Errand Boys of Ethiopian Birr

[NASSIR]

LINK

[NASSIR]

See it @ WardheerNews. Can't link with this phone.

[NGONGE]

Errand Boys of Ethiopian Birr Whom the People of Somali Galbeed ‘Must Have’ as Rulers

By Mahado Sh. Dahir

Dec. 18, 2010

 

 

Comical colonialists

 

Colonialists can be as comical as cruel they are. In Somali Galbeed, which is under colonial rule, the year 2010 saw ‘peace’ lingo dominate the wavelengths, temporarily putting cold water on the glowing struggle semantics. The Tigre masters asked a fly to deliver sweet honey in the rare instance they averred peace intentions. The irony is that thousands of Somali Galbeed people, terrified and overcome by mortal fear, are obeying their instinct for a saving sprint across borders, at a time peace is supposedly flourishing at home. These are the miserable men and women languishing in refugee camps in Somaliland, Puntland (Bossaso) and Kenyan refugee camps.

 

The cruel humor doesn’t end there. The Tigres speak through rented native tongues and loudly proclaim people in Somali region are eating bountifully. Manufactured statistics is proffered as an alibi of the developmental leaps and bounds Somali Galbeed people are making; as if life should have been static and inert in the region and any microscopic infrastructural additions over a period of two decades should be celebrated and gratefully praised by the natives. Photogenic images of Potemkin contractor-driven projects are flashed before un-inquisitive local media and obsequious websites to sell illusions of ethnic equality and economic prosperity in circumstances of ingrained ethnically demarcated social and political inequities.

 

Tongues with Tigre Saccharine

 

Stories of native errand boys who reason with their stomachs abound in the history of colonialism. These native stooges talk about peace where there is war and of bliss where there is poverty. In Somali Galbeed, errand boys of Ethiopian Birr are stoking delusions of national inclusivity and representativeness. They retain privileges which mean unrelieved colonially-induced penury for most of the Somali Galbeed people. And therefore they argue on behalf of their masters.

But theirs is an argument of a happy slave drunk by a spoonful of sweet Ethiopian generosity. As their tongues scrub the insides and corners of their cheeks sweetened by Tigre saccharine, they begin to think they eat for all of the subjects, in which case it is only the petulant who long for struggle and would want to rock the boat. But that cannot be news. That cannot be the latest hurt to our body-politic. It is an abuse long introduced and administered, and thus one that cannot be a basis for fresh, bleeding complaint. The story is not that the Tigres are using stooges; this is well known by all. The story is that the ruse about Somali representation in Ethiopia’s politics and the tales of remarkable socio-economic development in the region still has avid takers.

 

Bizarre ‘Development’ indicators

 

One doesn’t need to go farther than the capital city of the region to know the real situation. Students in Jigjiga town sit on stones and some on cement floor. The fetid stench of maternity and pediatric wards of Jigjiga’s Karamardha hospital hits the noses of people from distance. Mothers die in labour for lack of medical attention. Drugs donated to the Hospital are sold in adjacent pharmacies with unaffordable price. Patients die amid surgeries for lack of fuel for generators.

Growling stomachs of hungry people are heard from far away, their only salvation coming from food assistance programs from United Nations (UN) and Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs). Lack of water and food is threatening lives. Cholera has already broken out in Fiq Zone, and other areas could be next. Graduates of post-secondary school institutions are given guns to go and fight ‘anti-peace’ elements and are simply another layer of the different militias and armed outfits in the region, never an agent of development. Only this week, hundreds of graduates from Agricultural institutions are wielding the gun, sent to earn their salaries, not as extension workers but as armed pro-government militias. They face a certain death if they meet the more organized and trained guerilla fighters.

 

Hospitals without Doctors and drugs, schools without teachers, and boreholes without potable water are what the curious will find with a rapid assessment of the situation on the ground. The mind boggles no more when one realizes the essence of the construction of basic infrastructure in the region is primarily to plunder money through contracts. The story of ‘hyena’ schools – schools built but no student ever learned from, and health clinics which serve as military garrisons in the region are vivid reminders of the false development in the region. Recurrent budget allocated for key education and health sectors to districts is never given to the districts and the explanation is that it is used for ‘security’ activities by the Regional Security Bureau.

