“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
Carl Sagan

Meles’s Infantile Delusion

I read PM Meles Zenaw’s article on the Ethiopian Herald with a grin on my face. It intrigued me to assess his physiological state and write the following comments.

Delusion is a paranoid disorder. According to the dictionary of psychology “delusion is a belief which is mistaken, yet firmly held in spite of evidence to the contrary”. It is simply a fixed belief with no basis in reality.

I am afraid; PM Meles Zenawi fell in to this category. His article opens the gate to his mind to reveals his paranoid disorder, which manifests itself as delusion.

Mind you, politicians are known for making dubious statements to leave a room for re-interpretation of the same statement in light of new evidence. But Meles is different. Since he shows all the signs of delusion, what Meles thinks is “the truth” and everything else is a “lie” or piles of “garbage”. No evidence could sway him from that.


Delusion: I am right you are dead.

As clearly displayed in his article Meles has a problem of assessing evidence. On June 8, 42 people were shot dead and hundreds injured, under his personal command and more than 4000 opposition members and supports were arrested. And all these happened while the counting and investigation of the election were conducted under state of emergency. The investigation was mired with intimidation and fraud. Even his henchmen; the Minster of Information, Minster of Justice, President of Oromia and many of high-ranking officials who were booted out of power have filed complaints saying the election was rigged. And yet PM Meles calls Ms Ana Gomez “a colonial viceroy” for not declaring that the election was “free and fair” that meets “international standard”.

Well, can any sane person expect a free and fair badge of honour after shooting 42 people (not ducks) and arresting more than 4000 citizens.
I guess, Meles do not get it not because he doesn’t want to but he is not capable of weighing evidences. Like all psychiatric patients who suffer from delusional he cannot see the evidence that goes against his belief.

Ato Aregawi Berhe, former mentor and leader of Meles, once described Meles as a uni-directional person, who lack the ability to juggle or contrast different facts and opinions. To describe him with example, Aregawi wrote Meles is unique because Meles becomes Maoist the week he read Mao’s book, Stalinist on the day he pick Stalin book and Enver Hoxha of Albania when touches Enver Hoxha’s pamphlets. Mix and match had never been his cup of tea from his early days.

It is also to be remembered that Meles once proudly said to a British Newspaper, “Albania is the only country who is close to building the real socialism and whose citizens enjoy freedom and prosperity” and declares that “he wishes to follow Albania’s model” to bring about prosperity and freedom for the masses in Ethiopia.

When I read his praises of Albania I though Meles must have skipped his 8th grade geography lesson. It is obvious the basic knowledge, which is available to every school child, was alien to him. But does that matter to Meles? No! For Meles the truth is what he believes in and not what the evidence suggests.

For Meles Albania was a beacon of prosperity and he never entertained the possibility that Albania could be one of the poorest countries in the world. Obviously, he did not bother to pick Encyclopaedia to check his facts.

This is what psychiatrist call a state of delusion: “firmly held believes in spite of evidences to the contrary”.

After an absence of 14 years, Meles once again opened the gate to his mind to reveal all the hard wirings and malfunctions of his brain.

I have taken a liberty to highlight some of his “firmly held believes” which run against the evidence. I am doing it free of charge to help him seek a professional help.


Here we go.. Delusion in his Part I reply..

To start with Meles loses the objectives of European Union- Election Observation Mission. Evan as the name suggests “O” in EU-EOM stands for “observation”.

Let me make it simpler so that he could get it. In English dictionary “Observation” is defined as “the process of watching something or someone carefully for a period of time”. EU-EOM was in Ethiopia before and after the election to “observe” the general atmosphere including the election campaign, the voting and the vote counting. But for Meles mentioning the “ban of demonstration” and “tension” in the EU-EOM report are very strange. He replied saying what that got to do the election and subsequent fraud investigation.

“One can argue as to whether the ban on demonstrations in Addis-Ababa for two months increased the tension throughout the country as the EU-EOM allege” and concludes.” The question is what has the ban on demonstrations got to do with the investigation?

Yes, of course, he is talking about investigation of election fraud. For any sane person, ban on demonstration, giving the army the right to shoot, suspending constitutional rights and due process of law, and parking tanks on the capital streets and bringing all the national forces under the command of one despot is not normal. These things only happen when a country becomes ungovernable or fail under colonial occupation. Can he think that these are not “internationally accepted election procedures”? No!

