By Obo Arada Shawl  April 23, 2009

There was/is China for EPLF to emulate

There was Albania for TPLF – a black hole – where no information would escape

There was false-revolution by the DERG that nationalizing would become panacea.

Then, there was/is EPRP that tries to score Political Capital.

At elementary school, he joined the underclass, at high school level, he became an outstanding soccer player, on college level he became a political activist, after his return from abroad he became professionally a decisive liberated man. That was Assegid Wolde Amanuel (AWA).

The PROFESSION

As I have repeatedly attempted to explain, the Eway Revolution should not be confused with that of the Socialist Revolution by the DERG. The Ethiopian polity and policy should be separated when we discuss issues of a national character. The Ethiopian polity of the DERG era was based on the Russian model whereas the economic policy was based on the American system, mainly guided by the IMF and the World Bank.

In other words, the Eathiopian bureaucrats were sandwiched between a political and an economic Revolution. For simplicity, I would like to compare two bureaucrats of a separate ministries, that of a ministry of Transport and Communication and Financial Institution. Of course, the minister of transport & communication was AWA whereas the Governor of Ethiopia’s bank was Tadesse G. Kidan.

Both professional individuals were educated in social sciences that are not exact sciences. Both professionals were not directly involved in the in the Eway Revolution though in politics it is usually about people in large groups and comprises one of the followings

• Ideology – Parties

• Social order – Societies

• Nation – nations

Minister Assegid was leaning towards ideological politics though he was committed neither to MIESO nor to EPRP political structure but he was a keen onlooker about EPRP’s movement for he knew that only political solutions via political parties would bring peace and stability to the nation. Tadesse G. Kidan was more or less was very much looking for the social order of the nation. In other words, both professionals were experts in their fields of study but their fields of study would not make them political leaders but tools or means for transporting goods and services as in the case of Assegid or financial instruments in the case of Tadesse.

It is high time that all ordinary citizens of Eathiopia (HAG) should realize that communications and money are solely tools. At the same time, it more relevant to all politicians to understand that DEMOCRACIA, is a means or tools that guides one to attain its aspiration or goal.

We should not forget that Eathiopia during the DERG era was operating under the concept of militarism and engineering design. Out of the eleven-politburo committee, seven were military men and five of them were engineers. By their training the two categories of militarism and engineering do not possess cool thinking. The Eathiopian masses in (urban areas) under the DERG and the Woyane masses in (rural areas) were involved in dancing that was also an emotional phenomenon. In that aspect, both AWA and TGK were not different than the rest of us in being led by mass emotions.

It is imperative to self analyze what the role of the ምሁር during the eras of emotional distress that was rampant in the DERG’s revolution. I would point out how the Muhur ምሁር አካል was confused and cowed so much so that each blames the other profession without understanding the root cause of their dilemma.

In Marketing as in Architecture (MA- not to confuse with the degree), both professions do support other professions contrary to most Eathiopian professionals. We have witnessed and still are witnessing that one Muhur Akal attempting to demean if not to destroy the other Muhur Akal of a different profession. Why is that, can any one dares to tell us, please?

I can understand though, that since communication and financial operations are difficult to grasp by the common people, the two positions of the two ministers was hard to evaluate.

Take for instance that Professor Getachew Haile, my teacher, and Ayalnesh, my soul mate both praised Governor Tadesse G. Kidan. Why? I believe because both of them have attempted to evaluate TGK from his social order and not from his political ambitions. Because of these evaluation and appreciation, there seems a kind of mistrust among victims of the DERG regime. It’s to be recalled that professor Getachew Haile and Ayalnesh, the Eway Revolutionary, were both victims of the DERG and the TPLF regimes respectively.

Unfortunately, AWA did not write his side of story but TGK did in his book “ብዙ ዐየሁ” albeit he told us half of the story of his service to the DERG.

CONCLUSION

In my first article on AWA, I have quoted from anonymous source the following

It is not about reaching out

It is about holding on to values

It is not about winning or losing battles

It is about achieving objectives

That EPRP should be judged

Assegid Wolde Amanuel and Tadesse Gebre Kidan should be judged by their personal achievement, by their professional accomplishment and by their public services and not via the prism of working within the DERG regime.

For those readers who doubt about the interconnection between the Ethiopian Student Movement, the Eway Revolutionary professionals and the true Public civil Servants, you are encouraged to read “call me by my name: a debate with DEBTERAW, XX that was written and posted on November 17, 2007.

For those first time readers about DEBTERAW, the above article was the last debate with DEBTERAW. We are currently communicating with DEBTERAW in finding lasting solutions for our people and country Eathiopia.

With that background, let me close by quoting the following paragraph from the same article “There is a missing link in EPRA’s history but there is no missing link in the history of EPRP. The struggle of EPRP will continue unabated with or without individual leadership or professorship. It is all about P (principle) and not about B (benefit) or B (blood).”

TRUTH WILL PREVAIL

For comments and questions

woldetewolde@yahoo.com

Postscript

While writing on Assegid’s student political activity, I was told verbally and in written form that I was biased because he was my friend and that I should never praised AWA’s wife for she had violated the customary law of not testifying about one’s husband especially when one is dead. And that she should never raise the issue of his sisters’ dispute. What is your stand on this controversy? Let us discuss.