Fetsum: The struggle’s defining moment in view of our Conceptual Unity

Fetsum: The struggle’s defining moment in view of our Conceptual Unity

Conceptual Unity now based on BAYTO’s ARTICLE 2. ዕማት ጊዜያዊ  ስልጣን (መ )

“ኩሎም ፖለቲካዊ ሓይልታትን ምእንቲ ፍትሕን ዲሞክራስያዊ ለውጥን ዝቃለሱ

ህዝባዊ ምንቅስቓስን ብዝሳተፍሉ ሃገራዊ ዋዕላ ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ

ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ  የቕውም”

It is so delicious and something I fought for since 2014 at minimum, God knows how many times I used the term NEUTRAL in the about 500 articles I wrote in the past. This is the climax of my struggle for genuine democracy in our country and you can imagine what it means to me. Once again;

“ኩሎም ፖለቲካዊ ሓይልታትን ምእንቲ ፍትሕን ዲሞክራስያዊ ለውጥን ዝቃለሱ

ህዝባዊ ምንቅስቓስን ብዝሳተፍሉ ሃገራዊ ዋዕላ ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ

ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ  የቕውም”

“Technocracy is an ideological system of governance in which decision-makers are selected on the basis of their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge.”

My dear Eritreans; it cannot get better than this. As you know many rumors are going on in the social media that can disturb your stability but stay calm and settled. Watch the drama as entertainment. I guarantee you that we are closer to success and will be there overcoming any obstacle in the way of our dream for freedom and democracy. Stick to the truth and focus on your conviction and everything will touchdown in your favor. Remember not to fear, never to hesitate and doubt about your nationhood because we are not fighting for independence of the country that we secured with our blood and sweat but for our freedom that only requires resilience, intelligence and wisdom. Clarify your objective and you will own your freedom and democracy sooner than you ever had imagined.

The time to take a position on what matters most to the people has arrived. There is no time to waste looking at each other now but rather to dedicate attention and stop the misery through straight forward solution. This is time for us to be very careful about our political destiny which strongly depends on the next challenge in the ground. God bless all Eritrean activists; everybody is now talking about the necessity of a TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT in post Isaias Eritrea because we have all understood it as the only way to democratize the society after decades of trial and error. There are at least five different types of transition to democracy based on the concrete situation of a given society. The question is, what type of transitional government fits our situation (peacefully coexisting people) most? And the answer is NEUTRAL or ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ.

Apparently, I have nothing against our political parties. I may have criticized them with good intention to improve their agility and efficiency. But I am grateful for what they did before and after independence. They are our precious assets that we should support and energize as much as we can. They will be our leaders and we want them to be politically and organizationally strong. This is the right time for them to pack, solidify their structures and programs, converge, recruit new members and I hope that is what is going on. But the conceptual relationship between the people and the political parties must be done lawfully and universally. Party politics and People’s politics should peacefully blend based on democratic principles. For this to happen, the Civic Society, GI et al., YiAKL et al. and the Political Parties must accept a NEUTRAL TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT in post Isaias Eritrea. In other words, we all must embrace BAYTO’s ARTICLE 2 (መ ) ዕማት ጊዜያዊ  ስልጣን:  ኩሎም ፖለቲካዊ ሓይልታትን ምእንቲ ፍትሕን ዲሞክራስያዊ ለውጥን ዝቃለሱ ህዝባዊ ምንቅስቓስን ብዝሳተፍሉ ሃገራዊ ዋዕላ ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ  የቕውም”. The rest (any other differences) will patch up easily on this critical foundation.

It is clear that I talked a bit about structural unity in the last article. This does not mean the civic and political groups should work under common leadership. This is impossible because they have different political roles and interests within the concept of Democracy but all of us should unite on tactical and technical matters concerning the society with our respective affiliations intact. One example is working together to defend the people from the Corona virus. Both sides should have a united effort in this project and similar others (refugees, the dictator’s crimes to humanity, external issues and methods of changing the regime, etc.).

Conceptual Unity in the flip means reaching agreement on the democratic process of the country. Yet, success in this aspect depends on how we develop the immediate challenge around the corner; the transitional authority of Eritrea. The civic society should then have a concept to unite behind and the political parties to do their part for the benefit of the society. We cannot pressurize our political parties or psychologically force them to play the role of the people through emptiness; we the people must play our roles and leave them to play theirs independently. We cannot face them empty handed and expect them to do a miracle. The civic society rather should present ideas and concepts for them to entertain based on democratic principles so we can conceptually unite against any threat from within and without. In the absence of substance from the people though, our political parties have no choice other than trying to play the people’s roles as in the thing of the past. The Civic Society’s failure to produce a universal road map to democracy has, therefore, been one of the causes of its illogical friction  with the political parties.

