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Let’s give the new prime minister time to prove himself

Posted on , Updated on by EthiopianReview.com

By Elias Kifle

The sudden death of dictator Meles Zenawi has created an unexpected opportunity for the ruling junta, EPRDF, to reverse course and make peace with the people of Ethiopia whom it had been terrorizing and brutalizing for the past 21 years.

Let’s be clear about the fact that Meles had never intended for Hailemariam to become a prime minister. Neither did he intend for TPLF to lose the leadership of both the ruling junta and the prime minister’s office. Hailemariam’s premiership is the unintended consequence of Meles’s grand design to build a personal dynasty parallel to the Greater Tigray Manifesto. In order to realize his megalomaniac dream without any challenge, he gutted TPLF to the core by removing Tigrean nationalists and those with strong leadership skills and replacing them with corrupted individuals. In the event that his grand design fails, Meles was preparing to implement the sinister Article 39 of the constitution and create a new country called ‘Greater Tigray.’ His plan fell apart when he unexpectedly died without preparing any one to take over. His hand-picked patriarch followed him to hell a few days later.

What is next?

I have been told by some individuals who have known Hailemariam Desalegn personally since childhood that he, unlike dictator Meles Zenawi, is a humble, decent human being. Also, unlike Meles, he doesn’t hate Ethiopia. I have heard from others that, even though they do not deny Hailemariam is a decent person, they think that the primary reason Meles appointed him as his deputy was because he is a weak leader who was not a threat to him.

I am more optimistic about Hailemariam than many of my friends. I believe what has occurred over the past few months in Ethiopia is the work of God. I believe that Ethiopians have been given an opportunity by God to make things better for our country. I therefore wish to see that Hailemariam he is a civilized leader. I wish he will bring peace and reconciliation to Ethiopia. I wish to see that he is NOT a blood thirsty tyrant like his predecessor, and that he will respect the civil rights of all Ethiopians. He can demonstrate all that by immediately taking the following measures:

  1. Release of all political prisoners.
  2. Stop the genocidal war in Ogaden against fellow Ethiopians and allow humanitarian organizations to provide aid to the war ravaged population.
  3. Rescind the press and terrorism laws that were passed by Meles to eliminate opposition to his dictatorship.
  4. Invite all opposition groups for a dialogue.

In the spirit of what I stated above, for the next few months, instead of criticizing the Hailemariam administration, I will try to cooperate with him in transitioning Ethiopia to genuine democracy, if that is his intention. I also call on all patriotic Ethiopians to give Hailemariam some time to prove himself, while closely monitoring every move he and all members of his new administration will be making.

I would like to hear your constructive views.

31 thoughts on “Let’s give the new prime minister time to prove himself”

  1. Elias, I understand your motive now. I was suspicious that you were narrow minded and your comments were ethinic base. I ask you kindly excuse and i undersnad your point of view is to build free state without any influence of any group.
    As a social philosophy student, the time is here all Ethiopians rethink to establish common law for mutual benifit. J.J.Rouseau said we were born with positive thinking and if our enviroment couldn’t influence, we can live with positive virtue by sharing the benifit each other. Hence, Hailemariam is not only humble he is also the most outstanding hydrolic teacher while he was at Arba Minch university. His engineering student told me and he is his fan ever. He told me this story 10 years ago. I wanted to say that he will have a brain to view things from different angles and will be more rational for the fate of this country-Ethiopian!!!!

  2. If TPLF want to creat Greater Tigray, still TPLF has the Power to do it. The security force and Military is in the hand of TPLF. They have the power to influence everything. From this I can learn that TPLF and Meles do not want to creat Greater Tigray. That was old ideology. So I do no think what this article is some what balanced article. No one thinks that Meles want to creat Greater Tigray.

  3. Mr. Elias Kifle, this is evidence of political maturity par excellence on your part. It takes big balls to say something like that. You’re echoing sentiments expressed by many Ethiopians in private, but are shy about saying it publicly. Thanks for breaking the ice. Ethiopian Review didn’t become the #1 Ethiopian website by accident. Much Respect!

