Dr Merara says Commercialization of politics is a very dangerous game

The Reporter (Addis Ababa)
July 24, 2006
Dr. Merera Gudina is the founder of the Oromo National Congress (ONC) and a member of the Ethiopian parliament. Several months ago, he faced an opposition from some members, noticeably Tolossa Tesfaye, who said that Merera was ousted from leadership of the party.
The National Electoral Board (NEB) also announced at the time that Dr. Merera is no longer party head and accepted Tolossa as the new party boss. Dr. Merera and his supporters are still contesting the NEB decision in court.
Meanwhile, Tolossa was in turn ousted from leadership by others who recently announced their intention of returning the leadership back to Dr. Merera, though NEB still has to recognize the decision.
Amidst this confusion, Dr. Merera talked to Bruck Shewareged of The Reporter about the latest developments regarding the problem of succession. Excerpts:

For the past several months, the ONC has been in the spotlight, often for wrong reasons i.e. some group within the party ousted you from leadership, and then, in turn, others ousted those who ousted you etc. What is the status of the leadership of the party right now? Who is leading ONC?

The party, as an organization, is still functioning under our leaderships i.e. the ONC which is one of the founding members of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF). The party has more than 100,000 members. Of these, only a few hundred members have defected.
Of the 39 parliament members (MPs), only one or two have defected from the ONC. In truth, it could be only one member, Tolossa. That is certain. The others are ambivalent. Also only two ONC members of the Chefe Oromia (Oromia State Council) claimed to have left the party out of 105 members.
Even amongst the so-called executive members of Tolossa's ONC, eight (out of eleven) told us that they want to come back to us. They even wrote an official letter to the electoral board to this effect.
So in the real sense, there was originally one ONC party. Even now, there is only one ONC, in truth.
The security apparatus in the country, together with the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), one of the four constituting parties of the ruling EPRDF and the National Electoral Board (NEB), tried to create an artificial group by carving it out from the ONC. But it was obvious from the start that this group wouldn't do anything, let alone leading the Oromo people. It is not an entity by itself which is capable of doing anything.

Last time the NEB gave recognition to the ONC party led by Tolossa, not you. Then how did you manage to stay intact and carry out proper party activities without this legal recognition?

Well that is the problem. The government, the electoral board and the security organization took away only the name ONC from us, not the organization itself. Even if some of our offices were taken, most are retained by us. Moreover, we were not told or informed by anyone to stop our activities as a party. The government did not tell us to do so.

How come the government, as an executive entity, did not order you to cease functioning as ONC while NEB denied you of recognition by that name?

Well, the government is very well aware of the whole situation. We joined parliament also as part of UEDF, our umbrella organization. When we were negotiating with the governing party, two out of three UEDF negotiators were ONC parliamentarians. The government knows the group won't go any further as a functioning party. So the government might be waiting for the natural death of this group. I see the government's move only as creating pressure on us. Yes, we still face some problems. . .

Such as?

Around 500-600 ONC members are behind bars in Ambo (West Shoa), East Wollega, Chiro etc. These are the kind of pressures that government is putting on us. Otherwise, they didn't come and tell us directly to cease functioning as party.

Only NEB recognized parties can open bank accounts and mobilize their finance. In the absence of NEB recognition, how did you manage your finance?

So far, they haven't gone to the extent of disrupting our ability to function as a party. Unless they wanted to put some pressure on us, they know that the splitting faction cannot lead ONC and put the whole support of ONC behind the ruling party.
This faction was only able to try to create conflict between us and the government. Other than that, it was not able to bring stability amongst the people, nor was it able to have driven ONC members to the government side. This faction's people were only capable of making noises in Addis Ababa, nothing substantial. Some of the executive members of this group even wrote to NEB admitting that the group can't lead Oromo people other than being the puppet of the government. They gave us the copy of the letter and the electoral board.

And what is the response from the board?

I read in the newspapers that the NEB recognizes that only those executive members who were banned from the party wrote that letter. For us, this is a childish game.

If the NEB-recognized ONC could not function as a party, then what is its real role?

We can see that not more than two people from this faction are openly involved as members of the split ONC. Others who were with them came back to us. These people's role is similar to that of the Janjawid militia in Darfur, the Sudan. The Janjawid militia group was set up by the Sudanese government to weaken opposition groups in western Sudan indirectly. The whole world knows that the Sudanese government is doing this. The same situation applies to our context. These factional groups were supplied with money and pistols. Our members were intimidated into joining this faction. They were beaten and arrested in order to coerce them to do that. The government and security forces were doing that, though they denied it. So this is very similar to the Janjawid context.
You implied earlier that your activities were not seriously affected and suffered no substantial harm. . .
Rather the harm is being done to the government side.

How?

In areas where our party had been active, there was a widespread unrest. We were not able to stabilize the situation because we followed a hands-off approach. We could not tell the people that the government is respecting our rights and that they shouldn't disturb the peace. There is a discord between the people, especially the youth and OPDO.

Would you be able to stabilize the situation?

Yes, we could. Most of the disturbances occurred in areas where most of our parliament and regional council members won the election. Had we intervened, things might have been better. We told the government about that. It is clear that these days OPDO flags are being burnt and OLF's flown.

You told this very same paper that only OLF can benefit from the suppression going on in Ethiopia. In your opinion, to what extent have OLF capitalized on this situation?

It is very obvious that OLF capitalized on the unrest in Oromia. The government people tried to have our hands tied. So whenever there is a disturbance we couldn't calm the situation. The result was this conflict with the people. The trust amongst the public about peaceful political struggle is dented.
They thought that we were able to bring the people to our side very easily. By the same token they thought they could take the people back to OPDO side easily. The outcome is that the people gave their support not to OPDO but to OLF.

You are still contesting NEB's decision not to recognize you any longer?

The case is being handled by the cassation bench in the Supreme Court.

With the coming of the new development, i.e. the executive members of ONC led by Tolossa deciding to come back to your side, will you withdraw your case against NEB?

We will go all the way until NEB and the government change their stand.

As part of UEDF you have the opportunity to negotiate with the ruling party to raise the issue of the faction problem. Can you tell me something, if indeed the issue is raised?

We requested (both in letter and verbal communication) them to resolve the crisis. Sometimes they said that they haven't interfered in ONC's internal affairs. But we told them that they did so and we presented our evidence.
The NEB's decision to give recognition to Tolossa as leader of ONC was illegal. For instance, our regular congress is held every three years. But if there is the need for emergency meeting, one-third of the central committee must support it. We still don't know how Tolossa and his men were able to hold that meeting.
No one knows who these one-third of the central committee members are. NEB did not want to verify the identities of these central committee members because the board was itself involved in the case. We suspect that some people wrote and signed in the name of members.
Even those one-third central committee members can only ask the executive committee to call for an emergency congress meeting. As long as they are one-third, it is binding. The congress will be called for a meeting. But these one-third members cannot hold a meeting by themselves. They can only petition to the executive committee. People, whom we don't know, simply called and held that meeting.
There is also no way that Tolosa can get the support of one-third of central committee members. The central committee members are more than 40. Tolosa himself is not a central committee member. So it is difficult for them to do that. They can only ask the executive committee whose members are siding with us. These executive committee members are also parliament members who are still with us. So we think that these so-called one-third members who are recognized by NEB and the security forces. Even most of those who attended that meeting as central committee members are not from ONC. We have the video cassette recording of the meeting.

What do you think will happen? Will the crisis, the confusion be resolved and party unity be attained?

We will continue our struggle. Most members are still with us. They could not take away the support of voters and members, but only our name. We agreed with the government that we will be engaged in peaceful and legal political struggle. They should resolve the crisis.
We recognize that they can recruit other members directly from ONC. Tolossa has the right to leave us and join OPDO. Other than that you cannot simply put an alien leadership on the party. It is like fitting a head on a different body. This will not benefit any side.
You can't always buy people or politicians in this poor country. They will receive their money and then simply go away. You will likely lose rather than profit. Commercialization of politics is a very dangerous game. The Dergue regime used to imprison any opposition party member. And then it forced them to sign agreements to become members of the Workers Party of Ethiopia. Finally, when problems came, the party vanished. The ruling party EPRDF is also harassing others.

Source: www.allafrica.com