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What Does the Kinijit Crisis Need? Dialogue or Outrage

Posted on , Updated on by Elias Kifle

By Fekade Shewakena

A recent call by Professor Messay Kebede for an honest dialogue about the Kinijit crisis has come too late and after the crisis has taken its toll. In my view, the problem at this stage is anything but salvageable. The problem progressed beyond the breaking point the moment it started. I don’t even think the central problem is the absence of enough dialogue for that matter. For any dialogue to take place there has to be competing ideas between contending groups. There is no political or philosophical difference to talk of or start a dialogue on. More importantly, there is hardly any secret in the crisis that we need to explore. Everything, including a lot of dirty laundry, is out in the open. All sides to the conflict have told us their side of the story. I think we have regurgitated a lot of material already. I for one had enough. There are hundreds of audio, video and written records for anyone to see. I lost count of the number of Ato Hailu’s interviews and speeches after the 20th. What else do we need? If we cannot see the problem through this mass of evidences and see where the problem and the solution lie, then we are simply cheating ourselves. There is enough information for anyone interested to arrive at a verdict. The pathogen causing the sickness can be very easily isolated. Some of it is too glaring to miss unless we willfully close our eyes.

In my view this whole thing lacks one serious input from the public. It lacks enough outrage — enough outrage at the senseless wrecking of an organization that millions of our fellow citizens have made huge emotional investment and sacrifice for. We are aiding and abating this problem to fester more than it should. We are simply providing it a fertile ground to flourish. Let’s face it. It is the failure of those of us who wish democracy, good governance and civilized politics for our country that are a huge part of the problem. We have an amazing tolerance for white lies, hearsays, innuendos and the character assassination of good people and even fan some of these back as truths. I really don’t know where we got this from. A community of people often places boundaries and declares some things unacceptable and off limits in its normal social or political discourses? When something goes off limits, normal communities often express outrage. I cannot understand why we don’t. In our case, it is this complacency and our inability to call wrongs by their name that is killing and humiliating us.

There may be enough blame to go around in this crisis. But we the people that are letting this happen to us and to our country have to take a chunk of this blame. By tolerating lies, corruption and arrogance in our midst, we are letting ourselves be insulted and degraded. People who want to feed us false and obscene information with the hope of changing our mind basically think we are stupid.

Our history is replete with instances where we as a people, particularly the Ethiopian elite, failed our country in many ways. But the saddest part is that we have also become a country and people that does not learn from its past mistakes. What has happened to us as a people and where is all that pride in ourselves of rich heritage and cultural decency and honesty and age old religious morality gone?

Look at one case, for example. Some individuals who apparently support Ato Hailu Shaul have thought it is ingenious to call and exploit those poor families of victims of the June and November 2005 massacres to make their faction’s case. One of them is here, on the website Kinijit.org. If you listen to it and that doesn’t make you sick to the stomach, I don’t know what will. This is obscene and should disgust every sane person, political or not. I have literally begged another person from the other side who decided to retaliate by calling other victim families he knows have misgivings about Ato Hailu Shaul’s actions. Have we become a society without thresholds and limits to allow ourselves to be invaded by such nauseating indecencies and lies? There are always cheap people in society who are capable of doing this. That won’t surprise me. But what kind of people are the people who put it out as a headline on a website which claims to be the official organ of Ato Hailu’s faction? I know there are some “educated” people and others in white hairs that manage the site. Shame on them!

Then the question is what should we do other than dialogue? First, we have to realize that there is no middle ground to stand on between irresponsible recklessness, on the one hand, and decency and reasonableness, on the other. There is only one ground to stand on in the Kinijit crisis and that is to stand against this recklessness.

