Saturday, May 30, 2015

Ethiopia: a giant prison


OROMO: A BLESSED NATION CONFRONTED WITH PARADOXES

By Leenjiso Horo
Photo: Irreecha Oromiyaa
The Oromo is a blessed nation. It’s blessed with a large population, a vast country, abundant natural resources, a rich environment and a productive land. Oromiyaa has minerals, gold, platinum, iron ore, coffee and more. These are the blessings. But, we have also been facing paradoxes. The paradoxes that we have been facing are: we are not in control of our own destiny, our own country and our own resources. Despite our numerical majority, we are under the minority colonial rule. The minority has occupied our country, and has controlled our destiny, our country and the resources of our land. Our people are poor in the midst of abundance of resources in our county.
I would like to draw attention to several related issues that concern me about our national liberation struggle. These issues have brought interlocking crises within the Oromo national liberation movement. Each of them has brought crisis to the struggle in its own way. There are six issues that have paralyzed the Oromo national liberation movement from achieving the intended goal. These are: Lack of Strong OrganizationClinging of Leadership to Political Office for Too LongLeadership StyleLeadership in ExileLeadership’s Lack of Coherent Political Ideology; and Lack of National Reflection of Political Organizations.
First, the Oromo nation is a vast population. But, it does not have a strong political organization, and a committed and capable political leadership to organize it and carry the struggle to victory. The OLF [Oromo Liberation Front] has set a goal. The goal is the total independence of Oromiyaa. Goal-setting alone, however, will not make one successful to achieve it. The way to achieve it is through a strong political and military organization. It is only the organized people that can defend themselves and their country; determine their own destiny; and control the resources of their land. We are not organized to defend our country. Because of this, a well-organized minority colonialist regime has occupied our land. It is, therefore, clear as the Tigrean fascist regime is conducting a war of genocide against the Oromo people, and as its persecutions and terrorizing of the Oromo have been underway, the action from Oromo political organizations has been and is absent.
As it is well known, during the Scramble for Africa in 1884-85, the Western European powers of the time set the rule of the game by which Africa was to be exploited for the benefits of the European economy. The rule was for Africans to supply their resources to the colonizing powers. Similarly, in 1991 TPLF occupied Oromiyaa with vicious violence, and then set the rule of the game to rob its resources. Its set rule-of-game has been, and still is, to make Oromiyaa empty land by waging a war of physical exterminations of the Oromo people from their lands in order to grab the land and its resources. The robbery is in the name of “globalization.” The globalization of today is a recurrent scramble for the resources of Africa. Today, it is more vicious and violent than ever before. Hence, globalization of today is new barbarism. Today, Oromiyaa is the victim of this new global barbarism. The TPLF regime has put resources of Oromiyaa under global scavengers: China, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, etc. are among the many global scavengers that have been raping Oromiyaa and depleting its resources in the name of “globalization” in a coalesce with Tigrean colonialist elites, their local coteries and multinational corporations, which have undertaken unfettered robbery of our resources. The paradox here is clear. The Oromo, being the third largest population in Africa (in terms of a single ethno-national group) and roughly eight times the population of Tigray, cannot stop the fascist Tigrean minority regime and the foreign scavengers from robbing Oromiyaa of its resources. This is because of the incompetence of the Oromo leaderships, and their unwillingness to unite and fight.
