Bulcha Demeksa, OFDM Chairman

Following the decision by the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) executive committee to withdraw from the recent local and by-elections, some members, including parliamentarians, have expressed their opposition to the decision.

Some members even appeared on national television and claimed that they were not consulted at all about the withdrawal. It appeared that there was a challenge to the current leadership.

But party chairman Bulcha Demeksa plays down the possibility of any challenge to the party leadership.

Bruck Shewareged interviewed Bulcha Demeksa on the withdrawal and the problems the party faces. Excerpts.

Ato Mesfin Nemera, your parliamentary whip, openly opposed your decision to withdraw from the elections, while you were giving a press conference that you were doing so. There is resentment torwards the decision on the part of some of your members, too. What is the situation now? Have you addressed this resentment?

You specifically mentioned Ato Mesfin. He is just one person amongst millions. He is not in a position to make decisions. He is neither an executive a member of the executive nor that of the central committee.

He is to some extent known in the diplomatic circle. He works as member of the budget monitoring committee in parliament. Otherwise, he has no official position in OFDM, except that of being a member.

To be frank, I feel that it was an emotional outburst when he spoke out against the decision to withdraw, in the middle of the press conference. He spoke out spontaneously. I don't think it was deliberate. Later we discussed the incident.

Of course, I could understand his feelings towards the withdrawal. Everywhere else, campaigners don't like to withdraw from the race. They don't like the decision to withdraw by party heads. Contestants always think that they can win the election. They say, "We could have been elected. Why withdraw?" This sentiment is common. You just heard from one person. But there were others who said that they could have been elected. Campaigners don't always like such a decision.

And there is no time to consult all campaigners or all your members. You can't consult thousands of people to make that decision. It is up to the executive committee to make such a decision. The committee has the power to do that.

A country of eighty million people is managed by a government. That government speaks on behalf of all the people. The same thing is true with a party. It is the executive committee that can speak on behalf of all members. It is impossible for all party members to do that.

What have you done about Ato Mesfin's behavior?   

The executive committee has been in consultation with Ato Mesfin.

What kind of disciplinary measure can you take?

We have many types of disciplinary measures. Members can make many kinds of mistakes, say, some members may take bribes. Some might say bad things about the party to outsiders. Our rules and regulations detail the kind of disciplinary measures to be taken for each kind of offence.

Different kinds of measures can be taken, or they may not be taken at all. We want to be democratic. We want Ethiopia to be democratic. But first we have to be democratic within the party. Anyone who commits an offence has the right to defend himself. He will be given the chance to explain as to why he did what he did.

We saw on TV that some of your members, claiming to be executive committee members, saying that they were not consulted about the decision to withdraw.

That move was initiated by one member, an obscure member. If you take Ato Mesfin Nemera, he is at least an MP and a well-educated man. But the man you saw on TV is just a messenger. He is nowhere near the executive committee. I think that person was misled or even bribed by some outsiders, to speak out against the decision in order to embarrass the party.

In the past, there was a coup d'etat in the Oromo National Congress (ONC). Back then, an unknown person, Tolossa Tesfaye, took over the leadership with the help of the government, as alleged by ONC former leader Dr. Merera Gudina. Some fear that what is happening in OFDM right now echoes the events in ONC. Could there be a challenge to the leadership?

No, it is virtually impossible. There is no chance. The situations in the two parties are different.

The person who carried out the coup d'etat in ONC is a parliament member. Some anti-ONC people might encourage him to do that. But there was also another problem that gave way to the leadership change.

Back then, there was no party called ONC in parliament. (It used to constitute the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, UEDF, an umbrella organization formed by ONC and others). Many people were elected in the name of ONC. Some ONC members began to question when they came here. They said that they thought there was an independent ONC party known nationally. Now it was confusing for them to become UEDF instead of ONC. So confusion spread. Using this confusion some people took away the leadership from the incumbent. This was made possible due to a massive injection of money.  In our case, if they can get that amount of money from outsiders, I wouldn't mind (laughing).

So you are not worried about any leadership coup d'etat?

No, I'm not. There is a problem in our country regarding information dissemination. For instance, you know the parties in Ethiopia like CUD, EPRDF, OFDM etc. But do you know their goals and missions?

For example, we call ourselves a movement, not a party. Our thinking is that the Oromo people have been disadvantaged for the last century. Every government in the past suppressed Oromo people. We say that it is time to liberate the Oromo people peacefully. Our movement aims at liberation. So, can you really call us a party?

A party is an entity which is organized, has many members, which assumes power through peaceful means, and then allocates many posts to its members.

But you are registered as a party?

Yes. Without being registered as a party, we can't do anything else. If you want to carry out political activities, you must be registered as a party. We work to liberate our people from ignorance and exploitation. We are ready to participate in a ruling coalition. In this sense, you can call us a party.

But we don't prepare millions of people and assign them to each post in the government, as parties do. That is not our purpose. Our purpose is to liberate the Oromo people.

It must be clear, though, that I believe in strong and prosperous Ethiopia. My vision is one country, Ethiopia, where the Oromo people have a stronger position or even assume power. The Oromos are greater in number. And if it is about democracy, the majority assumes power. So a group which has liberation as a goal cannot be easily undone.

The current government claims to have liberated different ethnic groups, including Oromos by allowing self-rule with considerable autonomy. You seem to argue Oromos are not liberated.

Some things could be real or unreal. For instance, in your imagination, you can travel to New York and get back here within the hour. You can close your eyes and you can turn a small creature like a calf into huge one, such as an elephant. This is in your imagination. You can do a lot of things in your mind.

Similarly EPRDF (the ruling party) thinks it has really worked for the liberation of the people and nationalities because it has convinced itself that it had done so. But in real terms, where is the change? If you take the Konso people, is there any change for them between now and seventeen years ago?

If you take the Oromo people in Borena, Guji, Harar, Bale, Illubabur or Wollega, their lives haven't changed a bit.

The so-called liberation by EPRDF is just an imagination. They say, "We gave you freedom; we made it possible for you to speak your own language; your courts now use your own language etc." But I ask if it adds anything to the people's bread basket. This is real. Those I mentioned earlier are imagination. It is confusion.

In real terms, the lives of these people have not changed. You may tell some people to feel happy and dance because you think you have done something for them. If you give money to some people and order them to dance, they will. Why? It's because you pay them, not because they are happy.

They say there is revival (during the millennium). I don't know to whom the revival came. For our people, no meaningful change has come.

The constituency I came from, the land in area has degraded so fast. It has lost its fertility. It almost ceased to grow anything. Where is the development? There is no change. In fact, as the land lost its quality, the lives of people is being degraded. I'm not lying. Anyone can go and see for himself.

You withdrew because of intimidations and harassment, as you claimed. But did these intimidations and harassments stop after the election?

Well, after we withdrew, we stopped campaigning. So these intimidations will stop as we stop moving around.

How about your people in the different localities?

Some of our party members who run for woreda and parliament elections are being harassed. One was severely beaten. The other one was robbed. There was an attempt at ostracizing another member. One of our members couldn't go to his cousins wedding because the groom was afraid of associating with our member.

No one was arrested. But they are being ostracized from the society. There is fear in the atmosphere. Next time, who will dare to volunteer for any election in the name of our party? No one wants to be ostracized. Our members are being socially pressured. I'm preparing a letter to be delivered to the National Electoral Board (NEB) about the beatings.

 Can a letter bring any change?

That's a good question. We are just recording it. This information might be needed in the future. So we have to notify the electoral board of the problem. They have to be aware of the post election repression.