Oromian Economist

Ethiopia: The same PM who denounced TPLF’s use of “terrorist methods to stay in power” September 22, 2020

The same PM who denounced TPLF’s use of “terrorist methods to stay in power”

Dr. Awol Kassim Allo

I just finished reading the 25 pages of terrorism and other charges against Jawar Mohammed and 23 other Oromo politicians. It is incredulous just how duplicitous this neo-Neftegna regime really is. The same PM who denounced TPLF’s use of “terrorist methods to stay in power”, who told us he is different and committed to democratic transition, the rule of law and justice, and so much more … is now using the anti-terrorism legislation and the political narrative that go with it, against his political opponents. This PM betrayed the Oromo cause (by embracing the Ethiopia First neo-Neftegna cause), betrayed his colleagues, and abandoned the transition, and turned into a typical dictator. I will write about the charge over the next days but a couple of quick thoughts:

(1) It is highly likely that the narrative structure for the case was set by the PM himself. At the core of the allegation is his government’s discomfort with the use of the term Neftegna to refer to his regime … something similar to a desperate letter released by his office to discredit claims that he is Neftegna and that his regime is a Neftegna regime.

(2) The prosecutors under the AG’s office furnished the legal framework for the repressive political agenda the PM wanted to advance by legal means – they assembled a concatenation of some of the most outrageous charades that would make even Stalin, the progenitor of contemporary show trials, proud.

(3) The Attorney General, the country’s top law enforcement officer and a pretty competent and decent human being (or used to be), will oversee this and other political prosecutions. How are folks like the AG come to defend the practices they denounced in the past and flies in the face of the liberal worldview they say they are committed to? Do people who advice the government on specific policy issues (eg. justice or monetary police) have any agency at all even within the narrow confines that fall within their authority? What does this say about our society writ large?