I will do mine here. I will talk straight. I am sure some would accuse me of pushing factional interests or supporting some individuals against others. Some of you may think I am defending Mrs. Birtukan or Dr. Berhanu and the rest on the other side. These are people who are capable of defending themselves. They don’t need my help. That is the least of my concerns. First among my objective is to keep my moral authority to be able to criticize Meles Zenawi and his authoritarian leadership that is wrecking havoc in my poor country. I do these often as most of you who read my articles know. I will be a hypocrite if I keep my mouth shut when I see a Bokassa or a Mengistu creeping inside the organization I support. My second reason is fear. I fear that young women who see Birtukan being demonized would be reluctant to come forward and join the struggle. They will be discouraged. Women in politics are already rare and I fear we are destroying an entire future for the women being inspired by her. I also fear that bright, reflective and passionate intellectuals may reconsider joining the struggle by looking at what the irresponsible reckless among us are trying to make off of people like Dr. Berhanu and Dr. Befekadu. That should worry us more than what is being done to these individuals personally. That should worry all of us the most.

Let me do my part of a straight talk here and do my responsibility. I know for some this may be like a taboo. The central problem, the pathogen, in this sickness and crisis in Kinijit is clearly and unambiguously Ato Hailu Shawul. Yes, I repeat, the problem is Ato Hailu Shaul. By virtue of his position as chairman of the organization, Ato Hailu has had a lot of leverage to command in the organization and solve many of the problems. His position comes with a lot of responsibility. He has failed to measure up to that. Add to that also his age which is an additional asset of respect at his disposal. He has enough authority to convene any discussion on any issue and challenge the rest of the leaders or supporters. What use do we have for a leader who refuses to talk to the committees he leads and allows deliberations at a time of a crisis?

Here is an example of his recklessness from a firsthand experience. As most informed people know very well, the geographic location and inception of the problem for Kinijit is North America. As an active supporter of Kinijit, I know Ato Hailu was fed with a lot of misinformation by a group in North America while he was still in prison. These are public secrets detailed elsewhere and I don’t want to rehash them here. Among other innuendoes, we know that Ato Hailu was told that Dr. Berhanu was going to overthrow him using his friends in the KIL (Kinijit International Leadership) and a lot of other crap. I never had any personal encounter with Ato Hailu, but I have always trusted and believed the problem would unravel as soon as he arrived in Washington DC and everything will be ok. I trusted he had the desire, training and quality of leadership to do that. I expected he would talk to and ask questions of all sides to the conflict and make an informed decision like any leader must. Instead, he did the unthinkable. He went straight into the hands of one group of people who have been mismanaging the support movement and feeding him with their side of stories. He sat fenced there and also placed aids to screen even his phone calls to select the kind of people he would talk to. His favorite radio station was one run by an outcast thief who stole public money from fund raised to help famine victims in Ethiopia. Many of us in Washington DC who put the bulk of the fight for their release and raised the funds they needed were locked out from talking to him. I also know that he was begged to attend the September 16 gathering in DC along with the five other delegates. He refused. I know this for sure but to my surprise and to the determent of my respect for him, I heard him repeatedly say that he has not been invited. That in plain language is a lie. Thousands of Ethiopians gathered in Virginia on that day, a size that I have rarely seen, but Ato Hailu was full of his egos to even come for five minutes and say thank you for supporting Kinijit. What kind of politician does refuse to talk to you when at the same time he uses the money you raised and the labor you put in to help his organization? This is the peak of feudal arrogance and hubris that should be detested by any self respecting Ethiopian.

Even for a casual observer of his actions, it is clear that Ato Hailu is a stubborn person who wants to run Kinijit like a foreman of daily laborers rather than the democratic and modern political organization that Kinijit told us it was. As much as he deserves respect for his position and age, he should also show respect for the younger people in the leadership who, whether he likes it or not, are going to replace him tomorrow. Ethiopia’s problems are not going to be solved during his life time and he should be the first to understand that encouraging younger people must be a vital duty of a responsible person of his age and position.

