Building Democratic Institutions on the grave of Woyane is the way forward

 by Teshome Debalke
July 31, 2013

Woyane can no longer lie, jail, torture, kill, extort and rob its stay in power. And, Ethiopians can no longer continue to protest as hyphenated victims and extend the life of the regime. Whether we like it or not the solution is a united democratic front that will bring down tyranny on its knees. Civic societies and the independent Medias’ concerted effort to help build democratic institutions and follow-up on the criminal operatives of the ruling regime will go a long way to bring down tyranny for a lasting freedom and democratic rule.

 From the outset it is worrying to see there are some people that still believe the self-declared minority ethnic regime can lie, jail, torture, kill, extorts and rob its stay in power. At this moment in history we shouldn’t be wasting our time arguing over what is obvious for one-and-all; the regime that pretends to be the government of Ethiopia is anything but a government. Call it mafia, mercenary, gang or simply a collection of warlords that divided the nation by ethnic territory; the chapter Woyane can be considered a government is closed and done with. What to do next with the ‘criminal enterprise’ is the question before Ethiopians?

Therefore, if there was disagreement among Ethiopians over the criminality of the ruling party we haven’t heard anyone, including the regime’s apologist claiming it is innocent of any of the crimes it is accused of committed. Nor we heard anyone calling for independent investigation to prove otherwise. 

In fact, the enormities of the crimes are so much so the regime and its apologist hoping against all hope is to cover-up the crimes and wishing some miracle to happen to prevent accountability and its demise. The apologists’ complete silence on the crimes of Woyane speaks louder than anything we can think of and validates their conspiracy to be part of the criminal enterprise.

On the other hand, Ethiopians can’t continue to protest as hyphenated victims our way out of ethnic tyranny.  Nor we can afford to claim we belong to our chosen hyphenated group or whatever Woyane designated for us and expect to be free from hyphenated ethnic tyranny. We defiantly can’t wish to bring about democratic rule as hyphenated Ethiopians.  As much as Woyane is stuck in its hyphenated ethnic criminality we can’t afford to be stuck as hyphenated victims and open more doors for the ‘minority’ regime and opportunists. It would be wise to understand; there is no hyphenated freedom or democracy but freedom and democracy period.

Therefore, until we join the democratic movement as united Ethiopians and begin building the necessary democratic institution we will be catering for tyranny without even knowing it. We must be part of the movement that wouldn’t settle for anything less than democratic rule. Otherwise, we will continue to go in circle with hyphenated ethnic tyranny or self appointed hyphenated opportunist to nowhere.

For example, we should look at the persistent movement of our people of the Muslim faith as part of the democratic struggle not as hyphenated (religious) freedom but freedom period. And, there should be no negotiation with tyranny on freedom but demand its surrender for the rule of law; as the movement repeatedly and without ambiguity has been communicating to the world. Nor we should open the door for tyranny and opportunists by hyphenating the struggle as we witnesses when scavengers want to take advantage of the movement.

Unity and ethnic tyranny

Historically, Unity has always been a nightmare and division a currency for tyranny.  No one entity proved to the truthiness of that reality than the self-declared minority ethnic ruling party of Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF). The regime has a vested interest against Unity to remain relevant and sustain its illegitimate rule when it came up with the formula of Ethnic Federalism to sustain rule as long as it can. If anyone cares to observe, Woyane or any other political force that present itself as hyphenated Ethiopian or non Ethiopian only currency is anti unity thus, anti democracy.

There is a big difference between demanding our rights as hyphenated victims of tyranny or as united democratic force. The former guarantee us to bargain our freedom the later empower us to demand the surrender of tyranny to achieve our long awaited freedom. The sooner we understand the difference and begin uniting to build democratic institutions the sooner we the people will be free from the institution of tyranny period.   Until then, we will be negotiating with tyranny in one form or another for the foreseeable future to nowhere.

Building democratic institutions on the ashes of tyranny

Often we confuse hyphenated political parties and interest groups with the democratic movements, to the contrary. The very hyphenation of the struggle contradicts democracy to the benefit of tyranny and undemocratic forces. Historically, no hyphenated political parties or groups contributed anything worthy in building democratic institutions. 

