PROSPERITY PARTY: A GOSPEL OF DECEIT AND GREED

 

By Prof. Hassan Keynan

The Prosperity Party (PP) is not a party and it has nothing to do with prosperity. Everything about PP points to the fact that it is by and large a representation of the man who created it in his larger than life image and became its supreme leader. PP reflects and routinely displays multiple & variegated manifestations of its Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO): his peculiar background, his delusional mind, his obsession with messianic mission, his catatonic personality, his Machiavellian character, his authoritarian and predatory instincts, his dangerous predilection for spectacle & catastrophic errors of judgment, his proneness to corrosive anxiety and insecurity, and, with respect to Somalis, his fanatical flirtation with a virulent strain of Xenophobia known as Somalophobia.

In every respect, PP exhibits, in great any graphic details, the story of one man, one delusion-prone man, on a dangerous mission. A man who combines fantasy, mythology, superstition, millenarian zeal, deception and fraud and markets the brew as a magical formula to save and heal a troubled, tired and deeply traumatized dominion and lead it to prosperity and eternal glory. The man, the party he conceived and created, the country, and the state are one, indivisible and inseparable. A man, a deeply flawed man, who himself needs urgent help and healing, is crowned as king and a savior whose coming the Heavens, through his mother, prophesied at the tender age of seven.

However, hard reality has soon caught up with the illusion and messianic hubris peddled by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his Prosperity Party.  In the short span of three years, the story of Ethiopia under King Abiy and PP reads like a horror story. The long, hard, and costly struggle for freedom, justice and democracy in Ethiopia has suffered a catastrophic set back. The early signs of reform, optimism, hope and renewal quickly vanished. The solemn promise of and solid commitment to promote peace, democracy and prosperity that elevated the image and stature of Abiy Ahmed and won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize were unceremoniously and unashamedly abandoned. Strife, conflict, war, plague, famine, corruption, inflation, state sponsored terrorism, fear and uncertainty blight the country. Hate speech and the demonization of specific ethnic groups are regularly and loudly broadcast on state media. Starvation and rape have become preferred weapons of war to humiliate and exterminate political opponents. The language and implements of genocide are heard and seen everywhere, including state media outlets. Economically, the country is on the verge of complete collapse. Diplomatically, Ethiopia is isolated and has become an international pariah nation. And in the middle of all these horror stories, sham elections were held and the City of Flowers is being prepared for the coronation of King Abiy. Fancy and colorful publicity materials imported from Dubai are on displace across the capital.

The Somalis, who were the first to rise and fought against the repressive EPRDF regime for over two decades and made the greatest sacrifice, felt a deep sense of betrayal. The Oromo and Amhara youth, who spearheaded the huge demonstrations that started in 2015 and eventually led to the collapse of EPRDF shared the same sentiment. The overwhelming feeling across vast swathes of the country is that a faction within the EPRDF quartet has hijacked the revolution. There was change. Yet nothing changed. Abiy replaced his late boss and mentor. A new banner bearing the name and logo of the Prosperity Party went up and erased those of its predecessor. But the architecture of the state and its massive and repressive institutions and infrastructure remained intact. A few Orwellian innovations were introduced. The new Ministry of Peace soon became the cheer leader and flag bearer of the extremist forces fueling the civil war. In short, Ethiopia went back to its roots: the medieval Abyssinian state tradition. Law of the Kings and Justice of the Kings have become the foundation of King Abiy’s Ethiopia or Abiyopia. After a brief and in many ways surreal break, the Abyssinian demons that have always convulsed Ethiopian politics resumed their bloody wrecking business with a vengeance. A dark and dangerous Orwellian order currently holds sway in the country. What you see is not what is. What is promised in not what you get. One needs a good familiarity with Orwellian language and terminology to decipher the muddled speeches and executive musings of the Supreme leader and his co-conspirators. Sovereignty is majestic void. Predation is power. Tyranny is liberty. Bondage is freedom. Poverty is progress. Reign of terror is rule of law. Humiliation is dignity. And of course, war is peace. Beautiful Ethiopia blossoms in gore and despair.

It important to call the Prosperity Party for what it truly is: fraud. It did not follow the appropriate legal procedures and requirement for registering a political party. Its election violated some of the fundamental principles and core provisions of the federal constitution. Ideologically Abiy's Party is a lethal variant of Abyssinian Fascism. Spiritually, PP is a gospel of greed and deceit. In terms of organization & governance the Prosperity Party bears all the hallmarks of a dangerous cabal. And PP stands accused of committing atrocity crimes, including genocide. The leaders and the rule of the Prosperity Party are therefore illegitimate, and in the eyes of many criminal.

The Prosperity Party can organize bogus elections and then rig them to obtain a landslide victory. It can wage war on its citizens and starve them to destroy any and all forms of dissent. It can beg or borrow millions to finance its gospel of greed and deceit. It can bluff and blow hot air to blame, intimidate and manipulate the international community in an effort to prevent them for activating the Responsibility to Protect. King Abiy and PP can do whatever they want. But nothing can hide or change the man-made tragedy they unleashed and the ruinous legacies the bequeathed the peoples of Ethiopia.

Hassan Keynan is a former Professor and a senior retired UN official who worked in Africa, Asia and Europe