But in all of these cases we as a people and community appeased him. Because of our failure to ask him to account, Ato Hailu grew more corrupt and continued to gallop from one reckless action to the other. When he saw he could get away with public badmouthing of his colleagues, he flew some of the most venomous attackers from Addis Ababa to Washington DC and had an entire afternoon of feasts on their fellow prisoners without saying any word about the real problems in the country. We sat and listened to that without any outrage. When Ato Hailu saw he could get away with that recklessness, he tried to suspend the organization’s laws and attempted to suspend the key leaders of the organization. When many good people kept silent again and refused to be outraged he went even further. He thought of running the organization like a private company, and appointed an acting president until he gets out of his hospital. See this document (here). Ato Hailu and his friends are acting like feudal barons because they found complacent people that do nothing and never get outraged. Look further and see one of the accusations he made against the individuals he tried to suspended – refer to accusation number 11 of 20. He says the 5 delegate he suspends made the crime of failing to receive him at the Airport in Washington DC when he arrived from Minnesota. Is this the kind of issue a responsible leader of a party bases the fate of a nationally respected democratic organization? Think about it. What would a man with this propensity do if he gets to a position of leading a country and commanding an army? Maybe we would have saved some lives had we shown some outrage when Mengistu massacred 60 people in one day the first time. I think we paid for our complacency.

Bringing in civilized politics, resolving political problems through open dialogue and building the country along the path of mutual respect and love were the common themes we repeatedly heard inside Kinijit. I for one decided to support Kinijit on these grounds as I am sure many did. I never knew it was being lead by such an irresponsible and abusive person. Many people confuse courage and stubbornness and portray him as a courageous person I heard some people call him by Mengisu’s favorite names – “koratu”.

I do not see a classical kind of faction making inside Kinijit. I see two groups inside it – a backward and out of date force led by Hailu Shaul and a progressive visionary force trying to wrench itself off of this and move forward. Ato Hailu wants a party that he can run like a private company and call it Kinijit. This is the little sophisticated strategy being pursued.

I think it is time to see Kinijit the organization and the Ethiopian democracy movement separately. There is a huge and unstoppable quest for democracy in Ethiopia which lacks leadership. In my view, the democracy movement must be led intelligently by a carefully crafted program and competent leadership. I think we need to focus on that and spend more time organizing. The kind of thinking I see from the “thinkers” around Ato Hailu is incompatible with the kind of leadership this democracy movement needs. Even if you let them have their way they will soon implode into a disaster. They have not shown us the ideas and alternatives they have offer for this movement. I am sorry Ato Hailu is not in good health and I wish him fast recovery. But he is the last person I will go anywhere near to look for solving the huge and complex problems of Ethiopia. Those of us who sincerely want our country to change have to understand that our complacency and indifference will have long term negative consequences on the aspirations of our people and tormented country. We need to assert our respect for our people and our own individual dignity by refusing to be a part of this recklessness.
___________________
Fekade Shewakena can be reached at [email protected]

28 thoughts on “What Does the Kinijit Crisis Need? Dialogue or Outrage”

  2. Dear Fekade, I could not agree any more.

    He betrayed the spirit of Kinijit; we are ready to inaugurate him in to a “hale of shame”.

    After listening to DR.Taye and Shaleka Admasu on ETN , I concluded that Ato Hilu might have some kind of mental disorder that interferes with his ability to chose write from wrong. What he need is a good nursing home and a prayer from Reverend Merchaw.

    Speaking of stilling from the famine victims ,I wrote a check and contributed $500.00 at the time.
    What are my options to sue this guy? Does anyone have information?

    Abdulkadir

  4. Dear Fekade!!

    You are right about Hailu’s arrogance. I hear him on bbc hardball that he is the only one who resigned from Mengistu’s government. But it is a lie. He wrote an application beggin the the government to relieve him of his responsibilities because he is going blind. He did not resign of disagreement with Mengistu’s policies. He is a lier and opportunist.