  4. Nothing wrong to give time for newly elected officials. But equally good not to be fooled while waiting him to prove himself. We can always help him know the issues which he might have otherwise overlooked.

  5. Dear Elias,

    You are absolutely right. We need to give this man sometime. Apposition must refrain from criticising before he even starts his daunting task. When there is change in personalities there will certainly be some change in the modus operandi of leadership and governance for that matter of doing business. Condemnation by association ought to be minimized. Otherwise it will be hard to bring reconciliation and understanding in Ethiopia.

    I realise and understand that thousands of Ethiopians in the Diaspora and in Ethiopia get up-to-date information and news from Ethiopian Review. As one of the media sources you can play your part in encouraging Hailemariam to do the right thing. Also we in the Diaspora need to press the international community to help this man bring democracy and reconciliation. I hope Ethiopian review will do its share towards this noble cause.

    Should things fall back to square one, no one can stop us from criticising and even opposing him. Before that we should give this man and ourselves sometime to make genuine and honest opposition. Thanks

    Abichu Nega

  6. You are absolutely right. We need to give this man sometime. The opposition must refrain from criticising before he even starts his daunting task. When there is change in personalities there will certainly be some change in the modus operandi of leadership and governance for that matter of doing business. Condemnation by association ought to be minimized. Otherwise it will be hard to bring reconciliation and understanding in Ethiopia.

    I realise and understand that thousands of Ethiopians in the Diaspora and in Ethiopia get up-to-date information and news from Ethiopian Review. As one of the media sources you can play your part in encouraging Hailemariam to do the right thing. Also we in the Diaspora need to press the international community to help this man bring democracy and reconciliation. I hope Ethiopian review will do its share towards this noble cause.

    Should things fall back to square one, no one can stop us from criticising and even opposing him. Before that we should give this man and ourselves sometime to make genuine and honest opposition. Thanks

    Abichu Nega

  8. I agree with you. If he is not full of hatred like Meles and If the conditions you stated above fulfilled, we should welcome him with an open arms. By the way, I am one of those who believe that TPLF can’t be reformed. But, willing to give Hailemariam a chance.

  10. Elias, sometimes I feel sorry for your poor soul. I also question your well-being. Hailemariam is a creation of EPRDF by in-large and a protege of Meles in specific. I was a classmate of Hailemariam’s, I know the man and I call him my friend – what I can tell you with high degree of certainty is that the man has no room for idiots (like Meles used to say) or folks like you. The fundamental problem you’ve is this outdated and backward thinking of the feudal era where power is transferred and traded like a commodity between the elites without considering the merits and potential of the subject being promoted. That era, my friend, is dead. You can refuse to grow out of it but you can’t convince us to see all things through that narrow and ugly history of ours. The vision and dream Meles had for his beloved country was exactly what’s unfolding right now. The people who matter most, all Ethiopians from all walk of life, see this for what it is. Hence the outpouring and genuine sorrow displayed by many in wake of the passing of that visionary leader. When all said and done the future generation will look back to this leader and era as beginning for the renaissance and creation of a new nation. So, dear friend, since your diatribe never had an effect on the inner workings of Ethiopians let alone the EPRDF, I suggest to you to stay the course and continue to indulge yourself with the satisfaction of barking at no one in particular. While you are there, please make sure to take your few die-hard followers along with you to this wonderful ride to nowhere. The destiny and outcome of our future is in no way related to your backwardness – it only will be determined by how closely and ably Hailmariam will execute the late PM’s vision.

  11. It depends how much reliable are your sources of information. No doubt the Mr. Hailmariam is a good and religious ( God freeing) individual. He might have been strong leader who introduced new and better idea sometimes challenging during discussion with the late PM and his group. According to his own wards he was in touch with Meles on daily basis, and learned a lot. Even Though he did not mention, he might have thought and helped Meles shape his views and policies more than anybody else close to him. Meles might have been frustrated and unease with his ethnic group, wanted to create a buffer zone by putting Mr,Desalegne as his deputy. We can speculate lots of scenarios, but we can not be right. The road ahead is bumpy. We could see what no one expected. Time will tell. Let us give him time and the benfit of daubt.