 Therefore, it isn’t wise to relay on hyphenated political parties and interest groups to advance the cause of the democratic struggle or to build the necessary democratic institutions. In fact, it is not in the interest of hyphenated political parties or interest groups to build democratic institution but to take power or negotiate their ‘interest’ from the power to be.

Democracy is building democratic institutions to be governed by the rule of law, noting more to it. It is the primary job of independent civic societies and Medias that have no interest in the outcome beyond instituting the rule of laws. As the pillars of democracy with no interest to negotiate the public interest for petty interest they demand all parties to submit for the rule of law. Without civic institutions and the Media there is no freedom or democracy but tyranny.

The cost of the absence of civic society and the elites

The unwillingness of Ethiopian elites to form viable and independent civic institutions and Medias in all sectors to help advance the democratic movement left the field wide open for opportunist and kept the people of Ethiopia victims of the adventure of tyranny and all kinds of interest groups.

More need to be said and done with our contemporary intellectual elites in general and ethnic elites that surrender their soul for ethnic tyranny on the expenses of freedom and democracy.  Therefore, they became hazard for society surrendering for interest groups and pimping for ethnic tyranny at the expenses.

To illustrate how the people of Ethiopia are left under the mercy of ethnic tyranny the ethnic elites in public institution tells half the story. In another hand, the rest of the elites’ complicity or conspiracy not to establish civic institutions and independent Medias to free public institutions from the stranglehold of ethnic tyranny tells the other side of the story.

After 17 years of the brutal rule of the Derg regime and 22 years of the atrocious and corrupt rule of Woyane regime we are still struggling to setup viable civic institutions and Medias to challenge an atrocious and corrupt rule of tyranny or interest groups of all kinds.  Thus, there remain unprecedented crimes being committed against Ethiopians where no one take responsibility or faced justice yet.

Therefore, once again the best the ruling tyranny and its apologist can come up with isn’t the innocence of the regime but claiming it is the lesser evil than the previous and the future alternatives. In fact, Woyane goes as far back in history to dig dirt on others to justify its crime now and manufacture accusation against the present alternatives.  Unfortunately, absence of civic institutions and Medias allowed Woyane bank on is pointing figure on others to remain in power and escape responsibility for long list of its crimes.

Behind the irrational mindset of the present ethnic tyranny and its crimes against the people of Ethiopia there are untold story of building Ethnic Empire out of the ashes of Ethiopia. In that regard, the self declared Tigray elites are the instrument of the grand crimes and as much responsible as the offending regime itself. As tragic as it is some of the ethnic elites that make a living on the blood of Ethiopians aren’t ashamed to show their face in public to divert the people’s attention from the criminality of their regime.   In fact, they honestly believe they can outsmart and outwit Ethiopians doing the bidding of ethnic tyranny.

The Moral bankruptcy of the Woyane elites and the apathy of the rest

Much has been said about the moral bankruptcy of the Woyane’s elites. But, what is unique about their behavior one can’t rationalize is their conspiracy to lend a hand the organized criminality of Woyane in laundering public money on the back of poor Ethiopians. Their moral compass is way off to the point of reducing themselves as common criminals than rational and honest citizens that would reject criminality to protect the public from corrupt ethnic tyranny.

What could possibly go wrong to rationalize their behavior is the raging debate among Ethiopian across the world. Absence of explanation collective insanity as syndicates of organized crime became the consensus.  The collective silence of seeing the criminal enterprises of Woyane going amok, better yet the elaborate cover-up isn’t a small matter to be ignore.  Again, sadly to say- faced with overwhelming evidence; they continued to consider the criminality of the regime and their part in it as progress and innovation with elaborate cover up and diversion.

At the same time, one thing we Ethiopians collectively are weak is catching thieves. When it comes to the grand theft of all time, beyond talking about it behind close doors we couldn’t do much about it. It is partly because we failed to organize to follow up on the crimes and continue to be distracted by Woyane.