In general, the language of peace and the copious propaganda of development by the stooges in the region don’t sit well with the massive number of refugees from the region whom humanitarian agencies are assisting in neighboring countries and the diseases outbreaks and hunger ravaging the region. Hunger, disease, and massive outmigration of skilled labour are hardly healthy indicators of a developing society and a growing economy. Arbitrary arrest, rape, torture and proliferation of armed militias are not the signs of a peaceful region.

 

 

To be continued...

[NGONGE]

Who are the errand boys?

 

These are the boys and men in the Ethiopian Somali Democratic Party (ESPDP), the only party that runs in elections in Somali Regional State of Ethiopia. ESPDP is a party whose underlying manifesto is a strict undertaking to adhere to the principle of preferred mediocrity. It is the house of opportunists, tribalists, interrogators, spies, and outright social rejects. It is a club of mother-beaters, thieves, murderers and even pimps. It would be a remiss if some of the big surrogates of Meles Zenawi ,who tell their handler that the Somali Galbeed people need jobs not rights, political appointees not voice, and alien advisors not indigenous decision-making authority, are not named and shamed.

 

Abdifatah Sheikh Abdullahi is the head of the ESPDP. He is currently the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the Federal Government of Ethiopia. Three years ago, he was fired from the Regional Cabinet after he stole 12 million Ethiopian Birrr, which was earmarked for procurement of student textbooks for Somali children. The then Deputy Head of Education Bureau, himself a small greedy fish, tipped the Regional President of the time Abduallhi Hassan (Lugbuur), who was having a political tussle with Abdifatah, that contractors were paid the sum of money stated above for textbooks that were never procured.

 

When the stores of the regional Bureau were turned upside down, there was no trace of books and other essential educational materials for which big money was paid to phantom contractors. It was a sore spectacle and the political career of the young man seemed to be going for burial; but the Tigre Political benefactors, who knew where the money went, intervened and saved their key tentacle in the region.

Abay Tsehaye did not abandon his human instrument of looting. Abdifatah seems to have learned good lessons from that experience: one can still steal without raiding safes and banks. That is why he planted the current Head of the Regional Revenue Bureau – the son of the businessman Qabyo, as an extended money-making umbilical cord. The mansion Abdifatah has in Jigjiga was rented by an International organization even when he was in Jigjiga because the other big house he lived in was paid for by the Government. Now, a third big government house is given to him in Addis Ababa, but the spendthrift family still felt they need the government-paid house in Jigjiga for vacations, with all its expensive furniture unmoved. Abdifatah’s wife buys sumptuous Sofas that cost over 4000 Dollars every other weather but patients sleep under trees in Karamardha hospital for lack of bed-sheets and mattresses. Half of Jigjiga town’s land, whatever his father did not find time to buy, is bought by the son in filial land avarice; and the wife stokes buckets of gold and other ornaments.

Abdirahman Sheekh Mohamed is Ethiopia’s Minister of Trade. How translating for Tigre intelligence officers torturing Somali men and women in prisons prepared one for such a portfolio begs an answer. He felt safe under the face-mask he used to wear in interrogation sessions until one freed girl matched his voice and body to the man who conveyed questions to her during a tumultuous night of nightmare. He is given an authority he does not need to validate, for the whole purpose of his nomination was not based on competency or capacity but was to create an enticing foil for Admiral Osman, the ONLF leader – a close relative of his. The rhyme and reason are that shallow.

 

Ahmed Shide is the state Minister for Finance and Economic Development; Somali Galbeed’s representative in the Federal government! This changeling politician is an enigma, a disputed territory much the same way Oromos and Somalis are locked in dispute over regional border lands. It is hard to establish where his true loyalties lie, and it might take a referendum to know that for sure. His characteristic indifference to the plight of Somali people is an expression of his mercenary mission. His vast ‘Gulf’ house in North Eastern part of Jigjiga is lavishly decorated with state-of-the-art furniture and mesmerizing electronics including Sony Bravia screens. Before he joined the opportunist bandwagon fronted by Tigres as rulers of Somali Galbeed, he was an impecunious son of a peasant. No wonder then if he thinks those who refuse to accept Tigre subjugation are fools for whom time is passing without any reward in sight. The rivalry of his wife with Abdifatah’s wife is occupying most of his time and attention these days; a rivalry based on show-woman-ship; of who looted most, who flaunt the loot better.