  13. Hailemariam as a young lecturer in my early college years left on me a lasting impression as an excellent lecturer and a humble person. He was one of many including Aasie Kemal, Nigusie Tekle etc…

    In my opinion, Hailemariam still owes Woyane big time for the position of authority he holds now, and his early career advancements including as registrar and dean of AWTI several years ago. Back then it was rumored that his fast track career advancement was in part because of his political affiliation and woyane’s eagerness to remove perceived “neftegna” lecturers and employees from position of authority.

    In conclusion, he may not hold a strong power to effect the much waited unity and freedom. But, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt…and I agree with Elias that Hailemariam cannot, will not, shall not hate Ethiopia!

  14. Selam Elias,

    I want to start by commending you for your beautiful writing style. I enjoy it so much yours is the first site I visit each morning. I enjoy reading your postings though a lot of it I disagree with. I like to think of myself as someone who wants to think positively and thinks a half full glass is better than an empty one. What motivated me to write you is the improvement in the tone of your writing in this article. Where you say you want to give Hailemariam (the new PM) a chance. I totally agree you should give him a chance and he should give you a chance. But do you think the harsh language that you use towards Meles helps you reconcile with Hailemariam. I don’t think so because it is offensive to those who think highly of him including me. You have every right to disagree with Meles or others but how you express your disagreements will also be a measure of how successful you will be if you want to reconcile with Hailemariam or his government. Elias, please change for the better you are a big asset to Ethiopia in terms of your writing skills, don’t let it go to waste because you want to mud sling. I think it is high time that we all learn to cease and desist the mud slinging on all sides. If we truly love Ethiopia I believe the way has to be to learn to respect one another because insults are not going to get us to where we need to go – on all sides. We also have to look at the whole trip as a journey it will take time to get to where we want to be. I believe we all want to go to the same place. I really think the fight is on who will take us there because with the how you can always hash it out. All the best to you sir.

  16. Hailemariam as a young lecturer in my early college years left on me a lasting impression as an excellent lecturer and a humble person. He was one of many including Aasie Kemal, Nigusie Tekle etc…

    In my opinion, Hailemariam still owes Woyane big time for the position of authority he holds now, and his early career advancements including as registrar and dean of AWTI several years ago. Back then it was rumored that his fast track career advancement was in part because of his political affiliation and woyane’s eagerness to remove perceived “neftegna” lecturers and employees from position of authority.

    In conclusion, he may not hold a strong power to effect the much waited unity and freedom. But, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt…and I agree with Elias that Hailemariam cannot, will not, shall not hate Ethiopia!

  17. Elias,
    I support your notion! I know he is surrounded by TPLF gangs but he has a little chance to emerge as the new Egyptian president!! You never know who ever thought the sudden death of Meles !!

  19. Brother ELIAS KIFLE!

    Greetings to you from Texas. I am one of those who read your web site, THE ETHIOPIAN REVIEW, for the last several years, atleast two times a day, to be honest. I had had seen people written all kinds of articles with multitude characterizations such aspositive,negative,and/or some of them were completely no ideas but just essays with out even making points why they were written. I always wanted to write to you but never worked out for some reasons, however, this morning when I began to read what you have for all your web site readers, the first thing I saw was “The Comment You Made Abour The Current Designated Prime Minister Hailemariam” should be given sometimes atleast to prove him self that wether he could do things by himself in his own way or follows his former boss, Mr. Meles.

