The Huff and Puff of Shape Shifter/Slim Shady Debretsion Gebremichael in Ethiopia

Will the real Debretsion Gebremichael please stand up?

Eminem (Marshall Mathers), the American rapper, has a popular song in which he lyrically asks:

May I have your attention, please?
May I have your attention, please?
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
We’re gonna have a problem here…

I ain’t no rapper but I want to ask the same question of Debretsion Gebremichael, head honcho of Tigray kilil[1].

May I have your attention, please?
May I have your attention, please?
Will the real Shape Shifter/Slim Shady Debretsion Gebremichael please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Shape Shifter/Slim Shady Debretsion Gebremichael please stand up?
We’re gonna have a problem here…

We do have a big problem here with Debretsion Gebremichael!

He is a shady shape shifter.

One day Debretsion supports the changes and reforms undertaken by H.E. Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed, the next day he is dead set against them.

One day Debretsion says he will grab by the collar those criminal fugitives from justice holed up in Mekele and hand them over to the federal government for prosecution, and the next day he declares the federal government is engaged in selective prosecution.

One day Debretsion says he supports the rule of law in bringing to justice corruption and human rights violations suspects, and the next day he complains arrests of the criminals is a war waged on the people of Tigray.

One day Debretsion says he fully supports the anti-corruption effort, and the next day he declares it is misguided and politically motivated.

One day Debretsion says the people of Tigray are with the rest of their Ethiopian brothers and sisters in rooting out corruption and human rights violations and the next day he proclaims if the criminal investigations continue they will lead civil war.

One day Debretsion says the law and constitution must be followed, and the next day he complains the law and constitution are being used to bring Tigreans to their knees.

One day Debretsion says the country is on the right track, the next day he says the country is going to hell in a handbasket.

When Debretsion in Addis Ababa, he is part of the transformative change taking place (Medemer).

When he is in Mekele, he flips and trash talks the change (Meqenes).

Debretsion Gebremichael is like the weather in Kansas City, MO where blizzards and blistering heat might both occur in the same week.

But Debretsion is a villainous serpent with a forked tongue.

Shakespeare wrote, “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose./ An evil soul producing holy witness/Is like a villain with a smiling cheek.”

Debretsion can cites the rule of law and the Constitution for his purpose.

After a 27-year silence, he presents himself as a holy witness for Tigrean persecution.

Debretsion was deaf-mute when Abubaker Ahmed, Andargachew Tsigie and the great Ethiopian actor Debebe Eshetu were forced to confess and secretly videotaped.

Debretsion and his doppelgänger (evil twin) Getachew “Motor Mouth” Reda, who will spill the beans with a few shots of qatikala, are now mounting a disinformation campaign that Tigreans are being persecuted because corrupt TPLF thugs are brought to justice.

Where were Tweedledee Debretsion and Tweedledum Getachew when their  bogus anti-terrorism law was being used to arrest, jail and torture hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians over the past 27 years?

Debretsion and Getachew were apologists for untold crimes against humanity committed in Ethiopia by the Thugtatorship of the Tigran Peoples Liberation Front.

Debretsion, Getachew and the rest of the worthless TPLF thugs can moan, groan and bitch all day long.

It ain’t gonna make a damn bit of difference.

They will face justice wherever they go. They can take that to the bank!

Be that as it may, it appears there are at least two Debretsions.

The Addis Ababa Debretsion and the Mekele Debretsion.

My question is simply this: Will the real Debretsion Gebremichael please stand up? Please stand up?

When I visited Ethiopia this past September, I had a chance encounter with Debretsion.

It was no more than a few second, enough time to say, “Hello, how are you? Nice to meet you. Goodbye”.

I was walking on the periphery of the grounds of the old palace when Debretsion suddenly emerged from a meeting hall with other government officials.

I did not expect to see him and I suspect he did not either.

But I thought I would approach him to introduce myself.

There was not much of an introduction.

He appeared surprised to see me.

I stretched my hand to shake his. He obliged.

I observed him intently to gauge his reaction.

After all, I had a word or two to say about him in my commentary entitled, “The Polistitution of Debretsion Gebremichael” in January 2018.

I wrote the commentary after Ethiopian investigative journalist Abebe Gellaw revealed Debretsion has a decade-long “history of employing prostitutes, escorts and call girls in many cities including Cairo, Yaounde (Cameroon), Bangkok, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Geneva, Seoul, Busan (S. Korea), Mumbai (India), Dubai, Hong Kong and Las Vegas in search of whorehouses.”

Abebe reported, “Whenever Debretsion travels abroad, he scans the Internet for young girl escorts, strip clubs and brothels. He looks for high class escort services.” He also attends “fancy conferences” on “women’s rights and equality” to ply his global trade in prostitution.

Malcom Gladwell in his book “Blink” argues that people generally form opinions and make quick inferences about others in split seconds (“blink of an eye”) with minimal amounts of information.

