Lists of nominees for Ethiopia’s National Dialogue Commission is disclosed
borkena
The House of People’s Representatives on Friday announced nominated candidates to the commission for National Dialogue. A total of 42 Ethiopians are nominated.
The House announced that the public is invited to remark on the nominations between February 4, 2022 and February 8, 2022. Only 11 commissioners are expected to be appointed from the 42 individuals.
The parliament has announced the names of the nominees and provided an online platform for the public for feedback before the final selection is made. It is available HERE.
Tagesse Chafo, Speaker of the House of Representative, claims that an effort is made to make the nomination process an inclusive and diversified one. He said so during a public engagement forum intended to get feedback from the public.
Participants of the forum told the speaker that the “commissioners need to be independent of government and work based on research with a vision to resolve problems Ethiopia has been facing and avoid scepticism,” as disclosed by the House of People’s Representative.
The Ethiopian government announced nomination for the position a few months ago after the Ethiopian forces were ordered to halt the march to the Tigray region of Ethiopia in pursuit of the TPLF forces who were on the run after suffering blowing defeats in the Afar and Amhara regions of Ethiopia.
Nominees are currently said to be not members of political parties, but many of them had participation in Ethiopian politics in one way or another at different times, including when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) reduced Ethiopia to an ethnic Federal structure after 1991. It means that they might favour the current political arrangement in the country.
As has been reported in different times, the current political arrangement has practically reduced tens of millions of Ethiopians to a second class non-citizen like status in many regions of Ethiopia specifically Oromo and Benishangul Gumuz regions where thousands of innocent civilians have been killed by radical ethnic nationalist armed groups who are believed to have clandestine structural support from government.
The Commissioners are also expected, rightly, to be Ethiopian citizens. But it is unclear if the House of People’s representative already screened the nominees for that criteria or not.
The list of nominees is as follows :
1.Prof. Tirusew Tefera
2. Bedilu Wakjira
3..Professor Afework Bekele Simegne
4. Ato Zegeye Asfaw Abdi
5.Ambassador Tadelech H/Mikael
6. Prof. Tilahun Teshome
7.Ato Haile Gebre Suse
8. Prof. Baye Yimam
9.Dr. Semir Yesuf
10. Dr. Abdissa Zeray Bemano
11. Prof. Habtamu Wondimu
12.Ato Gemechu Dubiso Gudina
13. Ato Samuel Tassew Tefera
14. Ambassador Muel G/Hiwot W/Selassie
15.Ato Ahmed Husen Mohammed
16. Prof. Mesfin Araya
17.Dr. Abera Deresa
18. W/o Hirut G/Selassie Oda
19.Ambassador Mohammed Dirir
20. Ato Nigusu Aklilu
21. Prof. Yaekob Arsano
22.Ato Tesfaye Habiso
23.Dr Ayiforit M/Diyasin
24.Prof. Kifle W/Mikael Hajeto
25.Dr. Tegegnework Getu Mengesha
26.Prof. Kassahun Birhanu Alemu
27. Ato Abate Kisho Hora
28.Dr. Dawit Yohannes
29. Prof. Hizkias Asefa
30. Dr. Takele Seboka
31. Getahun Husen Shikur
32.Ato Bekele Gutema Jebesa
33.Prof. Daniel Kitaw
34 W/O Zenebuwork Tadesse Markos
35.Ato Ibrahim Mulushewa Eshete
36.Prof. Zekarias Kenea Tsegera
37. Ato Melaku W/Mariam
38.Dr. Yonas Adaye
39.Dr. Wedajo W/Ghiorgis
40. Andargachew Assegid
41.Dr. Mulugeta Aregawi
42. Dr. Negaligne Berhanu Baye
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Dear Editors,
Thank you for posting this news article with the list of candidates for the much anticipated national dialogue commission. I would appreciate it if you shed some light on these candidates. One of them rings bell with me going back to my days in the 1960’s but I am not 100% sure if that it was the same countryman. I tried to Google some of the names but again I am not sure I discovered the right person on the list. Then I decided to turn to my very reliable source, you dear editors. The link you included in the article seems to be infected because I clicked that I get an error message with ‘you connection is not private’. I know you are very busy in the hustle bustle of big city life but I decided to bother you after I exhausted all the means in my knowhow.
But one thing I noticed from the titles before the surnames is that there are only two female nominees. Am I wrong? Is somebody mocking me with that? From about 55% of the population all they could find were only two women? Even if the two women ended up being chosen for the 11 members of the commission that will be less than 20% of the total membership. I could not believe my eyes!!! I know leaders of both major religions in all their denominations may not feel comfortable to see more and more ‘uppity-ism’ among our glorious and over qualified women. It has been all proven that every political party, front or any other such groups never felt comfortable to see women among their top leadership. Name one that has/had at least 50% women in the leadership role. Name one. Don’t you dare tell me that they cannot/could not find qualified women for the roles! Don’t even think about it? What made the men qualified? The urge to start destructive bloodshed? Well honed sticky fingers ready to dip in the party’s/front’s coffers? Extensive expertise in how to tell ‘stories’? From the first glance I could see the making of boys club. I hope current women members of the parliament will scream foul about this nomination. We the men have been ‘famous’ and ‘heroes’ for igniting bloody and destructive conflicts and our women had nothing to do with it but they were/are the ones who suffered most from the conflicts. I will not accept(even though it will not count) less than 5 women members in the final 11 members of this extremely critical body.
Having said that, such effort to start a dialogue in order to find a lasting solution for the nation’s bedeviling problems should always be welcomed and encouraged. My only beef is the scarce number of women among these candidates. Bigots are already using this announcement to fan hatred among my Oromos and our neighbors Amharas. They are calling it a majlis of neftegnas even though it is clear several candidates come from various ethnic groups.
The “National Commission” is a front for the emerging middle-classes in Ethiopia to consolidate the monopoly of political and economic power in the country in the name of bogus “inclusivity” and control the political space and economic resources of the state. Whom are they kidding…? They included two women to suggest “inclusivity.” How insane is this in a country where more than 50 percent of the population is women.. Some of the clowns included in the list are old hands from the Derg and EPDRF era.
The commission will produce the expected political arrangement that has already been decided in the backroom and in secret) that will allow the “Prosperity Party” to continue its monopoly of power it has inherited without bloodshed from EPDRF.
Aye Ethiopia…. sit tight and fasten your seat belt for the next crude drama.
One of the major condition should be scraping TPLF, Oneg and some minority group plotted ethnic map that should be left either as it was 30 year ago or a new one that reflects the presence of citizens , rights, fair and just map.
The base of all evil is the ethnic map designed by land hungry violence driven TPLF and Oneg and some minority groups evils where they used Amharas and all Orthodox Christians as their target for elimination, theft and massacre.
Without addressing the evil ethnic bounderies there will never be peace and stabilty. Damn to TPLF ignorant land and money hungries that dragged the country into a medieval system that no civilized county desired.