Why Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus should lead World health Organization?

  Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, former Ethiopian foreign minister, should lead World health Organization for the following brief but factual reasons:


Firstly as a health minister of Tigray Regional state he showcased his charisma and leadership skills by introducing health extension workers throughout the region that dramatically decreased the death of mothers during delivery and the death of children less than five years of age.

Soon after, he was promoted to lead the federal health minister and applied his best experience in Tigray throughout Ethiopia. His impact as a federal health minister was profound. Thanks to his caliber, our country successfully achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in the health sector.

As a rule of thumb, TPLF/EPRDF promotes those who in regional states to federal ministries. A few, if any, replicated their success in regional states as federal misters. Irrespective of his critics, Dr. Tedros is among the rare ones who succeeded. When it comes to ideological worship EPRDF takes the lion’s share which makes it extremely difficult to excel for those who work with the party. Dr. Tedros worked with those ideological fanatics and was undeterred by their rigidity. That was the greatest challenge one could ever face and this succeeded no matter the environment was full of Stone Age thinkers.

I personally met Dr. Tedros twice. The first was in Addis Ababa, at DeAfric hotel when he came as an honorary speaker of a get together arranged for medical graduates. There I have witnessed how he convinced them to go and serve their people in the remote areas of Ethiopia, including Afar, Gambella and Humera which are famous for their extreme hot air. Everyone was deeply moved by his speech.

The second one was at Sheraton hotel, here in Addis Ababa when he came for a book inauguration, which was an autobiography of the great Araya Zerihun one of the prominent founders and leaders of Tigray Development Association (TDA). He was among the guest speakers and his speech about the adorable Araya Zerihun left us all tearful. He told us that he knew Araya since childhood that Araya used to be a music fun since he was very young in Asmara, Eritrea. He also told us that Araya was committed to develop Tigray even to the extent of risking his very life.

What especially moved us all was that he visited Araya while was in his deathbed at ‘Torr Hailoch’ referral hospital. When Dr. Tedros asked him how he was, Araya asked him how Tigray Kuhulo was. When he told us that Araya’s commitment towards Tigray development almost everyone in the hall cried. This much convincing is Dr. Tedros Adhanom.

Therefore, with his practically proven leadership skills as a change agent, I am sure that Dr. Tedros will revolutionize the World Health Organization and make our world more healthy and more productive than ever.
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By the way, I am extremely happy to see him become among the top three contestants for world health organization general-directorship. And I wish to see him as WHO's general-director.

Burning Issues of Tigray that Every Concerned Tigrian Should Ask TPLF Leaders

መልእኽቲ ኣብ መላእ ዓለም ንዘለኹም ተጋሩ፡ A renewed call:
ትግራዋይ ኩሉ ኣብ ዘሎ ሃሊዉ ስለ ትግራይ ህሉው ኩነታት ክፈልጦምን ክዘራረበሎምን ዘለዎ ወድዓዊ ሓቅታትን ትግራይ፤ ንመራሕቲ ናይ ሎሚ ህ.ወ.ሓ.ት እውን ብዕቱብ ክሓቶም ዘለዎም 6 መሰረታዊ ሕቶታት ህልውና ከምዝስዕብ ተዳሊዉ ኣሎ፡፡
ኩላትና በብዘለናዮ ክንዘራረበሎም፣ መልእኸቱ ንዘይበፅሖ ብሶፍት ኮፒ ኮነ ፕሪንት እንዳገበርና ብጽሑፍ ከነባፅሖ፣ ብዝረኽብናዮ ኣጋጣሚ ኩሉ ድማ ንመራሕቲ ህ.ወ.ሓ.ት ኣጥቢቕና ክንሓቶም እላቦ፡፡ 

1. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES:
a. A significant portion of the population of Tigray still lives under the mercy of food aid. Close to one million people are getting their daily bread by the mercy safety net. When will we be food self-sufficient? You claimed that the region producing more than75 million quintals (30 % of the national crop production of 250 million) while the truth in the ground says otherwise. Why all these lies? Why cooking data miles apart from the truth?