Gladwell argues, “We thin-slice because we have to, and because there are lots of   situations where careful attention to the details of a very thin slice, even for no more than a second or two, can tell us an awful lot.”

In the few seconds I conducted perfunctory greetings with Debretsion and watched him interact with others, I managed to “thin slice” and form an opinion of him.

Of course, I have previously watched him blabbing on Youtube and other media.

I had formed a general opinion of him in his public persona.

Meeting him in person was different.

He impressed me as passive-aggressive.

I could infer from his facial expression an effort to suppress his confusion, anger and frustration in suddenly meeting me.

I was intentionally smiling, but he was not. His lips were pursed.

I looked at him straight in the eye, but he gazed away.

His handshake was loose and reluctant.

His tone of voice was low, hesitant and subdued.

The way he said, “Hello, nice to meet you.” revealed to me how he really felt. He said it in cold, detached and downcast tone.

Interestingly, he did not greet me in Amharic.

But every other official I greeted briefly before and after I met him addressed me in Amharic.

He was manifestly uncomfortable in my presence. He  quickly walked away.

My “blink” opinion of Debretsion is that he suffers terribly from lack of self-confidence.

He does not appear to be a man of conviction or courage. He prefers to avoid confrontation.

He appears lion-hearted when he joins his TPLF comrades but quickly turns into a cowardly hyena when he is outside his lair in Mekele.

He is a political chameleon. He will change his political color at the drop of a hat.

Like a chameleon, he has a long sticky tongue which he wags every time he goes back to Mekele and rejoins up with his Mafiosi brethren.

When he is in Addis, he quiet as a mouse.

In fact, mousy is the best description of Debretsion.

I believe Debretsion is very concerned he might find himself in the crosshairs of the current corruption investigations. So many of his former comrades and friends are now sitting in the slammer.

The rain that down poured on METEC godfather Kinfe Dagnew and his crew will no doubt drizzle on Debretsion.

Debretsion is running scared. He knows what he has done and the jig is up.

In 2007, he was El Capo in the $1.5 billion deal with ZTE, the Chinese multinational telecommunications giant. What was his cut?

In 2012, he was El Capo in a $1.6 billion deal with Huawei and ZTE to expand the country’s telecom infrastructure. What was his cut?

Debretsion was Board Chair of Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation, responsible for overseeing billions of dollars in dam construction. What was his cut?

So, things are getting too close for comfort for Debretsion.

He does not know what to do.

He thinks he can bluff, huff and puff his way out of the corruption net that is now cast far and wide.

But it’s too late.

The TPLF ship has plummeted to the bottom of the sea and the rats are jumping ship and drowning or ending up in the rat trap.

Debretsion should be contemplating John Donne’s poem, “For whom the bell tolls”.

Send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

The bell tolls loud and clear for Debretsion and his Mafiosi comrades.

Justice is like a train that is almost always late. But it arrives in the end.

Hear the Justice Train whistle!

Justice has arrived in Ethiopia.

Debretsion and his wolf-mates huffing and puffing to blow down the Ethiopian House

Debretsion and his wolf-mates (I did not say “ye qen jiboch”) who are huffing and puffing to blow down the Ethiopia House should learn from the story of the wolf and the three little lambs.

Once upon a time, there were three little lambs.

The first little lamb built his house out of straw because it was the easiest thing to do. The second little built his house out of sticks, a bit stronger than a straw house. The third built his house out of bricks.

One night the big bad hungry wolf came and saw the first little lamb in his house of straw. He howled, “Let me in, Let me in, little lamb or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!” The little lamb refused. The big bad hungry wolf huffed and puffed and blew down the house of straw and ate the lamb.

The wolf then came to the house of sticks. “Let me in, Let me in little lamb or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down”. But the wolf blew the house of sticks and ate the second little lamb.

The wolf then came to the house of bricks.” Let me in, let me in” cried the wolf “Or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and blow your house down.” Well, the wolf huffed and puffed but he could not blow down that brick house.

The sly old wolf climbed up on the roof to look for a way to get into the brick house.

When the little lamb saw the wolf climb up on the roof, he lit a roaring fire in the fireplace.

When the wolf finally found the hole in the chimney, he crawled down right into the roaring fire.

It was wolf barbeque time.

That was the end of the big bad wolf (I did not say ye qen jiboch).

Debretsion and his criminals against humanity friends can huff and puff all day long.

But they will never, never, never blow down the brick house Abiy Ahmed is building in Ethiopia with 100 million of his people.

But if they continue in their evil ways, they will find themselves in a roaring fire of their own stoking.

While we are on the topic of houses, Scripture teaches that “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.”

In 2013, I warned, “Meles and his worshippers have profoundly troubled the Ethiopian house and they shall inherit the wind!”

Old criminal fools shall be the servant of the wise at heart!

[1] (“Kilil” is a political designation created by the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front to justify its division of Ethiopia along ethnic lines. It is identical to apartheid South Africa’s “bantustans”.)

SUPPORT THE CORRUPTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS INVESTIGATIONS IN ETHIOPIA TODAY!