The second paradox is this: Oromo political leaderships have been violating everything that seemed inviolable in the Oromo Gadaasystem of governance. The violation has been, and is, overstaying in political offices for more than the necessary time of eight years. Prior to the conquest of Oromiyaa, the Gadaapolitical system was weakened. This was followed with the formation of monarchies in various parts of Oromiyaa. Hence, for the first time in the Oromo history, administrators became rulers, i.e. monarchs. Monarchs’ titles and their political offices were hereditary positions. These weakened the Oromo social, political and military institutions. It was these conditions that gave rise to the conquest of Oromiyaa. With the conquest of Oromiyaa, the conqueror abolished Oromo monarchies, and in their place, it created the system ofBalabbat’s, or local feudal landlords, as a hereditary political position. With the support of Balabbat’s, the empire’s rulers were able to control Oromiyaa, its resources, and its people and their destiny for over a century. Sadly enough, today’s Oromo political organizations’ leaderships are following the same pattern, though their political positions are not hereditary. They have been, and are, holding political offices for too long. All are concerned only about their positions of being “General Secretary” and “Deputy Secretary” in their respective organizations rather than leading the struggle to victory. And still today, this is what is making the Oromo struggle for independence stagnant, ineffective, factionalized and paralyzed. This condition has weakened the organizations, the struggle and the nation, and has exposed our people to the enemy. As it is well known to all, since the last quarter of the eighteenth century to date, no leadership of an Oromo political organization has ever left the political office when its term expires. Time and again, all Oromo political leaders – from the past to the present – have chosen to die in office without passing on the political leadership to the next. Such is a political failure. Hence, to stay in office longer than necessary is to outlive one’s usefulness to the nation and to the struggle. Having outlived its usefulness, such leadership has become unfit to take the struggle to a new height.
Oromo is a democratic society. However, since the last quarter of the eighteenth century, they have been under successive autocratic form of leadership. This condition has created dictators in Oromo political organizations. Dictators always recruit loyal supporters – loyal not to the national cause, but loyal to themselves. This is a political failure. Some people worship leaders despite their failures. Such is a disservice to the democratic people. This condition must be changed. It is natural to acknowledge and admire with enthusiasm heroic leaders, their natural courage, and their magnanimous bravery. At the same time, their failures must also be recognized and criticized. Leaderships must be held accountable for their failures. For this, change must be made in the organizations. Society must demand change. Members must demand change. Change means everything. Leaders must respect their term of office and transfer it to the next in an orderly fashion on a timely basis. Hence, a term limit – without chance of renewal – is the way to go. It is the Oromo way. We must cherish, respect, uphold and implement term limits at all levels.
The third paradox is the autocratic style of leadership in a democratic society. There are many forms of leadership. Here, the focus is only on two: democratic leadership style and autocratic leadership style. Leadership is the basis of any organization or a country. Leadership is the head of an organization. If the head dies, the body dies, too. Without leadership an organization declines, disintegrates, and finally, dies; and without a leadership, the people scatter. Leadership holds the members of an organization together and leads them, and so, the leadership of a country holds the nation together and defends it. Leadership style shapes the nature of the organizational culture, and the organizational culture affects the organizational performance. This means, there is a direct correlation between leadership style and organizational culture, and between organizational culture and organizational performance. It must be born in mind that, without the leadership, the organization does not exist. Hence, the success or failure of an organization depends on the leadership style.
Democratic Leadership Style
Democratic leadership is a type of collective leadership. It is guided by strong checks and balances. In a democratically-led organization, decision-making is collective. Members and the public have ownership of decisions, plans and goals. Members shape the vision of the organization. Democratic leadership puts responsibilities in the hands of the collective leadership, rather than in the hands of individuals. It empowers members and aides their decision-making process. Hence, in a democratically-led organization, the leadership consistently follows the goal, mission, vision and philosophy of the organization. Democratic leadership style arises where there is a strong independent legislative /Gumii Sabaa/ branch that oversights the work of the executive/Koree Hojii Raawwachiftu – KHR/ branch. In a democratic leadership style, information flows both ways: up and down the organizational structure, at all levels. However, this has been and is lacking in Oromo political organizations.
The relationship between a democratic leadership style, an organizational culture and an organizational performance:
LeadershipOrganization2015_1
All in all, a democratic leadership style motivates and inspires its people and its members with shared vision of the future and leads them toward that shared vision. It seeks the involvement of members and the public in a decision making.
Autocratic Leadership Style
The second wrong way they have taken is a top-down autocratic leadership style. Such a leadership style is a source of an organizational decline and split into factions. This is not new to Oromo political organizations. Such leaderships are concerned with their names and the positions they hold in the organizations, but not concerned with the real struggle on the ground. Such leaderships live in the shell of egoism and ambition. To be meaningful to the struggle, they have to leave the shell of egoism.
