To Err is Human but Cynical Election Manipulation is Unwelcome

By Tesfaye Hailu, 15, Apr., 2010

I had the opportunity to watch nearly all the current Ethiopian election debates on TV, and each, as expected, had its highs and lows.

On the upside, the debaters somewhat demonstrated political civility. And, considering that debates of such nature are relatively new, it’s fair to say that this is a good start and a step in the right direction, indeed.

On the downside, there has been a problem of failing to adhere to the debate agenda of the day and there have been some gaffes along the way. And the first politician to be indicted to the election hall of shame was Ato Asfaw Getachew of Ethiopian Vision Party (EVP) who made a misguided analogy of comparing a job in the army to prostitution. The comment, quite understandably, outraged many, and attracted the wrath of the Ministry of Defence as well as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

To his credit, Ato Asfaw immediately recognized his mistake, and it didn’t take him long to do the right thing, and apologize. This, in my view, is another highpoint in the current political race. My only disappointment came when – in his long interview with a newspaper (Addis Press, Apr. 13) – Ato Asfaw appeared to backpedal, and cave in to the interviewer’s unethical badgering that the comment may have been taken out of context, after all. Besides, he wouldn’t allow the prostitution issue to rest. In the same interview, Ato Asfaw added insult to injury with his comment that there apparently are 800,000 prostitutes in the City of Addis Ababa alone and 1.2 million in the entire country.

To be fair, this is not the first time for these numbers seemingly pulled out of thin air to somehow surface. But my beef is that a political candidate who aspires to lead the country should have known better not to go with the statistical flow, and allow himself to be a victim of false statistics trap. Let’s face it, give or take, the population of Addis Ababa is around 4 million, and women are said to be half the population or 2 million. So, if we buy this fictitious statistics, it would – God forbid – mean that 40% of our sisters are in the sex trade, which is preposterous to say the least.

That said, although not necessarily guaranteed – with age and experience – there is hope for curing the foot-in-mouth syndrome our rookie politician seems to suffer from. What’s more of a concern, however, is when comments are deliberately made as calculated election strategies to push the wrong buttons aimed at inciting ethnic or religious discontent. And that, unfortunately, is the impression Ato Seye Abraha of Medrek (Forum) Party gave when he tried to equate the Ethiopian government’s attack on Somali terrorist group Al-Shabab with more or less as an attack on Islam. And Ato Seye simply couldn’t be more wrong.

As any person with the most basic knowledge of the Horn of Africa geopolitics would be aware of, not only is Al-Shabab an out of closet terrorist group and a foster child of Al-Qaida and Shabia, but an enemy that openly declared war on our country. Thus, Ethiopia’s war of self defence waged in Somalia – solely intended to avert an attack on its soil, with minimum human and financial cost, one might add, – is one of its greatest contemporary military achievements. And such an achievement is, in fact, something every peace and security loving Ethiopian – regardless of his/her political affiliation – should appreciate, and be grateful to the Ethiopian government as well as the courageous men and women in uniform.

Creating a controversial issue and trying to make a monumental importance out of it is part and parcel of an election. But there are legal, ethical and common sense boundaries aimed to protect the slaughtering of sacred cows. Thus, the veteran politician that he is, Ato Seye knows or ought to know that religion – similar to race and ethnicity, if not arguably more so – is a delicate issue that shouldn’t be manipulated in any way, shape or form. After all, playing the religion card will only do more harm than good in the short and long term.

It is often said that Christians and Muslims have peacefully co-existed in Ethiopia for centuries. Furthermore, as Ethiopians of all faiths are aware of and as Muslim leaders and ordinary followers of Islam point out at every opportunity; the incumbent Ethiopian government – more than its predecessors – has made every effort to recognize the Ethiopian Muslims’ inherent rights. Indeed, there is no state religion and equality of religions has been enshrined in the Ethiopian constitution.

So, to give the slightest indication, no matter how subliminally propagated, that the current Ethiopian government is anti-Islam – especially when the fellow debater going above and beyond the call of duty in defending the Ethiopian government’s policies and actions happens to be a man of Muslim background – is wrong, irresponsible and unvisionary to say the least.

I’d like to sum up by offering Ato Seye my unsolicited advice: it’d be wise for him not only to publicly retract his ill-advised comment, but also offer a sincere apology to the Ethiopian government as well as the Ethiopian people in general and Ethiopians of Muslim faith in particular. Most important, it’d make a perfect ethical, political and social sense if Ato Seye chooses to make a U-turn to catch the high road of rising above partisan politics, and doing his part in reassuring the families of the heroic Ethiopian soldiers who sacrificed their valuable lives in Somalia that their loved ones did not die in vain.