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During his time as Minister of Information, Bereket
Simon, 50, was at the center of what he described
three years ago as an overwhelming experience. He
was head of the campaign team of his party, the
ruling EPRDF, during the most contested elections
ever held in the history of this country. Bereket, a
father of three and now special advisor to the Prime
Minister on Public Relations (with ministerial
portfolio) was the ‘face’ of his party in both the
run-up to, and in the aftermath of, the May 2005
elections.
As unprecedented as these elections were, the
results, and what followed the voting period, remain
a bitter memory in the minds of all involved in the
process, including the voting public. The ruling
party could not help but concede electoral defeat in
the Addis Abeba city administration, and a
significant number of seats in the federal
parliament, although whether or not it had lost
majority of the seats there in order to form its
government was a subject of controversy that finally
led to a bloody electoral dispute.
Bereket has not been as visible during the recent
local and by-elections as he was in the past. He
made no appearance either in any of the media - with
the exception of voice interviews - or at the
debates held among the political parties that took
part in the run-up to the latest local and
by-elections. His leading electoral role was
assumed, this time around, by Tadesse (Tinkishu)
Kassa, a comrade-in-party of the ANDM and an
executive committee member of the EPRDF.
Some attribute Bereket’s low profile role during the
recent elections to his “growing unpopularity” in
the eyes of the electorate, particularly in Addis
Abeba. Has he, indeed, been removed from the
electoral machinery that mobilises his party? Was it
because of this alleged unpopularity that the party
brought forward someone more likable in his place?
Interestingly, Bereket does not believe he is
unpopular, although he admits that what followed the
May 2005 national elections was an emotionally
charged scenario. Neither did he distance himself
from the business of managing elections, according
to him.
“I’m still at the centre of the local and
by-elections, though not visible,” Bereket told
Fortune during an exclusive interview last week.
“The nature of my work now demands me to keep a low
profile.”
It was the work his party did over the past three
years – in listening to the people through various
public dialogues - that he accredits to the
“landslide electoral victory” the EPRDF claims in
the recent elections; a result many, including those
in the diplomatic community, are skeptical about
because they did not see them as having been as
hotly contested as the May 2005 national elections.
Do the ruling party and its leaders have reasons to
celebrate the results of quiet elections that pose
no electoral challenge to them, many wonder?
For Bereket, the past few weeks have been an
electoral redemption, for over 90pc of the voting
public registered to take part in the elections and
as much a number turned out to cast their ballots.
Although the credibility of the turnouts has been
questioned, the EPRDF has managed to spring back
after the electoral defeats of the past. This, he
feels, undoubtedly gives cause for celebration.
Three years after that first exclusive interview,
Tamrat G. Giorgis, managing editor of Fortune,
had yet another round of questions for Bereket
Simon.
Read the excerpts:
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Fortune:
Ato Bereket, if you find some of my questions
making references to the interview we had had in
2005, please forgive me. It is because the local and
by-elections held two weeks ago were in the shadow
of what happened in the recent political history of
this country. And you were at the center of that
process from the run-up to the May 2005 national
elections - including the hotheaded debates - to the
voting date and all that followed. Unlike in the
past, you have not been seen assume that central
role; you have chosen to be less visible. Why is
that? Is it because you have become unpopular in the
eyes of the electorates that your party decided it
might be a good idea for you to be away from public
attention?
Bereket:
The nature of the work I get myself involved now
demands me to keep a low profile. Nevertheless, it
does not mean that I was not at the center of the
election, although I was not that visible.
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