‘PIA and PFDJ are digging Eritrea into a deep hole. We can allow them to turnthat hole into Eritrea’s burial ground, or we can use the hole to build solidfoundation [meseret] upon which to build the future Eritrea. The choice is ours to make.’
Many of us have either heard or experienced the death of heads of families who pass away without leaving a ‘TESTAMENT or WILL’. In vast majority of cases, the surviving family members resort to squabbles and legal fights to settle what could have been settled with orderly manners if the heads of these families had drafted ‘WILL’. We have heard the anguishes and the pain of many individuals simply because one person failed to prepare a ‘Will’.
One can easily imagine a nation without a ‘WILL’. As a mortal person, a man with flesh-and-blood like all of us, PIA may depart like Dr. John Garang [May he rest in peace]. Can anyone tell us who would replace PIA if he became incapacitated for various reasons [e.g. say due to that cursed mosquito] ?
1. One of the Government Ministers – Ali Seid Abdella or Gen. Sebhat Ephrem?
2. One of the military Generals – Gen. Wuchu or Gen. Filipos?
3. Secretary of PFDJ – Alamin, or others from PFDJ executive committee?
We were told few years ago that the laws of the Transitional Government of Eritrea states that if the Head of the State becomes incapacitated or passes away that the Minister the Ministry of Zonal Administration would immediately replace the Head of State. In the topsy-turvy world of PFDJ, the Ministry of Zonal Administration has been abolished, leaving the official replacement of the Head of State in emergency situations deliberately empty.
I am prepared to bet every penny I own that no one - no member of PFDJ, nor PFDJ sympathizer - would be able to say who PIA’s replacement would be if something was to happen to PIA. If Higdefawiyan are asked who would replace PIA, the Higdefawiyan may throw in a name. First, no two Higdefawiyan will give the same name as PIA’s replacement. Second, if Higdefawiyan were to be asked which section of Eritrea’s existing laws allows such a person to take charge of the government, you will see two big suspicious eyes staring at you. These Higdefawiyan have no clue about the rule-of-law. We want to know which section of Eritrean laws allows such a person to assume power if something was to happen to our Head of State. If there is no such law in effect, isn’t time to ask what could happen in an emergency situation? Let us suppose, and God Forbid, if war was to resume with Ethiopia and something was to happen to PIA [say that cursed mosquito bites him again], should we just assume that somehow that the remaining leaders will just agree to and continue to work in harmony and fend off our enemy? For all practicality, instead of putting our faith in individuals, we should place our faith in our Constitution and Law of the Land. That way there is no confusion!
As it stands right now, some Higdefawiyan may support Gen. Wuchu, other Higdefawiyan may support Mr. Ali Seid, and still other Higdefawiyan may throw support behind Mr. Alamin – resulting in infighting, and possibly precipitating the country into civil war.
Power Fixation
PIA, as well as many other dictators, loath any legal and orderly replacement for Head of States. The rationale is simple. We will call the official replacement – second-in-command.
First Paranoia: Dictators are generally paranoid about their second-in-command usurping power by riding high on inner circle and, generally, public discontents against the dictator. The only way to secure their power, these dictators hope, is to eliminate any official replacements, and to divide then balance secondary powers among different small power centers. In Eritrea, we have the different Zonal Military Heads, “civilian” Zonal Administrators, PFDJ, etc… all with overlapping authorities and powers designed to preempt any possibility of collusion to remove Head of State. Just to ensure that these power centers don’t collude against the dictator, rumors and other nasty political games are played to create ill-will among the administrators and military leaders.
Second Paranoia: Especially for PIA who regards himself and was regarded by the general population as War Hero wants to ensure his legacy as War Hero is restored to be remembered for generations. As a leader without positive vision, and definitely without the even temperament, to lead Eritrea into prosperity, his ace card is to destroy our nation. As the wheels of change grind slowly to their inevitable outcome, PIA wants to ensure that his replacements find themselves at each other’s throats. PIA hopes that this infighting will plunge Eritrea into its darkest period yet. The people will soon forget PIA’s oppression and begin to remember him fondly, or at the very least, to justify his ruthlessness. PIA hopes that the people will say, ‘PIA was right. PIA was trying to protect us from these incompetents.’ Self-fulfilling prophecy!
Healthy Nations
The difference between healthy nations and banana republics is that in healthy nations, the abdication, sudden removal, or incapacitation of head of state doesn’t cause any uncertainty or instability. It will just be headline news for couple of days, then people move on with their lives. That is how institutionalized societies work.
In banana republics, which Eritrea is on a fast track to earn the top spot, the sudden removal and incapacitation of PIA leads to uncertainties and chaos leading to possible dire consequences. All this need not have been!
In the 14 years since independence, Eritrea could have learned from the mistakes of other developing countries and concentrated its efforts at building institutions in Eritrea. Head of State or Presidency is not a prize to one individual winner. It is a part and parcel of a political institution in healthy countries. Instead, PIA dismantled even the couple of institutions that were handed down to us from our colonizers. Nobody knows what PFDJ’s justification is for not building institutions. I hope PFDJ and Higdefawiyan don’t blame Woyane, our hingoogoo, for lack of institutions in Eritrea.
The most critical infrastructure for healthy society is the existence of independent and self- and cross-checking institutions. To that end, PFDJ has utterly failed to deliver the most important infrastructure for viable and prosperous Eritrea.
