DR. BEREKET'S INTEGRITY
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DR. BEREKET'S INTEGRITY AND CREDIBILTY ON LINE GHEZAE HAGOS Since Dr. Bereket Habte Sellasie became a spokesperson against the special court and for the rule of law, he has been telling us that top leaders of PFDJ, and especially President Isaias, have never been friendly to the concept of the rule of law. He said that he was against the special court then as he is now. Now six former members of the Executive Committee of the Constitutional Commission in the form of an open letter are telling us that he did not have had the courage of his conviction to protest as vehemently and as loudly then as he is doing now. In fact they are telling us that he supported the Government's action and the necessity of such special court with such extraordinary powers in developing countries to combat corruption. So why change of heart now? The most important qualification of a spokesperson is credibility. Does the good doctor have credibility? Let us see at what they say and what lay on the ground: In explaining why they wrote the open letter the ex-Colleagues said "We have taken note of the several self-serving claims made in your recent articles and interviews relative to drafting of the Constitution .... We have, however, been left with no option, in view of your continued molestation of the truth than to speak out for the record and in the interest of the truth... We shall not go into details about what transpired during the long drafting process. At present, we shall refer to three of your egregious pretensions. " 1. Authorship of the Draft Constitution: Ex-Colleagues: You have repeatedly claimed, directly and indirectly, that you were the sole author of the Draft Constitution, often playing on the word "writing". IRIN under the title "Special court violates rights" put the following: NAIROBI, 9 July (IRIN) - Author of the current Eritrean constitution, Bereket Habte Selassie, has criticised the special military court set up by President Isayas Afewerki to combat corruption. In a searing criticism distributed on the Internet, Bereket - a former attorney general in Ethiopia, and member of Eritrean People's Liberation Front - said the court violated the right of a fair trial. 2. The Issue of the Special Court: Ex-Colleagues: In an essay entitled PFDJ's War on Democracy and Justice (Awate.com, August 13, 2001), you wax indignant and fulminate in connection with the creation by the Government of Eritrea (contrary to what you say, the PFDJ does not have law-making powers) of the Special Court. On August 13, 2001 under the title "PFDJ's War on Democracy and Justice" (Awate.com & Asmarino.com) Dr. Bereket wrote the following: BHS: It is deception at its most cynical. This deception was exposed when the regime ran away with the people's constitution, and the lip service paid to the Rule of Law was exposed when they created the Special Court. Ex-Colleagues: We will be emphatic that, on the other hand, you supported the Government's action and the necessity of such special court with such extraordinary powers in developing countries to combat corruption. We do not mind your present change of heart, if it is rooted in honesty. On the other hand, we take special exception to your present fulmination and pretentious declarations as if you had been criticizing the Proclamation on Special Court all along for the last five years. In part VI of Awate.com's exclusive Interview (Response to Awate Readers’ Questions) he said the following: BHS: B.A. asks a question based on my article, "The Disappearance of the Eritrean Constitution" (posted in Asmarino.com). In that article I had stated that the Commission’s Executive Committee had discussed, in one of its last meetings, the so-called corruption laws which were in violation of some provisions of the constitution. The laws provide for special courts with exclusive jurisdiction over crimes of corruption. One of the clauses of these laws denies the accused the right of appeal, which violates Article 17(8) of the constitution and is contrary to traditional norms of justice. B.A. asks me: (a) What was my personal reaction then and now? The answer to (a) is that I was against the law then, and I am now. The dilemma I and my colleagues at the Constitutional Commission faced was a fait accompli of a law, which came as a surprise even to some of government insiders. The law was there; all we could do was express our disagreement with it and strongly urge the government to change it and to speed up the docket of cases pending in the special courts established under this law. As I already said, the Commission withheld the option of fixing an effective date for the coming into force of the constitution in order to give the government time to clear the deck, so to speak. It was a mistake made on the basis of trust. And this is a great lesson to all would-be constitution makers. 