By Yilma Bekele
When you take an object apart to see how it works, or take software and disassemble it to locate the source code it is referred to as reverse engineering. Basically what you are doing is inverting the system by going backwards the developmental cycle all the way to conception. Reverse engineering begins with a final product and works backwards.
This is done for various reasons. It could be done for learning purpose to see how it works, to enhance the product to make it function better, to copy it which is mostly illegal or for malicious purpose such as infecting it with virus.
I believe we have been reverse engineered by the TPLF government. You can be sure the purpose was not to learn, enhance or integrate but rather to destroy or disrupt. The pie in the sky idea of the Millennium Dam was the malicious code that was inserted into our operating system.
We woke up one morning and were appalled to discover TPLF was clad in our beautiful tri colored flag and we were left covered in Eritrean and Egyptian clothing. My hats off to our Woyane hackers. Today ladies and gentlemen we have TPLF on this corner proudly dressed in green yellow and red and on the other side is the opposition dressed in Eritrean t-shirt top and Egyptian briefs. Watch Ato Meles bouncing around in his new Chinese made uniform jabbing the air with his beautiful tri colored gloves and raising his fist up high and Ato Bulcha Demeksa getting booed by the spectators.
The Americans call it topsy-turvy situation. In Ethiopia it is called the coming of sementegna shi, the eight-millennium. It is uttered to signify a bizarre, unexplainable and totally weird situation. It is a sign of total resignation. What is there to do when you are witnessing the end of the world? I believe that is what we got here. The real sementegnaw shi is upon us.
The theft of our uniform also managed to put the question in a different perspective. All of a sudden the debate became for and against Abay. Did you notice that? To build a dam or not became the issue. That is the way the regime defined the debate.
Now tell me have you met any Ethiopian opposed to building a dam on Abay or any river? The question is absurd. Why would anybody not wish a dam, a factory, a research university and other beautiful things for his country? Then what is all this false debate about?
Like everything else in Ethiopia, due to its monopoly of the media the TPLF regime defines the issues and presents its side using every available means. The Ethiopian people, those that are able or have conquered fear get bits of information from ESAT (www.ethsat.com) VOA, DW and Internet.
The issue is not about building a freaking dam or not but rather it is all about democracy. Such colossal projects require sober discussion and a national consensus. When governments plan such huge and costly endeavors they usually carry out a consorted effort to include the population in a lively debate to build enthusiasm and good will. Again, like everything else TPLF, they have managed to stand the concept on its head. They have put the cart in front of the horse. I know it is nothing new.
We wanted to discuss intelligently and answer the two vital questions of why and how? They don’t have adequate answers so they resorted into stealing the flag and hiding behind it like a coward. We are saying hold on, before we decide shouldn’t we discuss it? Unfortunately, today we are actually forced to discuss an event that is not going to happen. Why it is not going to happen has been analyzed and dissected by Ethiopian experts in the fields of economics, engineering and politics. No one from the regime has presented a compelling reason to use our limited resources on one gigantic project or answered the simple issue of affording it. It cannot be done because there is no study to justify Ato Meles’s delusion.
The purpose of the Abay dam issue is to deflect attention from the current economic failure and the specter of uprising in the vicinity. They have managed to confuse some people. They have used a very important question to win political point. In their tiny little heads they have won the day. How pathetic. Here is a good timely quotation from FIFA’s (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) Fair play code.
Play fair
Winning is without value if victory has been achieved unfairly or dishonestly. Cheating is easy, but brings no pleasure. Playing fair requires courage and character. It is also more satisfying. Fair play always has its reward, even when the game is lost. Playing fair earns respect, while cheating only brings shame. Remember: it is only a game. And games are pointless unless played fairly.
TPLF plays dishonestly. Winning by cheating is second nature to our Woyane warriors. TPLF refuses to grow up. The Ethiopian regime is infected with toxic philosophy of us against them. They spend a lot of time concocting negative ideas and scenarios to confuse, set one up against the other and survive another day. Since Woyane assumed power our people have not seen a single day of peace.