An autocratic leadership arises due to the lack of a strong legislative or national council; due to its weakness; or due to the legislative becoming a rubber stamp. Typically, an institution of democracy is the legislative or national council (Gumii Sabaa). The crisis of democracy is the crisis of the legislative (Gumii Sabaa) branch. The legislative in crisis means it is in a crisis of legitimacy. Overstaying in office for too long through manipulations is a crisis of legitimacy. In Oromo political organizations, the National Council (Gumii Sabaa) has consistently failed to exercise an effective oversight of the Executive’s (KHR) actions, policies and personnel. This means, it has abrogated its authority and responsibilities. As a result, the executive branch dominates the agenda. And, it has made the legislative branch irrelevant. Consequently, the autocratic leadership style has been established. This is a crisis of democracy, and hence, the crisis of the legislative. This has brought crisis to the OLF since 1991. And, this led to the encampment of the OLA in 1992; to the exiling of the leadership in 1999; to the Peace Agenda of 2000; and to the abandonment of Kaayyoo bilisummaa that led to the split of OLF in 2001. Following the split, AFD [Alliance for Freedom and Democracy] was formed with Abyssinian organizations in 2006; and this led to another split in 2008 and to more cascading splits ever since. An autocratic leadership is not accountable. It does not accept responsibilities for failures that occur under its own watch. It blames others for its failures. In so doing, it damages its organization irreparably as it pressures its members to accept and execute strategies and tactics that contradict the objective of the organization (e.g. Peace Agenda of 2000). These are wrong ways the leadership has followed in the Oromo national liberation struggle. Indeed, these were the darkest hours in the cause of fighting for freedom and national liberation of Oromiyaa. Hence, in an autocratically-led organization, the organization cannot remain faithful to its goal. Because, an autocratic leadership makes the internal organizational culture at odd with the goal, mission and vision of the organization.
Furthermore, an autocratic leadership in a democratic organization can also create chaos in the organization. This is what the OLF has been suffering from since 1991. An autocratic leadership insists doing everything by itself; it makes all decisions by itself without inputs from the members of the organization and the public. It does not have a clear vision; it does not lead the organization in the right direction to its goal. An autocratic leadership avoids arguments and debates over how and why a new position is adopted. It makes unilateral decisions.
Not only this, an autocratic leadership plays political scheming within the organization. It plays members off against one another; creates factions within the organization; and cultivates “allies” and isolates those who question its ideas or policies as “enemies.” In this way, an autocratic leadership creates a sectarian atmosphere within the membership. An autocratic leadership is always change-resistant and unity-averse; it is unity-resistant – hostile to it; it wants to maintain the status quo. For this, it blocks, resists or procrastinates any attempt to change. Procrastination is one of a demotivating factor. For instance, when a goal takes longer than needed to achieve, members become discouraged. And then, they lose the drive and focus towards the set goal. Such situation is dangerous to the struggle. In order to avoid this, it is vitally important to achieve one’s set goal within a given time frame. But, change is inevitable; change with progress, and it is the law of nature. Without change and progress, the organization dies. Hence, to maintain status quo is opting for death. Quite for years, there has been a struggle in Oromo political organization between those who seek change and progress, and those who want to maintain thestatus quo. Because of this, there is always a tension between those who want change and progress, and those who do not want change. For instance, in the Oromo political system, the change of leadership is inevitable. But blocking change, or change-resistance or procrastination of the change is to create an autocratic dictatorship. In deed, such resistances to change of the incompetent leadership has put those nationalists who want change in an inconceivable inconvenience as to whether to support such a leadership or fight it out. Unless a change is made, the national liberation organization, the unity of nationalists and the struggle for independence of Oromiyaa suffer. This must be avoided.