b. What foot prints did the GTP leave in Tigray? Why did you make Tigray outside of the industry zone while TPLF was talking for years now “industry is the future of Tigray”? Why the Wolkayt Sugar factors, which was meant to be finalized by last year, Tahsas, is at only 32 %, today, while the other sugar factories in other regions are getting finalized? Why the rail road from Woldiya-Mekelle, which was part of the first GTP, is not started yet? What happened to the 18 factories you were telling us for years to open (the biggest being a PVC company you told us to build in Maymekden) in cooperation with EFFORT and partners? How about the multibillion projects the Defense’s Engineering wing was said to establish like the steel factory and others? How come it fails here to open just one while it has opened plenty in other places? How come a 115 billion Birr company refused to invest a thing so far in the war stricken Tigray? How come you fail to achieve even a single success story? 100 % failure! Why? 

c. The SAERT irrigation project was massively moving until it was stopped by Ato Meles. According to the master plan of the SAERT, Tigray was to be food self-sufficient by 2008 by installing 500 micro and medium sized dams for irrigation. Was there a discussion to stop it? What has replaced this very crucial program (other than the failed, the devastating, and the most ridiculous and shamefully nonsense things called ‘ሆረየ’ and ባንኪ ማይ)? What scientifically proven and adaptable, sound projects, technologies have you put in place to replace it? Do you feel remorse for halting it, by the way? Why you didn’t ask apology for killing a bright beginning and a big hope?

d. What happened to project like Golgol Raya irrigation, Abergele Animal husbandry and many other projects?
e. The most educated, capable and experienced Tigrians are unwelcome here. They now prefer to work outside of Tigray. Why is it so and when will this out-migration end? Because of this, Tigray remains the least in bureaucracy efficiency. Why? Why every year the regional budget is returned to the federal government unused; 2003 E.C- 40%; 2004- 36 %, 2005- 29 %; while there are massive problems remaining to be solved? How much of the remaining money is put in place having the massive corruption here is another question. Why? Why? Why are you intentionally harming the people of Tigray?

f. There are exaggerated cooked data of growth and prosperity in Tigray. The fact in the ground is our people are still the poorest, marginalized people. Year after year you tell us billions of forest plantation, thousands of irrigation installations, millionaire farmers… where is all this? A research, which was funded by the regional government, conducted by DR. Z of mekele university(full name hidden for security reasons) three years back revealed very shocking result showing the massive poverty level in Tigray (52 % living under poverty line). It was denied publication as it was very contrary to what you people say (less than 30 %). One higher official even put it at 18 % recently. Why do you hide the truth? True, there are very few people close to the system, close to EFFORT who are multimillionaires now, but the majority are still very poor. When will this end?

Historic Speech By President Obama to the People of Africa

Mandela Hall
African Union Headquarters
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much. Madam Chairwoman, thank you so much for your kind words and your leadership.  To Prime Minister Hailemariam, and the people of Ethiopia -- once again, thank you for your wonderful hospitality and for hosting this pan-African institution.  (Applause.)  To members of the African Union, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen -- thank you for welcoming me here today.  It is a great honor to be the first President of the United States to address the African Union.  (Applause.)

I’m grateful for this opportunity to speak to the representatives of more than one billion people of the great African continent.  (Applause.)  We’re joined today by citizens, by leaders of civil society, by faith communities, and I’m especially pleased to see so many young people who embody the energy and optimism of today’s Africa.  Hello!  Thank you for being here.  (Applause.)

I stand before you as a proud American.  I also stand before you as the son of an African.  (Applause.)  Africa and its people helped to shape America and allowed it to become the great nation that it is.  And Africa and its people have helped shape who I am and how I see the world.  In the villages in Kenya where my father was born, I learned of my ancestors, and the life of my grandfather, the dreams of my father, the bonds of family that connect us all as Africans and Americans.

As parents, Michelle and I want to make sure that our two daughters know their heritage -- European and African, in all of its strengths and all of its struggle.  So we’ve taken our daughters and stood with them on the shores of West Africa, in those doors of no return, mindful that their ancestors were both slaves and slave owners.  We’ve stood with them in that small cell on Robben Island where Madiba showed the world that, no matter the nature of his physical confinement, he alone was the master of his fate.  (Applause.)  For us, for our children, Africa and its people teach us a powerful lesson -- that we must uphold the inherent dignity of every human being.