Continuation of last thought
The Pseudo-Oppositions
"Little minds think and talk about people.
Average minds think and talk about things and actions.
Great minds think and talk about ideas."
- Benjamin Franklin
What or who is PFDJ? Some people associate PFDJ with PIA and his followers. To me, PFDJ’ism, or simply higdefawinet, is a certain behavior and code of conduct that embodies intolerance, cruelty, betrayal, poisonous code of conduct, total disregard for rule-of-law, and lack of basic human decency.
The difference between associating PFDJ with certain individuals versus higdefawinet as a behavior or code of conduct is enormous. If we associate higdefawinet with individuals such as PIA only, then we are assuming that removing PIA is the simple solution to our woes. But this is naiveté! Instead, our awareness and efforts should be aimed at tackling the behavior and conduct that not only exists within PFDJ but also PFDJ-like conduct being exhibited within the opposition camp by pseudo-oppositions.
Pseudo-oppositions who write under misleading headings such as ‘Eritrawinet’ [Being Eritrean] , and then persistently engage in poisonous propaganda can only be from PFDJ school-of-thoughts. Under such misleading headlines as ‘Eritrawinet’, they write everything UNERITREAN – spreading innuendoes and engaging in desperate defamation campaign. When Solomon Abera, former Eri-TV sportscaster, defected to the West, PFDJ launched its trademark character assassination – same modus operandi of the pseudo-opposition. These pseudo-oppositions practice typical higdefawinet in their misguided belief that lies told often enough becomes the truth. These pseudo-opposition thrive in cyberspace because there are no defamation laws that can effectively rein their actions within the environment that the Eritrean opposition camp operates. Self-restraint is more important than laws, but these pseudo-opposition have no concept of self-restraint nor respect for rule-of-law which is typical of higdefawinet. Exposing their shamelessness, the pseudo-opposition unsuccessfully attempt to compare the opposition leaders in Diaspora with those jailed reformers. This is utter insincerity from those pseudo-oppositions whom we know harbor deep resentment towards the jailed reformers, and yet are unashamed to invoke the names of our jailed heroes for their own poisonous propaganda. The jailed heroes don’t deserve this! None of us have the right to speak for the reformers – especially for poisonous propaganda because the jailed reformers are the only ones that can speak for themselves.
The Eritrean opposition is suffering because of those certain pseudo-oppositions with supposed years of experience but who are unable to overcome their petty personal politics and hidden agenda, and then proceed to engage in destructive politics sugar- coated under the false slogan of Eritrawinet; provoking others to reciprocate in kind, and thus hoping to precipitate destructive tit-for-tat clashes. Provoking mutually assured destruction politics is typical higdefawinet belief in ‘Après moi le deluge’ [Bidhirey saeri aybqol belet adgi]. It is also reflective of those who betray the confidence of information of personal nature – typical UNERITREANISM and everything higdefawinet.
The only difference between PIA and pseudo-oppositions is that one has the power and the other doesn’t have as much [ i.e. still does but to lesser degree] power to destroy everything Eritrean – our values and our tradition. Put these pseudo-oppositions in PIA’s seat of power, and we would have worse dictators. We are not just campaigning against PIA and PFDJ, but rather against higdefawinet. No one tells anybody else who should hold his breath as protest against the PFDJ. One should do it by example only!
What is ‘Eritrawinet’? ‘Eritrawinet’ is about looking forward – and the rejection of everything higdefawinet and politics of yesteryears. Eritrawinet is about striving to stay above the fray of pettiness, and to strive to build the future Eritrea on solid foundations. The true oppositions will disagree and argue over issues and strategies to remove the regime. Naturally, a tinge of personality clash will sip in, but the overwhelming effort is focused on addressing issues. Eritrawinet is above personal politics. Eritrawinet is about making positive contributions to help embark on the long journey towards true freedom, justice, and democracy. Eritrawinet is about respect for the rule-of-law, which means that those who have allegations to make must wait until their day-in-court, at which time the accused will have the right to defend himself/herself in the court-of-law. If the allegations are found to be false, the accuser will be held liable for slander/defamation. There is no such thing as trial-over-the-internet.
Everyone has the right criticize views, policies, and strategies propagated in public in an objective manner. But this right specifically excludes making unsubstantiated allegations, half-truths, twisting facts, slander, and defamation. At a time when the opposition is struggling to move away from personal politics, and to build grassroots movement not only against PIA and PFDJ, but also against any possible future dictators in post-PFDJ Eritrea, the pseudo-opposition are dragging us into politics of yesteryears that is aimed at weakening our resolve – which in the end is something we can only conclude as pseudo-oppositions’ efforts to prop up the PFDJ regime.
Our message to those who persist in engaging in destructive defamation propaganda is that Benjamin Franklin wisely said that little minds think and talk about people. We are tired of the bickering and the pettiness of a handful of individuals who try to distract us from our agenda, to bring us down to their cesspool, especially at a time when our fellow countrymen are suffering from PFDJ’s cruelty, and are looking towards us for help. Let us stay focused and address today’s issues!
One last wisdom, ‘And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye?’
Next: Meseretawi Hitotat Part V: Demarcation
Berhan Hagos
August 20, 2005
