Developmental arrests, coming soon

I was watching ETV (Ethiopian Television) on-line last Sunday morning to relieve my homesickness and get "informed" about recent ''development'' & ''progress'' of my country, while baking Enjera (Ethiopia's traditional spongy bread). I was enjoying listening the music (major slot of ETV) and all of a sudden I heard this intro of the ''Parliament" program which I hate not only to watch but used to detest whenever I was assigned to report on its boring "proceedings" or produce a program about it back then when I was working @ ETV. Anyway, I let it go as I can't afford my Enjera get burned but then I heard this familiar angry voice bullying
his sleepy/yes men & women MPs on that rubber-stamped parliament. I don't have to tell you his name, the guy is Bill Clinton's one of Africa's ''newest generation of democrats'' who was angered with comments of ''vulgar'' and unprofessional journalists that are making noises about the recent arrests of journalists, opposition group leaders and members etc by his government. We heard from Zenawi and his cadres about ''developmental'' journalism, investments, farming, investors, business, health developmental this and that: so why not about developmental arrests:-) Here's the excerpts of what our benevolent premier heralded us on Sunday morning about his developmental arrests sprees coming soon 

"ጋዜጠኞች በፍርድ ቤት በተያዘ ጉዳይ ላይ ክሱን ሳያውቁ፤ ማስረጃውን ሳይሰሙ፤ በጭፍን ነጻ ናቸው ብለው መፈረጃቸው፣ ይኼን ማውጣታቸው ክሱ በወቅቱ ስላልተመሠረተ የተፈጠረ አይደለም። የጋዜጠኝነት ሀሁ የማይገባቸው ወይም እንዲገባቸው የማይፈልጉ ጋጠ ወጦች ስለኾኑ ብቻ ነው...ይኼን ስነ ምግባር አልፈው የሚንጣጡ ጋዜጠኞች ካሉ ችግሩ የራሳቸው ነው። የሚንጣጡ ጋዜጠኞች ካሉ ችግሩ የራሳቸው እንጂ ለፍርድ ቤት ማቅረብ ላይ መዘግየት ስለታየ አይደለም።"

"There are journalists who found those criminals as innocents on a pending court case and wrote about their innocence without having a knowledge about the charge nor the evidences. They did this  not because the charges were not being  filed in due time. It is rather these vagabond journalists who neither know nor want to understand the ABC of journalism...if such journalists without professional caliber make noises, it has nothing to do with delaying to file the charges against the criminals; this is rather their (i.e. vagabond journalists) problem." 

Well, here we go again: he warned his sleepy MPs and the rest of us that, if it wasn't for the patience and wisdom of his tolerant government; every single of prisoners whom he graciously pardoned would have been ended up behind bars long time ago provided the mounting evidence for breaching their agreements.

"እዚህ ላይ ግልጽ መኾን ያስፈልጋል። እስካሁን ከታሰሩት ግን የአሸባሪ ድርቶች አባላት ለመኾናቸው አሳማኝ ማስረጃ የሌለበት አንድም ሰው አልታሠረም። አንድም፤ ሰሞኑን ፍርድ ቤት ይቀርባሉ። እነዚህን ሰዎች ለማሰር ብንፈልግ፣ ዓላማችን እነዚህን ሰዎች ማሰር ቢኾን ኖሮ ስለ ሽብር ስለምናምን ማውራት አያስፈልገንም ነበር ... በምህረት ሲለቀቁ የገቡት ቃል አለ። ይቺን ቃል ተላልፈን ከተገኘን ምህረቱ ይሰረዛል፤ እስር ቤት እንገባለን የሚል ፈርመው ነው የገቡት። በቅድመ ኹኔታ ነው የተፈቱት፤ እያንዳንዳቸው በየቀኑ የገቡትን ቃል እያፈረሱ ነው የሚውሉት። በሚሰጡት መግለጫ፣ ሁሉንም ጥፍር አድርገን እስር ቤት ማስገባት እንችላለን።'' 

And its rough translation is as follows

"Not a single person among the criminals is jailed  with an evidence without reasonable doubts; our evidences rather which show their involvement/link with the terrorist groups. They would be brought to court soon. If our aim was jailing these people, we wouldn't need to talk about ''terrorism'' because most of them were released with preconditioned pardon in which they agreed to go back to jail if they break it which however they've kept breaking their words everyday. We could have thrown in to jails everyone of them with just their press briefings only." 

Zenawi's blessings came on Thursday following commentaries of one his mouthpieces Ethiopia's oldest and only Amharic daily Addis Zemen which  published an opinion piece urging the government for how long should it tolerate '' violence mongering" journalists. A certain Abdulahi (aka Shimeles Kemal aka Berket Simon aka Meles himself haha)  from Urael (one of the neighborhoods of Addis) ''requested/begged'' his government to take measure in the name of God against hmm just guess the usual suspects "እናም አመጽ ናፋቂዎችን መታገስ እስከመቼ? የሚል ጥያቄን በማንገብ፤ ሁከተኞችን አደብ ለማስገዛት ህጋዊ እርምጃን አሁኑኑ እንዲወስድልን መንግስትን ‘በህግ አምላክ!’ ለማለት እገደዳለሁ፡፡"
The message is clear and loud: next on the list to be entertained @ Kaliti or Maekelawi prisons. Meles & co. think they will not have a peaceful sleep until they muzzle all their critics. It's ironic and sad that how all tyrants are disillusioned and never learn from each others' mistakes or demise.