Yilma Bekele
We have no idea how the Coronavirus is going to play out in our country. There are a few things we have learned the last few months. None of it bode well for our country. We are witnessing the havoc it can create even in the advanced countries of the west. The third world is left with nothing except prayers to whatever deity we happen to worship. Our country is awfully unprepared for such a devastating epidemic. Let alone a new virus like covid-19 we have not managed to silence the scourge of Malaria, smallpox or locust plague.
Ethiopia has been left rudderless for the last fifty years. Both the notorious Derg and the gangster Woyane were kept very busy scheming on how to stay in power leaving them no time to plan and govern. The welfare of our people and country were secondary considerations so we were left to nature to fend for ourselves. Today we have a very powerful and ugly enemy and we have no resources whatsoever to fight back. We have no one to even ask why did you let this happen because we were never asked to choose the ones to be entrusted with such power over us. Ever since time Ethiopian leaders grabbed power by other means, not the ballot box. So you see there is no one in charge that has thought of such eventualities and prepared to save our precious people.
Today we Ethiopians are left on our own to face this calamity of untold dimension. Being stressed does not explain our state of mind. Our country is awfully unprepared to even teach our people about basic hygiene and the concept of ‘social distancing’ in a proper manner. There is no one with clear authority to lead the charge and our people are definitely not equipped either physically or mentaaly to face the unseen enemy. It is under such dire situations that the current government is trying hard to ring the alarm bells. It does not have much resources to spare to put up a fight. We hope at minimum they will be able to handle the security of our people, but unfortunately that can not be guaranteed.
What we are not totally prepared for is to fight two enemies at one time. Covid-19 is formidable but it looks like the other virus called Woyane has reared its head at this unfortunate time. I am of course upset about two ancient criminals -Tedros Adahanom Gebreyesus and Seyoum Mesfin that are taking our attention away from the task at hand and throwing Ethiopia’s name under the bus to extricate themselves from the hole they have dug for themselves. We Ethiopians remember well the actions of Tedros and Mesfin when they were in charge of our country. You will not find many Ethiopians with fond memories of these spineless individuals that served the evil genius as errand boys. I have no time, intention nor the strength to list the crimes they have committed against our people but let me mention the basics.
Tedros is not a medical doctor but he likes to be addressed as Doctor. He has never administered a pill to a single human to relieve pain but he has caused untold pains when he was appointed as Health Minister by the dead tyrant. There are no trails of accomplishment and monuments to his work when he was in charge of our health system. None. There are trails of ethnicity, cover up of Cholera outbreaks, distribution of unproven medication and many more. He was another cadre skilled at fleecing the foreign donors, stocking his Ministry with his ethnic base, handing out foreign aid money to buy loyalty and punish perceived opponents like the rest of his comrades. But he was loyal to the tyrant and the ruling clique. He was proud to announce”Je suis Woyane!” On his Facebook page, why he said it in French is not clear.
His party assigned him to be Foreign Minister while warlord Seyoum left his position to be Ambassador to China. That is the way our country functioned. Haile Mariam has taken over after the tyrant’s death and Woyane was moving its assets to face the new situation. This gave a chance for Tedros to furbish his credentials among African leaders and build his resume. His sole mission was to serve the politburo and plan his future since Woyane days as a ruling clique was showing cracks. Serving Ethiopia was not part of the equation. For all practical purposes the fact that he has no training in foreign affairs and international diplomacy did not stop him from stepping to the plate. Like the time he took the job of Health Minister without being involved in public health or having proven organizational skills to shepherd such a bureaucracy, being a Foreign Minister was not such a crazy idea.
Well the job paid off. He was presented as the darling of Africa supported by People’s Republic China and African dictators. His interview for the job was a surreal experience where he proved he was not ready for this important organization that is tasked to protect humanity. He was not coherent to the extent of not being able to understand the question asked by some of the best experts in the world. But China wanted him bad and he was appointed for a five year term. Please note that plenty of Ethiopians protested in Europe and America, signed petitions and warned the international community about the nature of the Woyane TPLF party official and his being unfit to lead such a venerable organization.
The last month or so the Director came under scrutiny due to the mismanagement of the Coronavirus introduction to the world. This is how Politico magazine put it “Without China’s deceit and WHO’s solicitude for Beijing, the outbreak might have been more limited, and the world at the very least would have had more time to react to the virus”. That is the issue he has been asked to explain to the world. He has been called to answer why WHO was late declaring the world pandemic. He is being asked to explain why this happened under his watch? They are all legitimate questions that need fact based answers and explanations on how decisions are made inside such a vital organization. At a time like this when humanity as a whole is threatened with extinction WHO means more than ever to the marginalized counties of Africa, Asia and the indigenious in South America.
The Director did not rise to the challenge. Instead of gathering his team and addressing the concerns of humanity in a humble and professional manner in an internationally broadcasted press conference the gentleman digressed and went somewhere out where we don’t normally go. Instead of ignoring the evil forces in his head that are whispering conspiracy, intrigues and visions of darkness he succumbed to the easy shameful way out and bareed his empty soul in public. How sad. The Director talked about death, martyrdom and accused the Republic of China (Taiwan) of racism for calling for his ouster. Needless to say the leaders of Taiwan were upset, puzzled and angry and demanded his apology in the absence of any proof for the grave charges he leveled. That is how he was trained to deal with adversity. He reverted to the classic Woyane offense. It consists of demeaning your opponent, questioning motivation, spreading blame and finally pulling out the ethnic card when all else fails. That is what he did. I am surprised he didn’t say it is because he is Tigrai. Could somebody tell him ‘Negro’ is not acceptable. Now on top of Corona Taiwan has to deal with the unenviable situation of being seen as racist in an international setting. To serve the People’s Republic of China our Tedros is throwing Ethiopia under the bus and pushing poor Taiwan as a bonus. I am hoping the Ethiopian Government will use its connections and assure Taiwan that Ethiopia does not agree with such a bizarre statement and it does not reflect the sentiments of our people.
