It is so painful to see Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam’s recent actions in derailing and disrupting the activities of UDJ and his playing into the hands of the TPLF thugs, as we notice the celebration and the fanning of his actions in the Aigaforum and other pro-TPLF websites.
I am not a fan of UDJ, nor do I approve UDJ’s move to challenge the TPLF in the upcoming fake 2010 elections in Ethiopia, although I am convinced that it would have become a credible alternative, with all its weaknesses, if there was an iota of space for free political competition in the country.
From my short membership experience in the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), the Professor founded, I had a vivid opportunity to learn about Prof. Mesfin’s attitude towards power, although he always tried to claim that he is not a power seeker. Besides failing to put term limits to the position of the chairpersonship (which was assumed through regular election) of the organization in EHRCO’s constitution, he continuously kept the chairpersonship for himself, only alternating it with Prof. Andargachew, whom he crowned himself, sometimes in his absence.
Worst still, hidden behind the thick black lens of his glass, he was always infuriated whenever his opinion and position was challenged by a daring member, to the extent of ordering a background investigation on this daring member.
That was when I began to question the integrity of Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam as a genuine democrat and a leader, and his contradicting personality. How could he demand for a term-limit of a Prime Minister, that bestows more power and prestige, when he is not prepared to limit the terms of a chairperson in such a miniscule organization like EHRCO? How could he be an advocate of human rights, when he can not stand a person who used his right to freely express his opinion and who chose to ask a critical question in the organization he chaired? Despite these negative experiences, I gave him the benefits of a doubt, when he left EHRCO to join the Rainbow Coalition for Democracy, that later paved the way for the CUD.
From my observation, since his loss of prestige from the Ethiopian people, following the split of CUD, and his inability to be the king maker, what Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam has been doing since the TPLF-rigged 2005 election, is playing a destructive rather than a constructive role in Ethiopian politics and his fighting strategy has been wrongly directed at the opposition than on the dictatorial and the minority incumbent TPLF.
Professor Mesfin was hell bent on derailing the CUD, since he left the coalition early during its infancy, he was hell bent to kill Ginbot 7 movement, when the organization emerged as a credible alternative to the TPLF dictators, and he is now hell bent to kill UDJ, and gone in to the gutter to physically fight members of the party. Isn’t it amazing and contradictory when a person who professes about the rule of law takes the law into his own hands? And he does all this nonsense in front of the TPLF cameramen, which they are using for cheap propaganda.
The learned Professor Mesfin knows very well that there is no rule of law in Ethiopia that protects citizens from unlawful treatment, and is using that as an opportunity to promote hooliganism to attain his objective. If Prof. Mesfin is too much concerned about Birtukan Mideksa’s position being undermined in the UDJ, why blame members of the UDJ, who are victims themselves, than challenging the TPLF, by calling a peaceful rally in the TPLF corridors asking for her unconditional release, so that she is freed to reassert herself in her party? On the contrary, Prof. Mesfin has confirmed to the TPLF sympathisers that, even after his recent actions, he will not leave UDJ alone, but will continue to derail it and fight it.
Under what circumstances and conditions are such destructive actions of Prof. Mesfin justifiable and acceptable? And for how long should he be tolerated? As to me, he should be condemned and be told to refrain from acting similarly in the future. He should apologize to the Ethiopian people and leave the political scene. Other wise, he will not escape judgment on D-day!
