September 10, 2001

DR. BEREKET'S INTEGRITY

AND CREDIBILTY ON LINE

GHEZAE HAGOS

 
Since Dr. Bereket Habte Sellasie became a spokesperson
against the special court and for the rule of law, he
has been telling us that top leaders of PFDJ, and
especially President Isaias, have never been friendly
to the concept of the rule of law. He said that he
was against the special court then as he is now. 
 
Now six former members of the Executive Committee of
the Constitutional Commission in the form of an open
letter are telling us that he did not have had the
courage of his conviction to protest as vehemently and
as loudly then as he is doing now. In fact they are
telling us that he supported the Government's action
and the necessity of such special court with such
extraordinary powers in developing countries to combat
corruption. So why change of heart now? 
 
The most important qualification of a spokesperson is
credibility. Does the good doctor have credibility? 
Let us see at what they say and what lay on the
ground: 
 
In explaining why they wrote the open letter the
ex-Colleagues said "We have taken note of the several
self-serving claims made in your recent articles and
interviews relative to drafting of the Constitution
.... We have, however, been left with no option, in
view of your continued molestation of the truth than
to speak out for the record and in the interest of the
truth... We shall not go into details about what
transpired during the long drafting process. At
present, we shall refer to three of your egregious
pretensions. "
 
1. Authorship of the Draft Constitution: 
 
Ex-Colleagues: You have repeatedly claimed, directly
and indirectly, that you were the sole author of the
Draft Constitution, often playing on the word
"writing". 
 
IRIN under the title "Special court violates rights"
put the following:
 
NAIROBI, 9 July (IRIN) - Author of the current
Eritrean constitution, Bereket Habte Selassie, has
criticised the special military court set up by
President Isayas Afewerki to combat corruption. In a
searing criticism distributed on the Internet, Bereket
- a former attorney general in Ethiopia, and member of
Eritrean People's Liberation Front - said the court
violated the right of a fair trial. 
 
2. The Issue of the Special Court: 
 
Ex-Colleagues: In an essay entitled PFDJ's War on
Democracy and Justice (Awate.com, August 13, 2001),
you wax indignant and fulminate in connection with the
creation by the Government of Eritrea (contrary to
what you say, the PFDJ does not have law-making
powers) of the Special Court. 
 
On August 13, 2001 under the title "PFDJ's War on
Democracy and Justice" (Awate.com & Asmarino.com) Dr.
Bereket wrote the following:
 
BHS: It is deception at its most cynical. This
deception was exposed when the regime ran away with
the people's constitution, and the lip service paid to
the Rule of Law was exposed when they created the
Special Court. 
 
Ex-Colleagues: We will be emphatic that, on the other
hand, you supported the Government's action and the
necessity of such special court with such
extraordinary powers in developing countries to combat
corruption. We do not mind your present change of
heart, if it is rooted in honesty. On the other hand,
we take special exception to your present fulmination
and pretentious declarations as if you had been
criticizing the Proclamation on Special Court all
along for the last five years. 
 
In part VI of Awate.com's exclusive Interview
(Response to Awate Readers’ Questions) he said the
following:
 
BHS: B.A. asks a question based on my article, "The
Disappearance of the Eritrean Constitution" (posted in
Asmarino.com). In that article I had stated that the
Commission’s Executive Committee had discussed, in one
of its last meetings, the so-called corruption laws
which were in violation of some provisions of the
constitution. The laws provide for special courts
with exclusive jurisdiction over crimes of corruption.
 One of the clauses of these laws denies the accused
the right of appeal, which violates Article 17(8) of
the constitution and is contrary to traditional norms
of justice. B.A. asks me: (a) What was my personal
reaction then and now? 
 
The answer to (a) is that I was against the law then,
and I am now. The dilemma I and my colleagues at the
Constitutional Commission faced was a fait accompli of
a law, which came as a surprise even to some of
government insiders. The law was there; all we could
do was express our disagreement with it and strongly
urge the government to change it and to speed up the
docket of cases pending in the special courts
established under this law. As I already said, the
Commission withheld the option of fixing an effective
date for the coming into force of the constitution in
order to give the government time to clear the deck,
so to speak. It was a mistake made on the basis of
trust. And this is a great lesson to all would-be
constitution makers. 
 