The other pest we have to deal with at this point in time is Syoum Mesfin the war lord and loyal lieutenant to the nameless tyrant. He showed up on youtube to rewrite history and whitewash his criminal accomplishments. He came out of retirement to gaslight the Ethiopian people. Let me define gaslighting for you. Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. We are very familiar with this Woyane tactic. The gangster organization revised the history of our country to fit their made up version. In a matter of twenty years we were reduced from a proud nation with a long history to a collection of bantustans having nothing in common and no shared vision.
That is what Seyoum is attempting to do in a two part interview on youtube. It was a performance worth an Oscar. In a very low and measured tone he went on to revise the history we made together. How he can say these things with a straight face is an acquired trait. That is how he survived the mafia group and the constant purges the tyrant used to practice to keep them loyal. Lying is second nature to Woyane which they encouraged, cultivated and planted in our country. Sad to say it has taken roots. Any way he lied about Badme, lied about the hydroelectric dam they stuck us with and lied about his old boss (which he probably despises), lied about the toxic relationship with our neighbors he masterminded and many more. The only thing he told true was his name; the rest was all made up subject to change under close scrutiny. His lie about the Algiers Agreement was the crown jewel of his delusion. We have the video showing him dancing celebrating victory which the next day we discovered was totally wrong. What’s more he still holds a grudge against his old comrade the Eriterians. They kicked his ass. Maybe our forces should not have come to the rescue so fast. Maybe we should have met them halfway down and pushed them back. His diplomatic failure and inability to assess the situation was the cause of war that took the lives of thousands of Ethiopians and Eritreans. Under ordinary circumstances he should have been fired for dereliction of duty both before and after the war.
The foreign office under Seyoum was a fiefdom he was given by the tyrant. He ruled it with an iron hand moving Ambassadors like a chess piece. His diplomatic foray was feeble and did not serve the interest of our country and people. His party used our troops to fight other people’s war all over Africa and Woyane even fleeced the payments to our soldiers. His diplomatic effort in South Sudan, Darfur, Somalia were all failures that weakened our nation. As usual his interview was full of innuendos, shades and passive aggressive statements in real Woyane fashion. They just plant the doubt and let their trolls build on the lie. His description of events that include the new PM is mind boggling. You would think he would be a little indebted to the one person that allowed him to retire quietly instead of facing a court of law – makes you wonder what gives him the gumption. The Ethiopian people have told him and his group to leave us alone. It is becoming obvious they are not willing to stand down. We have to decide whether to tolerate or do what is necessary to silence these recurring viruses. Seyoum obviously is refusing to sit back and collect the enormous retirement he does not deserve.
As for our nation it looks like we are back to square one a year and half after declaring freedom from tyranny and dictatorship. It is a little embarrassing to complain and cry after going delirious with joy, happiness and hope for the future. It did not work out well did it? The answer is no. Expecting anything worthwhile to come out of a palace coup has never been a recipe for change. Time has proven it to be a correct assessment. There is no freedom without justice. In our case those that collaborated with the criminals, those that enabled the gangsters became the new freedom advocates. The political parties changed their name, the individuals changed their alignment and top cadre leaders and their minions were sent to their provincial capital without even a reprimand. Overall our revolution failed. We sacrificed so much and so many with nothing to show for it. We failed Ethiopia again. Time to give it another try.
Today we really do not know how many Ethiopians might die. We have no model of our own to predict and mitigate. Our epidemiologists are expected to conclude without adequate data, our doctors, nurses and clinicians are expected to cure without medicine and help without protection. Like the times we used to fool the world by announcing double digit economic progress today we are throwing out numbers that seem to minimize the problem ahead.
So the numbers coming out of our country are a little strange and a lot alarming. I would error on the side of the unknown instead of assumptions. You see we do not have adequate resources to address the cause of death of so many of our people. The simple answer is we do not keep track of the cause of death. Based on our experience during the HIV Aids epidemic families do not discuss such matters. Today there are a few things we can point out regarding the virus path to our country. The returnees from the Middle, our Airline that never stooped the shuttle, our extensive trade with China to the village level and our capital city serving as a hub for travels into Africa are the telltale signs of Corona movement. It is too late to stop it from afar but it could be made to cause lees havoc. It is a good time to come up with public service messages to teach our people the different prescriptions being advocated by experts and make it fit our particular situation.
The regime is standing on one leg and on a shaky surface too. The ground it is standing on can be compared to a volcano that is coming alive. Gases, steam and molten lava are trying to escape and blow off the top. The Shashemene incident, the Burayu shame, the Church burnings, ethnic clashes, kidnappings of students, and vile threats from all corners are the signs of the turmoil. Today politically we still have not defined what the problem is let alone work on the solution. I am afraid Covid-19 is going to change the picture in a very different manner. The US is predicting up to a 100K or more fatalities. They could have done better but no matter even a quarter of that is a big number. We have no reason to expect our country could escape this. We have every reason to fear the number will become unbearable. It is not too late to start conversation about what kind of Ethiopia will emerge. Would it be de ja vu time or a new dawn for Ethiopia. Let us hope reason prevails.
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