Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn articulates the right tone for Ethiopian Future

By Professor Teodros Kiros
Tigrai Online, July 27, 2015

Commentary

It was a pleasure to witness the press conference in Addis Ethiopia as two brilliant statesmen listened and answered tough questions from a disciplined coterie of international journalists.

President Barrack Obama is known for his coolness, his even temprents in the heat of democratic dialogues.  He does not dodge questions, nor does he answer questions flippantly.  He deliberates carefully, chooses his words discriminately and then delveres maturely processed analytic responses.  In Prime Minister Haile Mariam, he found his match.  The Ethiopian prime minister is a careful thinker, eloquent speaker, and most uniquely, he is humble and willing to be corrected when the democratic challenges demand it.

In his opening remarks the Prime Minister made a care for Ethiopian greatness.  In a measured way he stated that Ethiopia is a cradle of human kind and that it is a particular source of pride for Black people everywhere and that it is an honor for Ethiopia to be visited by the first American President of African origin and Barrack Obama praised the beautiful country for the hospitality that it extended him.

The some of the toughest questions on the democratic flows of the Ethiopian regime were fired at the Prime Minister and he handled himself with a masterful democratic personality.

The Prime Minister readily admitted that the regime in power has many political imperfections, which it must work on.  He noted that democratic practices are new to the Ethiopian condition that for decade’s democracy was conspicuously absent in the country, that the flawed democratic practices at the present are indeed new and that they need radical improvement, evident in the disagreements, which are ranging in the country among some of the citizens.

The Prime Minister distinguished ethical journalism, which does not cross-reasonable boundaries of discourse, from a journalism, which conspires with forces, which seek to overthrow the regime.

He hoped that Ethiopian journalists like their counter parts in the West respect the boundaries and do not provoke the regime to resort to undemocratic responses.