The sacking of Petros Solomon and Haile DruE, is a step towards getting even with the reformers. Characteristically, in a �don�t worry; be happy� characteristic common to all one-party news outlets, neither Shaebia.org nor �DimtSi Hafash� gave any background for the reshuffle which was clearly a result of the internal PFDJ conflict that became public a few days ago.  Instead, they announced it as if a sport-record is being broken: no mention was made who was the previous record-holder; no mention was made of whom these new �appointed� ministers are replacing.  It is just as well, before we get to know the new ministers; they probably will run afoul with the President and be reshuffled.

Ogbe on the Dart Board

The latest news from the powers in Asmara informed us that two persons from inside the fence were sentenced to jail terms. The ex- Eritrean Ambassador to China was accused of funnelling over a million dollars from arm deals to a private account in places from Switzerland to Singapore. Al Mal Al Sayeb YeAalm Alseriqa, one would say (translation: uncontrolled money teaches theft) The two sentenced persons were jailed nearly four years ago with no formal charge and no announcement was made when they were imprisoned. In fact, a few true believers still doubted that Papayo was in jail; his absence wasn�t felt until the war with Ethiopia.  

We do not know if they really did what they are accused of having done.  Despite the articles and penal codes cited, since the court that sentenced them is an illegal tribunal, a special court formed by the president and which reports to him and him alone, the result is suspect. 

In normal situations, and we never had normal situations in Eritrea, such cases would be a public issues and not an inter-party issue. The accused would be given a fair trail and would be able to say his side of the story.  And, he would appeal his case to a higher court.   

Arguments are made about the lack of lawyers, courts, etc.  One can understand that Eritreans die because we don�t have sufficient number of doctors or quality medical care; or we have low literacy because we don�t have enough schools or teachers; but it is impossible and inexcusable to believe that people are being railroaded because we don�t have enough lawyers and courts.  Until there are sufficient number of lawyers and courts, let�s try substitutes: a panel of civilians; a panel of shmagles; a panel of retired veterans; a panel of religious people.  Anything is better than a kangaroo court.

The president seems to believe that just because he frequently and passionately denounces �blshwna� (corruption), his conclusions�i.e. the conclusions of the Special Court�are sacrosanct and infallible.  He wants to perpetuate the �gele �nte zeyreKbelom si, ai m�aserwomn� trust system.  And the government media seem to believe that the meaning of transparency is to tell people what hideous things were allegedly done; they seem to be oblivious to the fact that the Eritrean people, on whose behalf this �journalism� is allegedly being done, are entitled to know what, how, when, where, why things are being done.  Even the decision to disclose belatedly what the �Special Court� (what a name!) decided years ago, is being packaged as if it is an independent decision of the Special Court itself�it had nothing to do with the cries of G-13, the National Assembly, the Reformers, the Eritrean people, no!  It was all a decision the �Special Court� arrived at on its own.  How special.

It is an open secret that the way the PFDJ handles its financial affairs is a fiasco. Money changes hands with a telephone instruction or a word of mouth. Obscure accounts are opened on more obscure names in different parts of the world. Even the Embassies of Eritrea, which function as money-changers without any license or respect for the rules of the host country, have grown to be more of a financial transaction centre than a diplomatic emissary. The whole financial dealing is a fiasco. There is no line to differentiate the assets of the state and the assets of the Party. The government doesn�t publish its budgets. The party businesses don�t pay taxes. In such a situation, there is an open invitation to mishandling the finances. The whole system should be tried and not a handful of people.

Are the people sentenced innocent? We do not know. And no one knows at this moment. But the sentence coming as it did amid a rift within the ruling party makes us believe that there is some foul play involved.  If you were wondering what the President of the State of Eritrea had in mind when he warned the reformers: �I repeat, you are making a mistake.� Or more directly, �But if by continuous provocation, you want to escalate problems by exaggerating non-existent issues, it is your choice.� Well, now you know.

