In his heart wrenching testimony to the nation via an editorial of the Reporter newspaper (25 July 2010), Amare Aregawi, the owner and, until recently, editor called for a veritable shake-up of the power elite in Addis Ababa. He presented the ascendancy of a principal faction in the power elite as ominous and on the verge of throwing the nation into the abyss thereby unravelling all the changes made under the ‘genuine fighters’ of the EPRDF. He views that faction as being corrupt, paralegal, ‘mafia’ style as well as operating as a ‘clandestine cabinet’ masterminding a counter-movement of sorts to defeat the gains of the ‘genuine fighters’. He lays the blame for the plunder of state resources, the erosion of rule of law, freedom of the press and injustices of all sorts at the door of this ‘illegal clandestine cabinet’.
Unfortunately, he does not clearly define, or identify, who the ‘good’ or ‘genuine fighters’ of the EPRDF are today. His extended account of the misdeeds and illegal practices foisted on the nation by the ‘illegal clandestine cabinet’ appears to indicate that the ‘genuine fighters’ are in the minority. His reference to the ‘good intentions’ of Meles Zenawi expressed at the public demonstration in Mesqel Square leaves out which faction the latter belongs to.
From his description of the Prime Minister as being surrounded on all sides by the ‘mafia faction’, it would seem that he does not want to exclude the PM from the ranks of the ‘genuine fighters’ yet though he expects the PM to take ‘big steps’ to prove his ‘good intentions’ and to declare openly whether he shares the ‘aims and desires’ of the faction.
Amare Aregawi’s reasons for this outpouring of grief, resentment and desperation are not purely personal though the media business he leads has recently suffered an unceremonious ejection from the premises it secured from the authorities to build a printing plant and headquarters. The catalogue of repression, intimidation, extra-judicial killings, torture, imprisonment, plunder of the state treasury, miscarriages of justice, trampling on the nation’s collective well-being and unbridled dictatorship has been chronicled in all sorts of media, long before it dawned on Amare Aregawi to scream at the top of his voice. Better late than never, though!
His anguish only adds to the plethora of appeals, complaints and petitions made to the ruling party by the population, the fledgling free press, both inside and outside the country: to come to terms with its responsibility for the declines in every aspect of the nation’s life and accept the need for a serious engagement of all the political parties in any attempt to stem them. Others have died, suffered in prison or become exiles while Amare continued to enjoy the privileges of backdoor access to the power blocs and to play his role as the government-favoured newspaper man. Whether he intended it or not, his open declaration of an apparent spat between himself and the ‘illegal clandestine cabinet’ will now acquire a dynamic of its own. It will not remain as a mere complaint of sorts for actions to remedy certain blunders.
The fact of the matter is that Amare Aregawi’s call for urgent action by the PM to declare where he stands as between the ‘illegal clandestine cabinet’ and the ‘genuine fighters of the EPRDF’ and to outlaw that faction amounts to an invitation to conduct a coup d’etat! His open call for purging the faction from the government will set in train further division and infighting within the power elite and an instinctive urge on the part of the PM to come on top. Whether the elite unite to bury the whistle blower instead of each other or a witch-hunt erupts under the cloak of yet another ‘gemgema’ (urged by none other than Amare Aregawi in a previous editorial) will depend on what the PM will do next.
There is no doubt that the war of words Amare Aregawi has let loose on the ‘illegal clandestine cabinet’, no matter who they are, will trigger further steps to take him out altogether. Having taken away his premises, his enemies will not stop from pushing for other drastic measures to muzzle him. Undoubtedly, Amare Aregawi’s bold stance to refuse bluntly to give in to pressure and shut up (in his latest editorial on the 28th of July 2010) but to continue to ‘speak the truth to the people’ (describing it as the principle of a free press) stands him in grave peril. At the same time, the public will be heartened to witness his assent to the long existing public clamour for setting straight the odious records of the EPRDF. Yet, his previous ambivalence and servility will restrain the public from fully embracing him, let alone save him. Should the drama unfold in the manner stated without the PM interfering, the scenario for other forms of backlash against the ‘illegal clandestine cabinet’ will gain public recognition.
Surely, Amare Aregawi must have developed loyal readers and supporters as his paper has been the only one allowed by the authorities to be distributed throughout the country. His anxiety and desperation about the increasing deterioration in the political, judicial and economic conditions of the nation under the ‘five million’ strong EPRDF should come as no surprise to most of these. Only his ‘call to arms’ is a different proposition altogether. The question is, if the PM who seems to continue to pull all the strings does not diffuse the situation, to say the least, who else will be able to? In that sense, Amare Aregawi’s latest stance and whether he survives the ordeal he has thrown himself into ties in with the fate of the PM.
In his frustration with the instruments of power closing on him and choking his existence, Amare Aregawi has unwittingly rebuffed the ‘good intentions’ of the PM and almost demanded him to show his true colours. The PM will undoubtedly find this irksome and be tempted to side the ‘illegal clandestine cabinet’. But that would be utter foolishness. The predicament that Amare Aregawi has been placed in by his opponents is the same predicament that millions of Ethiopians languish in every day. His fate might hang by a thread but those millions will be on his side. In particular, the ‘good’ or ‘genuine fighters’ still left in the EPRDF will not hopefully keep on looking dumb forever while the only crime Amare Aregawi has supposedly committed is to push for reform of the EPRDF and make it abide by the law of the land. Those who seek to arrest any further plunge of our country into darkness should stand by him.