The relationship between an autocratic leadership style, an organizational culture and an organizational performance:
LeadershipOrganization2015_2
In an autocratically-led organization, members are deprived off information; if any at all, it flows in one direction. Such leadership is the source of an organizational decline. Under an autocratic leadership, active members are relegated to the side; ineffective members are promoted; it surrounds itself with yes-men and yes-women followers. It clings to local mentalities and old-fashion mindsets hindering the national unity. An autocratic leadership surrounds itself with local raw recruits, unused to disciple and subordination. Many of them are pusillanimous and lack confidence in themselves and in the national liberation struggle. Such recruits always watch to see in what direction their personal interests would lie. It is on the basis of this, they keep on changing their political positions or organizational affiliations. Many leave, from time to time – deserting the struggle.
Furthermore, since 1999, the Oromo political leadership has become autocratic. Being autocratic, it has taken away the legitimate rights of members of the organization. Among the rights are to elect and to be elected. In a democratic organization, members elects their leaders, and remove incompetent, inefficient and ineffective leadership from office. Today, these rights are denied to the members of Oromo political organizations, particularly to the members of the OLF. Here, the leadership has surrounded itself with yes-men and yes-women assignees/Ramadamoota. These assignees have been incompetent; have lacked revolutionary spirits; and most of them, have been known Ethiopianists in their political outlooks. The assignees/“ramadamootni”are against the unity of nationalists. “Ramaddi” is a method of populating political positions in the organization with one’s clique. It had been used in the feudo-imperial system of the late Emperor Haile Selassie’s administration. Then, imperial institutions were filled with assignees/ramaddi. From the low-ranked officials – Chiqa-Shum andBalabbat – to the high-ranked Ras, and everything in between: DajazmachGrazmachQanyazmachFitwrari, etc. – were filled withramaddi/assignees by the Emperor. The assignment/ramaddi was made on the basis of loyalty to the Emperor. The parliament was made irrelevant; it was simply a rubber-stamp. Oromo political leaderships have borrowed and adopted this system. As a result, the Chairmen and Deputy-Chairmen have dominated the organizations. In the OLF case, the Oromo National Council(Gumii Sabaa) and the Executive Committee (KHR) have been made irrelevant.
It is an indisputable fact, since 1999, the leadership of the OLF has populated all political positions in the OLF with its cliques. These cliques have been loyal to the leadership at the top, but not loyal to the struggle for the independence of Oromiyaa. For this, these assignees have failed to question and criticize the leadership for its failures. They simply worship the leadership. When the issues of incompetency of the political leadership of the OLF is raised, these assignees show the moods of uneasiness, of hesitation and of revolutionary emptiness. The reason is they have attached themselves in a “feudalistic” follower-leader, boss-client or master-disciple relationship to the leader. Here, nationalists have been attacked and isolated. The result has been the rampant factionalism that has dominated the organization since 2001.
As it is clear to all, one of the reasons for the disintegration of the imperial institution was the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the system of assignee/ramaddi. And today, it has become dangerous to the OLF and the Oromo struggle. It must be clear “ramaddi” is dangerous to the spirit of unity, to democracy and to the struggle of the Oromo people. It is a system of cliques. The system of “ramaddi” eats an organization from within. Because of this, today, the OLF is weakened. The weakness has emanated from within the OLF. The leadership has to shoulder the full weight of this weakness. As it is crystal clear, “ramaddi” has already become dangerous to the Oromo struggle, to the OLF, to its members, and to the Oromo people. It must be immediately abandoned. Members must exercise their full rights and shoulder their responsibilities.
