On December 22, 2019, we heard a press release given from the
Oromia Branch Office of PP which announced the difference that Obbo Lemma had
on EPRDF’s merger and formation of PP has been solved. Lemma has been moving
from Oromo nationalism to Ethiopian nationalism, from opponent of PP to the supporter
of PP and continues enjoying the support and praise of most of Oromos.
The media and his supporters portrayed Obbo
Lemma Megersa as the Oromo nationalist who took lots of risk in fighting for
Oromo rights. He and his colleagues claimed that they brought the current
change risking their lives. We believed them because we do not have a means to
prove or disprove their claims. By
controlling the information entering
the minds of the people, they controlled what people perceive as truth. In
addition, some of the diaspora who returned to the country after many years and
who wanted to get position in the government and have access to the media
venerated Lemma and Abiy and tried to convince us that the fate of the country
is in the hands of Team Lemma.
Lemma has a right to have his personal opinion on everything
and, if he wishes, the right to swing from one side to another and vice versa.
As stated in the statement of Oromia Branch Office of PP, the cause of dissenting
opinion of Obbo Lemma was the newness of the idea of Medemer (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUf6bnh7XJc
).
As Obbo Lemma Megersa himself told us on VOA, the reasons for his dissenting
include, his fear of the risk that may happen as a result of merger of EPRDF,
his wish to delay the merger, the decrease in the value of his opinions in ODP,
and his not understanding of Medemer philosophy (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibxmeHG9bWQ
). It
is fine if Obbo Lemma takes more time to understand Medemer because all
students are not expected to understand one subject at equal pace. Some
students are quick learners and other take more time and even repeat the course
to understand the subject. Thus, we don’t blame Lemma for taking more time to
understand Medemer, but he must stop swinging and confusing us.
Furthermore, in his interview with VOA, Obbo Lemma lamented about
the decrease of his importance and listed his complaints but we didn’t hear him
opposing his removal from the position of President of Oromia State and his
vote on the EPRDF Executive Committee on the merger of EPRDF doesn’t reflect
what he talked about on the VOA. His recent actions and interview show that
Lemma Megersa is not a man of principle, but a fickle person who tries to bend
based on the strength of the political wave. His actions are paradox—
Tutuffatta,
dhudhungatta
(you despise it, but you kiss it).
It is naivety to expect former OPDO/ODP leaders who
transformed themselves to be the leaders of PP to address fundamental questions
of Oromo. The hope of Oromo should rely on Oromo youth (Qerro and Qarre), if
organized, not on former ODP leaders and cadres. Recently, we learned that some
of the top OPDO leaders were leaked critical EPRDF information to OLF and
Ginbot 7 as well as worked with Qerro Oromo movement which rose against EPRDF.
As Oromo says, “
namni gurgura bare haadha gaba baasa
” (someone who used
to sell something, presents his mother for sale”. Lemma and his boss have the
experiences of sitting on the fence to fall to a side which has high
probability of winning and that was what they did in 2018 and this was what
Lemma did this month. That is what they mean by breaking EPRDF from inside out.
The supporters of Obbo Lemma try to justify every decision he
made and every action he took. Now, they try to convince Oromos that he made a
wise decision to work with PP to mitigate the negative impact that PP may bring
to the multiethnic federalism and the constitution that gives guarantee to the
right of ethnic groups and if that doesn’t work, to do to PP what he did to
EPRDF, breaking it from inside out. For how long OPDO cadres and their
supporters fool the Oromo people?
It is sickening that the Oromo people who claim to be about 40
million couldn’t create their own strong leaders who can address their long
standing questions and the fate of Oromo continue to hinge on few individuals
whom TPLF identified and trained. If Oromo people want to benefit from the
current change in Ethiopia, they must stop worshipping those who publicly
admitted that they were servants of TPLF and look for other potential leaders.
Especially, Oromo elites must stop idolizing Lemma, Abiy, Shimelis and the like
and stand up to be the leaders. As Ethiopian’s Election 2020 is right around
the corner, there is no need to waste time on crying about Lemma and his team members.
