When TPLF came to power in 1991 toppling the brutal regime of Mengistu, it raised expectations and hopes of the Ethiopian people so high that our country would become a democracy where the God-given rights of all its citizens would be respected and protected.
However, it did not take long for those hopes and expectations to fade away. Despite its rhetoric, TPLF soon started to prove itself unprepared to take the kind of trajectory many citizens of Ethiopia wished it would have. In fact, it soon, just like the regime it replaced, embarked on a killing spree, persecution of those who oppose, or criticize its policies or strategies. Instead of being a government of the people for the people, over the years, it proved itself the opposite: a club of few irresponsible and reckless elites. Indeed, TPLF has proved itself, beyond any shadow of doubt, that it has no respect for Ethiopia, and its citizens, no respect for democratic values, no respect for human rights, no sense of good faith, the most corrupt, and repressive.
In terms of abusing the parliament, the judiciary, the police, the prosecution, the military, and the civil service in general it is the worst Ethiopia has ever seen. TPLF fraudulently uses these public institutions to legitimize exercise of power, and to give the impression at least to foreigners that Ethiopia under their rule is a democracy. The strategy they adopted is politicization of the judiciary, and all government bureaucracies such as the police, the prosecution, and all public offices. In fact, there is no public institution which is not politicized in Ethiopia. All these public institutions which are supposed to be independent of political parties, professional, impartial, responsible and accountable are brutally colonized by the TPLF regime. As a result none of these public institutions are free, and nor are any of their employees. By infusing politics in to all these institutions, TPLF turned them in to subservient political actors meant to serve it, and not the interest of the state. Such a deplorable situation has opened the way for incompetent, and inexperienced but politically trustworthy individuals to come to key leadership positions, and the civil servants to be caught up in fear reducing their creativity, and contribution.
In fact, it is no secret to anyone who follows the political atmosphere in Ethiopia, how the TPLF exploited the judiciary to imprison opposition political leaders, and thousand others following the 2005 national election, and that is still the case. The case of Burtukan Medaksa, who is still languishing behind the bar, is a glaring testimony. The judiciary in Ethiopia is a sham and corrupt political entity with no confidence of the people on its side. As an institution which has, historically, enjoyed high level of regard, and confidence of the people, its current situation is deeply deplorable. The police institution is a mere political tool of TPLF.The same holds true with the prosecution service, and all governmental bureaucracies. They all are made political tools with a mission to advance the whim, and will of the ruling party. They are, in fact, devoid of their civil service character, and are preoccupied with politics and made to safeguard the TPLF. It is no difficult for one to imagine the scale of devastation TPLF has brought to these public offices and the years that would it take to restore public confidence in them. It is just a disaster that could last for a generation.
TPLF has spared no office in Ethiopia; universities are caught up in fear, and so are teachers and students. It is hard both for teachers and students to speak up their mind for fear of negative repercussions. It is not possible for one to speak his mind and still keeps his job, nor is it possible for a student to do that and still continue his education. The educated is marginalized; no space is left for them to contribute to policies and strategies related to socio-economic and political matters of the country, which has become the exclusive competence of TPLF’S little educated cadres.
It looks that the TPLF has now taken full control of the people: the farmers are controlled through land, the workers and the youth are controlled through jobs, the business people through benefits, the rest through intimidation and persecution. Shockingly, TPLF has a political roster for all the students in the university, a student should be a member of TPLF or its associates, and do some activities on its behalf, if he or she wants to get a job in governmental offices after graduation.
In a country where almost all the available jobs are within the domain of the government, because the private sector is discouraged, and or almost all big sectors are under the control of the TPLF, threatening those who work in the civil service or other public offices with loss of job or no employment opportunity has been a very effective tool for TPLF to force people into timidity. The recent mass gathering of the people at Meseke Square in Addis Ababa, following TPLF’s claim of winning the 2010 national election is a typical example.
In sum, in a parliament where the opposition parties have only one seat, not because they were not voted to office by Ethiopians but because TPLF doesn’t like them to be in the parliament, in a country where the judiciary, the prosecution office, the military, the police, and the civil service are all turned to be political tools of the TPLF thereby distracting them from their function, where the mass media is controlled by TPLF, where journalist, and politicians are under persecution, where professional associations are discouraged to operate, and its members are quite often persecuted, where higher learning institutions are caught up in fears, where the educated are marginalized and persecuted, where civil societies are discouraged to operate, one can hardly talk of rule of law , democracy , justice or economic progress in Ethiopia. This just reminds me of Kahlil Gibran’s impressive words ‘Dead are my People’!
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The writer, Gizachew Admasu, was dean of the Haramaya University. [email protected]