Dignity -- that basic idea that by virtue of our common humanity, no matter where we come from, or what we look like, we are all born equal, touched by the grace of God.  (Applause.)    Every person has worth.  Every person matters.  Every person deserves to be treated with decency and respect.  Throughout much of history, mankind did not see this.  Dignity was seen as a virtue reserved to those of rank and privilege, kings and elders. It took a revolution of the spirit, over many centuries, to open our eyes to the dignity of every person.  And around the world, generations have struggled to put this idea into practice in laws and in institutions.

So, too, here in Africa.  This is the cradle of humanity, and ancient African kingdoms were home to great libraries and universities.  But the evil of slavery took root not only abroad, but here on the continent.  Colonialism skewed Africa’s economy and robbed people of their capacity to shape their own destiny.  Eventually, liberation movements grew.  And 50 years ago, in a great burst of self-determination, Africans rejoiced as foreign flags came down and your national flags went up.  (Applause.)  As South Africa’s Albert Luthuli said at the time, “the basis for peace and brotherhood in Africa is being restored by the resurrection of national sovereignty and independence, of equality and the dignity of man.”

Letter Written to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn: Urges immediate release of zone9bloggers and journalists

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Office of the Prime Minister
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia    

Re: Detained journalists and bloggers

Dear Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn,    

We write to you to express our grave concern regarding the terrorism charges laid against seven bloggers associated with the Zone 9 website and three independent journalists in Ethiopia.  

Ethiopia is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which both expressly protect the right to freedom of expression. We therefore urge your government to fulfill its obligations under international law and release all individuals who have been arbitrarily detained in violation of their fundamental rights.   

Historical surgeries: beautify the disfigured and disfigure the others

There has never been a flawless Ethiopian ruler. As a matter of fact, all were formerly outlaws and came to power by forcefully subduing and/or killing their opponents mercilessly. Menelik was among the cruelest ones that no words can express the crimes he committed against Ethiopians. He was known to indiscriminately cut off breasts and limbs of those he succeeded to subdue. Menelik not only amputated helpless Ethiopians but also sold Ethiopia piece by piece to France and Italy. Today’s Djibouti and Eritrea are monumental witnesses of his salesmanship.

Thanks to historical surgeries of his disciples though; the devils incarnate in action is now portrayed as a saintly hero of all time…nicknamed as “Emeye” …an adorable mom. The surgeries were insanely monotonous that went on for centuries and still are underway to this day. They were and still are unnaturally difficult since they had to create a new Menelik that absolutely denies his disfigured personality and demonic history. The fact that he happily handed over and signed Eritrea to Italy and Djibouti to France for few rifles must be awarded to his diplomatic mastery. The fact that he mutilated innocent Ethiopians of all age groups and genders must be amounted to “holy wars” that meant to expand Ethiopia’s territory. His totally reductionist campaigns that meant to rebuild Ethiopia of purely homogeneous ethnicity, history, religion, language and culture must be considered as angelic crusades that meant to unify Ethiopia. To affect these, songs of all genres have been sung, movies and theaters have been done…media outlets of all kinds have been dedicated to praise his newly personified self for centuries now.

Human Beings as Machines: Managerial thinking of Ethiotelecom

Two out of different functions of management are organizational structure and staffing.

 Organizational structure is formulated according to the organizations goals, objectives and values. For an engineer organizational structure may mean low level design (LLD) of strategic planning. The engineer specifies appropriate location, on that location which building, on which floor, how many racks to mount, how many slots each rack should have, how many servers, hard disks, disk arrays and what type of communication is needed etc. And then in which slots to mount the servers, hard disks and disk arrays.

Finally, installation takes place, both hardware and software, then testing and then maintenance. It continues that way.

For the management body (board of directors) after organizational structure (LLD in engineering terminology) is designed staffing follows by. Staffing is assigning duties and responsibilities. For the engineer this means installation. Continues assessment (evaluation) and training for the management body are termed as testing and maintenance (for the engineer).

