EPRDF members tackle officials with questions

ESAT News

The ruling Front, EPRDF, has started giving a training to its members by Plasma in schools and governmental institutions. The aim of the training is to prevent the spread of the critical questions that university students had been asking during the training given to them on politics. However, as the members themselves raised similar questions that the students raised, the chairs of the meeting had said that they would find out if non members had sneaked into the meeting halls.

Tewolde W/Tsadik, an official in EPRDF Secretariat and the Mayor’s Special Advisor, who conducted the first day of the training, was faced with critical questions and criticisms such as; why do you only tell us the bad parts of our history, we prefer if the training was about EPRDF’s strengths and weaknesses, why do we remember Emperor Menelik II negatively while he did unite the country, you are trying to cause fight between Oromo and Amhara people, do you have the qualifications to train us, it is not Menelik II but you seceded Eritrea, Derg used to say ‘Ethiopia First’ now you say ‘Ethnicity First’, there is a domination of one ethnic group and many other points were raised.

The Chair did not give a direct answer to the questions but said that these issues have not come from the Front but were only raised as ‘accusations’ in magazines and newspapers and ordered that there should be rechecking of the participants identity.

Some of the participants said as the training was tedious; most of the participants were sleeping, listening to music, using Facebook on their phones or playing games.

During the afternoon session, some members of the Front asked why the Front was comforting and hosting Eritrean nationals and oppositions while it categorised Eritrea as an enemy.

EPRDF says it has 144 thousand members in Addis Abeba.

Similarly, the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), member party of the EPRDF in Amhara region, has started a five day conference in Bahir Dar for its members due to what was called “internal weaknesses”. Over 200 Woreda officials are attending the meeting. Similar meeting is being held in the Southern region of Ethiopia.