Take the Abay Bond sale Woyane instigate to pick our pockets and divert us from the struggle. Not a single civic institution exist to follow up the bond sale, where and through who the money is handled, who may be the beneficiary of the expenditures, the legal bases the bond is sold, and contract is awarded, responsible parties to oversee the project expenditure and implementation…

Likewise, as we speak there is there is no a single institution dedicated to dismantle the criminal network of Woyane and catch the thieves to face justice and recover the stolen money. And, surprisingly most of the ring leaders that facilitate the criminal network of Woyane operate out of Western countries where 100s of thousands of Ethiopians in Diaspora reside.  More amazing is there are 100s of Ethiopians trained in various fields that couldn’t be able to put together institutions in every sector to follow-up on the activities of the regime’s operatives.

After two decade of criminality of the most sophisticated corrupt system of robbery and entitlement ever device the best the ethnic elites that congregated around Woyane can tell us is roads and dams are being built to compensate for its criminality. On the other hand, the best the rest of Ethiopians can do is protest the crimes instead of proactively dismantle the networks of the criminal enterprises. As sad as it sounds on both sides, the good news is average Ethiopians are beginning to say no more we can seat and watch the crime of Woyane and the do-noting elites of our time.

Once again, failure to establish civic institutions in all sectors open the door for Woyane to run amok on the expenses of the people of Ethiopia.

Parliament Verses the money laundering system (Revolutionary Democracy and Development State)

Legitimizing criminality is the standard way of doing business for every tyranny that lived on the face of earth. But, ethnic tyranny with an ambition of ethnic empire building with stolen public money gets nastier and dangerously complicate matters further. When Woyane declared itself a minority ethnic tyranny against the majority it signed its own death wish and forced its ethnic associates no place to go but stick with the regime as designed by the mastermind of Ethnic Federalism.

For sure, no genuine Ethiopian would design such a system and live to see it unless s/he is doing the bidding of foreign entity. Nor, a rational human being reduces her/him-self to associate with a corrupt ethnic tyranny and claim it can be trustworthy in the public affairs. Therefore, all the bluff we see and hear coming out of Woyane and its apologist doesn’t worth the paper it is written on.

To understand Woyane the drama in the front Parliament (Revolutionary Democracy) and the money laundering scheme (Developmental State) backed by the propaganda machine (Government Communication Affair Office) faking legitimacy is sufficient to figure out the entire scum. Why we look elsewhere to chase the ‘goose’ is as puzzling as asking Woyane to restrain from killing and robbing the people of Ethiopia. After all, how else ethnic tyrannies suppose to survive but to kill and robe?

Therefore, the front Parliament where Woyane justify its political legitimacy, the money laundering it devised to finance its criminality in the name of development and the propaganda machine that covers up the crimes is where it began and will ends. If there is one place every Ethiopian should look to do something about tyranny that is where it should be. The rest are simply supporting the three institutions of political illegitimacy, robbery and cover-up or to use the buzz words of Woyane; Revolutionary Democracy, Development State and Government Communication Affairs.  Indecently, there is no a single civic institution to follow up governance, corruption and propaganda.

The drama played between the seating duck Parliament (http://www.hofethiopia.gov.et/web/guest) and the money laundering center where Woyane have a complete stranglehold on the economy led by Wogagen Bank, (http://www.wogagenbank.com) are run by TPLF’s operatives in North America where the whole thing is cooked and served for the people of Ethiopia by the Government Communication Affair Office (Woyane propaganda machine) while everybody is looking elsewhere.

The collection of dummies that filled the House of Parliament to legitimize TPLF rule and robbery no more than what they are paid to perform as designed. None of them understand what legitimacy means and their legal responsibility to the people if they are fed in the mouth.  Nor they understand their conspiracy to commit crimes on the people of Ethiopia. Likewise, the collection of corrupt operatives paused as businessmen, civic society, association…are noting more than men empowered to take advantage of the people in partnership with ruling ethnic tyranny.

The future of the criminal enterprise of Woyane and Associates

There is no telling which direction the criminal enterprise of Woyane is going. But, like any criminal entity we can say with certainty it is going to continue its hide-and-seek game as long as it is allowed to fake legitimacy through the seating duck Parliament and laundering money through its Money Centers led by Wogagen Bank and backed by its propaganda machinery led by GCAO. Therefore, the one and only way Woyane could continue to survive is because of the three institutions it uses in a make-believe government and development.