But there is no need for the parties to carry the burden of the people’s role in this resistance any more. We have a potent weapon today that neither the people nor the political parties can reject. With maximum humility; that is what we have been calling NETRAL TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT that BAYTO identified as ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ! This is exactly what has been achieved in Sudan’s scientific journey to democracy that BAYTO adapted after uncountable internal and external political zigzags since its inception around 2012 in Ethiopia. BAYTO’s powerful appearance in this regard could also be the result of independence from EPRDF’s pressure in Ethiopia, but it made it at last and that is what counts. I congratulate the Eritrean people for this decisive achievement!

Clarification: When I classified BAYTO (AWASSA) in the First Idea (party politics) section of the MINESSOTA FORUM in my last article, I meant to imply to few principles of the group. I meant to say BAYTO sometimes mixes peoples and party politics based on the ongoing discussions, its hesitation to acknowledge and enhance the YiAKL movement being one example to this effect. This should quickly change for the better with good intention and honest exchange of ideas.

BAYTO as the oldest entity that entertained the subject (transition to democracy) certainly went through endless internal and external hurdles and still has lots of work to do to satisfy the democratic dream of the people. We expected too much from it to only pass through different emotions as a result of its problems. But it survived, did its ካልኣይ ሃገራዊ ጉባኤ ኤርትራዊ ሃገራዊ ባይቶ ንዲሞክራስያዊ ለውጢ 16-21 ሚያዝያ, elected new leaders and exposed its Transitional Charter to the public in 2019 (in TOGORUBA Website). I have discussed it fully (negatives and positives) in my article BAYTO (AWASA) under the surveillance of the Third-Eye. You can google it in case you didn’t read it. But I feel the time necessitates revisiting it in view of the immediate challenge of our people. Leaving the few problematic Articles aside, I thank BAYTO for its outstanding effort and for being the first entity in the opposition to CLEARLY spell and officiate the perfect type of transitional government we need. Here is the detail in part.

BAYTO’s Charter:  ራብዓይ ምዕራፍ፡ መሰጋገሪ  መድረኽ

“ጊዝያዊ  ስልጣን፡ ኣብጽባሕ ውድቀት ገባቲ ስርዓት ህግደፍ ዝኽሰት ባዶነት

ስልጣንን ምሽፋን፡ ብሓይልታት ዲሞክራስያዊ ለውጢ ንስርዓት ህግደፍ ዘውደቖ

 ሓይሊ ዘቑሞ ጊዝያዊ ስልጣን ’ዩ። ዕድመኡ ካብ ሓደ ዓመት ዘይበዝሕ ይኸውን ።

Comment: I believe this is one of the things that BAYTO has to revise and modify in order to close all doors of deception in post Isaias Eritrea. One year is a long time to authorize this type of power without check and balance mechanism. We cannot take a chance here. Of course, ንስርዓት ህግደፍ ዘውደቖ ሓይሊ will by default logic occupy ጊዝያዊ ስልጣን but it must be conditioned to immediately share power with the people within two months of its actuality like in Liberia (2 months) and Sudan (immediately after Bashir’s disposal) to secure the people’s and the political parties’ interests all the way to democratic election. The power sharing arrangement must also surrender the majority sits in the power structure to the people similar to the Liberian and Sudanese experiences and based on BATO’s ARTICLE 2. ዕማት ጊዜያዊ  ስልጣን (መ ). We should guarantee this for the people by any peaceful means necessary (unified resistance). We cannot work based on trust with any government in the country, only by the rule of law, rationality and wisdom.

The best education for us should be the Sudanese model to democracy. Remember that the Army was trying its best to dictate power after Bashir but that the people were organized enough to fight back and secure majority sits in the Sovereign Council (6 civilians and 5 from the army). It took about 4 months of confrontation for the courageous Sudanese people to settle the contradiction in favor of the people. BAYTO should reconsider its position on this matter as soon as possible. This clause is, therefore porous, extremely dangerous and unpredictable for the people to accept without proper modification. We cannot accept it, period!

