Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ), whose leader Birtukan Mideksa is currently in jail, has been engulfed with internal crisis even before it was officially formed. In the past few weeks, the crisis has reach at a critical level where the party is heading toward a split up, one side headed by the acting chairman, Ato Gizachew Shiferraw, and the other, a dissident group led by Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam. Awramba Times and The Reporter have the following reports:
UDJ to take measures against dissident members
Addis Ababa (The Reporter) — The Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) Party will hold a meeting today to take measures on council members accused of distributing “defamatory document” on executive members of the party. The party has suspended 21 members of the party on Tuesday, and today’s decision by the party expected to be harsher than ever.
Dr. Hailu Araya, vice president and public relations head of the party said that they suspended certain members of the standing committee members of the council, and the party will deliberate on other members, including Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam.
The disagreement in the party was a turning point after a document was distributed among the party members by Prof. Mesfin and other members. The document, entitled “abusing power”, accused members of the executive committee of the party. The authors of the document said that the leadership of the party was abusing the power entrusted to them.
Dr. Hailu said that the content of the distributed document was full of unsubstantiated allegations. If there is a problem within the leadership of the party, they should present their disappointment through the party’s proper channel.
The document was distributed to members last Sunday at a meeting called by the party to brief members about joining the opposition parties’ coalition, Forum, and to discus current affairs within the party.
Prof. Mesfin and other members said in the document that since Birtukan Midekssa, president of the party, was detained, the party under Eng. Gizachew Shiferaw, who is now acting leader, had failed to show effective leadership. Instead, it said, the executive committee does not want to discuss issues with members, was not welcoming criticisms, does not want to acknowledge the efforts of youth members and is not fit to lead the party.
In addition to that, they said, the executive committee is squandering the money collected form members to recruit supporters, harassing members who are challenging them and acting in contravention of the statutes of the party, which is against the principles of the party.
Except for minor differences and disappointments with the executive committee of the party, the distributed document did not reflect major differences of opinion. However, some party members have begun to show disappointment that their party would not stand firm if things are carried out in this manner.
Dr. Hailu said that the basic difference between the party leadership and Prof. Mesfin and others is the issue of collaborating with the Forum. Joining the forum will strength the party to sustain its agenda in Ethiopian politics during and beyond elections, he said, adding that if members were not happy there is a party discipline to discuss issues in appropriate way rather than brewing differences by propagating false allegations.
የስብሰባውን አላማ በመቃወም 10 የአንድነት
አዲስ አበባ (አውራምባ ታይምስ)፡- ‹‹የፓርቲው አባላት ያለህገ ደንብ ይባረራሉ፤ በአመራሮቹ ዘንድ አምባገነንነት ሰፍኗል›› የሚል አቋም አንግበው ተቃውሞአቸውን በማስተጋባት ላይ የሚገኙት ፕ/ር መስፍን ወ/ማሪያም፣ዶ/ር ሽመልስ ተክለጻድቅና አቶ ደበበ እሸቱ ፓርቲው በዛሬው እለት የሚያደርገውን ስብሰባ በመቃወም ሳይሰበሰቡ መቅረታቸውን የአውራምባ ታይምስ ምንጮች ገለጹ፡፡
አንድነት ፓርቲ በእነዚህ አመራሮች ላይ እርምጃ ለመውሰድ በዛሬው ዕለት የብሄራዊ ምክር ቤት ስብሰባ ጠርቶ የነበረ ሲሆን የዚሁ ምክር ቤት አባላት የሆኑትና በዛሬው ዕለት መገኘት የነበረባቸው አስር አባላት ፕ/ር መስፍን፣ዶ/ር ሽመልስ ተክለጻድቅ፣ወ/ሮ ሀና ዋለልኝ፣ወ/ሪት ትዕግስት ተሾመና አቶ ታምራት ታረቀኝን ጨምሮ ሁሉም ሳይገኙ መቅረታቸውንና የኦዲትና ኢንስፔክሽን ሃላፊው አቶ ወረታው ዋሴም ለእነፕሮፌሰር መስፍን ድጋፋቸውን በመስጠት በስብሰባው ላይ ሳይገኙ ቀርተዋል፡፡
በተያያዘ ዜና ፕሮፌሰር መስፍን ወልደማሪያም ‹የአንድነት ስራ አስፈጻሚ ውስጥ አብዮታዊ ጡንቻ ነግሷል› በሚል ርዕስ ዛሬ ይፋ ባደረጉት ጽሁፍ ‹‹… የሰብዓዊ መብቶችን እናስከብራለን ተብሎ የተቋቋመው ፓርቲ ሰብዓዊ መብቶችን እየጣሰ፣የፓርቲው ገንዘብ ለመደለያ ወይም ለማስፈራሪያ እየዋለ ነው›› ሲሉ የገለጹ ሲሆን ስራ አስፈጻሚው በጥቅም በተሳሰሩ ሰዎች አንድ አካል አንድ አምሳል ሆነው የተለየ አስተሳሰብ ያላቸውን ሁሉ እየመነጠረ በማስወጣት ላይ ነው ሲል የፕሮፌሰር ጽሁፍ ያትታል፡፡