinijit supporters protested the world over,
and the actions taken by the Diaspora was resonating with the democratic
aspirations of the Ethiopian electorate. However, the Woyane-led
EPRDF reestablished it dictatorial governance.
Before
Kinijit (CUDP) became a party it was a coalition of parties (CUD). Though the
coalition turned into one single Kinijit (CUDP) party in Ethiopia, the Kinijit North American
(KNA) support group executive office began to operate as a coalition of parties
that would allow for infighting because they members did not trust each others.
The reasons for the mistrust are many and necessarily. Speculations include that some among these
party members blamed Kinijit Ethiopia for not negotiating with EPRDF
and working under its umbrella without providing the eight-point principles as
conditions, others are suspicious because one individual among the members owned
a flourishing businesses in Ethiopia while he is engaged in
opposition to a tyrannical regime. What ever the exact reasons, to attain their
goals these members placed all kinds of difficulties that disabled the Chairman
of KNA to perform his task as a representative of a united Kinijit
Party. For these reasons, meetings of the KNA support chapters focused
on arguing about the structure of KNA. Then during the May 2006 meeting
of the General Assembly, an-email appeared which indicating that the
Kinijit leaders in Kaliti have abdicated their powers
to a select group of six individuals, in the Diaspora who called their group
Kinijit International Leadership (KIL). We tried to show that members of the group
of six are imposters who extracted power from the ether. Even more problems
about the six arose as it was realized that one of them was a former employ of
the Zenawi click and that he had authored a book that
supported ethnic-centered governance. None
from KNA or from the imposters could inform us in a timely fashion that the
Kinijit leaders at Kaliti had not given the names of
individuals to run the KIL. Much belatedly, the Chairman of KNA and KIL informed
us through the 18 October interview on Negat Radio that names of KIL leaders were not given from
the Kinijit leadership in Kaliti. All the Kinijit leaders at Kaliti did apparently was to authorize what the KNA was
doing and to broaden it as appropriate and call it an international support
leadership that would manage the movement during the incarceration. Why didn’t the KNA committee immediately and
effectively indicate that the names were not given from the leaders in Kaliti? The reason given by the Chairman was to hold
Kinijit together by managing discrepancies administratively. Accordingly, the component parties of CUD
required that equal number of representatives of CUD party groupings be placed
in the KIL, and a twelve-person KIL appeared. Instead of focusing
attention on the actual united party and its leaders in Kaliti the KIL became an entity that attempts to break
up Kinijit everywhere and in every possible direction. The KNA office
became inefficient. To gain clarity to
the movement the chairman of the KNA and of the KIL announced onn 15 October that the KIL is suspended, and that Ato Berhanu Mewa
and Andargachew Tsega have
been barred from passing themselves as Kinijit officers or in the name of KNA
or KIL (http://www.kinijit.org/content.asp?contentid=1996).
This move, and the radio interview, which are given below are lauded by those
who wish to work with the chairman, A group that
includes four KIL members, whereas prefer to work with the suspended KIL
members that includes twelve individuals
October 15 through 18: Regarding
the purging of Ato Berhanu Mewa and Andargatchew Tsige from Kinijit and the
suspension of KIL
October 15-18, 2006 : The Chairman of KNA and KIL announced
the suspension of KIL and the purging of Ato Berhanu Mewa and Andargatchew Tsige from Kinijit.
You may read about
the OCT. 15 announcement in Amahric, the editorial
support piece in English at http://kinijit.org/content.asp?Catid=242&ContentType=News
.
Oct: 10/18/06 In a Negat
Radio interview, KNA & KIL Chairman Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew made points
including the following . Click on http://www.andenet.com/news.html,
and point to 10/18/06 Negat Radio Interview
1. As Chairman he has been given full powers to take actions in the name of
Kinijit.
2. He had agreement from eight of thirteen executive members of KNA, and also
a few chairmen of KNA support chapters before taking the decision that he
announced the Oct 15 . He emphasized that though
he had the power to suspend KIL and to purge the two individuals,
he nonetheless had sought and received support of the overwhelming
executive branch of the KNA
3. The October 15
determination, in its draft stage and been read by at least 20 individuals, it
had also been sent to Kinijit Ethiopia so that they would know of it
before it was announced publicly on Oct. 15. AIGA might have got wind of
the goings on somewhere, but he did not communicate with AIGA, a Woyane outfit that published a paragraph of what was to
come on Oct. 15
4. Shaleqa read a piece of a letter that came from Kinijit Ethiopia. The letter had authorized the
formation of KIL but did not mention the names that should be in KIL,
which means that the individuals who claimed to have been appointed by Kinijit Ethiopia have no foundation to support their claim.
5. He
supports having an auditor to review the
monetary issues of KNA, but has explained why the Commission that some talk
about cannot be acceptable.
6. Regarding the
list of chapters that oppose him as the leaders of KNA, he pointed out that
people ought to be careful about such issues. He cited how and individual
from Chicago who was expelled from the Chicago chapter is the reason for them to wrongly
include Chicago among those who oppose the suspension of
KIL. The reality about Chicago is different. Likewise there are
other chapters that need to be looked at more carefully.
