Ethiopian Consulate in Minnesota is inaugurated on March 2,2019 and Oromo regional state president Lemma Megersa was the guest of honor for the occasion. Critics see something wrong with protocol in the government
Lemma Megersa speaking on the occasion of Minnesota Ethiopian Consulate inaugurationPhoto source : SM
borkena
March 3,2019
On the occasion of the 123rd anniversary of Adwa Victory across Ethiopia and in the Ethiopian embassies around the world, Lemma Megeresa’s appearance in Minnesota, United States, to officially open Ethiopian Consulate has got rolling eyes reactions from Ethiopia.
Birtukan Ayano, State Minister for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, used to be Ethiopian Ambassador to Canada before Abiy Ahmed’s government, also attended the ceremony. US authorities from the city were also present during the occasion and March 2 is declared to be Ethiopian Day.
Lemma’s Presence on the occasion was not disclosed as it was intended to be a surprise, based on citizen’s report on social media.
The tumult about Lemma being the guest of honour during the opening ceremony, in the eyes of critics, is that it defies protocol and represents hierarchical confusion within the government.
As much as there is indifference to it, as far as a considerable number of Ethiopians are concerned, critical voices question why Lemma had to inaugurate an Ethiopian consulate while he is president of Oromo region of Ethiopia, not a federal government authority.
Criticism against Lemma’s presence in Minnesota, there is a considerably high number of ethnic Oromo Ethiopians but also there are a good number of other Ethiopians, surfaced in the wake of Lemma’s regional administration massive demolition of the houses in Legetafo town which left thousands of defenseless residents homeless.
Dereje Habtewold is a journalist working for Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) remarked in Amharic on his own social media page, “There is such a thing called protocol. Why is Lemma in Minnesota while he should have been in legetafo?”
Lemma Megersa attracted much criticism this past week after his speech in Afan Oromo language in his regional council in which he told members of the council that his government is working on settling hundreds of thousands of ethnic Oromo, displaced from South Eastern parts of Ethiopia, in and around Addis Ababa – a city over which radical Oromo ethno-nationalist elements claim ownership right.
Lemma did not come out to explain his words regarding his alleged words about the plan to resettle ethnic Oromos in Addis Ababa. His rural politics mobilization head, Addisu Arega, composed a long social media status update on Friday and he said Lemma’s speech was taken out of context – which many find not convincing. Some say Lemma himself should have explained himself.
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አቶ ለማ መገርሳ፣ ለኢትዮጵያ ሀገርም ሆነ ሀዝብ፣ መድህን የሆነውን ለውጥ እውን በማድረግ፣ ከግለኝነት የጸዳ ፍጹም ኢትዮጲያዊነትን የስመሰከረ፣ ባነጋገርም ሆነ በተግባር፣ አሳማኝ ስራ ያሳዩ ጀግና ወገናችን፣ እንዴት በጢቂት ቀኖች የቆሙለትን ለውጥ የሚፈታተን፣ በተከታታይ፣ የስነልቦናዊ ለውጥ ሊያሳዩ በመነሳታቸው፣ ምን ነካቸው ውድ ጀግናችንን የመል መልስ ያልተገኘለት ጥያቄ አንዣበበ፣ በመላው አለም።
እባክዎት አቶ ለማ መገርሳ፣ ሰፊው ደጋፊዎ የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ በግሩም አነጋገርዎና ተግባሮ የተማረከው “ኢትዮጵያዊነት ሱስ ያሉትን” በመድገም ፍት ለፊት በመቅረብ አበረታች አስተማማኝ የኢትዮጵያ መድህን የሆነውን ቃልኪዳን ያድሱ።
ብዙ ባፋቸውም ሆነ በተግባራቸው የኢትዮጵያን ህዝብ ዘላቂ ጥቅም የማይመጥን ተግባር የሚያካሂዱ ሞልተዋል፣ ግሩም አርገው እየታገሉዋቸውም ነው፣ ድልም እየተቀናጁ ለመሆኑ እየታየ ነው።
እድገታችን አስተማማኝ የሚሆነው ሂደታችን ከከተማ ወደገጠር ልማትን በማስፋፋት ገጠሩን ወደዘመናዊነት በመቀየር፣ ማለትም
**ሁሉም ነገር ወደገጠር** በሚል መርሆ ገጠሩን በቻልነው ፍጥነት ማልማት መሆን ያለበት ይመስለኛል።
በብዙ የአለማችን ክፍል፣ በቅርቡ ወደ ከፍተኛ የኢኮኖሚ የተሸጋገሩ አገሮች የተጠቀሙበት፣ ስልጣኔውን ወደሰፈው ህዝብ በማድረስ እድገታቸውን ማፋጠን አስችሎቸዋል።
The barbaric form of politics (ethnic politics) will show us a lot! Ethnic politics has no boundary for mistakes, it is beyond logic and common sense, let alone rule of law. Ethiopia will suffer a lot if it does not prohibit ethnic politics by law and try to establish rule of law as soon as possible. May God help this illiterate poor country!
You guys are retarded idiots, naftagna, you have no idea what is going on in your neighborhood and you are fighting the one who respects you. You, naftagna are liars and fake. You brought Ethiopia to its knee as a sign of famine and poverty and still that is what you want. The presence on the inauguration of a consular for people like Obbo Lemma is not a big deal. I honestly thought people were looking for democracy, but I was wrong. Nephetegnea were working to take us back to famine, DERG, war, … they have an iota of idea about democracy and unity. You can keep dreaming going back to 18th century Ethiopianism, there is no way back for the 99% of Ethiopians, if you believe Ethiopia is made of the 85 plus nation nationalities.
There is no need of making a big deal out of this. It is just silly. Obbo Lemma is one of high level officials even though he is officially the president of Oromia region. But if I am not wrong, isn’t he a member of the highest governing council of the regime(EPRDF)? I don’t see any guilt in this. Also I wish we avoid and stop calling others names just because they see things different. It is always their Allah given rights to differ. Insults and innuendos will not further the accord for the good of the common man/woman in the old country. I hope and pray we give it up one of these days.