Dethrone the ‘Activists’

Samuel Estefanous  11 November 2019

We are openly courting mayhem –worse still-we are courting bloody disintegration lest we take heed of the unerring lessons of history. You will be surprised to learn how blood curling carnages have been induced by a bunch of irresponsible half-baked losers craving the limelight foolishly and vainly. And all on account of insatiable greed, bone chilling avarice, vanity, hurt pride, cheap populism and debilitating sense of intellectual insecurity  on the part of the so called ‘activists’ as well as the gruesome unprofessionalism of law enforcement agencies. Believe me all these baloney ‘activism’ has got nothing to do with any meaningful cause that has got a semblance of advancing or protecting the positive interests of any section of the Ethiopian public.

1-Salvaging Wasted Energy for the Wrong Purpose.

Time goes on and every seasonal Cause is certain to wither away-to inevitably yield the way for the incoming fresh and blossoming one-some with grace others unceremoniously. We will not be surprised at this. But we do stand in unison to decry the tendency of some vocal members of ‘that generation’ to usurp the limelight for ill-defined private and very personal purposes. In Africa old age is a veritable Treasure Trove. That is why we cheered on our own Council of Elders who had served a noble purpose of setting political prisoners free a decade and half years ago. We are yet propping up the Elders of the Reconciliation Commission the best we could. You know why? Because they are doing exactly what Elders are supposed to do-making peace and reconciliation possible? But still there are bunches of ‘yeshimagle goremsa’ who are walking the political tightrope. They are acting very juvenile for their advanced old age. When regular folks plead with the otherwise ill-tempered youth to calm down for the sake of ‘love, peace and order’, the former urge them on and on to spill more blood in the name of allegedly bringing some other group to heel. Taking advantage of the gullibility and immaturity of the youth, they press missions of violence on the fertile minds of the Millennials. Ethiopians are a very law abiding, authority respecting civilized Nation. But in great measure thanks to ‘the shimagle goremsas’, these days the youth is trying to wrestle the Monopoly of Violence out of  the hands of government. I would rather the   hot heads of the yesteryears share the invaluable wisdom they have acquired over the years for the good of the Nation, instead of salvaging some remnants of the long withered belligerency for some selfish purpose of staying in the limelight and remaining relevant. Incidentally, how come we haven’t got seasoned sages like Eyesuswork Zafu in great numbers? Makes me wonder…

‘MNEW BEHAGERU KULU SHIMAGLE TEFA’?

2-A Moment of Truth.

Everybody gets to have his sobering moment of truth. I had mine two years ago at Hawassa. Not so long ago, Hawassa had an enduring reputation as a very hospitable holiday niche and I have rarely missed the opportunity to drop by. On that eventful occasion, we had wrapped up our assignment earlier than planned and we began hitting those shady oak ornamented beer halls. At the end of the day, we weren’t hard boozing or something but we did have more than our fair share of the ‘brunette mistress’ and chose to walk the breezy clean streets of the City for refreshment. I would rather we took a cab, though. We would have been spared that disagreeable sore sight. Three police officers in uniform and wielding batons were clubbing a scantily dressed emaciated boy calling him what appeared to be a derogatory name…I tried to ‘intervene’ but my friend hysterically protested-‘it is none of our business, don’t get in the middle of their affair.’ I was like-how is that not my business? Aren’t I an Ethiopian and isn’t this an Ethiopian domain? The answer I got was-‘you aren’t in your right mind to ask such a stupid question, it is the beer talking alright.’ You see, without realizing it we have long drifted apart and this Nation is on the verge of coming apart. This isn’t the time to spend time and resources on the Merchants of Chaos- the so called Activists and Social Media’s phony intellectuals; this is the eleventh hour to Save the Nation at any cost.

3-The Dr.Abiy Mania

You don’t have to be a Francis Fukuyama to safely conjecture that Abiy mania was most certain to downsize or worse still capsize in time. I am glad it came to pass so early in the tenure of the Premier. To my mind it shows that the Administration is getting REAL. You can’t run a functioning government with a bunch of salivating poodles at your heels. You need to lose them and lose them big time in good time. Only I am a little disconcerted the Premier sounds like he didn’t get it right. This is a Nation of 110 million strong. You are serving the overwhelming silent majority not a motley of bored losers who have nothing better to do anyway. On this score I think I will have to concede ground and admit that I was wrong to protest the Premier wasn’t one to pander to populist agendas-happy and vindicated, dear Admin? Never mind…you see I had assumed he knew the armchair warriors- aka activists-were best served when ignored.

4-The Frustrating State of the Law Enforcement Agencies.

My advice to the Premier is when it comes to law and order-learn from the Master, Vlad the Great of the Russian Federation. Here it looks like the Agencies are hijacked and being manipulated by wily stakeholders who are actually and in reality calling all the shots.