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Hailu Shawel’s trail of betrayal

Posted on , Updated on by Elias Kifle

This is one in a series of articles Ethiopian Review will publish in the coming few days to expose the betrayals and gross corruption surrounding Ato Hailu Shawel and his close friends. Up to now, many believed and hoped that Ato Hailu is an innocent victim of the Shaleqa gang. But Shaleqa Yoseph himself said recently that he did not do any thing without being ordered by his boss Hailu Shawel. The most recent actions by Ato Hailu proves the Shaleqa’s argument. To get a glimpse of the wrong path Ato Hailu chose to take, read this article (click here – Amharic)

Ato Hailu Shawel has betrayed those of us who had trusted him, and placed our hopes on him to provide an honest, principled, corruption free leadership. We were led to believe that he is a trust worthy, fair minded individual, a consistent, strong, unwavering leader. Little did we know that we were hoping against hope when all the signs were there — his crude betrayal of Prof. Asrat and all the other AAPO leaders. We were indeed fooling ourselves. The way things are unfolding now, it may turn out that he is the father of all corruptions, nepotism and bigotry.

Ato Hailu Shawel’s current betrayal of his supporters and colleagues bring memories of his betrayal of Professor Asrat Woldeyes several years ago. After quitting the All Amhara People’s Organization (AAPO) over a minor disagreement, when Professor Asrat was languishing in jail for six years, Ato Hailu did not visit him even once in jail, and had never participated in any type of activity to help release the professor. He did not even attend Prof. Asrat’s funeral service. For six years when Prof. Asrat languished in jail, Ato Hailu was making money and becoming a millionaire, without spending one minute of his time in Ethiopian politics. After Prof. Asrat died, Ato Hailu maneuvered his way back to the AAPO using his money. Once he became chairman of the AAPO, he had systematically pushed out many of the independent thinking leaders of the AAPO, including Ato Wondayehu Kassa, Ato Ali Indris, Col. Getahun Ejigu, and Ato Girma EnquSelassie using the power of his money against these individuals who were left pennyless due to several years of incarceration by Woyanne. Many of these individuals had languished in Woyanne jails along with Prof. Asrat.

As we look deeper into Ato Hailu’s past in trying to understand his current behavior, what we are finding is that his trail of betrayal, as well as his dictatorial behavior, goes way back. We will leave that for the history books. But what is now obvious is that when Ato Hailu told BBC’s Hard Talk two years ago that Ethiopians are double faced, we are now discovering that he was talking about himself.

18 thoughts on “Hailu Shawel’s trail of betrayal”

  5. He may have got a reason for betraying his freands….i suppose it is for the sake of his grand children!!!!! ki…ki…ki.
    U know that …. he serve as a minister during the derg era for sake of his children,…. he signed the letter of “pardon” for the sake of his friends children…. and now the betrayal for the sake of his grand children!!!!!

  6. It is over for the so called Engineer.He can not work in harmony with his party members.How can this individual be trusted to be the leader of the country?
    It is over……go home Hailu and retire!

  7. Elias , keep up your good job by exposing our dictator who has hidden his real face [behavior] under the skin of democracy. [charity begins at home}.By the way, guys , do you remeber eng hailu’s interview by BBC’S HARD TALK. HE shamelessly” the westren do not know that we , ethiopians have a double face” yes, eng hailu has even more than double faces, one democratic, dictatorial and aste’s face. I feel now eng hailu is a self appoint little king under melese, this what we did not know untill now. we are looking for justice from one Almighty God.

  8. It is time for this man to retire from politics. The damage he is causing to CUDP and our future leaders is immeasurable. Not only HS but all of his cohorts are also out to smear Elias and ER. I wish the best to our leaders in finally breaking free from this man.

    Indeed Ato Hailu Shawel doesn’t have a clue of what Democracy is all about. He is an ego maniac consistent with what we have been told about his life as a technocrat and politician.

    Last but not least ELIAS KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!

  9. Thank you Elias for your couragious struggle against all form dictatorial regime,Hailu as he showed us his real nature we have to fight him the same way we fight TPLF. what is the secret behind KIC? ALL from one village one ethinc group one religon is it shame for Hailu to impose his un-elected corrupted gangs?b/c of his health he can’t read the day to day activity he is not good communcater he is not broad minded comparing other leaders so I personally believe that he has to go !

  10. Please let’s concentrate on our main Job. Aiga and his groups are now lobbying senator to kill the bill. They thought a month half a go the bill was dead and know they are panicking because the bill all of the sudden resurrected. Please ignore this ignorant. I just say Thank God this stupid man didn’t get a chance to take power. That is what I say. I don’t want even bother to hear his interview or attend any of his meetings. He is useless and dead person as far as I know. But let concentrate on our important struggle.