We read the sentence as an accusation of Oqbe Abraha, a signatory to the Open Letter, who is circumstantially being accused of giving privileges to the person sentenced.  Of course, Mr. Oqbe Abraha allegedly committed this crime years ago but no matter; the President decides when and where the arbitrary punishment falls. This is a start of scoring points against the reformers and we have warned of this when we exposed the wicked �baita mnSaf� of the so-called �Discussion Paper� and what we called �The Brainwashing Manual�. We are seeing the beginning of a campaign of defamation, character assassination and getting even with the reformers.  In a move reminiscent of Meles Zenawi�s tactic, Hadas Ertra, has stopped its bragging of how uncorrupt and uncorruptible our officials are to campaign on a theme of �Corruption: the Other War.�  Endless wars.

Charades & Parades

There was a community leader who always sat in a corner facing the crowd. He found an excuse to sit in that position: sometimes he would arrange the chairs that needed no arrangement; other times he would pick the broom and get busy to make sure he was visible. When the time to vote for an issue came, he always stood up towering over the sitting people. If he raised his hands, many did. When he didn�t stand up, the group members didn�t raise their hands. Though it was obvious that there was something fishy, there was no evidence of Monkey business.  At least not until an old lady unintentionally exposed the tricks played by the community leader.

When votes where being cast on an issue, she was engaged in side talk and thus didn�t notice that  the man had stood up to give the clue. Moments later, when the counter passed the line she was sitting in, she discovered that her lot were raising their hands and she was not. She dutifully raised her hands to be counted.  Confusion arose. The panel asked her why she was voting for �1 Year� instead of  �2 Years�.  She was lost and innocently commented saying �I raise my hand when Mr. X stands up�.  

The ring that was controlling the activities and the conscience of the community was not embarrassed. �Since the people are simple and do not know their interest, it is not a sin to help them vote� was the shameless excuse. This is a classic example of how a vote rigger is born.

The majority of community centres around the world have become centres of division and exclusion. The reality is that the community centres failed in bringing Eritreans who live in a small area close to each other�as if they live unbridgeable miles apart. The reality is that we have fragmented societies that cannot feast and mourn together.  This is because the community leaders do not condone deviation from the party line--something considered sinful and treasonous by the ruling community elite. It is sad to see that our community centres have become a laboratory of exclusion and arrogance. An alien, Un-Eritrean culture, rules in those communities.

It has been a long time since the communities started to operate as a narrow political club and extension of the ruling party. Any dissent is treated the way government security officials treat suspects. Defamations, forging of threatening papers, intimidations are launched in these community centres. As a result, our social fabric, especially in the West, has been damaged. Instead of catering to the young, the communities ignore them or, equally as bad, expect them to act as politicised miniature adults. The result is a generation living multiple Eriteanism at best and over flowing with rabid ultra-nationalism at worst.  No doubt, the community centres have played a destructive role in the drifting apart of the Eritrean Diaspora.

Communities centres should reach out and try to heal the wounds that have been inflicted. Community members should start to think in terms of �Whole-Eritrea� and campaign to embrace their compatriots. Those who are in control should open the doors; those who are outside the doors should knock the doors and if it doesn�t open, they should break in. We are part of the community and we are all the community.  No �political tribe� can represent Eritrea alone. We should not accept political dominance by a �political tribe�. We should demand a convention of �political tribes�. Towards that demand, we must prove that we are tolerant enough to co-exist with others and not choose to live in seclusion. Our communities need strength to be effective. We need an effective community. Strength of our communities lies in our unity based on mutual respect and equal partnership. Not a master-serf association. We need to look into matters with a fair and just eye. Community leaders should be incentivized�they should be rewarded and punished, elected and demoted�by the number and diversity of their membership; not by how much money they are able to raise from a monolithic segment of Eritrea to funnel to Red Sea Corporation. Then we might own a humble slogan: bzuH hzbi Hade hagerawi lbi . Until then, what we have in these community centres is an unrepresentative segment of Eritrea.  Unless we are willing to state that a segment of Eritrea is more patriotic than another, or one is more active than another, then what we call community centres are unrepresentative of, and have failed to create, an inclusive, integrated Eritrea that reflects the features of our nation.  How much money you have collected is meaningless; specially, if it is going to land someone in a �Special Court.�   

The two Faced Rejection

A friend asked what we thought of Election 2001. �When?� we asked. He gave us a funny look. So we explained.