For the engineer every component of the system is crucial, for the system to work properly. Power, network communication, storage and processing must integrate and work synergistically to produce higher output.  As a result all of them are given equal weight, equal follow up, equal testing and maintenance. Here there is no so-called hierarchy.

In management there is no equality. Importance increases as one goes up the organizational structure. And so do the benefits. But work load decreases. The responsibility of the management body is throwing down hot potatoes to the lower staff.  The so-called collaborative management is, hence, impractical. All organizations prioritize classical hierarchy – because the management body is the most egoistic body of any organization.

In organization I’m working for this egoistic nature is prevalent. The management body is meant to solve organizational problems or to assign people that solve problems. But what is happening, in our case, is to the contrary. For all internal problems, what the management body is looking for is external solutions.

 But things cannot be solved that way. Inside out approach of solving problems is long lasting, yet they don’t like. They instead blind fold themselves and frantically run for outside in approach of solving problems. They are always in search of machines, not capable human beings.

That’s why no matter how much we invest to transform the organization; it never moves even a single step forward.

According to Public relations professionals, for any organization two things are crucial for its continuity: employees and customers. Employees are crucial Internal customers are employees, whereas customers and business partners are external customers.

Therefore, to achieve its objectives an organization must focus on its employees and its customers. It must satisfy their needs and respect their values. It must build a very strong relationship at least with both of them. Negative relationship is tantamount to failure. Neutral is okay, yet not enough. Positive (strong) relationship is what the PRs department is expected to build.

In the organization I’m working for employees have lost hope on the company, the customers don’t trust it either. With both crucial entities, there is almost no communication. This means the organization doesn’t know whether it s customers are satisfied or not. 

And this in turn leads us to conclude that the company doesn’t know what its objectives are. Which of its values are un-compromisable and which can be tolerated.Its objectives, mission, vision and values are nothing more than paper values. This is the main problem of our company.

The attack against Arena officials is an attack against all

I am really shocked to learn that Abraha Desta and his colleagues have been attacked.  I have attacked Abraha many times; ideally. I have written some articles bitterly opposing his ideas. I still do oppose him whenever I feel that he is breaching some untouchable social discourses.

There are some revered ideologies that I believe should be respected both by the ruling party and the opposition camp - Ideologies that were founded by the blood of our veterans. I feel that sometimes, he and his colleagues are breaching them. That’s why I am opposing them, as well as I do oppose the ruling party. Not out of hatred or out of any personal grudge - But merely out of genuine social concern.

 However, Physical attack is by any means intolerable, unbearable and unendurable. Even if Arena officials committed a serious crime, no one has the right to attack them physically - even the police have none! The police can only arrest them, detain them legally. Only the law can punish them if they committed any legally punishable crimes not individuals. Never ever!

 If peaceful opposition figures can be attacked on a broad daylight, then our 17 years bitter struggle is totally hijacked. Our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts...have died for nothing! They didn't die for equality and justice. They didn’t die to liberate Tigray and its atrociously oppressed and manipulated people. They didn't die a heroic death; rather they died a dog's death.

If Abraha and his colleagues were really physically attacked, I don’t consider it as an attack of three individuals. Our justice system is severely attacked. It was a brutality against our 17 years revolution. It was a tramp down over the graves of our heroes and heroines. It was not your right that was aggressed; rather the right of the people of Tigray. I was attacked! Tigray was attacked. It was a serious blow on the head of TPLF as well.

TPLF must say sorry officially. Even if those who attacked Arena officials are not related to TPLF by any means, the party is still responsible for not protecting those (Arena officials). The police are there to protect public safety. The main task of the party is to protect the wale fare of citizens. If the rights of citizens are breached on broad day light, the regional government isn’t doing what it is supposed to do.

What has gone wrong with TPLF? Where have the deep rooted principles of TPLF veterans gone? Even during the struggle, attacking sundered Dergue soldiers was forbidden, let alone peaceful opposition figures. TPLF fighters were well known for giving the highest priority to human dignity - Even when their very life was at risk.