Today democratic Ethiopia is demanding businesses use a cash register furnished and maintained by the government. The cash register costs over seven thousand Bir and maintenance and upgrades cost over two thousand. It is not open for discussion. Today democratic Ethiopia demands the citizen report to Kebele if he has an overnight visitor in his own house. Today democratic Ethiopia determines how much a private merchant should charge for his goods.
The Abay dam theatre is one more abuse to prop up a dying system. The regime has already started to expropriate money from civil servants and the banks to finance its military and security due to the threat of people’s uprising. The willing Diaspora that was lulled over by promise of appreciating real estate values is now coming face to face with TPLF’s ugly side. Forty percent is the current rate of the rip off billed as tax, but it is just the beginning. The song ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ comes to mind. I have a feeling some of my Hodam relatives will soon be singing the Ethiopian blues.
The reality on the ground is that the regime has spent the entire budget appropriated to the dam building project. Transporting Ato Meles and his friends to Benishangul Zone, setting up the necessary prop for television cameras bringing a marching band and two worn out caterpillar tractors is all the investment required to stir up this hollow discussion. The rest is all about fleecing the citizen and the Diaspora. Don’t hold your breath about seeing an actual dam on the mighty Abay.
The mighty Abay is not just another river. Abay is special. Abay is born in Ethiopia. Abay nurtured the Pharos and help build the great pyramids. Abay was close when Jesus walked on Earth. The prophet Mohammed sent his relatives and followers on the first Hijra (migration) for safety to Ethiopia by the shores of the mighty Abay. Without Abay there will be no such thing as Egyptian civilization the fore bearer of World civilization. It is not a good idea to toy with Abay. Abay is not a forgiving River.
Everything else Ethiopian has been debased and degraded so it is nothing new Abay is the current victim. When you think the flag is a playground for some infantile scribble Abay stands no chance.
10 thoughts on “TPLF and the art of reverse engineering”
Dear Yilma. You forwarded a number of questions.
“Now tell me have you met any Ethiopian opposed to building a dam on Abay or any river? The question is absurd. Why would anybody not wish a dam, a factory, a research university and other beautiful things for his country? Then what is all this false debate about?”
Please read, if you have not yet done, the following piece to get an answer to your questions. “The Mega Nile Dam and the Millennium Bond:
Redemption or Deception of the TPLF Government? By Getachew Begashaw (Ph.D.) | May 4, 2011”.
Yes, there are Ethiopians blinded by hate like you who do not want Ethiopia to lift itself out of poverty. Shame one you and them. The good news is Ethiopia will move forward with or without you thanks to the gallent Ethiopian people. Keep on praying for the distruction of your own country, while the can do people slowly but surely build their country.
As per usual the Woyane regime is seeking more time to destroy Ethiopia. The regime is desperately trying to get a new life. The Woyane’s media coverage about the unpopular Millennium Dam project is highly exaggerated. Their attempt is to occupy our attention, and to derail the planned popular uprising against the mercenary regime. The Woyane regime (Ethiopia’s best enemy) says Ethiopian economy is growing at a double digit rate, but the truth is – the poverty continues to deepen, the economy is in free fall, inflation is rocketed, , corruption is very high, unemployment is very high, in short Ethiopia is heading toward a complete darkness. Beka! What ever Woyane says about the Millennium Dam project, the Ethiopian people is now determined to protest against this mercenary regime.
Cone artistry and the business of scum trading is well developed in Nigeria and is rather profitable for the scum artists but total lose for the scum victims. Several so called bond purchaser and fortune hunters were even subjected to brutalities and lose of lives too.
It came with the casino economy and Bernard Maddof was its successful golden boy until he was forced give himself up to the authorities because the scummer’s victims were so outraged that they started to take the law in to their own hands and reverse engineer all the money out of him what the cone artist forward engineered out of them.
