Kinijit town hall meeting in Washington DC,
Oct. 28, 2007 [photo: Tewodros Mekebeb]
Another historical Kinijit town hall meeting was held Sunday, Oct. 28, in Washington DC as Kinijit delegates Wzt. Bertukan Mideksa, Dr Hailu Araya, Ato Gizachew Shiferraw, Ato Brook Kebede and Dr Berhanu Nega concluded their USA tour.
The Oct. 28 town hall meeting was where Ethiopians spoke loud and clear that they support leaders who stand for democracy, and respect the rule of law.
The town hall meeting was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which was full and overfilled into the hall ways, as the photos here show. What a contrast to the Oct. 14 fiasco organized by Keysi’s (KIC) Taye Woldesemayat for Kinijit’s estranged chairman Hailu Shawel.
The host of Sunday’s town hall meeting, the Kinijit Washington DC Metro, allocated more time than usual for questions and answers, cutting down time from speeches.
The meeting was opened by Kinijit DC Metro chairman Ato Yilma Adamou, and Kinijit North America chairman Ato Aklog Lemeneh.
Ato Aklog read a resolution passed by representatives of Kinijit North America chapters who held a full day conference yesterday with the Kinijit leaders. The resolution, among other things, calls for a genuinely democratic election of Kinijit North America officials to be held next February.
Following Ato Aklog’s speech, Prof. Alemayehu Gebremariam was invited to update the audience about the progress being made with H.R. 2003. Prof. Alemayehu said a lot of grassroots work needs to be done to persuade the Senators to pass the bill without delay. He asked every one to use the Senate Advocacy Packet prepared by the Coalition for HR 2003.
Kinijit Vice President Wzt. Bertukan Mideksa took the stage next. Wzt. Bertukan, who normally speaks in a low-keyed manner, brought the house down with Churchillian-like oratory. Her speech was Churchillian because it is defiant in the face of adversity, yet full hope and promises of a better future. The main theme of her message was that the multitude of problems facing Kinijit can only be solved with the active participation of every one who wishes to see Kinijit succeed as a democratic party that strives to bring about freedom and a government by the people for the people. She said Kinijit will overcome its challenges and move forward, because that is what the people of Ethiopia want. Wzt. Bertukan proved once again that she is a shining star in Ethiopian politics.
The rest of the program was a question and answer session, which was moderated by Kinijit North America Inspector General Dr Abraham Bekele. Dr Abraham announced that there is no any kind of restriction on the kind of questions asked in the 2 minutes allotted for every one. Usually Q & A is the most interesting part of these town hall meetings during which one can get the most honest, straight forward, and unrehearsed answers from the leaders.
The questions ranged from possible war with Eritrea, the Woyanne quagmire in Somalia, the death and destruction in the Ogaden to the leadership crisis inside Kinijit.
Regarding the leadership crisis, Dr Berhanu said that the dispute is over whether Kinijit’s rules and procedures should be respected.
Dr Hailu Araya said that the only way to avoid war with Eritrea is by establishing democratic governance in the region. Dr Hailu explained that genuinely democratic countries do not go to war against each other.
This week, some of the Kinijit delegates will return to Ethiopia, while Wzt. Bertukan will join Kinijit Central Council member Ato Debebe Eshetu in Toronto to start a working visit to several cities in Canada.