Meles’ puppet parliament ignores national crisis

By Abebe Gelaw
June 15, 2005, London

Meles Zenawi’s puppet parliament held this year’s 25th regular session yesterday to ‘debate’ on the rural land administration and utilization bill.

According to Radio Fana, a mouthpiece of the TPLF, the ‘House of People’s Representatives’ unanimously endorsed the bill having 'thoroughly' debated it for the whole day. The radio quoted parliamentary sources as saying the bill would “greatly enhance the development endeavors in Ethiopia.”

The ‘parliament’ made no mention of the constitutional and political crises ensuing Meles’ illegal declaration of a state of emergency and an all-out crackdown on legally recognized opposition parties in contravention of the ‘constitution’. The 1994 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia stipulates, under Article 9, “The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Any law, customary practice or a decision of an organ of state or a public official that contravenes this Constitution shall be of no effect.”

Even if it was enshrined under Article 55 that the House has the power to investigate and question the Prime Minister and other federal officials on matters pertaining to abuse of power, the puppet parliament has been dutifully discharging its unconstitutional duty, i.e. to act as a rubber stamp for Meles and his henchmen.

No real parliament in the whole world, save Meles’ congregation of puppets, can afford to ignore such critical issues as the massacre of defenceless protesters, mass arrest, torture, intimidation and extrajudicial killings. This proves the fact that that there is no parliament in Ethiopia, but a parliamentary puppet show. Had these so-called parliamentarians represented the people, they would have called an extraordinary session, not just to debate the critical issues of the day but also to investigate such flagrant human rights violations and remove from power the main perpetrator Meles Zenawi for abuse of power.

The term of the parliament will expire a few weeks time unless Meles conjures up another decree to extend the tenure of the puppet parliament for another five years or more. Despite the fact that almost all the provisions of constitution related to fundamental rights and freedom, human and democratic rights including inviolable ‘rights emanating the nature of mankind’ are being violated on a massive scale no member of the House of poodles has expressed any concerns.

The poor taxpayer pay salaries and pick up the bills for the honorable dullard lawmakers, who are wasting their time snoozing on comfortable sofas in the name of debating bills and legislating on behalf of the Ethiopian people.

“Our MPs are unique in the sense that they have no connection with the people. They are members of a coffee party whose sole purpose is to praise the wisdom of the monarch. If they hadn’t accepted the supremacy of the absolute monarch, they wouldn’t have been part of the choir. That is the kind of system we aspire to change for good, ” said Mihiret Gizaw of Arat Kilo.

The April 1999 edition of Voice of the Federation reported that a quiz contest was held on the constitution among members of the lower and the upper chambers of parliament. Not surprisingly, the winners who took the trophies were Ato Dawit Yohannes, the longest serving speaker of the ‘House of Peoples’ Representatives’ and Woizro Almaz Meko, the ex-speaker of the ‘House of Federation’, who defected two years later to the OLF.

While serving as a speaker of the House of Federation, she openly declared that the current government was the most democratic government she had ever heard of. Contrary to that she fled to the States in August 2001saying the TPLF was a control freak and even her personal life was in danger. “When I began as speaker in 1995, I had one bodyguard. Before I left I had six, I was surrounded. I could not meet people, or even talk privately on the phone," Reuters quoted her as saying.

Dawit Yohaness is still serving as a speaker. He is in the forefront of the legislative process. Sadly, he might not be there for too long as he lost his seat to Ato Mesfin Mengistu Dabulo of CUD by a huge margin. Ato Mefin received 34394 votes while Dawit could only get 8116 votes. It is still uncertain whether Ato Mesfin will be appointed the next speaker of a real parliament

Do they people feel happy at all?