    Our people is a very, very civilized,in our own culture in our own way of understanding things and doing it, and very honest, calm self-controled people. Our people had had proven this during Mengistu,s debackle , when there was no leader or a head of state for at least for two weeks until Mr Meles took orver, and now when Meles was gone for treatment and after his death was rumored, and even after his final fare well until Mr Hailemariam was elected. This is something perhaps only Ethiopian can only do it without panicing in the absence of their leader, I admire my people for who they are truely , and I hope they would it in the same way if ever cicumestances happens again. So, Brother, ELIAS, I personally apreciate and support your suggestion to our fellow Ethiopians at home -in ETHIOPIA , and abroad, in particular the POLITICIANS AND OPPOSITION PARTY-MEMBERS. PLEASE LET US GIVE OUR OWN A CHANCE AND SEE HIM DOING WHAT HAS.
    Brother Elias, about two and half weeks ago, I had one of the main opposition partys’ promint member who also was my relative who came to visit me. He and I talked about the same issue that you came up regarding Mr Hailemariam, if he ever, being appointed what he would do the Mr Hailemariam. This my relative, one of the oppositions’ party member exactly said the same way you wrote your article , in which he said that ” I would do give Mr. Hailemariam some times and see what he could do, he exteded his saying by adding that the same thing you said to Mr Hailemariam to do in the next two years.
    Brother ELIAS, CONTINUE WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN DOING UNTIL NOW REGARDING THE ETHIOPIAN REVIEW AND YOUR SPEAR-HEADED IDEAS ABOUT OUR BELOVED COUNTRY ETHIOPIA .

    May GOD BLESS YOU ABOUNDENTY, BROTHER , WE LOVE YOU!

  20. Haile Mariam Desalegn may be a great leader and time would tell but there is the other side
    of qualifications that promoted him to this post. What would be this appealing qualities of
    Mr HD that appealed the most to Meles Zenawi?

    Exactly 36 years ago my childhood friend of mine and I, got to travel to the region HD comes from. We met with locals discussed some topics of mutual concerns. At the end of our
    tour we were asked what ethnic extractions we come from. My friend who is a Tigrean told them that he is from Tigray. Things went very smooth for him. Among the elders we met up
    many of them swear their ancestors came from tigray some time between 7th and 10th century and settled among the Wolyta people. Since then inter mixed with the locals,finally became the people of the wolyta. If my memory did not fail me they call ownself “the tigri” Wolytas. Their “Morgan coin” on both temporal bones is same as any other locals. Even their statue and facial fetures are no different than the rest of of Wolytas. My presumption of Hailemariam’s favourite status could be due this claims. My
    friend was well accepted by this falks over me which I cared less one way or the other.
    I had great visits just as of my friend who was lectured about his lost tribe in Wolyta, yet
    we both enjoyed our visits and left that area, learning something we never heard before.

    If any one of you have deeper knowledge of such tribe in Wolyta, please elaborate to us the Amharas who are tribe blind society, in relations to Mr HD. Is HD the one of those lost tribe from Adwa that became the Tigri of Wolyta?
    Mind you, south is the melting pot of all cultures. Its not surprising some regiments from Axume dynasty may have sought refuge in many parts of the southern Ethiopia. Some did become what we know today as Oromia. The Laqqi ARUSI whose language is only Oromiffa, are said segments of invading regments from Axume. Such pockets of soldiers
    from axume did surender to locals and became the the mexicans of the natives. This even have crossed Ethiopian borders into Somalia, where there are all Ethiopian tribes have distance relatives mixed with locals, became part of SoMALIA.
    Historians weigh on this issue.

  21. Elias, Yes, I agree 100% with your idea. In my opinion, the first simple thing to give a positive imprestion is to elect an independet election board that administer the Addis election soon. If EPRDF is ready to give power to the new generation of its member, it is also very simple to elect free election board that can adminster this election. Elias, Addisu is also in a great mood. Let us judge Hailemariam based on his action.