3. A Pro Bono Service? Ex-Colleague: You have claimed on several occasions that, as Chairman of the Commission, you were rendering a pro bono service ? i.e. service without any remuneration. Yet, Asmara University records reveal that by arrangements with the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, the University of Asmara was paying you 50 per cent of your salary while you still continued to receive the other 50 per cent from the University of North Carolina. In effect, you were getting your full UNC salary. Moreover, that, upon your persistent supplication to settle your mortgage of USD 28,000 in America in its entirety, as a lump sum, the Government of Eritrea had to arrange for an additional salary of USD 2,500 per month from the Constitutional Commission for three years you served as Chairman of the Commission. In Awate.com's exclusive (Interview With the Principal Drafter of The Eritrean Constitution: Dr. Bereket Habte Selassie Interviewed by Saleh Younis, February 28, 2001) he was asked: SY: After independence, wouldn’t you have been the logical choice to be Eritrea’s ambassador to the United States or American Ambassador to Eritrea? BHS: Many people say that. I wouldn’t have wanted to. My energies from 1991 onwards were focused on being with my family and on rebuilding my income. My income had stagnated; I sometimes had to borrow money to support my family. I didn’t expect it [an appointment] and I wouldn’t have accepted it. I have no ambition whatsoever in that regards: that’s what I want to make clear to your readers. As a matter of fact, at heart, I am a professional with poetic bent; I hate politics. You just join the fray when the fate of your country is at risk. Seeking public office, etc, no thank you. I am very happy in my professional life. Why would I leave a comfortable life for the misery of being somebody’s underling? Or even being a leader? But how do you convince people of that? I guess they are entitled to their opinion. >From the last statement it is easy to see if Dr. Bereket is a man who would render a pro bono service. It is also clear why his former colleagues have to break their dignified silence. So who are the former members of the Executive Committee of the Constitutional Commission of Eritrea. Here is what Dr. Berket said" Let me start with the members of the Executive Committee, which was the central organ of the Commission and conducted meetings on a weekly basis. I was the Chairman, Azien Yassin [formerly with the ELF Executive Committee] was the Vice Chairman and Zemehret Yohannes [PFDJ Cultural Affairs] was the Secretary of the Commission. The other seven were: Dr. Amare Tekle, [who oversaw the referendum process] , Mr. Idris Gelawdios, [one of the founders of the ELF, then living Cairo, lawyer by training, deceased] Dr. Seyoum Haregot, (then with the UNDP) Ms. Amna Naib, (Eritrean Ministry of Justice) Ms. Zahra Jaber, (now mayor of Keren) Mr. Paulos Tesfagiorgis (a lecturer of law at Asmara University) and Mr. Musa Naib, who studied law in Addis Ababa in 1970s [formerly Mayor of Massawa, and is now Advocate General]" One might ask why only six members (Dr. Amare Tekle, W/ro Amna Hassen Naib, Ato Musa Hassen Naib, Dr. Seyoum Haregot, W/ro Zahra Omar Jabir, Ato Zemehret Yohannes) signed the open letter? Two are no longer with us. One is a member of G13-1 and the other is the good Doctor himself. Now, who is more credible, the six members of the Executive Committee of the Constitutional Commission of Eritrea or Dr. Bereket? Was Dr. Bereket just a member of the Executive Committee who happen to be its chairman or a Principal Drafter of The Eritrean Constitution as he has being telling us all alone? Is he a self-serving man or a crusader for the rule of law? To quote a phrase from his former colleagues "Your first moral transgression and intellectual dishonesty maybe forgivable; your present immorality can never be. So what were your motives then, and what are your motives now? Surely, it cannot be the national or public interest." Ghezae Hagos San Jose, CA --- Ghezae Hagos is the sole bearer of the responsibility for the content of this article.

Author not established. DR. BEREKET'S INTEGRITY. Date not established. EHREA archive: /library/documents/doc-19ce8d542d065c240a01eaa0/
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