My encounter with Berhanu Nega – Elias Kifle

By Elias Kifle

On Saturday, Oct. 27, Kinijit North America, on behalf of the Kinijit delegation, hosted a special get together in Virginia for members of the media and representatives of Kinijit chapters. There were about 100 people all together. My associates and I were among those who had been invited.

The who’s who of Kinijit in North America was at the party. The delegates — Dr Hailu Araya, Ato Gizachew Shiferraw, Ato Brook Kebede, and Dr Berhanu Nega — were there. Wzt. Bertukan, who was sick with flu, could not make it. Ato Aklog Lemeneh, Ato Yilma Adamou and all the other officials of the Kinijit NA and DC, Ethiomedia’s Abreha Belai, Addis Dimts Radio’s Abebe Belew, EMF’s Dawit Kebede… were all there.

As part of the event’s program, the delegates gave plaques to representatives of Kinijit chapters in the U.S. in recognition of their tireless efforts in the past two years in providing critically needed support to the party.

Members of the Kinijit Youth League also received a special recognition as the current workhorse and the future leaders of the party.

Cultural songs were being played to entertain the gathering. It seems that the value of cultural activities, including music, in politics is well understood by Kinijitians. Most Kinijit events include songs from different ethnic groups.

Lastly, Ato Aklog, on behalf of Kinijit North America, expressed his appreciation to Ethiopian Review, Ethiomedia, Addis Dimts Radio, Abugida and other Ethiopian media for helping with the Kinijit delegation’s successful USA tour.

I had attended several of these kinds of events over the years. But none compares with what I have witnessed or experienced on Oct. 27:

1) I am impressed with the professionalism of the organizers — from the way they dressed up, to how they welcome and interact with the invited guests, and

2) The delegates exude positive energy, optimism and hope that is hard to describe. They are leaders to be loved, not feared. They were approachable and sociable. They were going from table to table to say hello and they even went to the stage and did some iskista and other traditional Ethiopian dances. It was a memorable experience.

But the highlight of the event for me personally was to finally meet with Berhanu Nega. It was our first face to face meeting. Even though I had been one of Dr Berhanu’s harshest critics in the past, I always maintained a great deal of respect for him as a scholar and political leader. My disagreement with him had been over strategy and organizational rules, not over character. I thought his position as the campaign manager of Kinijit two years ago did not allow him to make public statements contradicting the chairman of the party. If the executive committee of Kinijit disagrees with the chairman, the proper way to communicate the disagreement to the public, if deemed necessary, is through the party’s official spokesperson — the same way as it is done right now. Other than that, the tremendous contribution made by Dr Berhanu to the Kinijit movement was well noted.

I believe that it was the intellectual fire power of Dr Berhanu Nega and Prof. Merera Gudina of ONC (credit where it is due), joined by Ato Lidetu Ayalew’s oratorical skill, that left the Woyanne regime politically naked and led to its defeat at the polls in May 2005. This is not to say that others did not play critical roles, particularly Ato Hailu Shawel, who helped organize the countryside, Ato Andargachew Tsige, who was the architect of Kinijit’s election campaign, and many others.

Unfortunately, Merera and Lidetu sold out the movement and became Woyanne’s decoration in the rubber stamp parliament. The much respected Hailu Shawel sadly turned himself into a double-tongued dictator. On the other hand, Kinijit gave birth to new heroes — the likes of Bertukan Mideksa and Muluneh Eyoel — to join Hailu Araya, Yacob Hailemariam, Gizachew Shiferraw, Berhanu Nega and others in leading the movement forward.

Whereas Hailu Shawel and Lidetu have fallen off Kinijit’s freedom train in disgrace, Berhanu Nega stayed loyal to the cause. Instead of seeking power (he could have been the mayor of Addis Ababa), he chose to respect the people’s wish at great personal sacrifices. He thus proved himself to be a man of integrity in keeping the trust bestowed upon him by the people of Ethiopia. This is on top of the brilliant mind he has. Hopefully, he will stay true to the principles of democratic governance and continue to grow as a leader… Who wants to end up disgraced like Lidetu, Hailu and Taye?

It was with all this in the back of my mind that I met with Berhanu Nega on Oct. 27. As I was chatting with a couple of friends, he walked across the room and came to talk to me. That by itself says a lot about him. Which Ethiopian politician, or religious leader, or any prominent person do we know of who would walk up to his critic to say welcome and exchange greetings? Can you, for example, imagine Iyasu Alemayehu doing that? Or Hailu Shawel? Or Meles? In Meles’ case, his lawyers sought death penalty against me just for being a critic. The kangaroo court decided that death is too harsh and gave me life in prison instead, just for expressing my views on a web site. After witnessing how Ato Hailu Shawel’s gang mistreated members of the media at their Oct. 14 public meeting (fiasco) in Washington DC, I am certain that if he comes to power, there will continue to be no free press in Ethiopia.

My encounter with Dr Berhanu lasted for about 15 minutes. We agreed to get together some other time for further discussion on some of the issues we raised during our brief conversation.