BY FITSUM GETACHEW
Ethiopians are scheduled to vote in a general election in less than six months. This will be an election as no other in the past including the five previously held as well as those carried out during the military regime and the pre military period.
History has recorded several elections in the country over almost a century, but the coming election will be different for a number of reasons, some matured during the past three years during which a big reform was carried out, while the other two significant reasons will be the ones that have matured relatively recently with the outbreak of the deadly COVID-19.
And now more recently the total elimination from the political landscape of the country of one of the strongest factors in the Ethiopian political equation: the TPLF, or the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front.
We do not need to talk too much about what sort of influence this party had on the political dynamics of this country as it has been stated and restated several times. People do have still vivid memories of this party. Over the past decades particularly in the area where it was conceived and born and began to first make its voice heard, TPLF has undergone multiple transformations from being a group of few masterminds to an all powerful party that dominated Ethiopian politics in the most unimaginable of ways.
It brought about consequences affecting each and every citizen. In fact, it will take a lot of time, may be years, before we can even reckon the consequences of the policies this party advanced in the country.
In its ugliest form it has resulted to be the party of ‘an extended family business’ and worked against all the interests of the country it was supposed to serve. Many have compared it with how the mafia institution called Cosa Nostra operates in Italy with all the secretive codes and the mischievous errands carried out in the various regions of the country.
For instance, it would be appropriate to mention here how it masterminded and carried out the capture of the secretary general of the once Ginbot Sebat party in a foreign land and brought him to a secret detention center in the country.
So many other individuals who in one way or another opposed its policies were labeled as ‘enemies of TPLF’ and considered enemies of the state and were chased to submit to all sorts of measures not excluding summary executions.
Investigations involving some sort of torture were also conducted by this party in secret detention centers without the due process of the law respected. This was found out from witnesses who managed to survive such predicaments and lived long enough to tell the tale.
The prison memories of their famous hostage and prisoner Andargachew Tsigue is one example of such methods. He at length describes in his book what sort of methods were used to extract from him valuable information that would have helped them prevent further opposition both at home as well as abroad.
Eliminating all forms of opposition or resistance to their policies was the main concern of the party rather than engage in activities that would lessen the suffering of citizens under their control.
Other details were also made public from other testimonials we have been told and we have seen as well materialize from the public as well as privately kept or confidential documents that relate to the party.
This party is well known for its secretive methods even when they take measures that were bound to affect the lives of millions.
What in the final analysis results is that this year’s election in Ethiopia will be held without this once powerful party. On the contrary, it will be an election conducted on its ashes. The body that is constitutionally mandated to run the elections, that is the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, has just decreed the ‘official death’ of the party that bears the name ‘TPLF’.
Many observers have in fact been asking was this ever a party? Its name was given to it when it was first conceived to fight for the ‘liberation of the people’ it claims to represent. In fact, it has always tried to create equivalence between the party and an entire population without even consulting if they agreed to such conception or not. Of course throughout its life it has always imposed its will over the people of the regional state and all those who happened to identify themselves as Tigrayans.
Anyone who happened to speak their native local language was also supposed to subscribe to this idea! And if any one dared to oppose, the punishment in the initial stages was reported to be almost always execution.
All those who thought that disagreeing was normal and expected to stage a healthy discussion were reportedly executed in masse by a special squad and such terror managed to finally secure full obedience and subservience if not belief and commitment.
Among those who disagreed and managed to flee is Dr Aregawi Berehe the first secretary general of the party. He has always been one of the major personalities that uncovered many of the secrets of the party that ruled with an iron fist over the region and later on over the entire country, albeit with other associates that were carved in its image.
Aregawi has written a book describing some of the methods the party used beginning from the earliest days alleging that there were never democratic and free discussions and any possibility of dissent in the midst of the party was suppressed. It can now be said that he is still a living witness and has survived the death of that party.
Today, after the law enforcement campaign conducted by the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, most of the leadership of TPLF are either dead, captured or on the run. Many have said that TPLF was a party that was claiming ‘to free Ethiopians’ without even attaining or understanding the meaning of freedom or applying it within its own ranks and files.
It is a real challenge to have to give to others what you yourself do not even have! That was why many have condemned it for its ideology of lies and misrepresentation of the truth, not only to the world at large, but to its own constituencies as well.
When the election was postponed last year due to the Covid crisis, TPLF claimed that it was unconstitutional to do that. Hence, it dared to conduct its own local elections making up its own election board which was clearly against the constitutional precepts.
When the federal government admonished it not to travel that path and when it tried to negotiate some sort of arrangement so that things would not worsen out of control, the TPLF led regional government preferred to respond with arrogance and self righteousness.
It claimed that the federal government of Ethiopia was unconstitutional to postpone the election and that it would lose every bit of legitimacy come October 2020 when the five year limit of the parliament was expiring.
The government however had acted upon the recommendation of the medical professionals who advised it not to venture in mass rallies and meetings without which elections would be meaningless. The National Electoral Board hence had to legally postpone the election and it was legitimized by the House of Federation until such time when the risks would be minimized.
But this did not suffice to convince the power mongers at the party in Mekele and went their own way. Finally, they even attacked the Ethiopian military making the worst of miscalculations.
Today, such force is crushed by the national army with the full solidarity of the people of Ethiopia as everyone called the attack ‘a stab from the back’, and ‘treason’. Many observers were heard stating TPLF lost the gamble it indulged with.
It made the most mortal of sins by attacking the very Northern Command that was part of its existence and helped communities secure their lives during alien aggression. Moreover, it was stationed there for more than twenty years in their defence!
Beside the material consequences of losing the fight on the ground, it has now also lost its legal personality. The party that openly admitted of attacking and killing as many federal forces as they could because these forces adhered to their professional principles and rejected any involvement in the war of aggression against their own brothers and sisters, it is now done with.
It was defeated not only on the ground but also in the legal documents. It is now officially stricken out from the books of the electoral board and will not be allowed to represent any one, even if it wanted to do that.
In its place other parties representing peacefully and legally the people of the region will be invited to take part in the elections when they will be allowed to be held. For instance, there are some registered parties representing the interests of the region such as the Tigray Democratic Alliance led by Dr. Aregawi Berehe and a few others. Of course the Tigray wing of the Prosperity Party, which is now running the interim administration, will be expected to run for seats in the regional council.
The national election will be held in May for all of the country except for the Tigray Region which now being under state of emergency will not be in a position to hold an election. There will be many things to consider before this emergency is lifted and there is the rehabilitation process to complete. The fugitives of TPLF have destroyed lots of infrastructure which as a party worrying for the good of its people would never be expected to do.
This once influential party out of the picture will now end up affecting the outcome of the election, at least in Tigray Region and this will be something to consider. That is why this election will be very different than the ones we experienced in the past.
There were separate elections held for certain regions even in the past when circumstances dictated for that. For instance, in the pastoral areas elections had to be postponed. Climatic conditions could determine it.
Secondly the threats of Covid transmission are still significant and there will be extra cautions to be taken. The role of the Electoral Board has become more onerous. More staff are needed and the extensive use of technology has been adopted. Trainings are underway.
Besides, the role of the media as well has been revisited because it is key in modern day elections, especially at a time of such pandemic. Social media as well need to be better regulated because the fight against misinformation and fake news must be strengthened in the interest of the integrity and fairness of the polls.
The Ethiopian Herald January 21/2021