7. Any struggle is
beset with some internal problems. The way out is to focus on our
goal and proceed forward
October 10, 2006: Interview by Ato Demis of Negat Radio of Ato Solomon Bekele who supports Shaleqa Yosph, and Ato Brehane Mewa who was purged from Kinijit.
http://www.andenet.com/news.html
[Disclaimer: I encourage all to listen to the radio and provide your own judgements. I have placed my comments in brackets and clearly identified them as HG's comment.]
- Ato Solomon Bekele read a message sent from Chairman of Kinijit of Ethiopia Ato Hailu Shawel, which now is reportedly posted on a website, and is circulated by e-mails, and which stated that they had not named the members of KIL.
-
- Ato Brehanu Mewa did not negate the veracity of the letter, or its contents, but emphasized other points in the letter. Later in the same interview, he argued why Ato Solomon or others worked in the KIL if they had qualms about it.
[HG’s comment: Clearly, the KIL was illegitimately populated by individuals that was based on a fallacious assumption that six people had been specifically nominated by Kinijit Ethiopia. Among the six was Shaleqa Yoseph, Chairman of KNA. It is highly likely that Shaleqa Yoseph was included among the six by those who worked hard to wrongly make the other five legitimate-sounding nominees of Kinijit Ethiopia. This might explain why Shaleqa Yoseph had written on 10/15/06 that the KIL was organized in suspicious ways.
Therefore, the illegitimate population of KIL should be evacuated. Accordingly, the suspension of KIL by Shaleqa Yoseph is logically correct. Any and all bylaws enacted by the illegitimately founded Suspicious-KIL, and continued by the Suspended-KIL are illegitimate in their formation and continuance. Arguments of the type advanced by Ato Brehanu Mewa that people should have not worked in the KIL if they had not wanted to or did not believe in its legitimacy sound cute but underscore the rationale used by those who try to continue to confuse the public.
Kinijit Ethiopia as a party can ask its supporters to perform certain functions. One such function was to deputize the KNA to organize an international Kinijit Support (KIS) body with an executive leading it. Such a formulation will allow the Kinijit leadership to stay in Ethiopia with its Diaspora support elsewhere though given additional mandates. While Kinijit Ethiopia may ask the Diaspora to do one or the other thing, I would argue that the Diaspora should elect its own representatives that would support Kinijit Ethiopia. Remarkably, the Chairman of Kinijit Ethiopia flat out states that Kinijit Ethiopia had not named the members of the executive group of KIS. On the basis of this argument also, Shaleqa Yoseph was logically correct in suspending the KIL and hence maintaining Kinijit as a democratic body. For the Diaspora Kinijt to elect its leaders, particularly after the waters have been muddied by the Suspended-KIL, KNA has to ascertain legitimacy of supporters. Hence, there is along road to hoe as the Diaspora Kinijit extricates itself from Dictatorial Democratism.]
- Ato Solomon informed the public that no funds were stolen as was alleged by some. He said that funds transferred from one account by Shaleqa to a Certificate of Deposit where the funds can yield interest. He wondered why Ato Brehane seeks the funds.
- Ato Brehane Mewa indicated that the funds are Kinijit’s. Ato Brehane argued that the funds if withdrawn will actually be withdrawn after paying penalties. He expressed his bewilderment as to how a treasurer is not angered when funds are transferred from one account to another by the Shaleqa. He also informed the audience that a similar case of transferring funds from one account to another had occurred in Los Angeles.
[HG’s comment. Apparently, Shaleqa and the Los Angeles support group might have suspected that some suspicious individuals were working hard to get a control of Kinijit’s funds and these diligent Kinijitians acted before that eventuality. Kinijt will thank Shaleqa Yoseph and the leaders of the Los Angeles Support chapter Ato Mogus for the decisive action they took in protecting Kinijit’s funds from falling in the wrong hands. Presumably, the infighting in KNA and KIL did not allow the Shaleqa to authorize more expenditures in the area of supporting the families of the incarcerate Kinijt leaders, journalists and other civic leaders. I strongly recommend that the Kinijt support chapters who are pro-Kinijit and with the Shaleqa provide authorization to the Shaleqa for expending funds to support the needy as soon as is practicable, and that they do so by affixing their signatures.]
When Negat Radio interviewer Ato Demis asked to get a yes or no answer on whether the interviewees believed that the funds are stolen or not:
- Ato Solomon said that they are placed in a Certificate of Deposit in a bank, and none are stolen.
-
- Ato Brehane said that it was not found in the deposit that he apparently had access to. Ato Brehane Mewa said that his people have organized a legal team to deal with the money issue.
[HG’s comment. Since Ato Brehane Mewa had resigned from his job as KNA officer, and since the KIL had an illegitimate foundation and suspension of KIL was correct, see above, one is at a loss in trying to fathom as to why Ato Brehane thinks that he will have a legal basis for having a share in Kinijit's funds.]