 

Dau’d Mohamed is the immediate former President of the region, who is angrily serving as a State Minister of Tourism and Culture. Angry, because Abdi Iley unseated him and all he got is a consolation post when the boy he recruited as a cadre is serving as Minister of Trade of Ethiopia.

 

Insatiable appetite for revenge defines Da’ud, and cynics say he just married Azeb – an Amhara lady who is a cashier of the Regional Security Office, to dig for killer information on Iley.

Abdullahi Hassan (Lugbur), the regional President who preceded Da’ud, is obscured in the Water Resources Ministry as is an advisor who advises no one. What advice can a journalist tell to a Water Resource Office after all? His brother-in-laws, the Tigres, just wanted to ensure he supports his family. But he has been making noise to make himself noticed for some nomination few weeks before Meles nominated his cabinet.

 

The tongue-tied Lugbuur, who is not known for oratory skills, tried his luck on paper and was boring everyone with turgid prose on irrelevant Somali expansionist menace just to be relevant. Otherwise, which Somalia is threatening to expand today? The ever shrinking Somalia?

Mohamud Dirrir is the Machiavellian Ambassador and former Minister who is once again Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Cairo. The enduring legacy of his time as a representative of the Somali Galbeed people is captured in his rather ecclesiastical ‘Dire Dawa belongs to God’ utterances in the Ethiopian Parliament. Indeed, it is hard to dispute Dire Dawa belongs to God as indeed Mekelle or Gonder is. But the issue of who should govern it is an earthly matter. Certainly, not a Tigre; although at the time Mohamud was answering the question, a man named Fisseha, a Tigre, was in charge of the Dire Dawa Council Administration. Will a Somali administer Mekelle because it is owned by God? The towering double-storey villa in the posh area of Addis Ababa Dirrir built for himself is his price for selling the Somali Galbeed cause and land.

 

To be continued...

[NGONGE]

Who do these men represent?

 

These men who say they represent Somalis in the Federal Government are mere horses whose rider is Meles. When and on what issue did they stand up for the people they represent? Ahmed Shide is born in Negelle Borena, but could not broker a shared-town status for his home town; which is why he is selected from a village he never heard of when he was growing up. Mohamud Dirrir did not show even a grimace when Afdem and Maeiso were given to Oromia. Abdifatah says Chiacsani’s change of hand is a victory for democracy because the Geri Koombe community voted for it, against all the facts in his face. More importantly, he blames the 50 Abaskul dead men for the massacre of Mooyaha. Dau’d and Lugbuur want to survive by morphing into a newer and ‘better’ non-Somali skin through marriage; none of them have any agenda beyond self-preservation.

 

Which national or regional agenda did these representatives of the Somali Galbeed people advanced or influenced? The politics of tribal segmentation and confrontation in the region? The infringement of civil, political and human rights in the region? The unforgiveable corruption in the region which enjoys Federal pardon and blessing? The promotion of the culture of sycophancy and mediocrity in public service? The corrupting of noble religious and cultural institutions such as mosques? Or the proliferation of God-fathers in the form of Tigre men in uniforms and civilian clothes whose welfare must be ensured by anyone who aspires to hold office in the region?

To what extent is their advice sought and valued on Somalia issues, which they should know better than their Northerner masters? Were they consulted when Somalia was invaded? When warlords were armed to destabilize it? What advice do they tender on future relations with Somalia, an issue that affects the region they supposedly represent? Does Lugbuur speak for them when he says Somalia’s ‘expansionism’ must be controlled by ensuring that country is never allowed to run its affairs by its own? The honest answer is that they do not have an opinion on these matters; they are mere recipients of orders and directions.