3. A Pro Bono Service? 
 
Ex-Colleague: You have claimed on several occasions
that, as Chairman of the Commission, you were
rendering a pro bono service ? i.e. service 
without any remuneration. Yet, Asmara University
records reveal that by arrangements with the
University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, the
University of Asmara was paying you 50 per cent of
your salary while you still continued to receive the
other 50 per cent from the University of North
Carolina. In effect, you were getting your full UNC
salary. Moreover, that, upon your persistent
supplication to settle your mortgage of USD 28,000 in
America in its entirety, as a lump sum, the Government
of Eritrea had to arrange for an additional salary of
USD 2,500 per month from the Constitutional Commission
for three years you served as Chairman of the
Commission. 
 
In Awate.com's exclusive (Interview With the Principal
Drafter of The Eritrean Constitution: Dr. Bereket
Habte Selassie
Interviewed by Saleh Younis, February 28, 2001) he was
asked:
 
SY: After independence, wouldn’t you have been the
logical choice to be Eritrea’s ambassador to the
United States or American Ambassador to Eritrea? 
 
BHS: Many people say that. I wouldn’t have wanted to.
 My energies from 1991 onwards were focused on being
with my family and on rebuilding my income. My income
had stagnated; I sometimes had to borrow money to
support my family. I didn’t expect it [an appointment]
and I wouldn’t have accepted it. I have no ambition
whatsoever in that regards: that’s what I want to make
clear to your readers. As a matter of fact, at heart,
I am a professional with poetic bent; I hate politics.
 You just join the fray when the fate of your country
is at risk. Seeking public office, etc, no thank you.
 I am very happy in my professional life. Why would I
leave a comfortable life for the misery of being
somebody’s underling? Or even being a leader? But
how do you convince people of that? I guess they are
entitled to their opinion. 
 
 
>From the last statement it is easy to see if Dr.
Bereket is a man who would render a pro bono service.
It is also clear why his former colleagues have to
break their dignified silence. 
 
So who are the former members of the Executive
Committee of the Constitutional Commission of Eritrea.
Here is what Dr. Berket said" Let me start with the
members of the Executive Committee, which was the
central organ of the Commission and conducted meetings
on a weekly basis. I was the Chairman, Azien Yassin
[formerly with the ELF Executive Committee] was the
Vice Chairman and Zemehret Yohannes [PFDJ Cultural
Affairs] was the Secretary of the Commission. The
other seven were: Dr. Amare Tekle, [who oversaw the
referendum process] , Mr. Idris Gelawdios, [one of the
founders of the ELF, then living Cairo, lawyer by
training, deceased] Dr. Seyoum Haregot, (then with the
UNDP) Ms. Amna Naib, (Eritrean Ministry of Justice)
Ms. Zahra Jaber, (now mayor of Keren) Mr. Paulos
Tesfagiorgis (a lecturer of law at Asmara University)
and Mr. Musa Naib, who studied law in Addis Ababa in
1970s [formerly Mayor of Massawa, and is now Advocate
General]"
 
One might ask why only six members (Dr. Amare Tekle,
W/ro Amna Hassen Naib, Ato Musa Hassen Naib, Dr.
Seyoum Haregot, W/ro Zahra Omar Jabir, Ato Zemehret
Yohannes) signed the open letter?
 
Two are no longer with us. One is a member of G13-1
and the other is the good Doctor himself.
 
Now, who is more credible, the six members of the
Executive Committee of the Constitutional Commission
of Eritrea or Dr. Bereket?
 
Was Dr. Bereket just a member of the Executive
Committee who happen to be its chairman or a Principal
Drafter of The Eritrean Constitution as he has being
telling us all alone?
 
Is he a self-serving man or a crusader for the rule of
law?
 
To quote a phrase from his former colleagues "Your
first moral transgression and intellectual dishonesty
maybe forgivable; your present immorality can never
be. So what were your motives then, and what are your
motives now? Surely, it cannot be the national or
public interest." 
 
Ghezae Hagos
San Jose, CA

Ghezae Hagos is the sole bearer of the responsibility for the content of this article.