THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED HAILU SHAWEL TOWN HALL MEETING TURNS OUT TO BE A POLITICAL DISASTER

He said he came for treatment and did not have time to talk to the Gang of Five. He complained about not being given a red carpet reception at the Dulles airport by this same group. The cat and mouse game he played over the subsequent two or three weeks kept us wondering about what he was keeping in his back pocket. He belittled the difference between him and the "tourists" and assured us that he will take care of it when he went back home.

But the pressure was building and he Diaspora voyeurs were not about to let him leave without a confession or a sermon. A date was fixed for a town hall meeting at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. for Sunday October 14, 2007. All the major paltalk rooms were filled to capacity in anticipation of this unique occasion. A lot of PR had been going on the previous few days building it up or stripping it down, depending on who you listened to or where you read. There were lots of questions that needed to be answered for both supporters and opponents alike. After all, this was the guy preparing to take PM Meles' position and there may even be people in the government preparing to hear him. So he had two of his buddies, a certain Ato Bedru Adem and w/o Tigist G. Hiwot flown over from Ethiopia for a showdown in Washington, D.C. Flanked by two of his body guards, Shaleqa Yoseph and Dr. Taye W. Semayat, he showed up for the meeting two hours late.

The crowd was estimated to be some where between 300 to 2000, depending on who you listened to. No pictures were allowed and the ones sneaked out by some blogs were not trustworthy. Most people went just for the curiosity factor and they were treated to a political freak show. The meeting started with a mixture of Kality de ja vu by the guests from Ethiopia and a fund raising fiasco that supposedly raised somewhere between $30, 000 and $147,000. The report of the "stolen" kinijit money that preceded the fund raising drama was an accounting nightmare! I will defer my comments about that for another day. All of this was done in anticipation of what was dubbed as the "Great Speech" by the Chairman of CUD.

What a disappointment! The Chairman, the Big Boss, the Leader of the Leaders, the Kinijit Symbol the Honorable Engineer Hailu Shawel had nothing of substance to say except, except the usual back handed compliment or pure distaste for his compatriots in the other camp. It turned out to be nothing more than a glorified "buna were", coffee chat.

What an opportunity missed! Where are all those answers to why he was not making an attempt to meet with his team and resolve their differences? Where is the policy speech that he needed to deliver to all his supporters and detractors alike, at home and abroad? Not even a single page of written speech? Pal talk rooms, blogs, websites, VOA and other radio stations, were all waiting to broadcast the speech of your life. Some of us had serious doubts about your abilities for a long time, but there were many who wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, especially those that heard your low-pitched measured authoritative voice for the first time during your present visit to the Diaspora. What a waste of political capital gained by going to Kality. What a tragic end to a career that could have fared better if you had resigned and quietly walked away to your twilight years with your head held high.

In a way, I am very happy that your reign has come to an end. The political landscape looks clearer now. Dr Berhanu Nega and his gang have definitely stolen the show. If they played their cards well they may still have a chance to resuscitate themselves and get out of the fox hole they put themselves into as soon as they landed in Washington, D.C. I don't know how he is going to extricate himself out of his 22-page hate speech, his position on HR 2003 and his daring decision to sit next to ONLF, in the halls of the United States congress, but there is still some hope for Dr. Berhanu.

I see redemption for Ato Lidetu Ayalew and his AEDP-Medhin party and an opportunity to steal away some of those disillusioned Kinijit supporters. After all, they broke away from Kinijit very early on and every thing that Ato Lidetu has been saying about Kinijit and Engineer Shawel is coming true to the word. I also see EPRDF stopping the watching game and starting to show an active participation in building on their past successes. EPRDF needs to look into why people wanted Kinijit in the first place and try to satisfy those needs, whatever they may be. "Kinijit" will remain a symbol of opposition to EPRDF for a long time to come. Just eliminating the name will not solve the disappointment with EPRDF that some people have expressed.

In conclusion, I would like to remind us all that we are in very exciting times. We are seeing divisions, oppositions, realignments and regroupings in the Ethiopian political scene, at least in the Diaspora. If we do it right and look at this as a real democracy in play, we can all benefit from it and bring about a peaceful transition to our political turmoil, both at home and abroad.

Washera_2@comcast.net

Oct 15, 2007