Et tu, Brute?  

By Samuel Estefanous

Almost all Ethiopian leaders have their moments of ‘et tu Brute?’. Perhaps betrayal and intrigue is the definitive hallmark of Ethiopian politics.  No wonder leaders are ever on tenterhooks viciously guarding their throne and betrayal doesn’t come as a surprise. What makes it tragic is when the most trusted joins the ranks of the seditionist gang as did Brutus against Julius Caesar. The Roman Emperor wasn’t particularly surprised by the coup. He might have even expected it. However what broke his spirit into a million pieces was seeing his bosom friend and confidante, Brutus, among the rebels. Hence the famous expletive in Latin ‘et tu Brute?! Or   ብሩተስ አንተም?!, as the Amharic rendition has it. 

1- The Meles Hagiography

Ato Meles had disappointed us. He had denied us a tiny vista into the wide open sea to remain true to archaic Marxist theoretical maxims. He had made our lives miserable. Not necessarily as a person but on account of the policies of the Coalition under his chairmanship. In other words all members of EPRDF had collectively ruined the Nation, including close to three quarters of top ranking PP members. As a person and fellow Ethiopian we had nothing against Ato Meles. We might have even liked his wit and intellect. One thing is for sure few wanted to miss the occasion when he was addressing the Parliament. 

But EPRDFites wanted him to be sanctified. They went on a full blown mission of hagiographic depiction of the Premier. The man had in so many words assured us that anybody was entitled to call him ‘that bald headed Meles’ short of touching it. But the foot soldiers would beat the living light out of any one individual who dared to speak mean of Ato Meles. As a former journalist turned unapologetic PP lobbyist who had suffered at the hands of EPRDF recently made a virtual public deposition of it, the foot soldiers were inexplicably crueler than the original initiates of the Front.  

Guess what? The moment the popular uprising against EPRDF reached pitch-fever, those same devotees went on a shameless campaign of dis-reputing the former Premier. His portraits were disfigured. Institutions were renamed. All those EPRDFite who inconsolably mourned his death like orphaned babies suddenly redefined themselves as his arch detractors.  The glory of Dedebit and Belesa; that of Adet and Mekan Selam were forgotten just like that, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Hallelujah!

But one cannot but imagine the scenario if Ato Meles’ spirit were to sneak back to the living like the ghost of Hamlet’s father. I can imagine some whom he would single out to inquire,’ et tu, Brute?!’ 

You see, there is the human thing. There is the Amorawu thing. One is expected to be true to his creed and comrades. That is why our respect to the executed fighter of TPLF, Amoraw, isn’t a wee bit less than that of his Tigrean comrades. A number of PDRE Generals and Colonels committed suicide choosing to be true to the Cause to the bitter end than surrendering to Woyane or Shabia. Question is how could we bestow trust on the hitherto Meles worshippers who are telling us that they ‘were faking the hagiography’ to enjoy a super luxurious lifestyle and to be able to send their kids to International Community Schools. I hate hearing from yesterday’s hagiographers playing victims at will only when circumstances suit them.    

2 The Taye Dande’a Saga

Human decency is beyond politics. I commend anybody who had read ‘the weed farm’ by Lidetu to reread it again right after reviewing ‘when the dawn of democracy breaks’ by Prof Birhanu. My personal esteem jumped a few rangs up for Lidetu however much the Prof’s book had impressed me. There is a persisting streak of principle in his political journey, for the most part at least. Again I found myself saying ‘hats off, Lidetu’ when I heard him say under no circumstance would he publicly discuss what Dr.Abiy had told him in private.

I mean considering his unmitigated scathing of the Premier, his effort to maintain human decency is laudable. I don’t think a concerted campaign of attacking the person and character of an individual is going to take the opposition a tiny league forward.  If anybody has personal accounts to settle with another, I think he should do it in his own name without exploiting public trust as a convenient medium.

I am not saying Taye is a snitch who had broken ranks with his former buddies to win unearned popular adoration. But his assumption that he would be believed- no question asked -as long as he kept bashing the Premier wouldn’t hold water.  That would be grossly underestimating the public.  He was in government. By his own account he was guarded by a solid seven member team of security detail 24/7. He was in the loop. If he had stayed in government for more than one day after what the Premier had allegedly said about the people of Amhara, his credibility was compromised. Remember he was the principal agent who had fused and subjugated the Keroo revolution to the whims of OPDO-again in his own words. The same OPDO which has declared around 2010 ‘the King is dead long live the King’-or as Ethiopian monarchs used to say ‘ባለህበት እርጋ የሞትንም እኛ የነገስንም እኛ፡፡

3 – The Corruption Bridgehead 

Time after time we are being told that membership of EPRDF had secured a corruption bridgehead for the initiated. The perks of membership were very generous. According to Dr. Sisay Mengiste back then the government of OPDO had adopted an official resolution not only to decriminalize corruption but to proactively advance it by distributing land to its members and friends. The Mayor of Addis also tells a story every opportunity she has got to the effect that on assuming the leadership of the Metropolis and reckoning the huge income it generates the first question that hit her smack on the face was ‘what did the former officials do with all that money?’. At one occasion she strongly solicited the Ethiopian public to keep asking this question.  I kinda think she was tipping law enforcement to take action. Here is the deal. The said officials are close by, aren’t they? At least the ill-gotten property is out there for all to see, isn’t it? 

The Premier, too, tells us in great detail how the government preceding his had dunked the country into a bottomless sea of debt blindly venturing in all sorts of unviable and unsustainable fancy projects like the Addis Light Rail, IPDC and the infamous Sugar Corp.  I have got a question to the Leader-weren’t all of you in it together? It is such a shame the ALR is unable to pay salary to its employees let alone service the Chinese debt. Yes, the Sugar Corp. was dead on arrival, that was what we the multitude were saying back then while you guys were in government. So we are the ones demanding answers and your team is in the dock. 

Don’t be afraid someone might go ‘et tu Brute’ on you or something. We are accustomed to it. In this connection, the anti-money laundering legislations being debated are indeed meant to recoup the stolen Sovereign wealth of the Ethiopian people…I would say well-done.  Only I am afraid the venture is going to create another batch of millionaires, they say power corrupts…

God Bless. 

The writer can be reached at : estefanoussamuel@yahoo.com

Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com      

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