I stress, it is only a person with some sort of delusion could say “what has the ban on demonstrations got to do with the (election fraud) investigation.”

Meles even goes further to say:
“There is nothing in the procedure of the Panels which allows for the absence or presence of demonstrations to be regarded as relevant evidence in the investigations of alleged malpractices in counting and aggregating votes on May 15th and few days after that.” And he bravely declares again “ what has the ban of demonstrations got to do with the investigation? Nothing!”
For Meles since the investigation procedure did not include an article which says “there shall not be a ban on demonstration during the investigation”, EU-EOM shouldn’t have observed a suspension of civil liberty and a policy of shoot to kill in the capital. Of course, it is only a person with personality disorder could call these facts piles of “garbage”
Meles also charge on his delusion horse to say what the media has got to do with free and fair election. He wrote:
“After May 15, the issue at hand was to investigate complaints. Such investigations cannot be carried out through media campaigns or debates.
That is the most extraordinary logic I ever by a standard of psychiatric patient. I know now why Bob Geldoff has to say “grown up” Meles
The EU-EOM did not ask a trial on the media. Could Meles get it? No! A person who claims to author three part articles in English should also be able to read and understand Basic English. What they said in a very diplomatic language was the media was controlled by one party, namely EPRDF, to spread terror, misinformation and allegation while denying the opposition to defend themselves or reach out to the public. This is the ABC of free, fair and internationally accepted election standard. I am surprise that these basic concepts are beyond the capability of Meles’s understanding. Shall we count it as another evidence of infantile delusion? You decide.
Everyone knows the power of the media, of course, with the exception of Meles. Media as a propaganda and misinformation tool can play crucial role in terrorising the public. The degree of misinformation and threat on the media was evident. One only needs to listen to his and Addisu Legesse’s threatening interviews on ENA. It is also good to mention that even Ambassador Tim Clark has to write a protest letter to Ministry of Mis-Information to stop distorting his words.
But for a person who suffers from infantile delusion, the role of media is a mystery and he couldn’t understand why EU-EOM has to talk about it.
Based on this delusional belief Meles goes for a kill: He wrote:
It could only be carried out by investigative panels based on evidence presented to them. But such ordinary logic is beyond the EU-EOM” and concludes “But what has access to the media got to do with the investigations? Nothing”.
O Heaven, Meles couldn’t think that he could be the one who do not understand logic. And of course this is what psychiatrists call delusion. On the next part we will see his view on separation of power and parliament.


On Separation of Power
Meles also spoke to tell us how he sees the separation of power in a government. His definition of separation of power is similar to a clinical definition of Multiple Personality Disorder. He thinks that separation of power can be achieved by one person playing different roles at the same time. He wrote:

“The EU-EOM alleges that the government refused to agree on a code of conduct on the utilization of the media. That is a lie. The government was not and could not be part of the negotiations on the code of conduct. The negotiations were between the parties”
Do you know why he is saying that? Yes, for Meles it is Berket Simion the chief EPRDF negotiator who was in the meeting and it is not Berket Simon the Minster of Information. Is that clear?
Let me try to make it simple but you need to use your imagination to realize what Melese is trying to say. Now close your eyes to imagine Bereket the chief EPRDF’s sitting on negotiation table with the opposition leaders curving a deal about use of the media, while Berket, the Minster of Information, sitting on his high armchair witnessing the feud between the two. Then at later stage Berket, the Minster of Information, thought that media has more important thing to do to say no airtime to both parties. And imagine Bereket Simon of the EPRDF negotiation walking away disappointed with despicable act of the Minster.
Meles could see such complex visions and he is surprised that Ms Ana Gomez couldn’t get this uncomplicated separation of power. So according to Ato Meles, it is a “lie” Shall we say this is another manifestation of delusion?
EU-EOM must feel totally confused when they read Meles’s reply. Trust me, it is perplexing for the average individuals and I suggest EU-EOM to seek a professional to decipher what Meles is trying to say.
Meles himself holds multiple positions and in the future we should not think that there is no separation of power in Ethiopia. To make it simpler I will use numerical postfix he see it, Meles1 is the Prime Minster of the government, Meles 2 the chairman of EPRDF and Meles 3 is the guardian and defender of Electoral board.
So, I believe it is Meles-3 who published 3 part articles in defence of the electoral board (ENEB) and we should not think that it Meles-1 the Prime Minster.
I say this since EU-EOM report had nothing to do with the government and most of the criticisms were levelled against electoral board. It is amazing how Ms Ana Gomes miss this simple and uncomplicated separation of power in Ethiopia?
Allow me to add one more evidence and I will rest my case. This one is from his interview the BBC Hardtalk (HT) journalist. I quote in full since it reinforces my argument that indeed Meles suffers from delusion. .
Meles argued with the BBC reporter saying that electoral board is independent since it was elected by the President of the country a decade ago to stress that NEBE has no loyalty to the current Prime Minster.
Question HT - Let me ask you a simple question. Who presented the names of members of the election board to the House of Representatives' approval?
Meles - The National Election Board, the current board, was appointed over a decade ago, during the transitional period, and at that period, at that time, the president submitted the names to the parliament. Now if we were to appoint new election board members, it would be the prime minister, which would put the names to the parliament.
HT - Where were you at that particular time?
Meles - I was the president of the Transitional Government.
HT - So you still put forward the names?
Meles - Yes I did.
HT - And you now expect the opposition to believe this Board would be entirely impartial?
Meles - Well, I suppose the opposition parties in France expect their Minister of Interior to be impartial in elections and I suppose it is very similar in your country.
Here you go, Meles compare his circumstance with that of Great Britain and France to prove that ENEB is impartial. So is there anyone out there who still thinks this man is sane?
On the Issue of Parliament
As soon as Meles learnt that the opposition has gained considerable seats in the parliament he called the parliament to change the rule of the game. Now under the new law a party must have 51% of the vote to put an agenda for discussion. Simply it is only the government that can table an agenda for discussion by making the presence of the oppositions in the parliament totally meaningless. This fundamental change was noted by EU-EOM and reported in mildly in diplomatic words. It is this fact that made the Prime Minster really crossed. So he has to go extra-miles to ridicule.
“The investigations are not about the future workings of the parliament or the municipality of Addis. So what does this perfectly normal process of legislation have to do with the investigations? Nothing! “
Does Meles know what “normal” mean? I doubt it. Even a person with a mental faculty of 7 year old wouldn’t say that. . The objectives of EU-EOM as the name suggest is to observe and that is what they did.
Melese even goes further to say:
“The EU-EOM does not appear to have made its mind as to whether the laws passed affected all municipalities or was limited to Addis” and concludes ". There is no legislation that affects the governance of all municipalities during the period in question. That is quite simply a lie! “
I am surprised Meles does not understand that the change in the parliament procedure could affect the whole of the country including municipalities. If MPs need to have 51% of the vote to table an agenda, no one can raise an agenda that is relevant to their constituencies. For example Addis Ababa in the hands of the opposition and the opposition could not raise an agenda to discuss vital issue that matters to Addis Abeba. But for a person with personality disorder that is a “simple lie”.
.
EU-EOM went to observe the election and certify whether the election process is free and fair and meet the international standard. It simply means that they have to take note of everything during this process to report to the parties’ involved and international community. But for Meles that is strange or “a lie”. For Meles a change of the parliament procedure, transferring the police force and resources from Addis Ababa Administration to Federal Government, reducing tax in Addis up to 90% for the coming year has nothing to do with the election. After all, election for Meles has never been a transfer of power. So how the hell Ms. Ana Gomez would be able to understand?
Having read the first two part of his reply I sincerely believe that he suffer from infantile delusion. He lacks the capability to assess and make an informed decision. He suffers from chronic delusion and need a professional help.
It is abundantly clear that as his former boss suggested Meles could not grasp or juggle more than one idea or could not see the relationship between the killings of 42 people, state of emergency, arrest, and intimidation with free and fair election. For him these are separate and disjoint facts that have nothing to do with the election process.
Well, I could go on to bring more evidences to backup my argument but that is enough to say he is insane. After all even Tina Turner have said what love got to do with (it) election.
Take care,

B. Solomon
Babisolomon@aol.com

Email: Bsolomon@aol.com

Thank you and happy new year. Very interesting analysis and must be read article

Email: chala@hotmail.com

City: DC