At regional level, men like Abdi Bade –head of Prisons sexually molest women prisoners and take bribes to give shaving blades and soaps to inmates. Former pick-pocket Abdirahman Ina-Laba-go’le arrest people in his own house for weeks for no reason. Bade and Lab-go’le boast of beating up Sheikhash elders whom they arrested illegally during Da’ud’s tenure. They openly say that they taunted the Sheikhash inmates with ‘how dare you pick up a fight with ****** clan’ while beating them. Yet, almost all of the inmates in ‘Jail ******’ – including the girls Abdi Bade allegedly raped are from the ****** clan. This is a rustic metaphor of the Tigre’s game of divide and rule. Abdinasir of Investment Bureau extorts money from fearful businessmen taking advantage of his proximity to Tigre intelligence personnel in jigjiga. Abdullahi Itoobiya of the Regional Security Bureau beats up Jidwaaq men to teach ‘a lesson’ to the rebellious Radio Jigjiga website owners and in so doing ingratiate himself with the rogue regional President.

 

People who died before they lived

 

All this leads to the fundamental and existential question “who do these people represent?” The title of this article provides a definitive answer; they represent their stomachs and therefore it is false to say Somalis are represented fairly in the Federal politics or ruled by their own in their region.

 

Like any colonial occupiers, the Tigre rulers in Ethiopia have a clear idea about the leaders Somali Galbeed people must have; which means they also have clear ideas about leaders the subjects should never have. They need weak, servile leadership one which drives, drives, drives the bus for rapacious Tigres to accumulate wealth and assert tribal hegemony through synthetic political statues and structures. That leadership has to be weak and native. That is why there is no place for men who ask for their rights and rely on their community’s trust to advance political careers. These are the leaders we ‘should never have’. In their place, men with punctured intellect of Abdi Bade and Laba’go’le type and greedy men like Abdifatah and Dirrir must ‘rule’ the people in Somali Region.

The people of Somali Galbeed are people who died well before they lived, before they were born; people long killed, by history, in history to have become anything. They are in their last convulsion before an inevitable interment. God’s manna from the sky doesn’t exist in politics. They will only come out of their sleep from an unedifying grave if they stop picking, scavenger like, foul carrion meant for political ******. Such as the sheer shrill that they have representatives in Ethiopian Politics!

Mahado Sh. Dahir

 

E-Mail:mahadoshiekh@yahoo.com

 

http://www.wardheernews.com/Articles_2010/Dec/Mahado/18_Errand_Boys_of_Ethiopian_Birr.html

[NASSIR]

Ngonge, thanks for that. Great piece. I think we should learn from our Galbeed brethrens.

The author writes more like Nuruddin Fatah. "Which Way to the Sea please?"

[Qandalawi]

NG, the bold style is not good, some parts but not for the entire article, couldn't read. It kills the eyes.

[Gheelle.T]

I haven't read all, but will do it later. Thanks Nassir for sharing.

 

The link worked for me.

[AYOUB]

Charity begins at home and the Santim has finally dropped for the likes of A&T.

[Abtigiis]

Where do I fit in this story, Ya Ayoub? I don't work for Ethiopia.

[AYOUB]

^ I didn't imply you did. I put you in the same bracket as the author of the article and you do fit well in there. What I meant was; it's bloody about time scribblers like you pointed their quills at the "enemies" within.

[Abtigiis]

Kuma fahmin Ayoub'oow. Could be I am having a slow day, or it could be because I just finished watching 'Alvin and the chipmanks' with the kids and the mind has not yet re-programmed itself for metaphors of grown-up men.

[AYOUB]

War am not saying you're the author so don't panic.

 

What I meant was; ain't it progressive that "someone" is addressing the real villain in Kilil5 rather than moaning about the likes of Rayaale and Faroole.

[Abtigiis]

It is right that I address Faroole and Rayaale in SOL, while others are fighting on another front. They complement each other, the two actions don't contradict.

[AYOUB]

^ I'm not not talking about SOL (or cyberspace for that matter). The likes of Faroole are peripheral individuals in the greater scheme of things - just like the Somalis in Kenya who handed Bashiir Makhtal to the Ethios. There's no contradiction but an observable lack of focus on the real collaborators and fraternisers with the Ethios. It is time for you and the rest of the Front's diaspora to go local.