The DC Kidist Mariam Church’s board started to stink like Woyanne

Ethiopian Review Editorial

The crisis that has engulfed the Debre Selam Kidist Mariam (DSKM) Ethiopian Orthdox Church in Washington DC continues to worsen. The latest development is that on Sunday, the Church’s board had called police on members and officials of the Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Idir who demanded the board to tell the truth. The DC police with five cruisers rushed to the Church when board member Abebe Aboye made an emergency call. The police left the church premesis grumbling after observing that there was no emergency. But the presence of the police inside the church served as a wake up call to many of the DSKM members who remained silent or indifferent ጆሮ ዳባ ልበስ up to now when their church is being taken over by a rogue group of opportunist individuals who wish to go back home and do business with Woyanne, à la Aba Melaku of another Ethiopian church in DC.

This Sunday’s confrontation started when board chairman Frew Bulbula told the congregation that a new executive committee has been elected to take over the Idir. This angered a lot of people who felt lied to. The fact is that there was a meeting on August 19 that was attended by over 150 members of the Idir. The meeting was held at the Cathedral Catholic Church in Washington DC after the DSKM board refused to allow it to take place inside the church’s meeting hall. At that meeting, the Idir members asked the current executives to remain in their position until the attempted ‘hostile takeover’ of the Idir by the DSKM board is repulsed. Funds were also collected to cover legal expenses. Unbeknown to the Idir members and officials, the DSKM board had also called a meeting on the same day where less than fifty of their collaborators showed up. Bililign Mandefro and cohorts told the participants that they are called to the meeting to elect new officials for the Idir.

Last week, when a relative of one of the Idir members died, Ato Seyoum Garedew, chairman of the Idir, gave $7,000 to the family of the deceased. However, on Sunday, Ato Frew Bulbula told the congregation that the Idir’s new board gave the money to the family. This outright lie inside a church angered several people who were aware of the fact. Some of them shouted: “stop lying!” It was this angry response from the congregation that caused Ato Abebe Aboye to panick and call the police. The church members were angry, and they were shouting at the board that is acting and smelling like Woyanne. But they would not resort to violence or engage in any harmful action inside their own church.

The DSKM board has the backing of some of the priests. After members of the church pointed out Frew Bulbula’s lies on Sunday, the head priest said, let them shout, they will get it in court! What arrogance (ዕብሪት) coming from a ‘spiritual’ leader!

Some who don’t know the story behind the story may wonder why the DSKM board is aggressively going after an independent idir (self-help organization) and its officials. After all, Idir by its definition is an ad hoc group of individuals who get together and contribute some money that is used to pay for funerals and weddings. In Kidist Mariam Idir’s case, they only pay for funeral expenses. The money that is in the bank — $300,000 — also is not that much. The DSKM board could spend close to that amount for legal fees alone by the time the whole thing is over.

The real issue behind the DSKM board’s attempt to take over the independent Idir is politics. As reported previously, the DSKM board that had been slouching toward the Woyanne camp for a long time is now out of the closet. They used to claim that DSKM is an independent church, i.e., they are under the authority of neither the Woyanne-installed patriarch in Addis Ababa, nor the legitimate patriarch who is currently in exile. Now, after … continued to next page >>