The fourth paradox is the leaderships’ lack of a coherent political ideology. Our political ideology is Oromummaa. It is guided byKaayyoo/objective, nationalism, revolutionarism, patriotism, secularism, republicanism, self-reliance, and democratic principles and practices. Some leaderships of Oromo political organizations have abandoned this coherent political ideology. A violation of one is a violation of all. In the absence of coherent political ideology, leaderships have begun wavering in their political determination. Most of them seek an alliance with the colonizer. Some rely on external powers. The lack of a coherent political ideology undermines the people’s certainties and their confidence, and their confusion leads to political distortions in the public discourse. In the Oromo struggle, it is such leaderships that have given different meanings to the Oromo national liberation struggle. Many, if not most, have been trying to turn the Oromo struggle for national liberation into something alien to its true nature. At one time, they present it as a struggle for democracy; at another time, they present it as a struggle for federalism, and still at another time, they present it as a struggle for citizenship. All of these are intended to create confusions in order to mislead the public. The true nature of the Oromo struggle is for independence. It is the failure of the leadership at the top echelon level that has been misleading so many nationals as to the true nature of the Oromo national liberation struggle since 1999. Here, the leadership has become a simple imitators of nationalists – without being nationalists. Such a leadership and members frequently change their allegiances. It is, therefore, clear the leaderships of the Oromo national liberation movement lack commitment to lead the Oromo nation into the battle for victory, and hence, they are unprepared to face the real struggle.
The fifth paradox is while the struggle demands that it be conducted in Oromiyaa proper, the leaderships of all Oromo political organizations have chosen to be in exile. First and forest most, let me state the obvious fact. The obvious fact is Oromiyaa is a colonized country, and the true nature of the Oromo struggle is for independence. For this, the leaderships of national liberation organizations have to be militant, visionary and enthusiastic with the ability to inspire, motivate, influence and organize the public, and lead the people into the battle of national liberation struggle for the victory over the enemy. Such leaderships of the struggle have to be within the proper borders of their own country and among their own people. On the contrary, the leaderships of Oromo political organizations have taken a wrong turn. The wrong turn is to turn to exile. To be in exile is to be out of touch with one’s own country and one’s own people, and to be out of touch with freedom fighters and the struggle itself. In so doing, they have become absentee-leaderships – absent from the real national liberation struggle on the ground. The absence of the leadership from Oromiyaa and its soil is the first time in the Oromo history. This is an irony. It is an un-Oromo way. This is the darkest side of a leadership. Hence, leaderships-in-exile are ineffective, powerless and inadequate to properly lead the organizations and the nation, and to conduct or execute the war of national liberation. Not only this, Oromo national liberation organizations have become the diaspora organizations. This means their umbilical cords are disconnected form their mother-Oromiyaa and its people. Hence, they are structurally disconnected – unfit and unable to effectively fight the enemies that have been, and are, occupying Oromiyaa, committing genocides against its people, and robbing it of its resources.
The sixth paradox is this: Oromo are one people and is one nation; they are people with a common language, culture, history, territory, common psychological make-up, and yet Oromo political organizations are parochial. Most of them fail to reflect their people in their compositions – both at the general membership and leadership levels. Most of them are village- or small-town-based with narrow scopes, and ever narrowing. They worship individuals from their villages rather than those devoted to the national cause. They join the organization as a local group and leave the organization as a local group. Most of them are ego-infested and cannot see beyond their own doorsteps.
An autocratic leadership style solely depends on the support of such members. This has created instability in Oromo political organizations. This is the immediate mortal danger to the Oromo national liberation struggle and the Oromo national unity. Any Oromo organization must reflect its people; it must be an organization where all Oromos see themselves in it.
