Selam to all:
Trivializing the Historical Eritrean Constitution
The following is the election process of the "Constituent Assembly" :
>* All Eritreans with an Eritrean ID Card have voting rights.
>* Only Eritreans who have met their duty of paying Rehabilitation Tax
> (2%) are eligible to be elected.
>* Only Eritreans who show up with an Eritrean ID Card will be admitted
> to the Election Hall.
While we are looking for the explanation, definition, philosophical and
pragmatic side of democracy in the future, we are missing its heart
and soul at the moment - right now. A historical and fundamental
issue such as the Constitution is in the process of being trifled by
such shallow trivial stipulations such as a payment of 2%. The "Suez
Canal Intellectuals" who are willing to use "30 years of war...our
martyrs..." as a wild card for any discussion, please send your
comments to somebody who doesn?t know, and before you do so, ask
yourself - what your role and contributions to the struggle were - but
please keep the answers to yourself.
Going back to the subject, I was on the side of the few people who
tenaciously supported the constitutional process. Those of you who
were adamantly against the process for different reasons, this is not
the time to say "I told you so!". But, this is a critical turning point.
Who among the following would you want to represent you:
An Eritrean (living in the US) who dedicated his entire life in the
armed struggle and in the process lost parts of his bodies, but didn?t
make the 2% payment or,
An ex-Ethiopian Commando (or Militia), who was on the Ethiopian side
until independence (who probably killed few Eritreans and maimed some
others) and paid 2%, and unashamedly talks of "30 years of war..."?
Off course it is a rhetorical question. It is understood that the
above is not a clear dichotomy but only a possibility. The following
questions also come to mind:
Are the people who paid 2% more Eritrean than the ones who didn?t?
Some argue the PFDJ is doing this to recruit their own people in the
Constituent Assembly. I disagree, for the simple reason that the
people who paid the 2% are no more PFDJ supporters than the ones who didn't.
Is it possible that most of the people who paid the 2% paid because it
was necessary to do so to take care of some business (inheritance...)
in Eritrea?
Is the 2% important enough to derail the participation of all Eritreans?
Is it consistent to require the 2% of the people to be elected and not
on the people who are voting?
Do the decision makers of this requirement have power over the existing
Constitutional Committee within the constitutional process?
Eritreans were trusted to make decisions on the existence of Eritrea
(to vote on referendum) and are not qualified to be part of the
Constituent Assembly if they don?t pay required to pay 2%! Amazing!
Does anybody see anything wrong with this?
Why are most people quiet, specially the Constitutional Committee and
our representatives in the National Assembly? It is probably beyond
their powers but shouldn?t they raise their concerns? Talk about
representative democracy!
Some may not see the importance of this stipulation. However, it is
perplexing to think of utilizing the phrase "national duty" within the
constitution as anything possible, that is literally anything. The
election day is this coming this Saturday, and the process is still
ambiguous. I hope someone will do something about it. The
constitutional process was complimented for getting the participation
of most Eritreans for a couple of years. Think of what percentage of
Eritreans will be attending these "Constituent Assembly" elections.
Is that what we really want? I don?t think so! It is a monumental
tragedy to see a process that was patterned mostly by public
participation end in this quandary.
Kebire
PS. Semret, Tekie and Ghebre I hope you come back safe from Asmara.
Upon arrival, it would be nice if you shed some light on this issue.
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