When Repentance is not Repentance

By Desalegn Lidetu  12/29/09

“…I lied when I publicly declared 15 years ago that the constitution of The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) was penned in a manner of broad-based representation….I knew it was not. I knew it then….It has been and will remain a scar in my conscience….So… (Oh! You forgiving people of Ethiopia) pardon….” This came from the now purportedly reformed pen of one none other than the former Ethiopian president-turned opposition politician. He made this expression of seeming penitence only as late as last month in his acceptance speech as one of two newly enlisted card-carrying members of UDJ.

Eighteen solid years have elapsed between that state of the union address he made and his latest apology – one meant to get people to sympathize with him and his newly-minted political cause (for God’s sakes!) Had I only just heard it from someone – anyone even close to me – I would never have believed he said that. But then not only had I read the full text of his speech but I did so between the lines also. He said he lied. Ouch!

I say – and I think I have good reasons for believing - that he is lying that he said he lied.

Reason One: His Timing

If only the apology came a year or two after his state of the union address. Why did it take him too long to make the confession and by that simple act relieve himself of the remorse that he now has said he suffered through the decades? At the time the constitution was being drafted, he was already member with the ODPO/EPRDF. Not only that. He had held ministerial positions during the four-year transition that spanned the time between the downfall of the Derg regime and the first-ever democratic elections of 1999. It was that first parliament that endorsed his nomination as the first head of state under the present federal system. He retained the presidency for a second six-term also. His divorce with the ruling EPRDF came only at the waning days of his second term.

And on both occasions, that is to say, the presidential inaugurals, he had sworn before parliament and before the Ethiopian peoples and before the whole world that he would faithfully serve the constitution. At no point during those years had he said anything of the sort he said in his confession. Neither did he say anything of the sort before the present parliament in which he has been holding a seat as an “independent” MP.

On the contrary, one can pull out too many strands from the speeches he had been making during the years of his presidency with which he testified in favor of the constitution and the federal system. In fact, one cannot simultaneously stand against the constitution and be the head of state. Were those assurances, speeches, public appearances and all just posturing whereas he knew he was acting in bad faith? Could it be that the palatial comfort weighed heavier than his conviction?

It is hard to prove one’s confession as untrue. But, if we should accept it as the former president put it one would be justified to wonder what measure of scandal would result in one’s end of career. The former president’s latest confession can be taken as his turning himself in a major scandal the nation would never have suspected has ever been committed.

There must be some truth he is hiding and in my humble opinion it doesn’t take much by way of a soul-searching to unfurl what he really stands for with his uncalled-for self incriminations. It can’t be anything except a pseudo demonstration of his renunciation of his past ways made to the party he just joined in his bid to try and win the hearts and minds of his new colleagues. What is less clear, though, is whether he was expected to do so as a condition to be accepted as member of the party called Andinet (UDJ) – a shaky party within a shaky coalition. Would he have made the same sort of confession without the upcoming election as a context?

Reason Two: Negation of a long-held political outlook

 It is said of the former president with regards to political outlook that he has for long been a staunch supporter of multi-national federalism which is now in place in the country. In fact this political cause is the very reason he was active in the country’s politics in the first place. With this background in mind, it is well to question the sudden U-turn the man has now assumed as a way of winning votes from a constituency elsewhere in the country. Because, he already bade adieus to his original constituency in Dembi Dolo!

While all the foregoing facts are held as a common knowledge among Ethiopians, to believe that the former president’s sudden confession is borne of the heart would be tantamount to believing that the leopard can shed its spots, the tiger its stripes. The truth is there is nothing credible in his change of political stance.

The part of his acceptance speech in which he explained why he was joining Andinet is also devoid of any substance. He said he was joining the party because he wanted to be part of the effort to pressure the government to set Birtukan Mideksa free. Joining a political party on such grounds, I think, is smudging over between what is essential and what is accidental. Here again, the former president betrayed his lack of objectivity by boldly calling the prosecution of Birtukan as unconstitutional.