በተረፈ ወርቁ (ዲ/ን)
ታሪክ እንደሚያወሳው ግርማዊነታቸው ዐፄ ኃ/ሥላሴ ከሕዝባቸው ጋር በመሆን ለአፍሪካ አንድነትና ነጻነት በብርቱ የታገሉና የደከሙ ታላቅ ሰው ናቸው።
ግርማዊነታቸው፤ ኢትዮጵያና ኢትዮጵያውያን- ለጋናው የነጻነት አባት ዶ/ር ክዋሜ ንኩርማ፣ ለኬንያው የነጻነት አርበኛ ለጆሞ ኬንያታ፣ ለደበብ አፍሪቃው የፀረ-አፓርታይድ ታጋይ ኔልሰን ሮሂላላ ማንዴላ፣ ለዛምቢያው ጁሊየስ ኔሬሬ፣ ለሴኔጋሉ ፓን-አፍሪካኒስት ሴዳር ሴንጎር… በአጠቃላይ በባርነትና በቅኝ ግዛት ቀምበር ስር ሆነው ሲማቅቁ ለነበሩ አፍሪቃውያም የነጻነት ተስፋ ቀንዲል ከፍ አድርገን ያሳዩ/ያሳየን ሕዝብ ነን።
ጥቂት የታሪክ አብነቶችን እናንሳ እስቲ፤
ከ60 ዓመታት በፊት የኬንያው ‹‹የማኦ ማኦ›› ሕቡዕ ነጻ አውጭ ድርጅት መሪ የነበሩት ጆሞ ኬንያታ ለሰባት ዓመት ያህል በእንግሊዝ መንግሥት ታስረው ነበር፡፡ በወቅቱም የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ትምህርቷን በዩኒቨርሲቲ ትከታተል ለነበረችው ለጆሞ ኬንያታ ሴት ልጅ፣ በየወሩ ሁለት መቶ ሃምሳ የኬንያ ሽልንግ በኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ጄኔራሌ ቆንሲሌ አማካይነት ይሰጣት ነበር፡፡
እንዲሁም የኢትዮጵያ ንጉሥ ዐፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ ኬንያ ላይ ደርሶ ለነበረው ረሃብ ዕርዳታ የሚውል በኬንያ የብሪታንያ ተወካይ በነበሩት በሰር ሃምፍሬይ በኩል ሁለት መቶ ሃምሳ ሺኅ ሽልንግ ለኬንያ ዕርዳታ ልግስና አድርገዋል፡፡
የኬንያው የነጻት አባት ጆሞ ኬንያታ ከእስር እንደተፈቱም፤ የሀገራችንን ውለታ በማሰብ ከሴት ልጃቸው ጋር በሀገራችን ይፋዊ ጉብኝት አድርገው ነበር፡፡ በወቅቱም በአሁኑ የአዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ፣ በቀድሞው የግርማዊ ቀዳማዊ ኃ/ሥላሴ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ልደት አዳራሽ ተገኝተው ባደረጉት ንግግራቸው፤ ኢትዮጵያና ኢትዮጵያውያን ላደረጉላቸው ውለታ ምስጋናቸውን አቅርበው ነበር፡፡
በነገራችን ላይ ኢትዮጵያ ለኬንያዊው የነጻነት ታጋይ ጆሞ ኬንያታ ብቻ ሳይሆን ለታንዛንያው የነጻነት አርበኛ ለጁለየስ ኔሬሬ ከኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት የወር ደመወዝ ተቆርጦላቸው ይከፈላቸው ነበር፡፡ ከዚህ ከንጉሡና የኢትዮጵያውያን ውለታ የተነሳም ታንዛናውያን ነጻነታቸውን ከተጎናጸፉ በኋላ የውጭ አገር ሰዎች ከታንዛንያ ሲባረሩ ስድስ መቶ የሚሆኑ የኢትዮጵያ ቤተሰቦች ከኪሊማንጃሮ ተራራ አጠገብ በግብርና የመኖር መብታቸው ተጠብቆላቸው በክብር እንዲኖሩና ከአገር እንዳይወጡ ተደርጎ ነበር፡፡
