The first gravest factual mistake of Bereket Simon's book discovered

By T, De Birhan Media 
24 Dec. 2011

A book by Bereket Simon,head of the Government Communications Affairs Office (GCAO) under a ministerial portfolio, titled “A Tale of Two Elections”  was launched on Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at the Sheraton Addis Hotel in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. The book launch was attended by dignitaries, artists and investors.  

The book discusses about the 2005 and 10 elections, it goes back and investigates the EPRDF’s transformation after the Ethio-Eritrea conflict and analyses leaders of major opposition political parties. One of these politicians who took the brunt of Bereket's sharp criticism was Dr. Berhanu Nega, Chairman of Ginbot 7 Movement. 

According to Bereket  "Berhanu was an opportunist who manipulated all the member parties of the then Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party to enjoy his dream of being the mayor of Addis Abeba city". This is how the Addis Abeba based Amharic weekly, Addis Admas quoted the book. 

"ዶ/ር ብርሃኑ ነጋ ላይ የሚጨክነው የአቶ በረከት መጽሐፍ፤ “ከንቲባነትን በቆረጣ” በሚል በተቸበት ርእስ ስር ከምርጫ 97 በኋላ ያለውን ሂደት፤ “ለዶ/ር ብርሃኑ የሁሉም ነገር ማጠንጠኛው የከንቲባነት መንበሩን መቆናጠጥ ስለነበር፣ ለእርሱ ቅንጅትም ሆነ ቀስተ ደመና፣ መኢአድም ሆነ ኢዴፓ የቼዝ ጠጠሮች ናቸው፡፡ በእንያንዳንዱ እርምጃው እንደ አመቺነቱ በተናጠል ወይም በቡድን የላቀ ችሎታ ባለው ኃይል ፊት ያጋፍጣቸዋል፡፡ ሲፈልግ ሰድቦ ለሰዳቢ ይሰጣቸዋል፡፡" 

The gravest factual error of Bereket Simon's book emerges when it goes in detail to criticise the dissident scholar's involvement in and manipulation of the private press for his own use. Bereket writes "Dr. Berhanu insulted his party peers such as Engineer Hailu Shawel and also passed secret information about CUDs decsions through the papers he funded and supported like "Beza" Newspaper". The Amharic version of the above quote reads as follows,  

"በሌላ በኩል ግን ገንዘብና መረጃ እየሰጠ በሚያሰማራቸው “ቤዛ”ን በመሳሰሉ የግል ጋዜጦች ይሰድባቸዋል፡፡ የቅንጅት ሚስጥሮች፤ በተለይም ኢንጂነር ኃይሉን የሚመለከቱና በየጋዜጠው ይወጡ የነበሩ ውስጣዊ መረጃዎች ከዶክተር ብርሃኑ የሚፈልቁ እንደነበሩ በአንድ አጋጣሚ ያገኘሁትና ዶ/ር ብርሃኑ እንዲህ ብለህ ጻፍ እያለ መረጃ፣ ምክርም ገንዘብ ይሰጠው እንደነበር ያጫወተኝ በግል ጋዜጣ ውስጥ ይሠራ የነበረ ጋዜጠኛ ነው” ይላል፡፡" 

Although Bereket accuses Dr. Berhanu of using the private press such as "Beza" newspaper during and after the 2005 election to insult and leak information about his party peers and the Party itself  , he commits an enormous factual error in that the stated newspaper has not been publishing since April 2000 during when Dr. Berhanu had no form of political involvement.    

Beza Newspaper which was owned by Genet Ayele, the publisher of a book on former Ethiopian president, Mengistu Hailemaraim, ,run for around 10 years before it finally ceased publication in 2000. During the high-times of the election as well there was no type of publication called "Beza". The error goes worse as Bereket tries to validate his allegation by saying that he got the information from a journalist that worked in the private press.  

The book, reportedly edited by literary scholars and party whips including the prime minster contains such green errors.