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Monday, April 23, 2007

Teshome Toga and Legal Professionals: Ethio-Zagol's Diary

Most of the standing committee members of the Ethiopian parliament are embarrassingly unfamiliar with the topics they are in charge of. They have no research aides and, almost always, they rubber stump the executive’s agenda. Most members register for donor-funding trainings to get the daily allowance.

Yet donor money keeps on coming; and trainings keep on going. The parliament is now planning to give legal training to the members. Umm, there is only one problem. During election 2005, most of the country’s lawyers sided with the opposition; some leading the democratic movement. Afterwards, even judges like Woldemichael Meshesha, who were supposed to be loyal to EPRDF, followed their conscience and exposed the government. The ruling party now trusts only a handful of lawyers and legal professionals. And these people are stretched. They just can’t do everything.

So who would train the MPs? Are they going to let opposition-leaning legal professionals to teach constitutional law to MPs? What if they tell them democratic centralism isn’t a constitutional principle? What if they tell them about Bradenburg v. Ohio and how democratic countries strike the balance between Free speech and other interests? What if they teach them the checking powers of parliament, including the no-confidence motion? What if, what if, what if…

The speaker of the house, Teshome Toga, doesn’t want to take the chance. Last week, he was heard as saying, “no way Kaliti will creep to parliament by stealth.” So he has instead decided to recruit Indian legal professionals. When the training starts, we will see Indians, who have been lectured how and what they teach, talking to the MPs about what they will say is the pillar of our constitution - Article 39
......
The AAU debate continues. See Roha's second entry on the right sidebar of this blog. Or read it here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

yes, yes, the raging AAU debate continues Ethio-Zagol! You are the smartest blogger in the world and have the intelligence of someone with a whole PhD, for sure!

Anonymous said...

YOU EZ, THE WONDER BLOGGER...

KEEP IT COMING......
HOPE TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE SOME DAY.

Regards to you!

Take Care

Anonymous said...

EZ, no need to stretch the truth. There are many legal professionals who support Kinijit. But there are many more who will jump on the opportunity to work and make money. How do I know that. There are hundreds of legal professionals working for the government, doing exactly what they are told to do by the executive as you put it. Why on earth would it matter for this individuals to work for the government in another arena while already serving the government is the kind of logic that only EZ can explain. The more you stretch the truth, the more you become EthiopianReviewish, and that ain't no compliment.

Anonymous said...

Stretching and stretching ...

Anonymous said...

Last week, he was heard as saying, “no way Kaliti will creep to parliament by stealth.” So he has instead decided to recruit Indian legal professionals.

Which part of the above statement is stretched, you think Anon ?

Anonymous said...

All I can say is thank you, keep the information flowing.

Befiker ke TN

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