Dergue soldiers were non hesitant to give in to TPLF fighters; knowing that their life could never be endangered in the hands of TPLF fighters. It was common for a single Dergue soldier to give in more than three times during the struggle. That was how TPLF made devoted friends out of sworn enemies. That was how TPLF defeated EDU, EPRP, Jebha and Dergue - All of them one after the other. That was one of the reasons why TPLF came out a shining victorious.

So, where have our heroes and heroines gone? Who took their humility, their respect for all including enemies, their politeness but strong arguments, their unshakable stand (even during war times and while battling with their enemies) towards human dignity? Where is their selfless generosity? Where have my fighters gone? All buried with them in the gorges, fields and mountains of Tigray?

I missed them like anything else. I missed them so much. I missed their calling me “Manjus” – baby, putting me on their laps while feeding me bread and tea(their breakfast share!), calling my mom “Adey” - mother, calling my father “Aboy” – father. They way they used to call us were different. They smile genuinely; they struck your heart with some kind of unique affection. I had no idea the weapon they used to carry could now be directed towards civilians.

No! They were meant to wipe away our tears, to heal our incurable scars, to comfort particularly the grieving Tigrayan and Ethiopian mothers as a whole.That’s why I fume when anyone speaks ill of them. That’s why I revered them and always miss them so much.

I missed their uncombed Afro, I missed their unshaven beard, I missed their tight shorts. All of them were true indications of their bravery, ingenuity and genuinely selfless freedom fighter hood.   

I missed the way they dress. Their “Gembale”, their “Kushuf” – jersey. Wow! They used to look like angels my granny used to tell me about. They have never been outlaws. They were liberators indeed. Where have they all gone now? The attacks now I heard about, the injustices, corruption, and mal administration now being committed are, I think, being committed against them.

 

Therefore, I can take the attack against Arena officials was meant to keep TPLF in power. It is rather a war waged to overthrow the party. In fact not only against TPLF but also against the bed rock of principles our veterans fought for 17 years. It was a war against all of us.

Justine Sacco got sacked!!!

Justine Sacco – the now already former Communications Director of InterActiveCorp (IAC) has lost her job for her “outrageous and offensive” Twitter update about AIDS, Africa and Race. The "troublemaker on the side" known for her "loud laugh", made a real trouble for herself for tweeting “a joke of such monumental stupidity.”

Justine Sacco wrote “Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!” and comments
such as, “Welcome back, to the office. Just kidding, you're fired!” and, “@JustineSacco Let me know how fast it takes your white ass to get you fired.” fired back. Well, 12 hours later she got fired.

In January Ms Sacco wrote “I can't be fired for things I say while intoxicated right?” The right answer from her billionaire boss, Barry Diller, turned out a BIG YES… like a bolt of lightning!!

A few hours after her tweet IAC issued a statement saying,

 This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC. Unfortunately, the employee in question is unreachable on an international flight, but this is a very serious matter and we are taking appropriate action.  

And 12 hour later the internet conglomerate sacked her officially."There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made and we condemn them unequivocally.” The company asserted and concluded its statement saying,” We hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core.”

IAC is a big player in the digital realm. The company owns many popular websites, including ask.com, dictionary.com,About.com, Match.com, Vimeo, CollegeHumor, OkCupid and Urbanspoon.

When “Freedom of speech” gets free!!!

 Idi Amin Dada once said, "You have freedom of speech, but freedom after speech that I cannot guarantee".  Though some said Ms Sacco is entitled to her freedom of speech, she had to earn the consequences of her after speech. Free speech isn't actually free, with freedom goes responsibility - always!

According to dosomething.org out of the 34 million people in the world who have HIV, 69percent live in sub-Saharan Africa. There are around 23.8 million people in Africa with AIDS.

And even worse “13.6%of black Africans in South Africa are HIV-positive, whereas only 0.3% of whitesliving in South Africa have the disease.”

Such haunting misfortunes are what Justine Sacco contemptuously made fun of. Those who never experienced any pain have no clue what is painful to others.

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P.s. I am currently taking "Introduction to Public Relations". The professional code of conduct is strictly stated in the western world. I doubt this lady has any idea of PRs Ethical Code of Conduct. Unlike others PRs professionals don't have the luxury of talking gibberish.