In 1991 Meles Zenawi exploited the weakness of Oromo political organizations. The weakness emanated from the Oromo capitulationists who had made an alliance with the colonialist camp. Today, such Oromo capitulationists are in the Abyssinian political camp – working against the struggle for independence of Oromiyaa. With their capitulation, they came up with a wishful thinking of empire-federalization. Empire-federalization is a sign of counter-revolutionary mentality. Its purpose is to spread confusion. But, the Oromo struggle is not for empire-federalization. It is for a revolutionary change – the change for total political independence of Oromiyaa. For this, the struggle for empire-federalization is incompatible with and in a direct contradiction to the struggle for national independence from the empire. Hence, the OLF Political Program is clearly at odds with the political programs of those legal organizations and those with aspirations to be legal organizations. With the unity of Oromo people at home and the Oromo nationals in the diaspora – on the basis of total independence of Oromiyaa, any hope of the capitulationists’ illusion for empire-federalization has been shattered. Now, the capitulationists’ voodoo politics of empire-federalization or empire-democratization has faded into the background, overshadowed by the colonized peoples’ demand for national liberation, including the Oromo people. After all, those who advocate for the Ethiopian empire-federalization and/or empire-democratization are of a tiny lunatic fringe on the right, discredited with the Oromo public and lacking any political significance in Oromiyaa proper. Furthermore, legal opposition has been rendered ineffective by banning, exiling and imprisoning social, religious, community activists and legal opposition leaders to long prison terms for expressing their views or opinions. Finally, by the Terrorism Law of 2009, opposition – by legal or peaceful means – has been rendered impossible. Thus, the enemy has undoubtedly unmasked itself completely, not only to individuals of advanced political thinkers, but also to the peoples of the Ethiopian empire as a whole. For this, it is futile to seek accommodations with the most enemy of one’s people.
All in all, illusionary capitulationist Oromo nationals know the very fact that Oromiyaa was conquered and colonized by the Abyssinian military force, and ever since, it has been ruled by the Abyssinian military force. Still, the gun is the means of rule – accompanied with legally and administratively delivered social, political and economic terrorism. It was these reformist groups which, in 1991, welcomed the fascist TPLF with flowers, honey, butter and milk. The reality is the Oromo people have long rejected the reformists’ political agenda.
The New Epoch: the Epoch of Unity and National Liberation
Now, the new epoch has arrived. It is the epoch of Oromo unity and independence. It seems that Oromo nationals are coming together uniting more than ever before. The loss of political purpose and the loss of ideological clarity – as to the direction of the Oromo national liberation movement of 2001, that brought the organization to fragmentation – seem to be tapering off. This is the way forward; it is a new beginning. One has to grab it. This new epoch has presented us with only one option in the struggle of ours. The option is to fight. In the fight, the armed struggle is the only means to win our national liberation – it is the only method left open to us. Therefore, the time now is to fight. It is time to stand up together, shoulder-to-shoulder with our people – and fight in unison against both external and internal enemies of the Oromo national liberation struggle for independence. It is time to speak up with clear and loud voice against the enemy. We demand its departure from Oromiyaa now, and we demand our freedom now. In this struggle of ours, we have to stand up tall and proud with our people and our freedom fighters. For this, the struggle needs an invincible political and military organization. The size of these organizations must correspond to the size of our population and the vastness of our country – both in quality and quantity.
Furthermore, as all successful national liberation struggles before it, the Oromo national liberation struggle needs militants, and wise, courageous and determined nationalists. It is the duty of the leadership to give inspiration of patriotism to the nation and to its members to fight. Leadership needs members with knowledge of its people and country. It needs to recruit militant nationalists with ability, courage, and willingness to organize, inspire, motivate, and energize its people and lead them into the battle for victory. Hence, it is time to march on until victory is won. It is only in this way, the fascist TPLF regime can be crushed.
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has instilled a strong national identity, national pride and nationalism in the Oromo new generation. So, it seems national consciousness has begun asserting itself against the reformists’ of empire-democratization, and their regional and local sectionalism that has paralyzed the Oromo struggle since 2001. This new Oromo generation /Qubeegeneration/ has clearly understood the non-essential differences that are not related to the central premises of the Oromo national identity, nationalism and the independence of Oromiyaa. The non-essential differences, among other things, are region and religion. So, it is a death-blow to those who want to factionalize the Oromo on the basis of region or religion. With this in mind, it is time now to begin the struggle anew. In the end, it must clearly be understood that we are fighting for survival as a nation and as a people, and for the right to exist free and fully as an independent and sovereign nation-state in our homeland, Oromiyaa. This means the goal of our struggle is none other than the establishment of the independent, democratic and sovereign Republic of Oromiyaa. With this in mind, we must unite and fight. If we unite and fight, the time is not far off when the Tigrean fascist regime will be swept away and crushed into the dustbin of history with the revolutionary tide of the Oromo national liberation struggle.