  5. Thank you, Fekade. A spade is always a spade and it should be called by its name. No doubt Hailu is the prime culprit for everything happening in and around Kinjit.

    The reasons are many. First, he is incompetent. He does not have a political personality that encourages dialog and consensus building. He has no vision and direction but destruction. Second, because of his incompetence he sees competent individuals as direct threats to him. He suffers from insecurity. Third, he is not a freedom fighter. He is after personal gains. For him, Ethiopia and its people are second after his personal interest. Look how strong is his hate for the youth. My God, it is hard to believe this considering how many lost their life for Kinjit’s cause. Sadly, they have no place in his heart. In exchange, he gives them back hate. Fourth, he is such an arrogant person. He considers himself an emperor and wants everyone to bow at his sight. That is why has kept on complaining that the delegation didn’t welcome him at the airport. Hell! We should have received him with rotten tomatoes and eggs. I am sure we will bid him farewell that way, though.

    Hailu has never had a political personality and shall never have one. He is such a disgrace who bands together with gangs, thieves, and mercenaries.

  7. Fekade, once again, thank you for calling a spade a spade. You elequently spoke what is in my mind. I might add that inspite of numerous attemps by many shimagles to bring both sides to the table for negotiation, he, Ato Hailu refused to meet with Birtukan and others by giving numerous lame excuses that the issues are minor…and that they will be resolved once and for all after they get back home. It turned out that this was a make- belief false promise he threw at us all. He lied to us and the people of Ethiopia. What did he do sitting in Minesotta, he waited for the other group to go back and fired them all.If this deplorable and recless act is not an outrage, I don’t know what is? I believe all this mess is being orchestrated by the cookes that he surrounded himself with. However, at the end of the day is responsible for his actions as he is the one who signed on the dotted lines. If Kinijit fails, the Ethiopian people should hold Ato Hailu Shawel responsible.

    Your article is insightful and timely. The Ethiopian people should be and must be outraged. Thank you for that.

  8. Thank you Ato Fekade –
    I want to emphasize this quote
    “The central problem, the pathogen, in this sickness and crisis in Kinijit is clearly and unambiguously Ato Hailu Shawl. Yes, I repeat, the problem is Ato Hailu Shawl”

  9. My hats off to Ato Fekade Shewakena for a complete, genuine and bold analysis of the source of the problem which Kinijit is in. Eng.Hailu has been and still is the major and huge obstacle or hinderance for the democractic movement from marching and going forward. The Kinijit leadrship that is going to meet in Addis Ababa this week-end should remove him from the chairmanship and eject him from the party for good. His removal from kinijit leadership will enable the wheels of the democratic movement that the young, old, femal and male Ethiopians lost their precious lifes and shed their blood for, will start rolling once again,with full sheer force and acceleration till the democratic system is established and erected in our beloved conuntry.
    AT

  12. Well said Ato Fekade. I have listned the radio program you host in DC area. You are one of a well balanced and resonable person I heard on the radio in DC area. We are in this strugle becouse of people like you who give us a good and informative analyses such as this one.

    Thank you!!!

  13. Dear Fekade,

    Now, the siren has started to ring to push off a sinster group and hug the truth. An owesome contribution. Please keep up tellig our people the truth.

  15. Good job, Fekade.
    You are brave now to tell the truth. I was disappointed on your comments and answers when you were interview in Netsanet Le Ethiopia Radio (part 1&2). You do not have to rethink and write to tell the truth.

  16. As always clear, transparent and focused. I am proud to be an Ethiopian, when I read and listen from a person like you.
    Keep your hard work !!!

    God bless you Fekade

    Thank You

  17. Are we part of the problem or part of the solution?

    Dear Fekade, I don’t think, as your article December 28, 2007, suggests that we the public are part of the problem for Kinijit’s leadership crisis if there is any. It is true, as you said, we all belong to one country – Ethiopia – but you have forgotten to mention something important; that is, we do not belong to one school; we have not come from one school of thought. Each one of us has his/her own philosophy, and each person is free to express that philosophy in his/her own way.