Unless and until the seating duck Parliament led by armed TPLF agents behind the seen is put out of commission along the front puppet parties rendered useless it will continue its trickery for the foreseeable future. Therefore, when the armed assassins forced they can no longer play hide-and seek and close down the fake parliament to declare the self declared minority ethnic tyranny is in charge of the government the drama of ‘legitimacy’ will continue.

At the mean time, unless and until the money laundering scheme that finance the fake Developmental State run by TPLF operatives and led by Wogagen Bank (EFFORT owned) render useless it will continue channeling public money to legitimize TPLF robbery and corruption for the foreseeable future.  Therefore, until the ‘armed agents’ that guard the economic of corruption are forced they no longer can play hide-and-seek to close down the fake money centers to  declare the self declared the minority ethnic tyranny is in charge of the economy; running racketeering the fake Development State and the drama of Growth and Transformation will continue.

Finally, unless and until the propaganda machine that propagates falsehood led by the Government Communication Affair Office is render useless it will continue pushing propaganda of political and development legitimacy. Therefore, until‘ the TPLF operatives’ that put out propaganda all these years forced they no longer play hide-and-seek to close down the fake Media toy declare the self- declare minority regime is in charge of the flow of information and the Media, the drama of free press will contnue.   In that regard, the good news is Ethiopian Satellite Television/radio (ESAT) rendered the propaganda machine of Woyane useless to earn it the # 1 enemy of ethnic tyranny.

With all the above drama played on the lives and freedom of Ethiopians Woyane is frantically going back-and-forth between its fake political legitimacy and fake economic development backed up by fake Medias disseminating fake information. The stars of the drama are Kassa Teklebrhan G/Hiwot Speaker of the House of Federation representing the fake Parliament, Araya G/Egizhaber, CEO of Wogagen Bank representing the financial center and Berket Simon, representing the fake Government Communication Affair.

Note: According to Addis Fortune the President of Wogagen Bank salary is 20,000 Birr/ Month, an equivalent of about 1000 US dollar. Like the late Prime Minster salary, TPLF propaganda machine is at work in the make-believe legitimacy of TPLF operatives as regular citizens making an honest living.  The same propaganda outlet wouldn’t dare to touch the legitimacy of TPLF running a ‘privet’ bank or any other businesses while it is the sole party that make policy, control the means of production, the security force, the public enterprises…

What Ethiopians can do to put the institutions of ethnic tyranny out of commission?

Understandably, the Woyane ethnic tyranny does what it does to extend its rule and robbery. But, no one can explain why many of ‘oppositions’ follow its leads to do the same.  The fact no one raise the issue of defining what ‘opposition’ means vis-à-vis freedom and democracy is saddening. In reality, we can observe no more than half a dozen parties out of the 100s in existence raise the issue of democracy and rule of law to qualify as oppositions let alone to advance the struggle for freedom and democracy. The most they have been doing was detract Ethiopians from focusing on the important issue of freedom and democracy.

At the meantime, absence of independent civic institutions and Medias to evaluate political parties and civic institutions on the issue of freedom and democracy left the field wide open for ruling ethnic tyranny and opportunists posing as one interest group or another to take advantage of the vacuum. The day has come independent civic institutions and Medias to demand one and  all to be transparent with the public. Just having a website doesn’t qualify one to be a political party and civic organization until it present itself to the public its program and the credential of its leasers and how they advance freedom and democracy of Ethiopians.

The solution to freedom isn’t more political parties but more independent civic institutions to evaluate one and all parties on behalf of the people of Ethiopia.  The day Ethiopians collectively demand building democratic institutions is more important than more hyphenated groups and political parties will be the day tyranny will end and opportunist will run for dear life and freedom and democracy will be the rule.

We can no longer hide behind the ruling tyranny from doing what is proven to end tyranny and opportunism.

Note: The domain name of Wogagen Bank is registered by Infinite Dimensions Software Development PLC with local server it runs (Habisha.com) and IDSD also administer the Bank’s website. The domain was registered by Yemisraknesh Solomon. The same person is associated with additional 23 domain name, according to Webboar. The same outfit also administers the government owned Ethiopian Radio an Television Agency, according to Network Solution. The local server habisha.com run by IDSD is believed to be run by TPLF operatives in North America that administer many of the Ethiopian government’s Ministries and Agencies websites.