Mesfin Arega
April 04, 2021
Ever since Abiy Ahmed came to power, Professor Al Mariam has been continually heaping praise after praise upon him. Initially almost all Ethiopians did the same, hoodwinked by Abiy’s deceitful oratory in praise of the Ethiopia we all love. However, Professor Al Mariam continued to do so, even after Abiy Ahmed glaringly exposed himself to be an OLF wolf in Ethiopia’s clothe, hell-bent on building an exclusive Geda-ruled Oromo empire on the grave of Ethiopia. In his recently penned opinion (THANK YOU, PM ABIY AHMED FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE, April 2, 2021), Professor Al Mariam essentially called Abiy Ahmed the messiah Ethiopia and Ethiopians have been longing for a long, long time.
For sure, Abiy Ahmed is messiah for the anti-Ethiopia OLFits, since he (through masterful deceit) has achieved in mere three years, what they wouldn’t have dreamed of achieving in hundreds of years. This, in turn, means Abiy Ahmed is the antichrist for us Ethiopians, solely because the inclusive Ethiopianism is the antithesis (direct opposite) of Abiy Ahmed’s exclusive Oromuma. Abiy Ahmed’s KEGNA politics claims essentially everything Ethiopian to be exclusively of Oromo, by Oromo, for Oromo.
If this is so, we can’t escape wondering why the Abiy Ahmed the good professor sees is completely different from the one most of us Ethiopians see. If us average Ethiopians can easily see Abiy Ahmed for what he really is, it should have been much more easier for any one with professor Al Mariam’s political acumen. I can only come up with one explanation why this seems to be not the case.
Before I talk about what I think is the reason why professor Al Mariam adulates Abiy Ahmed, I would like to express my greatest admiration and appreciation for professor Al Mariam’s decisive role in chasing TPLF out of Arat Kilo. Surely, he was one of the most incessant (if not the most incessant) and one of the loudest (if not the loudest) voices which blasted TPLF’s wall of Jericho. We should always be grateful to him for speaking up against TPLF – for being a thorn in TPLF’s shoe – when few people dared to do so. I, for one, will always be grateful to him no matter what he says or does vis-a-vis Abiy Ahmed. Moreover, I have neither the moral high ground nor the slightest basis to even slightly doubt his deep love for Ethiopia. I just happen to see his very high opinion of Abiy Ahmed from a different angle.
Professor Al Mariam practices criminal defense. As a criminal defense lawyer defending a client, he may be disgusted by what he knows the client has committed, and may even hate the client for his (her) crime. However, his job is to defend the client at all costs, in spite of his own feelings, opinions or beliefs. In particular, he is expected to give his client’s words and deeds as much positive twist as necessary to convince the jury that the client should be acquitted if not applauded. Basically, a criminal defense lawyer is an actor in a criminal court trying to make a saint out of a devil.
The specter of crime against humanity is hovering over Abiy Ahmed (and his die-hard lieutenants like Shimelis Abdissa) for crimes committed against Amhara in Metekel and Wollega, not to mention Burayu, Shashemene, Zeway, and Arusi Negele. The question is not if but when Abiy Ahmed will face justice. Therefore, Abiy Ahmed needs as much PR as possible before his inevitable court date for ethnic cleansing of Amhara.
In this regard, Professor Al Mariam seems to see Abiy Ahmed, not as the leader of Ethiopia directly responsible for the horrendous crimes committed under his watch, but as his client to be defended from such accusations at call costs. Knowing how deeply professor Al Mariam cares for Ethiopia, I do not see any other way to explain his adulations of the anti-Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed. Moreover, Amhara being the pillar of the proud, black Ethiopia Al Mariam loves, the barbaric massacre of Amhara by white bootlicker tribalists would no doubt torment him to the core. Therefore, there is no other way professor Al Mariam would say “Thank you PM Abiy Ahmed for everything you have done and continued to do for Ethiopia“, barely a couple of days after more than 200 innocent Amhara’s (most of them women and children) were barbarously slaughtered by OLF militia, in an operation apparently coordinated with high officials of Abiy Ahmed’ s own Oromia regional state, who are also prominent members of Abiy Ahmed’s own Prosperity Party.
Mesfin Arega
mesfin.arega@gmail.com