Defeating the Enemy
We are fighting against Abyssinian colonialism to restore our lost liberty, freedom and independence. These are our inherent and inalienable right: the right to be the masters of our country. This right is nonnegotiable. For this, our will and determination to fight are at the core of defeating the enemy. To this end, we need a strong political organization – accompanied with an invincible military might that fights efficiently and effectively in order to break the enemy’s will and cripple its capacity to fight. To do this, first, the national liberation front, through direct political and military actions, must control the will, perception and understanding of the enemy’s support base. The control of these will make the enemy impotent to act or react as the national liberation front pushes forward. This means, taking initiative away from the enemy. In the end, the enemy surrenders to the forces of the national liberation. This is the only way to go in the national liberation struggle. We must understand that denunciation and condemnation of TPLF, though important, by themselves, are not enough. We must fight. We must embrace the struggle. We must defeat it in an open and tenacious combat. For this, now is the time to be united, organized, armed and fight. If we do not fight now, we will eventually face what the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said:
“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
Now the time is right. It is our time to fight. For this, it is time to rise up, to stand up together, to organize, unite, arm ourselves and wage a war of national liberation against this violent, viciously cruel and savage fascist Tigrean regime of TPLF – to smash and destroy it. It is time to fight and defeat this fascist regime that has been committing a war of genocide against the Oromo people. It is time to fight against the robbers of our resources and treasury; it is better to fight now than later when it is too late. Such fight is a fight for the ultimate survival of the Oromo people and Oromiyaa. In the end, with the unity and fight in unison, Oromiyaa will win against the genocidal fascist colonial regime of TPLF.
Oromiyaa Shall BE Free!

Ethiopia opposition says elections an ‘undemocratic disgrace’

Ethiopian Electoral Board employees work at a polling station in Addis Ababa on May 24, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zacharias Abubeker)
Ethiopian Electoral Board employees work at a polling station in Addis Ababa on May 24, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zacharias Abubeker)
Addis Ababa (AFP) – Ethiopia’s main opposition party on Friday condemned weekend elections, which saw the ruling party cruise back into office, as a “disgrace” and proof the country was a one-party state.
According to preliminary results from last Sunday’s elections, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn secured all 442 parliamentary seats so far declared out of the 547 seats up for grabs.
The EPRDF, in power in Africa’s second-most populous nation for over two decades, were widely expected to secure a near clean sweep of parliament, and the outgoing chamber had just one opposition MP — but even this was taken by the ruling party.
“The Blue Party does not accept the process as free and fair and does not accept the outcome of unhealthy and undemocratic elections,” the main opposition party said.
“This 100 percent win by the regime is a message of disgrace” and shows that a “multi-party system is over in Ethiopia”.
Ahead of Sunday’s polls the opposition alleged the government had used authoritarian tactics to guarantee victory — such as intimidation, refusing to register candidates or arresting supporters.
The Blue Party’s spokesman, Yonatan Tesfaye, alleged that 200 party candidates were denied the right to stand for parliament and 52 party members were arrested in the run-up to the polls.
“We don’t think there is an independent justice system to deal with our complaints. We’ll continue our peaceful struggle,” he told reporters.
After the elections, the United States, which enjoys close security cooperation with Ethiopia, also said it remained “deeply concerned by continued restrictions on civil society, media, opposition parties, and independent voices and views.”
The European Union also said true democracy had yet to take root in Ethiopia, and voiced concern over “arrests of journalists and opposition politicians, closure of a number of media outlets and obstacles faced by the opposition in conducting its campaign.”
The African Union observer mission, however, described the polling as “credible” and “generally consistent with the AU guidelines on the conduct of elections in Africa.”
On Wednesday government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said the win came as the result of Ethiopia’s economic advances.
“Voters have credited the ruling party for the economic progress it introduced in the country,” he told AFP. “In view of the weak, fragmented opposition and the lack of a viable alternative, it was very likely that the ruling party would win in a landslide.”