  11. In the past few decades we have seen many smart Ethiopians who can be good leaders come and go. Most of the time they form Organizations which look good at the begining and decline eventually. Common problem for all has been one thing, the leaders have never been elected democratically. because of this they select their members based on their personal ego. Members who ever have a different oppinion have been left with options to quit or live with the abuse. Engineer Hailu is not the first and last one to betray the trust of the people and organization. Who knows tommorrrow may be Berhanu or Bertukan or you. I think it is time for the people of Ethiopia to stand up for a principle not for indivudals. When it is wrong it is wrong . Political mistake is ok as long as we learn from it and never repeat it again. The irony is how do we trust and vote for these people knowing all these. Though the master dictator (melese) seems enjoy and fuel the problem, the positive side of all this is we are coming out of the closet of secrecy and hiding facts ( hope EPRP learn from this ). To talk about openly matters important to us as a people. Elias you are great! Good job.

  12. Elias, I found your article about the past history of Hailu Shawel irrelevant to his current behavior. Failed to visit prof. Asrat in prison doesn’t make him a dectator nor undemocratic. Try to criticize him according to what he is doing right now to the party. If you can, let’s give some time to resolve the issue in a good manner. But, criticizing him doesn’t solve the problem the party is facing right now.

  13. Elias,

    I listened to the Engineer’s interviews. How a person with poor communications skills (FORGET THE CORRUPTION) and no inspiration and vision managed to step up on all those ladders since AAPO and now Kiniit? All what he said in the medias is nonsense.

    Engineer Hailu and the rest of Kiniits (Drs Birhanu, Hailu and W/t Miderksa are two extremes. I wonder how they managed to work together all those days before they were thrown to jail. How did you (the rest of kinijit leader)managed to work togther? Please tell us.

    Thanks you Elias,

  14. የቅንጅት መሰታዊ ችግር በጣም ስር የሰደደና በቀላሉ የሚፈታ ችግር አይመስለኝም: ዓንደኛው ችግር ኢንጅነር ሀይሉ ነው: ኢንጅነር ሀይሉ በጣም ለዲሞክራሲያዊ ስርዕት ግንባታ የማያመች: እራሱን በመንግስቱ ሀይለማርያም አምሳልና ወንበር ለማስቀመጥ እራሱን ያሳመነ ሰው ነው:: እኔ እስከሚባኝ ድረስ ዲሞክራሲ ለመመስረት ለሚደረገው ትግል ትልቅ ደንቃራ የሚሆን ሰው ነው:: መጀመሪያውንም የቅንጅቱ ሊቀመንበር መሆን ያልነበረበት: ለድርጅቱም እዚህ ውድቀት ውስጥ እንዲገባ ምክንያት የሆነና ትግሉንም በስርኣቱ መምራት ባለመቻሉ የህዝቡን ድል ያስነጠቀ ስው ነው: ድል ልንቀዳጅ አንድ ኪሎ ሜትር ነው የቀረን: 25 ደረጃ የተደራጀ አመረር አለን በማለት ተስፋ ሲመግበን የት ብለን እንዳንጠይቅ አፋችን እንዲለጎም ተደርጎ ተነድተን እዚህ ደርሰናል

    ቅንጅት እስካሁን በሄደበት መንገድ መቀጠል ኣይችልም: በግልጽነት ይዘን ወደሁዋላ ተመልሰን በምን ምክንያት እዚህ እንደደረስን መወያየት አለብን: ለምን እንዲህ አይነት ሰዎች ስልጣን ላይ እንደወጡ እንደተደረገ? ለምንም እውነታው ተሸፋፍኖ በጅምላ መሪወቻችን እየተባለ እንድንዘፍንና እንድተደረግን መጠያየቅ አለብን:;ወደላይ እየካብን ቦሃላ ለምን ማውረድ እንድሚያቅተን ደግመን ደጋግመን እራሳችንን መጠየቅ አለብን: ከእንዲህ አይነት ስህተት ለመዳን ይጠቅመናልና: የማንኛውም በህዝብ ወንበር ላይ ለመቀመጥ የተዘጋጀውን ሁሉ የተደበቀ ታረክ ወደ አደባባይ እየወጣ መወያየት አለብን:

  16. It is said a tree is known from its fruit. If a leader decides for the people, he is a dictator; but, if a leader executes the people’s decision, he is a democrat. Leaders are chosen to serve the people’s interest, and not promote their interest. A dictator leader is one who proclaims a decision before vote of the followers counted. Do you know such a man/women?

  17. It is very surprising that there is always differences between the majority of ethiopians and few people.I am tired of hearing that there is always one person who is highly trusted become corrupt.Who is next? let us wait and see.

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