Dear Webmasters

Ever since I stated that Ambassador, like Prime Minister is not a title but a post (Open Letter to Ati Fekade Shewakena) I had receieved a number of queries from your readers to explain my reasons for stating so.

To start off with a credible source to lead us to understand these two terms, neither Oxford, Longman nor Webster English Dictionaries define these words as a title but rather as a person.   That is why you do not hear the Brits address Tony Blair as Prime Minister Tony Blair, but rather as The Prime Minister, Tony Blair.   His official title being The Right Honourable Tony Blair MP, First Lord of The Treasury (post) and Prime Minister (post).   In Ethiopia, however, despite the fact that we follow the British system of electing the Prime Minister we tend to say Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, instead of The Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi which would have been the correct English usage.   Now once one ceases to be a prime minister/ president one's salutation changes to former Prime Minister/President.   That is why we talk about a meeting between former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinron and President George Bush.

Ambassador, also follows similar rules, though in Ethiopia - contrary to logic as well - we tend to believe that once an Ambassador, always an Ambassador is the rule.   Nothing, however, can be further from the truth.   Let us take two examples from the same era in our history.   Ethiopian diplomacy was blessed during Haile Selassie's era by the appointments of two Ambassadors who later on became acclaimed authors.   Ato Adiss Alemayehu ( author of best-seller,"Fikir Eske Mekaber") and Ethiopia's one time Ambassador to Great Britain, and Ato Zewde Reta (author of best-seller of Ye Eritrea Gudaye and Teferi Mekonen) and Ethiopia's one time Ambassador to The Republic of Italy.   Though Ato Addis never used Ambassador before his name, Ato Zewde Reta - who I know and adore - has chosen to use it.   There is nothing wrong except for the fact that as he no longer is accredited as an Ambassador, it would be a misnomer to call him Ambassador.   The correct salutation would, instead be Former Ambassador Zewde Reta.   I sometimes read Ethiopian newspapers describe our Speaker of The House of People's Representatives, Ato Teshome Toga, as Ambassador.   To call the Speaker of a sovereign Ethiopian Parliament Ambassador would, therefore, be regarded as an oxymoron.

Let me turn now to my original Open Letter to Ato Fekade and point out the error in addressing Ato Kassa Kebede as Ambassador fifteen years after he had relinquished his accreditation to the United Nations in Geneva.   To be fair to Ato Kassa Kebede, Fekade should have addressed him in a manner commensurate with his current status.   Thanks to the current Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrism an Unconventional Warfare, Kassa Kebede's present status is described as "The Leader of the hard-core Derg."(Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America page 272.

Finally, to those, who like me, would want to polish up one's English as a matter of routine as well as keep abreast with a language that is on the move, I recommend your readers to include on their book-shelves any book by James Cochrane and Jon Humphrys, who are renowened for their defense of good English.

With kind regards

Mulugeta Aserate Kassa

13th March 2006.