2. ዕማት ጊዜያዊ ስልጣን (መ )

“ኩሎም ፖለቲካዊ ሓይልታትን ምእንቲ ፍትሕን ዲሞክራስያዊ ለውጥን ዝቃለሱ

ህዝባዊ ምንቅስቓስን ብዝሳተፍሉ ሃገራዊ ዋዕላ ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ

ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ  የቕውም”

Comment: This is the ultimate, the gold, the nucleus of our struggle for democracy can achieve. It is clean, crisp and universal. Thank you BAYTO and God bless you!! I believe the resistance as a unit should ACCEPT IT WITHOUT HESITATION for there is no purity beyond neutrality. This is the only way in our situation to guarantee freedom and genuine democracy under the control of the people. ሃገራዊ ዋዕላ for all Eritreans is the best means of forming grassroots based ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ which is the ultimate road map to scientific democracy in the country.

The question is why? Among the many other vested responsibilities such as managing the nation, diplomatic, security, humanitarian, national reconciliation and bringing the dictatorship to justice, here are the best advantages of NEUTRAL or (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ in Eritrea and why I have been constantly writing about it since 2014.

• Any government is composed of the Executive, Legislative and the Judiciary and so will our transitional government be. In NEUTRAL or ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ, the Executive branch (President or Prime Minister) must be Neutral or ዘይሻራዊ to every sect of the society and the political parties that will participate in the country’s democratic election ahead. This position is, therefore, assigned to a neutral individual from the people. This will be guaranteed in this setting!
• In Neutral or ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ, neutral or ዘይሻራዊ individuals from the ordinary people occupy majority of the parliamentary (NATIONAL BAYTO) sits. The people will have 2/3 of the sits at minimum with about 40% guaranteed sits for women. This is why they call it genuine democracy or the people’s power in many occasions. This is the only way we can achieve a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. The Sudanese people have achieved more than this (in terms of empowering the people at more than 2/3 composition of their Assembly) through it as I discussed in detail in the past.
• NEUTRAL or ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ guarantees the independence of the Judiciary branch of the society from the government. This allows it to independently draft laws and independently organize a CONSTITUTION COMMISSION to deal with constitutional matters (including amending the shelved constitution if necessary) without destructive interference.
• In NEUTRAL or ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ, the ELECTORAL COMISSION responsible for democratic election stays clean and independent of the government and the political parties. It can then efficiently work with international experts without a problem. It can draft its own requirements for political party illegibility and enforce them without interference. It can efficiently control the political party jam (I don’t know how many we have) through its regulations, filter out the qualified parties, manage free election in the country and smoothly transfer power to the elected party based on the Interim Charter and under international supervision. This clean process can only be achieved through a neutral government as such.
• The NEUTRAL or ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ takes office with clear mind that it will go under transparent and independent account investigation process ahead of resuming power to avoid corruption during its short term in power (about 3 years based on Liberia and Sudan)
• The government officials are restricted from running for power in the democratic election. This means managing and completing the process and moving without conflict of interest.
• It was so far extremely difficult to introduce our struggle to the international community empty handed. We were scattered and divided. Our diplomacy was unacceptable to the universe because it had no substance. We did not have anything to collectively show concerning the future direction of the country. The result was constant rejection. Adapting ቴክኖክራታዊ (ዘይሻራዊ) ሃገራዊ ሓድነታዊ መሰጋገሪ መንግስቲ will, however, resolve the problem. Because it will give us the opportunity to academically develop it and it is a scientific method to democracy that we can intellectually defend and they cannot ignore.

These are the few critical issues that we can manage with such a transitional government. This is the only way we can secure sustainable democracy like tens of African countries in the continent. I therefore completely accept BAYTO’s Article 2 (መ ) and appeal to all Eritreans to adapt and close this chapter effectively. Based on my years of activism and hard work for NEUTRAL TRANSIONAL GOVERNMENT in ERITREA, I am fully satisfied with the article in question; I am conceptually united with BAYTO based on that extremely decisive Article. This is the maximum we can stretch the concept and the best we can do, thank God we got there finally.

`             I also conceptually unify with BAYTO on few other Articles and strongly believe they can be used to enhance our CONCEPTUAL UNITY only at secondary level of the matter (behind the foundation; BAYTO’s ARTICLE 2 (መ )). They are ዓንቀጽ (5), ዓንቀጽ (59) ሓፈሻዊ መትከላት (4-8,17)

To close it up, there are issues that BAYTO should reconfigure in accordance with the concept of scientific democracy. There are issues in the Charter that should be left for the Parliament to decide in future Eritrea. BAYTO has no mandate for that. It should take another step to purify its articles to fit with the society’s reality. I have fully discussed them in the past and I am willing to do it again. Other than that, Eritrea Focus can play a big role enhancing the bliss through its on-going project whose outcome we all will hopefully see sometime in August. They are currently involved in 6 outstanding topics including this subject matter, God bless the effort. I will discuss this issue in the next article and enjoy life mindfully!