#OromoProtests

Urgent call to all Oromo people and international community:

Urgent call to all Oromo people and international community: Health care is the fundamental human rights and not a tool of war

By Baaroo Keno Deressa, Dr.

Concerning this issue my letter to United nations and European commission will be published soon.

Ayder Referral University Hospital in Mekelle has become the only Government Hospital in Ethiopia to perform the first PCI (Percutaneous coronary Intervention). The colonialist with gun: enjoying with highest standard of health care

http://www.bilisummaa.com haasaya-fiqaaduu-tasammaa-walgahii-kaabinee-oromiyaa-irratti-godhe. May 20, 2016 http://www.ayyaantuu.net/ The Mother of all cash flow and life-oxygen Oromia: Crying for basic health care (maali yaa Oromo salphane!!!)

After twenty-seven years in power, the TPLF-elite dare to tell us that Rome was not built in a day. Are they ignorant or arrogant??? Twenty-seven years is quite a long time to bring changes in the lives of all people. When the TPLF moved to Dadabit telling the world that Mengistu did not bring any change. But Mengistu remain in power 17 years and TPLF is now 27 years in power, number of days in one year then and now are still 365 and I don’t understand why  twenty-seven years of their palace life should not be considered a long time? Yes they bring many changes in Tigray region (in military technology, medical science, economic empowerment….etc). But the mother of all cash flow and life-oxygen my beloved Oromia and generous people of Oromo are:

• Bleeding day and night in the hands of TPLF special commandos and security forces,
• Suffering from torture and ill-treatment of TPLF government
• killing future generations of our nations (university students).
• Detaining millions of innocent Oromo peoples and Oromo intellectuals
• Limiting free movement of our people in their home town
• Promoting brain drain of mother land Oromia.
• Harassment and hunting down capable Oromo individuals to inhibit the development of mother land Oromia.
• Countless atrocities are committed against Oromo people

Mostly government statements are based on “kitchen cabinet” (TPLF junta) and Oromo people no matter what the truth is, they must accept it. The TPLF commandos are always right because they have the gun and the system supporting them. The stronger can always tell the wrong and force the weaker to accept it as the right. Trying to prove that the “stronger” is wrong is tantamount.

Whatever their power we Oromo people have to stand firmly with full commitment and confront it this barbaric act.

Let me put some facts with evidence based manner:

Internationally, it was first articulated in the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), whose preamble defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. The preamble further states that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.”

The Ethiopian government wrote in his final draft to improve health status of his people under Program IV, as follows:

The major health problems of the country remain largely preventable communicable diseases and nutritional disorders. Despite major progresses have been made to improve the health status of the population, Ethiopia’s population still face a high rate of morbidity and mortality and the health status remains relatively poor.

The Federal Ministry of Health has formulated and implemented a number of policies and strategies that afforded an effective framework for improving health in the country.

I rightly asked myself, how many times and how often did the government officials  visit rural areas since they come to  power? did they speak to the people and listening to their problems? Did they face the Oromo people on Q&A session and hear from them exactly what they think about the  TPLF’s socio-economic, health care and political agenda? It is one thing to be in the capital city and tell the world how our nation is showing amazing socio-economic improvement, wonderful health care programme but it would have been totally different to meet the Oromo people and talk to them face-to-face instead of killing, torturing, harassing and imprisoning them.

I wish I was a naïve foreigner and did not know the status of the prevailing socio-economic and political situation in Oromia. But the problem is I am an Oromo and judging from what the government trying to say, and for right or wrong, I consider myself more knowledgeable than government itself when it comes to the prevailing situation in my country Oromia.

We often hear from the TPLF government that the Tigray region as such did not benefit from a preferential treatment by government. Oromo people know very well how you were trying to trick them, but in vain. According to information available how you were diverting the national budget to Tigray, here is the trick. Every region/zone in Ethiopia receives a certain amount from the central budget approved by the parliament, which from the outset looks fair. However, in almost all the other regions, especially the Oromia, the local authorities (members of EPRDF but traitors and collaborators) deliberately delay the implementation of regional projects.

This is not a problem in the Tigray region of course – TPLF implements the projects “way ahead of time” and asks the central government for additional budget allocations. At the same time, the central government summons regional authorities for gimgema, during which the decision is taken to punish the Oromia regions for the lower implementation rate. As a result their unused budget is re-allocated to Tigray region as a reward for “good implementation of regional projects”. Do you think this is a good form of governance?

Recently peaceful Oromo protests with legitimate question under Article 39 of Ethiopia’s 1994 constitution affords “every nation, nationality or people in Ethiopia” the “unrestricted right to self-determination up to secession was brutally and mercilessly crackdown.

Improving health care system program is not implemented specially in Oromia and neighboring nations and used as a tool of war against Oromo people.