    I don’t think you have any right to tell us what to say and what not to say because in democracy every person is “entitled to his/her own opinion” without physically hearting the other. For example, because of your right to express anything you want, you dubbed Hailu Shawel as a disease, irresponsible, reckless, feudal, liar, stubborn, abusive and so on and so forth. What makes you freely hurl those disparaging words at another human being is the power of democracy, and I’m sure Mr. Shawel is not going to sue you for your perspicacious remarks. I think, Mr. Shawel as the president of Kinijit has the right to (Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not one of Mr. Shawl’s admirers.) run his organization the way he wants to. If we don’t like his leadership, it is up to us to replace him without dehumanizing him, an old man, and at that a sick person struggling with his sickness.

    On the other hand, you have blamed us the public for being complacent with those corrupt individuals who try to tell us so many correct or incorrect information about the Kinijit leadership. Accepting or discarding information of that kind does not make us responsible for any individual’s mendacity. In fact, we should be always open minded for any ideas that come to us from any person whether these ideas are in the forms of humor, innuendo, or hearsay we have the right to accept them or reject them, and we should not be angry at any person who shares his/her opinion, bad or good, with us the public.

    Finally, who are we to judge someone’s opinion and pass quickly our judgment on others? Remember what that great Teacher said: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

  18. It is an excellent piece of summaries and I do really appreciate your continued commendable contributions to Kinijit. I have full confidence on you and the Kinijits back home that it is high-time now for all of us to work on “what is to be done”, very urgently as the damage outlined by shameful Ato Hailu Shawel and his colleagues is escalating.
    B/Rgds,
    DC, Resident.

  19. Opinion #17 by Assta B. Gettu is full of contradiction.
    Fekade is entitled to his opinion as much as you are. You said “Mr. Shawel … run his organization the way he wants to” That’s the problem. He should run it according to the organizations by-law not as he wants to.
    I agree with Fekade 100%.

  20. “I have full confidence on you and the Kinijits back home that it is high-time now for all of us to work on “what is to be done”, very urgently as the damage outlined by shameful Ato Hailu Shawel and his colleagues is escalating.”

    To comment #18: Why very urgently?

  21. OPINION#17.you sound so angry on your opinion not only on this one but in your other opinion too and you mention the the versus always.If I were you I’ll practise the versus myself before I write it It’s full of contradiction.Fekade wrote his opinion like anybody else.

  22. Ato Fekade, Thank you so much!
    let me repeat one phrase from your article
    Hailu “is the last person I will go anywhere near to look for solving the huge and complex problems of Ethiopia ”, yes!!!!
    Does Hailu know how to listen? That’s the first thing you have to be able to do as a politician, but instead of listening to Figure out what others want, he isolate himself with his friends since he arrived in USA.
    Does he know how to have a real conversation? No, Hailu choose to hide from the people, and for most of his interview he doesn’t build support for his ideas one on one, he does not discussed with colleagues on the way to solve the problem instead of giving false excuse.
    Does he now how to compromise? One of a good politician leader search for common ground among diverse view, that was our expectation when he came to USA to solve the problem, but Hailu is betraying kinijit core beliefs or threatening what they seek to accomplish. what a shame Ha
    tommorow is another day, we will saying to Hailu two tear in the bucket

  24. My dear Aklile,

    If you have read my comment thoroughly, I have said that people are entitled to their opinions, and Mr. Fekade is one of them, and that is why he said anything he wants about Mr. Shawel; I’m not against his or any other person’s opinion. A good leader cannot stop leading his organization unless he gets 100% support from the members of his organization. It is rare to see such things happen; if I am not wrong, Mr. Saddam Hussein was the only person who got 99% of the Iraqi vote when he was running for the presidency. Mr. Shawel may not have 100% support of his organization, but he should not stop running the organization until he is replaced by another person better than him. To say “I agree with you 100%” means I’m not thinking correctly. There are and have been always slight differences between people in their opinions. So I’m glad you support Mr. Fekade 100% and please continue to do so.