በርካታ የአፍሪካ አገሮች በቅኝ ግዛት ቀምበር ስር ኾነው ይማቅቁ በነበሩበት ጊዜ ኢትዮጵያ እነዚህ አገራትና ሕዝቦቻቸው ነጻነታቸውን እንዲያገኙ በተለያዩ መንገዶች ስትረዳ ነበር፡፡ አፍሪካውያን በኢትዮጵያ ከፍተኛ የትምህርት ተቋማት ነጻ የትምህርት ዕድል እንዲያገኙ፣ የኪስ ገንዘብ እንዲሰጣቸውና በተለያዩ የአገሪቱ ግዛቶችም ተደልድለው እንዲያስተምሩ ዕድል ተመቻችቶላቸው እንደነበር የታሪክ ድርሳናት ይመሰክራሉ፡፡
በተጨማሪም አገራችን ኢትዮጵያ ለአፍሪካ የነጻነት ታጋዮች ወታደራዊ ሥልጠና፣ ዕርዳታና ድጋፍ በማድረግም የበኩሏን ከፍተኛ የኾነ አስተዋጽኦ አድርጋለች፡፡
ለአብነትም ያህል፤ የደቡብ አፍሪካው የነጻነት ታጋይ፣ ኔልሰን ማንዴላ፣ የዚምባቡዌው ሮበርት ሙጋቤና የበርካታ አፍሪካውያን የነጻነት ታጋዮች ወታደራዊ ሥልጠና በመስጠትና አስፈላጊ የኾነውን ዕርዳታ በማድረግ አፍሪካውያን ነጻነታቸውን ዕውን ማድረግ እንዲችሉ ትልቅ ሚና ተጫውታለች፡፡ ከኔልሰን ማንዴላ ወታደራዊና ፖለቲካዊ ሥልጠና ጋር ተያይዞም ጄ/ል ታደሰ ብሩ፣ ኮ/ል ፈቃዱ ዋኬኔ፣ ሻምበል ጉታ ዲንቃ የመሳሰሉ ጀግኖች ኢትዮጵያውን የሚታወሱ ናቸው፡፡
በተመሳሳይም ኢትዮጵያ- የደቡብ አፍሪካው የኤ.ኤን.ሲ፣ የሞዛምቢኩ ሬናሞ፣ የናምቢያው ሰዋፖ ነጻ አውጭ ፓርቲዎች ከወታደራዊ ድጋፍ ከማድረግ ባሻገርም በአዲስ አበባ ቢሮአቸውን እንዲከፍቱና ሕዝባቸውን መቀስቀስ እንዲችሉ የሬዲዮ ሥርጭት እንዲኖራቸው በማድረግ በአፍሪካውያን የነጻነት ትግል ውስጥ የራሷ የኾነ ደማቅና ጉልህ አሻራን ትታለች፡፡
ሀገራችን ኢትዮጵያ የአንጎላ ቅኝ ገዢ ከሆነችውና ከአገራችን ጋር የረጅም ዘመናት ግንኙነት ከነበራት ከፖርቱጊዝ መንግሥት ጋር የነበራትን ዲፕሎማሲያዊ ግንኙነት እስከማቋረጥ ድረስ የሄደችው በዚሁ ለአፍሪካውያን ነጻ መውጣት ከነበራት ትልቅ ፍላጎት የተነሳ ነበር፡፡
እንዱሁም ንጉሡ ዐፄ ኃይለ ሥላሴ/የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ናሚቢያ ነጻነቷን እንድትጎናጸፍ ከነበራቸው ጥልቅ ፍላጎት የተነሳም ከላይቤሪያ ጋር በመሆን በዓለም አቀፍ ፍርድ ቤት ሁለት ጠበቆችን በማቆም ዘጠኝ ዓመታት ያህል ለናምቢያውያን ነጻነት ተሟግታለች፡፡
ኢትዮጵያና ኢትዮጵያውን ለአፍሪካ አገራት ነጻ መውጣት ካደረጉት ትግልና ካበረከቱት ትልቅ አስተዋጽኦ ባሻገርም የተባበረችና በልጆቿ ኅብረት የጸናች አፍሪካ ዕውን እንድትሆን፣ በመሪዋ በንጉሥ ኃይለ ሥላሴ፣ በእነ ጸሐፊ ትእዛዝ አክሊሉ ሀብተ ወልድ፣ በእነ ከተማ ይፍሩ፣ በእነ ክፍሌ ወዳጆ… በመሳሰሉ ወድ ልጆቿ አማካይነት አፍሪካ አንድነት ድርጅት/የአፍሪካ ኅብረት እንዲቋቋም ያደረገችው ታላቅ የኾነ አስተዋጽኦ በታሪክ ከፍተኛ ቦታ የሚሰጠው ነው፡፡
ግርማዊነታቸው ዐፄ ኃ/ሥላሴ ከሕዝባቸው/ኢትዮጵያውያን ጋር በመሆን ለአፍሪቃና ለአፍሪቃውያን ያደረጉትን ታላቅ ውለታ ታሪክ ሁሌም የሚያስታውሰው፤ የሚዘክረው ነው!!
ሰላም!!
Well, the very idea of give credit where credit is due is a timelessly right idea . No doubt that this idea of giving due acknowledgment and regard to anyone who had or has his or her positive contribution in any area of activity for the sake of the wellbeing of the people is the critically desirable.
It is from this perspective that the above piece of writing makes a good sense.
However , what is wrong and misleading is when we praise someone as if he or she was or is immune and blameless whereas he or she had or has very serious wrong doings which contributed to the present terribly disgraceful and disastrous political, economic, social, moral and of spiritual situation.
I do not understand why we are not courageous and honest enough to see things in a critical and balanced way of thinking and let this generation learn how to deal with its own horrible mistake in understanding and interpreting its own role in this 21st century.
Though the very conspiratorial and hypocritical behaviors and actions of the palace politics of the monarchy ( the royal family) had been part and parcel of our political history, its tragic ugliness reached its highest stage since the 1950 s/60s when it tried to hide and ignore the very deadly famine and when it stupidly failed to reform itself from absolute to constitutional monarchy . Sadly enough, the king chose to die a very tragic death instead of going through a reform . Was this not one of the reasons for subsequent unimaginable bloodshed which is still in this 21st Century keep going in unimaginable fashion????
Yes, the emergence of OAU which became the current AU was a historic development as far as making Africa free from colonial powers . What is terribly sad is that Africa couldn’t become a a desirable and comfortable place for its ordinary people! What was and still is painfully disastrous is that the Organization ( OAU/AU) didn’t take long time when it has been turned into the very comfort zone or club of corrupt and brutal ruling elites. Why? Because the way it crested and nurtured was highly infected by those elites who have been victims of self- aggrandizement and self fulfilling behaviors , not to take care of peoples’ interests.
I am not saying that the very good things those elites done must be dismissed altogether. Not at all! What I am saying is let’s try hard to be constructively and realistically critical when we talke or write about yesterday, today and tomorrow!!! Let’ not be people or persons of admiration about the situation full of up and down, and big mess!!!
Dear TG:-
Hopefully, you are an educated man. As such, I would expect you to first find out the facts, examine them and come to a conclusion based on the findings. You are not doing that !
If you have read Ethiopian history of the recent past, the Emperor was not informed about the famine in northern Ethiopia. If he had, I hav no doubt he would have allocated some the countries meagre resources to save many. This is the leader that was Minister of Education for decades to ensure that the education sector will be responsibly managed; he visited boarding government high schools, including the dirty, oily, smokey and misty kitchens, and gave special awards every year to the top 3 students in schools to encourage the youth to be more competitive; those same boarding high schools were also completely free for all, and they had kids from all over the country, including Eritrea.
The Imperial Ethiopian army was only 4 divisions, less than 40,000 men in all and they ensured that no neighboring country dare invade any bordering village. You may also know that in his days, y0u could travel safely from Moyale to Ras Kassar, from the Sudanese border to that with Djibouti if you had the resources and energy. The principal tool to do that was not guns but the wise leadership of His Imperial Majesty.
Our founding role at the League of Nations, our subsequent membership in the United Nations from where Ethiopia towered as the principal advocate for the independence of Africa from colonial rule is all his making. That TOWERING stature he had acquired over time was instrumental in locating the OAU and the African Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa. Both employ thousands of Ethiopians and give rise to hard currency earnings, perhaps no smaller than our entire exports.
Government funds were much smaller, perhaps as small as 1% of what we have today, and that was about 430 million Birr at its highest by 1972. With such small resources, he kept the peace, had an economy growth of about 8%, had educated thousands in Agriculture, Engineering and Education, may with Doctoral degrees. Where is his fault if Emperor Miniilk’s railway line goes to rust, big dams continue to be built for us by foreigners, education is on the way down, a farming tool that was introduced over 2000 years ago continues to ensure less and less productivity, unemployment soars and all that educated elite does is talk and talk.
Lastly, please note that His Imperial Majesty was, at best, at grade 3 level of formal education.\, with little or no time to do private reading. He cannot build the country alone
My friend, if there is any blame to be apportioned, blame yourself and the elite which have proved lazy and irresponsible over the years since the 1950s. As for the constitutional proposal, he cannot be blamed at his age and health condition. Be grateful that your parents could live in peace during his reign and bring you up to where you are today. By the way, what have you done for Ethiopia to blame His Majesty ?
The chaos we have today is all our making, and that has come about because we knew very little of the history of our country, resulting in a blind desire to propel Ethiopia into the 21st century without working for it. The current divide-and-rule partition of the country and the constitution that is neither democratic not federal is all your making! There is no such thing as a free lunch.