And anyway, Meles knew that many of these old guard parochial corner patriots will strongly start beating their favorite romantic war drums and as such Meles simply wanted to lift their feelings just to make some LIL money for himself out of them and then deflate the dam idea. If we want to feel good about the dam and the possible aware, then that temporary good feeling itself also costs even if the dam and war may not come to pass. In fact the talks and the international and national up beatings and the regimes fighting with the diaspora itself is already much more valuable theatrical tragic comical art itself even more than the actual building of the dam.
Ato Yilma, For an educated-sounding man, you sure are amazingly mis-informed. Democracy is a wonderful thing and I do hope that when the government you lead comes to power, it will give it to us in spades. While we wait for that, I wanted to make sure that I lay out some facts. I hope that you consider them despite the fact that it comes form someone who lives in Ethiopia.
1. Ethiopia has built and is in the process of building several dams. Gibe 1, Gibe 2, Gibe 3, Beles, Tekeze, the Tendaho project on Awash, several smaller dams for irrigation on the tributaries of Abay, etc. By the way, the Rennassance Hydropower dam project is different only in its size and political complexity. Otherwise, it would be built just like the others. Where does the money come from? The initial seed money is coming from the public and the government coffers. After that, the best way to handle it is to let it pay for itself by having it completed in phases selling the electricity generated by the completed turbines. By the way, did I forget to mention that as of next year, Ethiopia will start selling power to it’s neighbors? You don’t know how good it feels after having to go through power shedding the past two years! On the development or democracy issue, we probably should have waited until the government you may lead takes over with full implementation democracy but that does not seem feasible since you are no closer to coming to power. What should the current government do if it can’t wait that long? Well, it should go ahead and continue with its plans. These are real projects on the ground providing benefits to the population while you sit behind a computer and throw insults on your way toward creating a real democratic government someday. There are a number of issues that one can reasonably disagree with the policies of of the current government. However, building infrastructure should only be encouraged.
2. Your info regarding price control is truly naive. There was a time in the US, 1971 to precise, that a democratically elected president called Nixon imposed wage and price controls when inflation threatened to get out of hand. The measure was temporary and so is Ethiopia’s. If you lived in Addis in which a few oligopolists control virtually the entire market of imported goods, you may think about this a bit carefully. Will the measure achieve the desired results? We will see. Give it some time. Governments are known to succeed and fail with their economic policies and this one is no different.
3. I am not sure where are getting the reporting of guests to Kebele story but I want assure you that this is from 1977, not 2011. I suggest you should visit your relatives to check for yourself.
4. Your comment on the implementation cash registers is interesting. Cash registers are a way of keeping accurate sales records when used properly. For a country that is at the bottom in Sub-Saharan Africa in tax collections not to mention the non existence of books of accounts for small to medium size businesses, it is probably a good thing. There is declaration of income requirement in the US. Should that automatically make the US an undemocratic nation? Turning your argument the other way, since the requirement of cash registers for medium and large businesses in Ethiopia is less than a year old, has the Ethiopian government been democratic for 19 years before that?
The biggest problem that I see with opponents of the current Ethiopian government is that they cannot seem to differentiate between the government and the country. Governments come and go but this resilient nation has cotinued for millenia. I urge you to stop trying to hurt the nation just because you don’t like the policies of the government.
Take care
Yo hit the serpent on the head but you need to deliver the lethal nail for the serpent to understand.Egig betam dink sira.I am proud brother and soon we wil deliver the lethal nail on tplf.
the longer weyane stay the more horn of africa will be destoyed.
evil weyane/tplf regime must go.
long live eritrean-ethiopian cooperation.
Anyone who opposes to the economic development of Ethiopia, he/she is not Ethiopian. As for Yilma Bekele, I think you need to grow up and also you need your head examined.
Yilma Bekele, as a writer of the above Article, you seem to disagree with the Ethiopian people to have the Nile Dam built. You are totally nut, uninformed and unhelpful to the economic development our country is pursuing.
Our people are living in utter poverty and you want the Nile to be only used by the Pharos but not by Ethiopians.
DEATH TO TPLF.
WE ALL KNOW IT IS NOT ABOUT ABAY DAM MELESE IS MAKING MONEY FOR HIM SELF.