Another point raised by Ato Brehane, which struck me was his lament that he cannot control the official website of Kinijit, kinijit.org.
[HG’s comment. Kinijit has many capable people to perform different tasks. Ato Brehane Mewa should appreciate that fact.]
How do we manage to
communicate amicably in these difficult times ?
a) Messages on your personal computer
may be readable by others with whom you did not intend to share news and
views.
Anger, some even regard it to be an unforgivable sin, was raised
by the fact that part of the Chairman’s determination was posted on AIGA, a Woyane outfit managed from San Jose
,
before it was posted on the kinijit.org website. The KNA & KIL Chairman had said that he
did not tell any thing to AIGA. Indeed others might have leaked the information wilfully or inadvertently. There may well be another expalanation. I want to
share a story based on a recent event that was posted on the Kinijit discussion
group. An individual who for the sake of this story I call an intruder became aware of an issue that he
he chose to alert us about. This intruder adamantly
opposes the KNA & KIL Chairman. Yet,
he wrote to alert us of an e-mail sent by the Chairman of KNA & KIL to a select people,
called wogenoch, regarding Ato
Hailu Showel’s apparent support
of the action taken by the Chairman.
Clearly, the intruder who shared this information was not among the
select few to whom the e-mail from the Chairman was sent. How did the intruder get to the e-mail? Presumably, he or people who gave it to him
might have been reading the computers of individuals without their permission. Such ability exists and some use it to spy on
the computers of others. Accordingly,
stuff that some might think is secure may not be, and information migrates to
even those for whom it was not intended. Remarkably, the intruder’s alert that the Chairman of Kinijit Ethiopia might be
supportive of the actions taken by the KNA and KIL Chairman places a wrench to the
claim posted by the suspended- KIL on the EFM website?
b) Make your "hatata"
as you support Kinijit.
Those who are
engrossed in the heat of the moment may not avail themselves time for
reflection. We can all agree that some support one side and some the other side
while still others are not impressed by the differences and wish to support
Kinijit in what ever form. To all I would suggest that we have to be
careful and learn from our history. Only in the 1960's and 70's many were
enamored with the cause of working for democracy and removing the central
government. They were engrossed in their own efforts. They did not
consider that the EPLF was with them while pursuing a
definite agenda different from theirs. After the TPLF gave away coastal Ethiopia some of those who worked hard for
liberating Ethiopia discovered that they have lost the fight. They
might now replay the past and note how easily they could have smothered the
TPLF and how they could have made it difficult for the EPLF to turn Eritrea into a penal colony of Eritrawi
Ethiopians. These folks realized much later, and when they are in a position to
do nothing about it, that they could have or should have done one or the
other thing in the past differently. That is what is meant when I
refer to some people serve as "useful idiots." One may ask: In
what way is this story relevant to the case at hand? I will merely
provide pointers below.
Can you provide a
"hatata" on what is going on and use
"the light of your heart" to arrive at the truth? Or are you
allowing yourself to be guided by what you are told or by what your read?
If you cannot provide a "hatata" and then
arrive at a determination that resonates with who you are, you may be doing
stuff that could harm your interests and the interests of Ethiopia by inadvertence. Succumbing to peer-pressure
makes you a soldier to a prevailing ruler in your environment, and not to
"the light of your heart." You may serve as a "useful
idiot" for the furtherance of programs of others who do not have in their
plans your real interests or the interests of Ethiopia. Since "truth is one", if
we use " the light of our hearts" to search
for it, there is a high probability that all would arrive at the same
conclusion. People who shout or utter slurs are a vexation to the
spirit, and confuse their audience. It is possible that they are doing so
intentionally; if that is the case do not reply to them and increase the
level of vexation that way. However, you may wish to use it, the following is
the truth as I see it.
If one is really
pro-Kinijit no one should question him/her on that score. It may not
be right to accept efficiency for its own sake. Neither should we detest
inefficiency for is own sake. If the efficiency is done to efficiently
destroy Kinijit or the interests of Ethiopia what is the good for us of that kind of
efficiency? In contrast, if inefficiency might ensue from difficulties
imposed while working for the cause of Kinijit and Ethiopia, wouldn't that be preferred against the
case of efficiently destroying Kinijit and Ethiopia? Of course, efforts must be made to
bring efficiency in the way we support Kinijit. Is there any one who would
doubt the possibility and even probability that strategies and tactics
might have been set to harm, wound or otherwise disable the body of
Kinijit not only in the Diaspora or in Ethiopia but also to bring disunity
among the Kinijit leaders now in jail in Kaliti? If
such is indubitable, how could one ascertain that harmful strategies
and tactics are not being pursued in the way that Kinijit currently finds
itself in the Diaspora? Some of us were working for attaining
democratic and efficient ways of doing the work of Kinijit North America. If
some folks provided us "efficient Dictatorial Democratism",
are we going to accept it because democracy and efficiency are included in the
phrases used?
I ask you to make
your "hatata" to your satisfaction. I
leave you by reminding us that making "Hatata"
is not the same as making criticisms.
HG: 10/21/06