Beyond Lemmanization: Demystifying OPDO Charm Offensive

J. Ebisa

Obbo Lemma Megersa speaking at  the Bahar Dar Meeting

In this piece, which I have titled “Beyond Lemmanization”, I will try to look beyond the hype or even hysteria revolving around Obbo Lemma Megersa, the current OPDO leader and president of Oromia state, his speeches and some policy pronouncements over the last few months. Here, it is not my intention to dismiss the man as a leader nor to diminish the stature of someone I have never met or known at personal level.  I am rather both amazed and concerned with the hype and collective hysteria, which tends to reduce Oromo's aspirations and political discourse to what Mr. Lemma says and does. This is a risky business to say the least. I am not comfortable with a sort of “Lemmanization” which brings down the Oromo national question and aspiration  to what one or few ODPO ambitious leaders think and do on behalf of 40 million Oromo people! I am not alone to be concerned with many of unconstructed and ahistorical ideas put forward to get attention but taken too seriously as a representative of the entire Oromo nation.

The case in point his Bahir Dar speech in which he appears to have used an innocent expression for hybrid grain (sergegna teff) to talk about complex and conflictual Oromo–Amhara relations. This speech in which he also mentioned “addiction to Ethiopia”, created a buzz that appears to have caught the attention of some, particularly that of the Amhara centralist elites.  This group and their surrogates who have always denied the existence or minimized the Oromo identity (Oromia and Oromumma) in order to build their ONE Ethiopia on the grave yards of numerous of beautiful and original cultures and civilizations, Oromo included. No wonder then if Mr. Lemma’s speech revives their forgotten mantra of Ethiopia “the people are one and the country has always been united”. 

It is clear that Lemma’s speech came as unexpected gift to those who have been allergic to the issues of identity and difference.  The speech looks like not only a solace but also rekindled a hidden hope of returning to the old Ethiopia for the most ambitious power elites or dreamers. To their delight, the recent communique of OPDO Central committee meeting appears to have ushered what they have always wanted to hear for so many years - there was no national domination /oppression in Ethiopia but only class conflict and oppressors originated from all ethno-national backgrounds. According to Amhara-Ethiopian commentators of ESAT, OPDO made a paradigm shift by removing the Amhara  national domination by replacing with class domination. That is what their scholars attempted to do but to no avail.

They felt the past rulers of Ethiopia have been exonerated and the national oppression started with the advent of the Weyane in 1991! Hearing from numerous flattering commentaries and praise for Mr. Megersa, it looks like as if he is as unexpected gift from the sky whom they would like to see leading their Ethiopia. Why would not they? They see him singing their song. They have always this tradition  of flattering and praising puppets as heroes as they have done with Ras Gobana, whom the Oromo despise profoundly. In their attempt to be likeable and acceptable, OPDO leaders seem to have been engaged in the task of distorting history.

When he spoke some untruths in the Bahir Dar meeting to flatter his audience, Mr. Lemma forgot to mention the harsh memories of the people he claims to represent. Thus, in a bid to gain popularity and sympathy, Mr. Lemma had omitted, perhaps consciously due to his avowed "addiction to Ethiopia", a well rerecord Oromo grievances against the Ethiopian state led by the Amhara kings and aristocracy. No one would expect him to give a lecture about this complicated political issue but he could have mentioned, at least in passing, the views of those who are not addicted unless he surmised every Oromo is in his state of mind or shares his perspective. The question that was not asked and answered is that "What is Obbo Lemma addicted to?" Did he talk to his father and grand father about their memory before making such an outrageous claim? What did he learn about the Oromo political experience in his college years? 

Above all, denying or minimizing the Amhara domination in pre-1991 Ethiopia is an apotheosis of  ignorance or immaturity on the part of aspiring OPDO leaders. If that is the case what led to the current predicament in the country? One may wonder if OPDO leaders are desperate for attention and  power to a point where they are denying and or revising historical fact? The question is: who made OPDO cadres and security agents the interpreters of Oromo history? This is not a sign of mature leadership with a great design for the people they claim to represent.

Obviously, I am not in the thoughts and mind of Mr. Lemma to comprehend the tenor of his analogy of sergegna teff and his “addiction to Ethiopia”. This term may have been used perhaps after reflection as some of the top OPDO leaders, cadres and apparatchiks rehearsed and have kept on repeating it many times over. It was not a simple slip of tongue or spontaneous use of the term but a well-though strategy of seduction. However, in all this, OPDO leaders have failed to recognize one important basic fact. Although they have been propelled to the forefront by unstoppable tide of Oromo national struggle and the weakness or the absence of a coherent leadership in the Oromo nationalist ranks, OPDO does not embody, in anyway, Oromo nationalist aspirations for which generations of gallant Oromo were sacrificed and countless are still languishing in rotten prison house of the Weyane junta. 

On the other hand, a cursory reading from the annals of history can lead one to predict that the OPDOs life span and raison d’etre is intertwined with TPLF; it will vanish away with it. OPDO is the creature of the Weyane plutocrats but still has played, and continue to play, a make-believe comedy that they are representative of the Oromo people and they were democratically elected to make 100% majority government. The ruling Party claims its perfect (100% democracy) by including 178 of them who sit in the parliament on “behalf of the Oromo people”. They pertinently know that they have been a part of the organized lies that Ethiopia is a federal democratic state and they are a part of the a legitimate ruling coalition. Yet, they recently discovered the problem with the system and they are the right people to fix it. The question is: how? Despite their illusion, OPDO leaders are not in charge of anything and the system the Weyane conceived may not be reformable as they are determined to maintain a kleptocratic government of which they are the only beneficiary.
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Strictly speaking, OPDO is a modern version of the Balabbat system created by the Ethiopian feudal regime to control and exploit rural communities but disappeared over night when Haile Selassie’s monarchy was toppled with no trace and mark left behind. What other fate does OPDO expect after the end of the Weyane? All political structure based on democratic centralism and top down dictatorship cannot survive once the regime collapses. OPDO can be no exception. One cannot see any role for EPDRF constituent parties in post-Weyane political system, whatever it may be. At the same time, one has to be cautious not to criminalize all OPDO members because of their membership in this party with the exception of those who committed crimes, stole public fund, and enriched themselves illegally.  

OPDO’s recent strategic move, “reform agenda”, can be explained by the fact the Oromo grievances and deep discontent reached a point when they cannot lie any longer. Second, due to the weakness and absence of genuine Oromo leadership to embody the struggle as the result of the closed political space OPDO leaders have come to the fore. Beyond filling the political vacuum some, OPDOs have appeared as the “guardians” of the interest of the Oromo people although they have been a part of the problem. Some suspect, perhaps rightly, that the whole thing is a bluff; it may have been designed and encouraged by TPLF to offset the political crisis caused by mass protests and buy time.

Third, the division within TPLF might have encouraged some constituent parties to express the concerns of the people they claim to represent and get minor concessions when it appears more and more vulnerable. The courage to voice the plight of their constituencies and articulate some of the Oromo demands seem to have generated unprecedented sympathy of the Oromo of all walks life towards OPDO. More importantly. the Oromo people have found unity, solidarity and esprit de corps.  Thus, it has now become crystal clear for both their friends and foes that the newly found Oromo unity cannot be ignored

As organization, however artificial it may be, OPDO may get the understanding of millions at this critical juncture when the government is in disarray and the Oromo found unity to move forward, not to go backward. After all, politics is said to be “the art of the possible”. Thus, when OPDO does anything compatible with long term and short interests of the Oromo people or when it tries to alleviate the suffering of our people at the hands of the Weyane oppressors, we should applaud and support it but when things go off track, we should be able to say it. Also, OPDO leaders should see themselves in the mirror and ask simple questions: are we true representatives of the Oromo people? Whose interests are we serving? Can we effect change which empowers our people or just administering a sort of opium to calm them down? They should be able to ponder on these questions before claiming national leadership status or engaging in extravagant rhetoric.

What is surprising is that the emergence of Lemma on the political scene has awakened the OPDO sleeping cadres and cells in Diaspora, both educated and uneducated, known and unkown to be spokespersons of Mr. Lemma although we do no really know who he is and what he stands for beyond few nice speeches. These attention seekers and political entrepreneurs often parade on the media outlets to sell Lemma’s addiction and “grand strategy” for the Oromo. Even some failed politicians, who embody the decades of fiasco in Oromo national struggle, are now open to join OPDO to "continue the struggle from within" which they left 25 years ago. Obbo Leenco Leta maybe an outstanding candidate for a prize of ridicule and politics of futility if there is one!

To be continued