Our initial sense was to be sympathetic to those who advocated �Lets give them the benefit of the doubt�. We found that a bit na�ve and too trusting. Then, we embraced the idea that �the election was our baby� to some extent. We asked for the name of the Midwife and we found out that she was untrustworthy. Her records indicate that she has actually taken babies straight from the womb of their mothers to insist that they were her own and wouldn�t hand them over to the real mothers without assertive police interference. She was that bad. We struggled to reach a reasonable compromise. That midwife is known for her stubborn and arrogant attitude. Nothing will help. Yet, we were asked for suggestions to make the elections workable. No can do.

Now we have two camps that would reject the debate on the election on two grounds.

On the one hand, we have Shaebia members who believe the Committee mandated by the National Assembly was the only authority that should lead the discussions. The presidential office (the executive office) has kidnapped the project from the Committee mandated by the National Assembly (the legislative branch) and is illegally interfering in its work. Therefore, the whole practice is illegal and a sham.  And if we are serious about the rule of law, institutionalism, the constitution and separation of powers, we cannot endorse this hijacking or we, too, would be participating in an illegal act and perpetuating one-man rule.  It is too much to expect the Eritrean intelligentsia to take a principled stand on this; it will, once again, fail the Eritrean people.  Why?

On the other hand, we have people who do not recognize the whole Shaebia set-up including the presidential office and the National assembly. To them, the whole activity, in whichever way it is carried out, is considered illegal because neither the Executive Office nor the National Assembly has been given a mandate by the Eritrean people.  These people argue: do not waste time on something that will crumble down because it doesn�t have a solid foundation�a mandate from the people.

On the other hand, (if you are counting, that is three hands) there are those who see things very differently. The Embassies have nothing to do with this exercise and bringing the EDF (which is another different story) as a fa�ade to make it appear as a public and inclusive exercise is another charade.  They say Shaebia has a very bad record with promises. They say that the constitution that many debated for three years came out on the other side of the door with no change save for a small change on the Article concerning the Oath that Assemblypersons should take. Instead of �In the name of Martyrs� now it is left open so that one can take an oath by mentioning anything that he chooses. The three-year debate and public discussion that they make so much noise about didn�t change a word in the ratified constitution. The whole debating exercise was a simple window dressing.   An alibi for the cheaters.  The three-year charade was a �win-win�: the people got the delusion they were actually writing a governing contract with future governments; the current government got a three-year reprieve from uncomfortable questions of �where is the constitution� while succeeding in having Eritrean intellectuals rubber-stamp a boiler-plate constitution.  You want proof?  There is nothing in the constitution, nothing, that President Isaias Afwerki was forced to accept or did not like or was asked to compromise on.

Following through with what the Committees on Electoral Law and Party Formation started would have given us a compromise.  It would have made believers of the skeptics; it would have made enthusiastic supporters of the reluctant.  Regrettably, Eritrea�s recent history is one of missed opportunities and this promises to be yet another broken promise.  

The current planned launch of discussion about the Election and Multi-party laws smells even fishier.  (One can ask what is being launched since, we are told, these discussions have been going on for quite some time now.  Where?  In the exclusive clubs known as �Eritrean Community Centers.� Of course.) People should not be taken for granted. People should not be accomplices in faking legitimacy to a party that is elongating its stay in power by playing several obvious tricks. The whole thing is a forgery starting with the firing of the Committee Chairman. Delaying the discussion when it was announced four months ago. Involving the EDF (shmagle mkllKal hager) which is an organization totally controlled by the Wahio organization and finally having the project handled by the presidential office and moderated by the Embassies. La yuldeq al mer�ou mn aljuHri mereten [One should not be beaten from the same hole twice.]

So what do we do? The ruling party is widening the gap by creating wedge issues non-stop. Should people participate in the discussion led by the Embassies? Yes. People should go to the meetings to tell them that they have nothing to do with it.  They should have a one word slogan, �yaaKlekum!� �kefekum!� �kefa!� �Enough!� �dmustuK!� Enough!  Enough with treating us like little children; enough with insulting our intelligence; enough with the charade.  Enough with dismantling what few institutions we have.  Let the committee that was instructed to do its job, do its job while there is still time.

the awate team