The general assembly of the EPRDF

By Jonas Tamiru

The general assembly of EPRDF got underway on Saturday 23rd March 2013 at BAHIRDAR, where the four main

member parties and other partner parties united to discuss the issues concerning the EPRDF. Foreign parties that were invited to the general assembly were also present at the venue and some even went further to make speeches praising the governance of the EPRDF and its former leader MELESZE NAWI. Gifts of recognition were also presented to the foreign parties

in attendance which included various parties from Africa,

China, Norway, and so on. Perhaps the most surprising guests at the event were the two Eritrean opposition parties who were invited by the EPRDF with the probable reason of annoying the Eritrean government. All in all it is safe to say that the EPRDF have done everything they can to make this assembly seem like a major international happening, and they have sure caught the public’s attention at a critical moment right before the upcoming city and Kebele elections.

What I really want to discuss though is not about the current general assembly that is underway, rather about the separate meetings that were held by the four component parties prior to this assembly. The TPLF, ANDM, SPDM, and OPDO all held separate meetings in their respective states before coming together to the general assembly. These meetings were intended to select central committee members that will serve the individual parties and also in the EPRDF central committee. Accordingly all the four parties have selected their leaders and committee members and submitted their respective candidates to the assembly for final approval.

But what caught my attention was specifically the meeting held by the TPLF in MEKELE. The meeting passed various decisions the main of which would be the resignation of several senior committee members and the election of new ones to replace them. Some of the senior members to resign from their party positions include Seyoum Mesfin, Berehene G.Kristos, Mr. Arkebe Equbay, and Mr. Zeray Asgedom. The party selected the chairman to be Mr. Abay Woldu and vice chairman to be Dr Debretsion Gebremechael. And Ms. Azeb Mesfin found her way into the newly elected central committee. The reason for the resignation of these party officials is basically to follow the party principal of replacing senior officials with new ones that should be completed by 2015.

In my opinion the TPLF is going through hell and high waters and at this time it needs its senior officials the most. But what made the four senior members hand in their resignation letters with more than two years remaining before their planned replacement time and at a critical time when the party has lost its longest serving leader? Is it really to give space to the new generation of leaders? If so then we would not see the vice president to be Dr Debretsion Gebremechael because he too is a senior party member, Ms. Azeb Mesfin

is also another senior party member who should not have been included in the currentcommittee. I think there is another reason for the sudden and unexpected resignation of the four seniormembers from TPLF and it is not just the aim of replacing themselves with new party officials.

I think that the four resigning members have lost faith in their party and decided it is high time they leftby will before they are removed by force. There were rumors that Ms. Azeb Mesfin is causing problemswith the election of the president of TPLF and that she claims to deserve the presidency instead ofthe elected leader Mr. Abay Woldu. I think this time of crisis for the TPLF must have proved to beunbearable for the four party officials to handle and they must have found it best to leave the partywhile they still can instead of being involved in this disturbing situation.

If this is the case, then it is only a matter of time before the true reason of their resignation is revealed and the problems that are shaking up the party will finally explode it like a volcano. We can presume that TPLF, which is the autocrat of the entire EPRDF, is slowly becoming disintegrated and it lacks the sort of dogmatic, inspiring, and intellectual leader that the former premier MELES is still receiving accolades for. This is a very hopeful time for the emancipation of Ethiopia from the dictation of these hooligans.

I call upon every Ethiopian who seeks to see a free Ethiopia to use this opportunity to do everything in their power to expose the evil ways of the EPRDF to the poor people of our country. Now is the time to attack these dictators when they are at their weakest for as the famous quote says, “war cannot be avoided; only postponed to the advantage of the enemy.”