Never allow ESAT’s “Breaking News” to break your love for Ethiopia

By Dilwenberu Nega
Tigrai Online, Ethiopian News, August 8, 2016

When the dust settles, and settle it will, Shabia-funded ESAT will come to rue the day it chose to implement Eritrea’s master plan of turning Gondar into Aleppo.

ESAT is notorious for disseminating half-truths and naked lies, but the behaviour of its cowboy journalists during the past week takes the biscuit. To add insult to injury, in a panel discussion aired on ESAT yesterday, EPRDF turn-coat, who it seems had joined EAST in order to promote his book, – a broadside on the EPRDF government – Ermias Legesse, was seen issuing senseless and insensitive rules of engagement to rioters in Ethiopia: “Snatch the rifles from law enforcement officers and escalate the riot into an armed uprising; stop sending remittances to your families in Ethiopia etc.”

Whoever made a simpleton a State Minister?

Ermias is not alone in this. Out there, amongst the Ethiopian diaspora, are clusters of ‘super-patriots’ who call themselves “Ye Kurt Ken Lejotch.” In theory they are meant to love Ethiopia unconditionally, and never to stand against the national interest of Ethiopia whoever is in power. In practice, however, what you see is not what you get. For them “Ye Kurt Ken Lejotch” is nothing more than the gathering every Saturday of gung-ho supporters of “Kurt-eating” (raw meat eating) young and old Ethiopians. It is there that they plan on how best to pull the wool over the eyes of peace-loving Ethiopians by over-egging any incident that erupts in Ethiopia. This is their tried and tested get-rich-quick package. No sooner had the clash between police and protesters resulted in the death of 6 people than they had embarked on a fund-raising campaign ostensibly to help the families of the deceased. This would have been a great good will gesture on the part of the “Kurt Ken legotch” if their motive was genuine. Many a time in the past we have been the victims of snake oil merchants. Who would ever forget Dr Birhanu Nega’s 2011 fake “Pay USD 500 Now and Get Your Freedom Fighter Certificate at Meskel Square Six months later?”

A cursory look at ESAT’s Breaking News, which unbelievably keeps on changing faster than a British weather forecast, would offer you a flair of ESAT’s predilection for overegging the riots in Gondar. Accordingly, to Ermias and his insensitive likes, nothing is easier than to pontificate from the comfort of their Washington homes the need for Ethiopia’s young to engage in armed confrontation with law enforcement agencies. Ermias and co know only too well that they are not going to pay the sacrifices that such a struggle demands. The onus of facing death for others therefore would have to rest on the shoulders of the poor in Ethiopia who yearn for a better tomorrow. What Ermias is telling Ethiopians is pure and simple: “because my life is far more precious than the lives of protesters, it would be morally justified for the protesters die for him first, and thereafter will he and his likes jet-in to Addis and assume power. Irrespective of your political persuasion, do you really believe Ermias Legesse’s line of argument is morally justified. If yes, then remember that you are only adding fuel to the fire. If no, make sure you don’t get pneumonia when ESAT catches cold.

We do not need any reminder from anyone, least of all from ESAT, that “The Welkayit Question” is to camouflage. The real intent of the G7 supporters who had managed to infiltrate the demonstrators is to arm-lock EPRDF into calling a snap election. These people must be politically immature to think that, come hell or high water, EPRDF which secured the trust and democratic mandate of the people only 15 months ago, would allow itself to submit to Shabia-induced uprising.

It is true, and this is something Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn himself has acknowledged repeatedly, that some of the grievances of the protesters are justified: Ethiopia’s renowned economic growth has not trickled down to the lower strata of society fast enough; urban youth unemployment is still unacceptably high despite the Government’s ongoing job creation packages for the youth; and though the Prime Minister has been publicly admitting the existence in our midst of corrupt practices, of rent seeking and of the absence of good governance, the very fact that so far no official has not been named and shamed has created  a credibility gap between the Government and the public. The challenge for EPRDF now is to sift the chaff from the wheat – the protesters whose ‘grievances’ are Shabia’s secret agenda, and the protesters whose grievances are genuine and therefore must be addressed as a matter of priority.

The Welkayit Question, on the other hand, is a matter which needs to be decided in accordance with the Constitution of FDRE. There is no rhyme or reason therefore for us to resort to violent confrontation, never mind to a binge of mutual annihilation.

Let us therefore turn a blind eye and deaf ear to those hells bent to sow the seeds of discord among Ethiopia’s ethnic groups. Unlike, Shabia, Ginbot 7 and ESAT the great majority of Ethiopians, for whom through the tortuous struggle of its martyrs, unity does not and must not, mean uniformity. To us it means that there are beauty, strength and continuity in “Unity in Diversity.”

Eureka! As I was finishing my script, I heard the good news that common sense has prevailed in Gondar and the lives of its residents is getting back to normal. Thank God for That!!