Pof. Beyene Petros et al

The Strange Opposition Politics of Ethiopia

By Habtamu Bonga                                                                  May 15, 2007

For many years many reasonable fellow Ethiopians have been appreciative of the good professor and others like him for showing the courage to conduct Ethiopian politics in Ethiopia.  They knew that the loud voices of the minority Diaspora Derg-inspired politicians will finally prove to be irrelevant, and only those opposition elements in Ethiopia will eventually succeed.  In cases of the former that prediction has become a reality.  The Diaspora elements are now defunct.  But, while some opposition parties such as EDP are on the right track, we are afraid that Beyene Petros and his allied parties are slipping away from the Ethiopian politics like quick sand.

Quite a few of us have been tricked by the stand Beyene’s party, OFDM, and one of the 4-part split Kinijt had to portray about the ONLF massacre in Degahabour of the Somali state and other related issues. Simply put Beyene’s statement of let’s not upset Issayas by stating the truth, his quest for the ‘truth’ of the ONLF massacre while the culprits themselves admit that it is their act that destroyed oil exploration activities and killed 74 innocent lives, was bizarre and defies any logical explanation.

Is Professor Beyene Petros playing politics at the expense of lost Ethiopian lives or does he frankly understand what opposition politics means? Perhaps he truly believes that the role of an opposition is to oppose anything and everything the ruling party proposes.  Maybe that is his understanding.  Maybe he thinks that he will cease to be an opposition if his party agrees with the ruling party on some issues.  Maybe this is his true belief.

Or maybe he is scared that his party will lose any ground if the Isayas led treasonous group miraculously usurps power from Meles by force.  Using the tools of logical deduction, this is the best that one can guess as to why Beyene Petros chose to appease the killers of Ogaden and the assumed King-Maker of the Horn –Isayas of Eritrea. The sad reality is Beyene et al failed to appraise the situation correctly.  Isayas’ recruits will never have the chance to climb on the power ladder in Ethiopia.  Never.

Maybe he is a very shrewd and calculating politician who realizes that he can play politics as he pleases under the EPRDF government and his rights will be protected by this government without any intimidation and fear of persecution.  Thus, he has nothing to lose by acting irresponsibly by looking for or ‘demanding’ more information in order to condemn the aggression of the Degahabour murderers. Maybe he is right on this count.  But he is doing it at the expense of being counted as irrelevant in the Ethiopian politics and be tossed out by his constituencies in the next election.

In all counts Dr Petros and his comrades-in shameful- politics have failed miserably.  One does not expect much from the 4-way-split Kinijt group, but it is surprising to see OFDM leader Ato Bulcha to fall prey to Beyene’s argument and be a laughing stock in the annals of the Ethiopian politics. If the stand these parties took is for political opportunism, as one of the Ethiopian government Minister stated recently, it is a horrendous miscalculation on their part. This calculation is tantamount  to standing on a sharp age of cliff. A strong wind does not spare it from a crushing defeat never to revive again. 

But then again, as sad as it is the opposition politics of Ethiopia is strange.