    My dear Ewenet,

    Thank you for your comment; however, I ask you to tell me where the contradictions are in my statement. You have totally failed to mention either the statements you think are contradictories or the verses I from time to time mention. I hope you read your Bible both in your native language or in English diligently. If you need help in understanding the Bible verses, I’m ready to help you. Be free to write me. It is true Mr. Fekade wrote his opinion, and I enjoyed reading it, and that is why I wrote my opinion about his article. You said I sound angry. No, anger is not in my grain most of the time.

  25. In the first statement of your comments above, you questioned if there is such a thing as a crisis within Kinijit. One has to be completely oblivious to the current political situation in Ethiopia in general and within Kinijit party in particular either by choice or sheer ignorance to question whether or not there is a crisis within the Kinijit party? I suggest you either talk to Ato Shawel, if his bodyguards would allow you to, or read up on the subject matter on various Ethiopian websites. I also strongly disagree with your assertion that Mr. Shawel can run his organization the way he wants to. I would agree with you that if Ato Shawel was farming a plot of land and decides to either kill and eat the oxen on which he relied to farm or sell them to a butcher and get out the farming business, that is his prerogative. On the other hand, if Ato Shawel has share holders in his Shawel Consulting firm and decides to run the business to the ground because he owns it as you suggested he can do it, he will be up for a big surprise! He will be called to account by the shareholders as they have a vested interest in the success of the firm. Kinijit on the other hand is NOT, …I will repeat, NOT Ato Hailu Shawel’s personal property as you, Ato Shawel himself and his cohorts would like to believe, it is rather a political party which belongs to tens of millions of Ethiopians that Ato Shawel is a member of and also happens to be its president chosen by the Laelay Committee. As such, Ato Shawel has no right to run Kinijit to the ground. Again, tens of millions of our people feel Kinijit is near and dear to their hearts, and therefore, have every right to get outraged when they see Ato Shawel and his cohorts or anybody else for that matter is/are trying to run Kinijit to the ground.

  27. Dear zb or ziebie:

    I ask you this question and answer it honestly. Do you believe Mr. Shawel is still the president of Kinijit? If yes, then accept him as the president of Kinijit. If no, then don’t mention his name at all. Cases closed, and let us move forward!

    If you believe Kinijit is facing major crisis except the leadership problems created by Mr. Hailu Shawel and his followers, let us fix it and stop blaming each other. We need someone to unite us if we think we are apart from each other, and that someone should be one that would uplift Kinijit and bury the name of Hailu Shawel forever.

    I have one final personal question to ask you if you don’t mind: Why do you and others like you conceal their real names when they post their comments? Are they afraid of being persecuted by Woyanne agents? Or is it because what they post is false so they are ashamed of what they are doing?

    For example, I don’t know what “zb” stands for; in my mother tong, “zb” means “ziebie” which means in Amharic gib, in English – hyena. Don’ hide your name! Come forward! Stand up for what you say and for what you write and take responsibility for what you do.

    Selam leke WA selam lebtesebike! Peace to you and to your family!

  28. First, i would like to thank Fekade for putting the realty as it stands. Remian blessed!!! This being said, i think it is too late to talk about dialogue for the crisis. I have never expected Ing. Hailu such a adamant and selfish. Of all things, i am always annoyed when i hear his interview. When he is difficult Q, he tries to escape under the pretext of his sickness!!! SEW BE’EGZHAIR EJI TIZO YIWASHAL. I am ashamed of him having him as one of Kinijit’s member, leave alone chairperson.
    Shame is his name!!!
    ENFAREDEWALEN.

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