Lidetu’s Political Career comes to a Cul-de-sac?

By Gubae Gundarta

In 2005 Ethiopian elections Lidetu Ayalew was loved, rather adored by all Ethiopians: Young and old, educated and non-educated, politically active and politically inactive alike. He was dubbed apostle of change. Amassing a lot of political fortune, Lidetu made some complacent moves that cost him the hard-won public adoration. When Coalition for Unity and Democracy, more popularly known as kinijit, the biggest and strongest opposition coalition then, could not make it to the parliament owing to the dismay of the public and internal dissent amongst party members, Lidetu’s own cabal, EDP, broke off and joined the parliament. Kinjit came to an end. Party members were landed in jail, though later pardoned and set free, later a shadowy leftover put in an appearance in the parliament and tried to bear the name further. Lidetu flew a different flag and represented his faction, Ethiopian Democratic Party in the parliament. Many were not happy with the fact that he didn’t come to terms with other members of Kinijit and thus joined the parliament on his account.

Had there been a ‘lovometer’ [an instrument that measures how much love one person or group has for the other person or group], we would have witnessed a critical nosedive in the public love and admiration for Lidetu. He was widely known as ‘Lidetu bandaw’ which literally means ‘Lidetu the traitor or turncoat’ soon after he left his colleagues and entered the parliament alone. In a sense, what the people wanted was for them to continue to pressure the ruling party to address questions pertaining to the rigging of ballot boxes and other frauds claimed to have marred the elections then. Apparently he deemed the people ignoramuses and thus made a beeline for the parliament. He knew he was abhorred by the Ethiopian people and left no stone unturned to redress his image in the speeches he made during parliamentary appearances. No one fell for that.

Five years lapsed. It seemed Lidetu savvied that his chances of winning the election, this time around, were but residuum. He believed if the wider Ethiopian public denied him votes, the folks from his birthplace, Bugna Woreda, wouldn’t. Everything turned out to be a pipedream when the elections were over and Lidetu was vanquished. He continued to slight the people in the aftermath of the election and said in a press conference held in Ghion Hotel, “The Ethiopian people are extremely extremists and advance a politics of hatred.”

Leaving aside, the claims that the elections were not transparent enough, every politician should know that the Ethiopian people have the right to choose who they want to cast their ballots for. If they didn’t vote for Lidetu, it doesn’t mean they are ignoramuses, extremists or advancers of hatred. These are the people who put him in parliament only five years back.

Now that Lidetu has to say ‘hasta la vista’ to the parliament, his political future rather appears to be bleak. According to some sources, Lidetu was seen on the premises of the American Embassy, here in the capital, Addis Ababa, to obtain a visa to the States.

Chances are he is planning to get involved in this country’s politics from abroad like many others.

NewsDire Staff Writer