Kudos to Senator Inhofe and Shame on Al Mariam

by Y. Atnafeseged
Oct 23, 2007

There is a saying in Ethiopia “ye leba ayne dereq melso leb yadreq” this means that the person who stole came back and blamed the innocent. A certain individual by the name of Al Mariam recently posted a story in a tabloid website called ethiomedia.com asking the respectable U.S. Senator Inhofe to apologize to Ethiopians for his statements about the adoption of his Ethiopian granddaughter. The same author of this absurd claim is the individual who stood in front of Congress begging to stop sending aid to Ethiopia .  The aid money would be to help the many children who are without pa rents now living in orphanages in and around Addis Ababa . 

Professor Al Mariam accused Senator Inhofe of being a racist. Al Mariam who is calling who what?  Al Mariam never uttered a word against the fascist Derg for killing so many innocent young Ethiopians on the famous Red Terror. He first opened his mouth when the new constitution of Ethiopia was ratified. One may ask why “Prof. Al Mariam” would oppose the constitution.

This is the constitution that stripped chauvinists and racists like Al Mariam from enjoying a minority exclusive ownership right of the country.  This constitution, guaranteed the 80+ nations and nationalities of Ethiopia to be the rightful owners of their country.  But the few individuals along with Al Mariam cried and screamed in front of the White House and the World Bank to subvert it. Al Mariam is especially against article 39 of the constitution. What is it that he doesn’t agree with in this particular article? Article 39 specifically guarantees the rights of all nationalities in Ethiopia to self govern, to live with equality, peace and respect with other nationalities.  So who would trust this character called Al Mariam ?  You be the judge.

Al Mariam has lived too long in America trying to play the race card. I have news for him; racism is not only between blacks and whites. It is people like him who want to go back to the old system of one nationality domination over the 80+ nationalities of Ethiopia .  His only intention is to create chaos and disrupt the peace and harmony that exists in the country.

Al Mariam has the nerve to ask facts from a US Senator when he himself has no clue.  Senator Inhofe knows more about the current development of Ethiopia than he does and has made several visits to the country. But since you have asked the Senator for facts let me enlighten you with the hard facts on the ground. Are you ready Al?

§ Ethiopia is a country with a democratically elected government. This is a fact.

§ In Ethiopia , 92% primary school children are attending school. This is a fact.

§ In Ethiopia there are 23 government Universities and 300+ private colleges and universities. This is a fact.

§ In Ethiopia there is 90% primary health care coverage. This is a fact.

§ Ethiopia’s economy has recorded 10% growth for the last 5 years. This is a fact.

§ Ethiopia’s agricultural exports have reached 1 Billion Dollars. This is a fact.

Do you want me to continue Al? These are what normal people consider facts. You chose not to acknowledge these facts maybe because you have lived most of your life in a fantasyland and you can’t swallow it.

By the way for your information all the above progress has been achieved in just the last 16 years.  My brotherly advice to you, Al, is to distinguish facts from fantasy