The Emperor's Clothes: A Personal Viewpoint of Politics and Administration in the Imperial Ethiopian Government, 1941-1974

214 Pages·1993·15.05 MB·English

by  Gaitachew Bekele

The Emperor's Clothes
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The Emperor's Clothes
A Personal Viewpoint on Politics
and Administration in the Imperial
Ethiopian Government
1941-1974
By Gaitachew Bekele
Michigan State University Press
East Lansing
1993
Copyright © 1993 Gaitachew Bekele
All Michigan State University Press books are produced on paper which
meets the requirements of American National Standard of Information Sci
ences-Permanence of paper for printed materials ANSI Z23.48-1984.
Michigan State University Press
East Lansing, Michigan 48823-5202
Printed in the United States of America
01 00 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gaitachew Bekele.
The emperor's clothes: a personal viewpoint on politics and administra
tion in the imperial Ethiopian government, 1941-1974/ by Gaitachew
Bekele.
p. cm. - (African series; #3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87013-325-X (alk. paper)
1. Gaitachew Bekele. 2. Ethiopia-Officials and employees-Biogra
phy. 3. Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, 1892-1975. 4. Elhiopia
Politics and govemment-1889-1974, I. Title. II. Series: African series
(East Lansing, Mich.) ; #3.
DT387.92.G35A3 1993
963' .06-dc20
93-19273
CIP
African Series Editor: Harold Marcus
Other African Series Titles:
#1 "Bonds of Silk" The Human Factor in the
British Administration in the Sudan
by Francis M. Deng and M.W. Daly
#2 The Development of Higher Education and Social Change
An Ethiopian Experience by Teshome Wagaw
IV
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
1. F AMIL Y BACKGROUND 5
2. ITALIAN INVASION (1936-1941) 23
3. STUDIES 43
4. EARLY CAREER 51
5. DEPARTMENT OF MARINE, Addis Ababa (1954-1957) 65
6. ASSISTANT MINISTER (November 1957-December 1960) 79
7. ATTEMPTED COUP D'ETAT 101
8. GOVERNOR OF BAHR-DAR 125
9. AMBASSADOR (1963-1969) 143
10. MINISTRY OF POSTS, 1ELECOMMUNICATION, AND
TRANSPORT 161
11. CABINET RESIGNS (February 1974) 171
12. EPILOGUE 191
INDEX 197

INTRODUCTION
It has been said that clothes make a man. While such an over-simplification
cannot be wholly true, the clothes which a man chooses to wear can sometimes
be a clue to his inner-thinking, how he perceives himself and those around
him. I remember when I first went to London, I visited Madame Tussaud's
Waxworks and felt enormously proud to find a statue of His Imperial Majesty
Haile Selassie dressed in the traditional costume of Ethiopia.
It is my contention that tradition and culture are vitally important elements
in the identity of a nation. Especially one which can allow its people to
undergo great hardships and then reestablish themselves after periods of
social, military or political upheaval. Tradition and culture have sustained my
nation of Ethiopia through the centuries, and I was proud to see a statue of my
leader dressed in clothes which to me were the embodiment of our culture.
Imagine then, my bitter disappointment when I visited the same exhibition
some years later and found the same statue of Haile Selassie bedecked in the
uniform of a British Field Marshal. In my estimation, he had slipped from the
image of an Ethiopian emperor to the shadow of a rather tawdry commissioner
in borrowed finery.
Haile Selassie's change of costume was an outward symbol of his rejection
of Ethiopian culture and values. He chose to claim the title of Emperor and the
privileges which went with it without taking on all of the responsibilities the
office entailed. I know many people believed Haile Selassie was a symbol of
Ethiopian resistance to Italian rule. On the contrary, he lost the war before it
was fought and brought about the defeat and downfall of Ethiopia when he lost
faith in his heritage and cultural values and thus suffered from an inferiority
complex and subordination. I feel he first lost the affection and respect of the
Ethiopian people when he went into exile. A true ruler of Ethiopia in the tradi
tional mold would have rather died fighting to drive an invader from his sacred
soil than go into exile as a figurehead.
The Emperor's Clothes
I am not oblivious to the great things His Majesty accomplished, particu
larly in the field of external affairs. He deserves credit for the admission of
Ethiopia into the League of Nations and he undoubtedly played a leading role
in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity. In the field of edu
cation, I was one of those fortunate enough to benefit and I ought to be grate
ful for His Majesty's special attention and favor in promoting me within his
government However, I wish the personal concern he demonstrated to indi
viduals whom he thought important to impress could have been extended to
the general public of the nation he ruled. Had this been the case, the benefit of
education could have been spread throughout Ethiopia, instead of resulting in
the pitiful illiteracy rate of 90 percent which was evident at the end of half of a
century of his rule.
But the important question here is: Why did all these great accomplish
ments come to nothing in the end? The answer is that the changes, although
apparently progressive, were made with the wrong motives, with the wrong
objectives in mind. His Majesty was motivated by self interest rather than the
interests of those whom he had a sacred duty to serve. He violated the cardinal
principle which had always been followed by great leaders of the Ethiopian
nation, that the supreme leader had no personal property, so that no self-inter
est could impinge upon his public duty.
Having been brought up in the court of Menilek, Emperor Haile Selassie
must have been quite aware of the example of one of Menilek's judicial deci
sions. Menilek was the rightful heir to his mother's (a commoner's) land, but
ruled that it must be inherited by the tenant who farmed it. His reasoning was
that since the Almighty God had seen fit to grant him the whole of the coun
try, he had no right to claim a small part of it.
Many people make excuses for Haile Selassie because of the barbarism of
the regime which grew out of his overthrow, saying: "Haile Selassie maregni"
or "Forgive us, Haile Selassie." It is wrong to compare His Majesty, from
royal lineage and brought up in the court of Menilek with a man of obscure
background who did not have the benefit of a traditional Ethiopian upbringing.
Haile Selassie must be judged by higher standards, those of the rulers whom
he succeeded.
The present chaos in Ethiopia is the legacy of Haile Selassie because it is
the inevitable result of the policies which he introduced and allowed to flour
ish. By systematically removing born leaders and surrounding himself with
sycophants, the Emperor created a situation which could only lead to chaos
after his death.
The diverse tribes of Ethiopia were bound together for centuries as a single
nation by a proper appreciation inculcated in every individual of the glorious
history of independence and social justice which were symbolized by the
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Intoduction
Crown. When the traditional standards of the Crown were debased, no one any
longer wished to be associated with a downgraded and lawless leadership. It is
little wonder that Ethiopia has disintegrated and the various tribes now wish to
assert their tribal identity. I record here what I know of Ethiopian traditions
and culture and what I saw of the decline and disintegration of the Ethiopian
nation in the belief that a return to traditional values and democratic principles
can be the only salvation of what remains of my country.
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