However, Ethiopian government always failed to comply with its constitution and covenants which it decorated on paper for the purpose of foreign aid. The Ethiopian government is using sweeping anti-terror laws to crack down peaceful protesters brutally, introduced a Charities and Societies Proclamation (draft law) to regulate all domestic and international civil society organizations (CSOs) which create a complex web of arbitrary restrictions on the work civil society groups can engage in, onerous bureaucratic hurdles, draconian criminal penalties, and intrusive powers of surveillance.

The Oromo people are not in agreement with your policies be they socio-economic or political. Your generals, cadres, political elites and security forces may not have the luxury to see it but my people live in misery. Oromo people constitutional right is not respected, your declaration are simply empty statements. The Oromo intellectuals were given no secure places in the society, hunted down like fox by your special commandos and they are prohibited from nation-building process, while Tigray intellectuals are enjoying limitless freedom in order to build a well civilized and militarized nation of Tigray.  Above all, the Oromo people have no faith whatsoever in TPLF government. To the contrary, they profoundly believe that the TPLF government has contributed to the exacerbated misery and designing a well calculated silent genocide in the form of depriving their health status.

Fifty Million of Oromo’s are crying for the absence of basic health care system while 5 million of Tigray people are enjoying the highest standard of health. Here under multiple important evidence to support the fact.

• Recently May 19, 2016 on Tigrai online they publish as follows:  Mekelle has become the only Government Hospital in Ethiopia to perform the first PCI (Percutaneous coronary Intervention).
• Also recently May 20, 2016 on Ayyaantuu and Bilisummaa they publish as follows: Oromo people are in danger (no medication, no medical equipment, no healthy professional and empty building) Oromo http://www.bilisummaa.com haasaya-fiqaaduu-tasammaa-walgahii-kaabinee-oromiyaa-irratti-godhe. May 20, 2016
• August/2014 MEKELLE: The government of the national state of Tigrai Report on the health status of Tigrai region.
• Oromia regional state: No health program, no long and short term plan, no health policy empty box without essential content and representatives.

To be honest as a medical profession I am very happy that the Tigray people are enjoying with their full freedom and highest standard of health through high standard health care system. The reason that I am happy is Ethiopian peasants, regardless of their ethnicity, do not have a clue about what we are talking about. They would die happy if only they got enough injerra on their “gabattee” every evening and see their children well fed before they went to bed and acquire adequate treatment when they are getting sick.

My questions is here how comes that the mother of all cash flow and life-oxygen beloved Oromia and generous people of Oromo become beggars on their own money????? Where is justice????where is humanity???? Where is the plan and programme of Oromia health care system??? Where is the fruit of so called sky rocket development???? Where are they the so called regional state leaders???? It is clear enough that this subject prepared for silent genocide. Oromo people it is time to get up together and demand urgent answer for our justice, freedom and stop the ongoing silent genocide.

Oromo people are suffering from multiple kinds of diseases:

• Communicable diseases (HIV, TBC, hepatitis, malaria, typhoid fever….etc)
• Non- Communicable diseases (Diabetes mellitus, cardiac disease, gastro-pancreatic-hepato-biliary diseases….etc )
• Different types of cancers (lung cancer, stomach cancers, colon cancers, blood cancers,….etc)
• Obstetric and gynaecologic diseases (the most debilitating disease of our mothers and sisters).
• Malnutrition… etc

Without decent health policy, absence of structural approach, corrupt governance, inadequate professional experts, totally outdated medical equipment and absence of professional freedom in health sector it is impossible to build a competent, capable, creative healthy nations. Our nation is facing a critical time in the history of his struggle against colonialism. The previous policy of colonial power (menilik, hailesilasse and derg) was failed after a bitter struggle. The new colonialism by TPLF-elite is very dangerous and well designed and planned eradication of Oromo people (openly by military force and hiddenly by depriving a qualitative health care).

I and my fellow Oromo health professionals are capable of building a modern, proper and qualitative health care system beyond our mother land Oromia to safe our people from silent genocide and to serve all human being regardless of their ethnicity. But to do these golden tasks, first the colonialism must end.

So I am calling all Oromo people around the globe and propose as follows. Our leaders has pursued various strategies to solve all kinds of injustice peacefully with our enemies. But their reaction was/is humiliation, destruction and hopelessness. So i am proposing one day, one victory with enormous sacrifice. My proposition as follows, instead of dying a shameful death in the hands of TPLF militia’s, instead of end up in the torture chamber of TPLF, instead of living unhuman and humiliating life in our birth place, instead of watching powerlessly gang rapes of our mothers, wives, and sister it is time to empower ourselves in order to enhance our freedom and regain our God-given right and true peace.  So my proposition is we are around 50 million peoples, if we are determine to sacrifice ourselves with a big number in one day like 5 million life’s inclusive me the remain 45 million of Oromo’s are living free and safe. The freedom of my people is more grateful and worth full than my luxury life in western country. So I would like to ask my people to discuss these issue on the social media, at the working places, during family and friend meetings, between political parties, between all peace and justice promoting organizations. After the discussion the next step will be how, where and when will be coordinated through committed and dedicated coordination staff.

(M.L.King: True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice).