Hailemariam Desalegn caught plagiarizing again

by Abebe Gellaw

TPLF’s puppet Hailemariam Desalegn is probably the most incompetent and incoherent “leader” in the entire history of Ethiopia. His incompetence, shallowness and lack of originality is exposed whenever he meets journalists or goes to TPLF’s rubber stamp parliament for a routine Q & A. It is apparent that Prime Puppet Hailemariam (hereafter acronymed PPH) has no originality whatsoever. He is not only clueless but a master of miscommunication.

His latest interview with the BBC further exposed the fact that he is fake, clueless, predictable and mundane, to say the least. It is clear now that he is addicted to mimicking and plagiarizing from Meles Zenawi, the dead tyrant he slavishly followed and worshiped.

The Prime Puppet was once asked why the price of teff, Ethiopia’s most popular staple, was skyrocketing. He replied that it was because of “our development”. He said people who had never seen teff suddenly got the luxury of consuming it.

“This is the fruit of our speedy economic development,” he claimed with a bland tone. Unfortunately, both the language and the absurd logic was stolen from his dead predecessor.

The only difference was that Meles was talking about sugar. It was not only the answer that he copied but also the body language. The poor parrot was doing the same thing. It seems he overplayed Zenawi’s video during his rehearsal under the guidance of his TPLF masters.

When Zenawi was asked about the legality of the anti-terrorism proclamation, he said it was copied from the British. In his latest appearance on the BBC Africa, PPH was asked a similar question by journalist Emmanuel Igunza.

Iguza asked PPH: “Let us talk about the country’s anti-terror law. You said there is a distinction between opposition and terrorist elements. That law has been criticized by the international community for having a broad mandate. That is why the security forces have been accused of arbitrarily detaining, for example, opposition members.”

“That is not true’” PPH interjected. “We know that this accusation will come. So we said let us copy from the British law. If you compare the British terrorism law and that of ours it is almost similar.” In fact, the poorly scripted lie was also copied from Zenawi, whose ghost seems to be controlling the Prime Puppet. He cannot tell how many terrorist bloggers, journalists, critics and activists the Brits are jailing and torturing just like his regime.

Iguza challenged him with a simple follow-up. “But it is the implementation that is raising questions.”

“That is something different. That is something different,” the Prime Puppet said twice struggling to bring out a better idea. “We understand that while implementing, it is an exercise…,” he said without worrying about the meaning and the message. He confusedly added that the [Kangaroo] court judges interpret the law.

Maybe Zenawi did not answer that question as he was not asked by the rubber stamp parliament or journalists. It was a difficult question for PPH as there was nothing to copy and paste for him.

One of the most embarrassing moment came in the last segment of the five-minute long interview. The BBC journalist asked: “Your country has been mentioned in the same breadth as the countries that have the highest number of journalists and opposition figures jailed. Just recently, Zone9 bloggers that have been arrested for more than two months now with no proper case brought against them.”

PPH gave an amazing answer that no sensible and sane person would say. “Look, I suggest that you also shouldn’t be connected with a terrorist. If you have any connection with terrorists don’t think that the Ethiopian government will let you free [sic].”

It was supposed to be an answer but ended up being a threat from a man with no real power as TPLF’s ceremonial Prime Minister. Unfortunately, PPH messed it up while trying to copy the dictatorial aura of Zenawi. Though the effort backfired in his face, this was another effort to wear the confidence and power of Zenawi. He has confessed recently that he always wishes to be his former master, whom he referred to as an “extraordinary personality” deserving eternal glory.

He did not even realize that Iguza should have been arrested on the spot. According to the absurd and unjust anti-terrorism law, no criminal act is needed to connect anyone with “terrorists”. Proclamation 652/2009 declares that “whomsoever writes, edits, prints, publishes, publicizes, disseminates statements deemed encouraging, supporting, or advancing” terrorist acts is a terrorist. The “terrorist” organizations are dissident groups like Ginbot 7 and OLF. But as the whole world knows, his TPLF masters are the real terrorists, who kill, maim, jail, torture and rob innocent civilians. The terrorists jailed are almost entirely journalists, bloggers, activists and dissidents for exposing the crimes and abuses of the regime.

BBC has given extensive coverage on the illegal abduction of Andargachew Tsege, whom the TPLF Trojan horse referred to as Eritrea’s stooge. Why doesn’t Hailemariam order the arrest of a few BBC journalists.

Under the broad interpretation of the unlawful proclamation that contradicts common sense and the so-called constitution, any media outlets, bloggers or journalists that raises issues related to the “terrorists” are committing acts of terrorism. The Kangaroo courts are not needed to interpret the law. Just like the Prime Puppet, the judges are hand picked and paid to take orders from the TPLF.

Despite his best effort, it is abundantly clear that PPH is trying to play Zenawi. Psychologists attribute this extreme form of insecurity, lack of self-respect and self-confidence to Dissociative Personality Disorder (DDP). He vainly tries to convert himself into a dead tyrant. But unlike the Prime Puppet, Zenawi was undoubtedly smart, competent and articulate despite being a ruthless evil dictator.

Last February, PPH had convened journalists for a press conference and labored hard to answer various questions in English. Unfortunately, all the key answers were factually, lexically and grammatically wrong and full of errors.

He said, “There is an elected government in South Sudan. So we equivocally [sic] denounced that unconstitutional means of getting power is not allowed at all….Whenever one foreign diplomat talks especially the American diplomats talk about certain things, Eritrea associates that it is Ethiopia who lobbied these guys. Of course, you have seen the position of the Ethiopian government. We equivocally [sic] denounced that it is wrong…” It is very hard to understand what he wanted to mean as he was saying the opposite of what he wanted to tell the world.

He continued: “And by that time the government of Sudan was under the British proctor, ah proctorate [Forgive him, he wanted to mean protectorate]. So that agreement has been evaluated next to it by emperor Haile Sellassie and its regime. Again Emperor Haile Selassie equivocally [sic] agreed that this agreement has to be binding. Similarly during the Derg regime, the Derg also has tried to study by sending professors from university and other professionals and the Derg regime also equivocally [sic], you know, endorsed this agreement is binding,” As the saying goes, a little knowledge is dangerous, especially if you are supposed to be the leader of a nation.

Hailemariam worked as a government official for so many years. He was also the puppet foreign minister before he became the Prime Puppet. Unfortunately, he was not given a proper chance to learn words very common international politics and diplomacy. He also claims to have done MA in global leadership from Azusa Pacific University, which has quietly decided to honor the poor parrot, a decision which is likely to put the university in hot water soon.

The dude doesn’t even know the difference between a proctor, someone appointed to supervise students, and a protectorate, a country controlled and protected by another. He even went on to coin a new word in his effort to correct his blunder. So to make matters worse he ‘corrected’ proctor with proctorate (but there is no such a word in the English language). It is quite obvious that every time he speaks in English, a language that seems too complex for him, he needs an interpreter or for that matter someone who can also lend him ideas. HIs communication skill in any language is substandard for that matter.

How can you denounce something equivocally, unless you don’t know what you are talking about? Hailemariam did not know, after all these years in government and diplomacy, that equivocal does not mean unequivocal. He probably thought that the prefix un- doesn’t make any difference. Even in factual terms, none of the leaders he mentioned equivocally or unequivocally agree with Sudan on border demarcation and giving away a significant swathe of fertile land.

It was another lie he incompetently plagiarized from the dead tyrant, who could at least flawlessly articulate his lies, in three languages. TPLF trojan horse, Prime Puppet Hailemariam, is so incompetent that he is messing up even with the lies and deceptions of his predecessor. He cannot even copy competently, let alone generating and articulating his own ideas. TPLF should consider replacing PPH with Tesfaye Habiso, a man who has at least proven his skills in plagiarism.

After watching his excruciating “interview” on BBC, Matthew Payne-Funk, an American administrative director at the U.S. Senate, wrote the following comment on his Facebook page: “PM Hailemariam needs a better Press Secretary or the Information Ministry should be embarrassed at the poor quality of his answers. The evasion and equivocations are just too painfully obvious… I think it is pathetic and very frustrating that the government of Ethiopia allows this sort of self deceptive incompetence to be its face. I am feeling angry about what is happening to the truly courageous Ethiopians who are being detained by incompetent power mongers.”

In the service of his TPLF masters, Hailemariam, who is acting more like a slave than the prime minister, has betrayed not only his conscience but also his profession. He was trained as a sanitation engineer. Instead of designing and constructing toilets in Ethiopia, which has chronic shortage of sanitation, he is swimming in the cesspool of TPLF’s filthy, stinky and fascistic politics.

For the sake of his children, who will certainly regret being related to him, he should rather find a better job than making a fool of himself as a TPLF Trojan horse. TPLF power mongers should also consider letting him go as he is a liability and an embarrassing piece of work for the terrorist regime.

Ruled by incompetent thugs and clueless terrorists, Ethiopia is certainly in great trouble. We should unequivocally denounce and reject the incompetent tyrannical regime standing on its last leg after the demise of Meles Zenawi. Ethiopia shall never be a TPLF protectorate or colony. We need equality, freedom, dignity and justice. No puppets, oppressive thugs and terrorists please!