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August 15, 2003 |
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Remarks
on Yemane Ghebreab’s most recent political seminar |
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M. Filli A. |
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One
of the main attractions of the annual Eritrean Festivals is the political
seminar that is rendered by high ranking government officials or some one
very closely associated with it, because it constitutes a reflection of the
state of our country and provides an update on a myriad of national and
international issues of high interest to the public. For quite a while now,
the person in charge of conducting such a seminar has been Mr. Yemane
Ghebreab, head of political affairs at the People’s Front for Democracy and
Justice (aka PFDJ) and advisor to the president of our country. |
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That
being said, what attracted my attention in this year’s seminar were the items
enumerated under the rubric “political agenda” that included the
following very timely topics: |
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1) National Unity ( Hadnetna), |
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2) Public participation in the governance of our country (Tsatafnet),
and |
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3) Strengthening governmental institutions (Tkalatna
Mdildal) |
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While I have no
qualms with item 3, please allow the following comments regarding items 2
& 3. |
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National
unity: Dear Mr. Yemane, most all Eritreans and I
concur that our national unity is our strength. Most all Eritreans and I
agree with you, too, regarding the meaning and significance of our national
unity to the territorial and national sovereignty of our country. Let me also
add, that to us Eritreans, national unity is not an option but a mandate of
the very make-up of our diverse society. To Eritreans national unity is a sine
qua non for the viability of our country as a nation. Hence, it goes
without saying that our national unity must be protected, defended, and
preserved at all times. Dear Mr. Yemane, as you well know, national unity is
not a simple matter of declaration, calling for it, or preaching about it? |
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I was hoping to hear
from you some specific steps and proposals to forge and fortify our national
unity, and that is the part I missed from your seminar regarding this vital
topic. For example, such concrete measures could come from our government in
the form of a task force (a sort of “national strategy to forge and fortify
our unity”), from the public at large, or from the Eritrean diaspora? Without
such measures, talks about national unity could not be taken seriously and
national unity could become illusive and utopian. For as you said it
correctly in Tigrigna: “Tegemami’inan Temeqaqilnan, Zrebih Wegen yellen”.
Yes, divided we fall, united we stand. The kind of perpetual status of mutual
non-recognition that has been plaguing our society must be destroyed and
replaced by perpetual status of mutual recognition; and Unity in Diversity,
the perfect slogan of our constitution, needs to reign in our country. Dear
Mr. Yemane, I am sure that you wouldn’t have raised the issue of our national
unity at this time and juncture if you were not, rightly, concerned about it?
In that, let me assure you that you are not alone. I and most other Eritreans
sincerely share your rightful concerns. There is no more important issue than
our unity because that is what makes or breaks our very Eritrea. I,
therefore, call upon you and by proxy the GOE to seriously follow up on the
vital issue of national unity and to concretize it. |
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The people of Eritrea
are, have always been, and will always remain united when it comes to the
territorial and national sovereignty of our country. But as you pointed out
eloquently, the invulnerability of our national unity has been and continues
to be challenged by divisive and discordant forces and elements externally (Woyane)
and internally (internal political discords). And if not countered decisively and consistently, such
challenges could not only undermine our unity but also be detrimental to it.
Thus, I agree with you and thank you for bringing up this issue and for
making it one of the top priorities of your political agenda. That is good
news to me! |
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Public
participation in politics: under the rubric “(Tsatafnet)”, Mr. Yemane emphasized the need for the participation of the
people of Eritrea in all aspects of their societal life including governance
of their country (politics) on daily and continuous basis, but didn’t specify
how. And that is the kind of specifics that I, again, missed from Mr.
Yemane’s seminar. I certainly appreciate this emphatic pronouncement and I
salute Mr. Yemane for it. |
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Mr. Yemane stressed
that public participation in politics both during our liberation struggle and
post independence has been one of the strengths of our country, and I agree.
But how do people participate in the governance of their country on daily and
continuous basis? Simply stated and generally, the direct answer to this
question is: People participate in the governance of their country through
their Representatives, who are elected fairly, freely, directly, and openly.
The people’s Reps. then meet on daily basis and continuously to legislate, to
reflect the views and opinions of their respective constituents in particular
and that of the nation in general on a myriad of national and international
issues, to adopt and/or scrutinize national and international government
policies, and in the case of our country, this kind of “house of People’s
Reps.” would also have the task and authority of reviewing/amending our
constitution and transitioning the country into constitutional government,
and so on. Those are the basics of representative democracy for dummies
101(the channel of communication between the people and their government!) in
its simplest form. It is this that needs to be established in our country for
public participation in governance to attain its desired effect. We don’t
have this kind of governance in our country, yet. |
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What we have in our
country today is a transitional government. The then EPLF and now GOE/PFDJ
was entrusted with a specific and limited mandate to constitute a
transitional government, to defend and protect our territorial and national
sovereignty, to maintain peace and order, to ascertain normal societal life,
to draft a constitution and to pave the way for a constitutional government,
by virtue of its victory over the enemy, its impeccable organizational
skills, and military and political experience. In my humble opinion, the
GOE/PFDJ has done an excellent job in fulfilling its mandate since 1991
except for the one very important mandate of paving the way for a
constitutional government. And that is also what I was hoping to hear from
Mr. yemane: Specific steps and modalities of how our government plans to pave
the way for a constitutional government. Unfortunately, I missed that, too. |
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Let me now
reiterate what I think is the obvious: The GOE/PFDJ had and has a very good
vision for post independence Eritrea and that is what we see being
accomplished in today’s Eritrea. But, the end does not justify the means: The
GOE/PFDJ needs to secure a constitutional mandate to realize its vision for
Eritrea. And in my humble opinion, that shouldn’t be a problem at all? Hence,
implementing our national constitution must be on top of our government’s
priority list. Lack of a constitutional government or constitution could
possibly contribute to the vulnerability of our national unity. |
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Mr. Yemane touched
upon “elections” in his seminar, but elections for what purpose? In my humble
opinion, the purpose of next elections should be to establish “ a house of
representatives” that will have the task and authority to review/amend, if
necessary, and to implement our constitution, for the GOE/PFDJ has neither
constitutional nor popular or any other authority to implement the
constitution? It only has the mandate to pave the way for the implementation
of the constitution? That should not be a problem either. I kindly urge our
government to articulate and concretize the election issue as well. With
that, I rest my case. |
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United we succeed,
divided we fail |
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Eritrea will
prevail |
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