  22. Obo Elias,

    I agree with you. We should give this gentleman a chance to demonstrate himself. He has a lot on his plate that needs to be done in different ways. He should start showing his acceptance and understanding that there a legitimate opposition and the existence of such opposition is one of the faces of constructive democracy. He should also acknowledge in principle that there are political prisoners who were thrown in jail just for their imaginations not for their violent actions. Obbo Eskinder is a perfect example. If there were negotiations being conducted with any opposition groups, such positive tasks should be intensified to bring them to fruition. I assume he is a man of God and as such I pray for him that May The Almighty Lead Him In The Right Direction

  23. According to Jawar Mohammed who gave an interview to ESAT radio yesterday (9/18/2012) Meles knew he had brain tumor in 2006. According to Ato Jawar Mohammed, Meles had been preparing for a replacement. I don’t know if everything went according to the way Meles wanted it, but his death could not have been totally unexpected.

    Regardless whether things went accoring to plan for the TPLF, the demand of the Ethiopian people remains the same: peole have the right to choose their leader. There is no time to waist. The number one priority for me is for the new administration to demonistrate that it intends to honor this fundamental principle. First, release all political prisoners, or at least let the people of Ethipia know that it intends to do so in the near future.

  24. Ato Elias Kefle,

    What is it that makes u think that Desalegn Hailemariam might have a different outlook when it comes to Ethiopia and Ethiopiawinet? After all he is a member of the EPRDF whose political outlook is nothing but anti Ethiopia and Ethiopiawinet. The system is still intact and ethnic canivalism is still promoted no matter who takes the headship of the EPRDF. So nothing is what we the people of Ethiopia expect from such tribal chieves as Desalegn and others.

    The struggle continues!!

    Gudu Kassa

  25. Elias I wish things go that easy for him. you think he is the prime minister now. To me he is the ” Prime Minister ” . Offcourse it does not hurt to give him a chance while doing everything we could at the same time.

  29. I think that is fair to say let us give the new leader the benefit of the dough . Let us not rush to any gugment based on assumption . I respectfully agree with your suggestion

  30. Elias. Thanks for inviting views and comments. Three points:

    First: the suddent death of PM Meles has (a) destroyed the minority group in opposition/diaspora and significantly reduced their propoganda of hatred and hostility against the people of Tigray; (b) demonstratd the level of competency of the opposition group in diaspora which is less strategic, opportunistic, fragmented, excessively greedy…(c) dried the ability of those few but less experienced Ethiopian journalists to fabricate news and article on the internet – they became jobless with the sudden death.

    Second, I think you should be up to speed with the new generation and its vision and agenda in the 21st Century and move away from old politics : There is no politics called Greater Tigray. This was a history, and we have passed that stage of political maturity and am not sure if this was Meles’ agenda (ofcourse some leadership in TPLF at their age of early 20s had plans but that was almost 35 years ago). This old politics does not help ethiopia to move forward – it is backward looking, and an instrument of the enemy of Ethiopia. We have a common agenda – reducing poverty, economic growth, political freedom, equal opportunity, corruption and governance, and justice for all.

    Third, EPRDF had made a strategic decision 3 years ago – succession planning that ensure continuity of policy and leadership competency. The first batch was retired from the central politics and leadership of the party. The second batch was supposed to retire and Hailemariam Dessalegn was clearly the successor. EPRDF has continued to demonstrate its strength by implementing the succession planning – metekakat. Great to see smooth transition of power within the party though my dream is to see power transition between parties. However, in our context this is a step forward. No single ethiopian leader has done that transition before (even within a family e.g. His Majesty Haileselassie). I must say we should now put pressure on the opposition camp to develop their own succession plans. This is good for this great nation and am confident that the new generation in EPRDF can do business with the new generation of leaders in the opposition group. However, I do not see the opportunity for cooperative but competetive politics between the new EPRDF leadership and the old guards in diaspora politicians. Going forward, democracy is an evolutionary process driven by internal incentives and actors, we should call upon the opposition to define their retirement age and work out their succession plan to facilitate dialogue between Hailemariam Dessalegn led new generation of leaders on the EPRDF and the new leaders on opposition (not the same figures that we know them on newspaper, radio and internet.

    God bless Ethiopia.

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