“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”

 Henry David Thoreau

When we were children we used to say, “haqi tezaribka ab mengedi babur deqis” in short it means tell the truth and don’t be afraid of any consequences.  This is the core value we were founded on.  In our culture “hasawi or seraqi meaning lair or thief” are characters that could outcast one out of the society.  Because no one will trust that character and there is no space for one.

I was inspired to write this article after reading two articles on awate.com, “Good News, Bad News and Ngst Hanna, August 3, 2010” and “A Moral Mandate to Liberate, July 31, 2010” both written by haw Saleh Gadi.  Areas of my interest came when I read his writing about integrity, honesty, and playing with kerosene.  Since brother Saleh opened the can of warms himself I am delving into it.  And it is not my nature to close my eyes when facts are misconstrued.  And follow me please to identify the fact of now and then.

In his article, “Good News, Bad News and Ngst Hanna, August 3, 2010” this is how Gadi put it, “The fact that all the loudmouths were proven wrong is enough success; if they have a grain of honesty, they should cut their tongues, and fingers, in a public ceremony. But since when did they have integrity? Since when did they have honesty?”  My reaction to my friend Saleh gutted questions is, WOW!  Allow me to reverse the question to my friend.  Since when did he know about honesty?  Since when did he know about integrity?  Honesty and integrity are not in Saleh’s vocabulary to say the least but as we say in tigrygna, “seraq mobae baelu yilafalef” meaning who does it himself confesses him self first.  And it is time for brother Saleh to confess may be it will shower him with inner peace and out of the guilty consciousness.  I just have one integrity question to my friend Saleh, what happen to the awate defence fund?  A question that he has been dodging for one year.

In his article, “A Moral Mandate to Liberate, July 31, 2010” he charges the following “We will leave without further comment the role of one so-called “opposition website” which, when it is not amplifying the propaganda of the PFDJ, has chosen to ignite little brushfires and pour kerosene on them, so long as it burns any bridges between opposition organizations.”  Now it is getting interesting.  Where did Gadi found the word kerosene?  Is it in his blood?  Did we hear the word kerosene during the reign of Ali Salem?  Oh yes, because it was halal for Ali Salim to say all what he wanted.  Or may be Ali and Gadi are the same characters in the same soul.  Does the word Neo-Nazis or skin heads mean angels to haw Saleh?  Can you see where I am leading to?  Wasn’t Ali Salem the real kerosene to Eritrea’s communities since he was introduced under that mask?   Yes, it is that dubious character you will never figure.  It is that character that changes colors faster than a chameleon.  Do you think that character knows anything about honesty, integrity, and value?

In general all Eritreans are God fearing people.  We can proudly say everything we do and say is according to God’s way.  Of course, there are those exceptions though as there are weeds in good crops.  We regard integrity as our daily life.  Universally integrity is the measuring stick of a person’s quality.  In professional life and business life integrity is uncompromising factor.  In some professional fields like financial consulting and journalism it is the factor of the position.  Dishonest journalists and financial consultants lose their credentials immediately.  I am in the financial consulting field and I know it very well.  Since friend Saleh is loudly screaming about honesty and wanted to cut people’s tongue with a sword, let’s see how his integrity has been measured so far and whose tongue should be subject to sword:

1 - Awate Defense Fund (ADF): by now the whole world knows that haw Saleh collected over $36000 US dollars in the name of legal fees.  The whole world learned through his announcement at awate.com that he lost the case.  Haw Saleh never explained to the contributors as how the expenses took place but we learned from the defendant that Saleh never was represented by an attorney.  The defendant’s posting made this writer to openly request brother Saleh or the phantom ADF committee to explain about the ADF’s expenses or the status of the funds.  To my surprise brother Saleh didn’t respond to the call and chose to give the call deaf ear.  Now, let’s discuss about honesty and integrity with our brother.  Is this honesty and integrity to him?  So, allow me to ask you reader to be the judge.  Whose tongue should be publicly cut by sword according to his analogy otherwise it is not in our culture.  What we are learning from brother Saleh is that he is forgetting or ignoring what he did in the past.  But one thing is true ADF case is not closed yet it is still open ended.

2 – Who is the Kerosene? We are all acquainted with the ghost character at awate, Ali Salim.  We have all seen that the awate brotherhood gave him a blank check to till the cyber field.  And for sure did he till it with his lose canon vengeance and full of hate.  Here are excerpts from his past writings to refresh your memory:

In his article “Birds of a Feather awate.com July 24, 2009” he wrote, “A new brand of Eritrean politics has launched where Lowlanders will take charge of their destiny and wait for Highlanders to react before following RSADO’s courageous leadership in dropping “Eritrea” from their dictionary. Change is coming and “YES WE CAN”! Highlanders may either continue to dig holes for themselves and for others by imitating Israeli politics of exclusion and keep fiddling with Neo-Nazi the games of deceit while the frustration at their silent conspiracy in the Lowlands brews to a level that invites thousands of jobless Arabs from Iraq (thanks to Obama) who would be glad to roam the nation with big smiles; or walk away from the selfish instincts of their elite while they can and save the nation further episodes of horror.”

In his article “National Unity Requires More Than Mouthing Slogans Awate.com Sept. 03, 2009” he wrote “The circle will hopefully be complete once the Jeberti and Saho organization of Al-Nahda and National Salvation (respectively) stop flirting with the wrong people and start taking bold steps to speak up for their true constituents and for their brothers in the cause and the faith and join hands with the other ethnic groups to bring an end to the pain and humiliation of Tigrigna ethnic supremacists that no other ethnic group knows better than the Jeberti and the Saho”.  He continued in his ethno-religious rampage in the following piece, “I can’t wait to see if after the “national” conference, Ahmed Nassir and Abdalla Adem will stand up to speak for the Sahos and the rest of their fellow Muslims who need them most; or if they will continue to become the Pappagallo of the EDP-EPP to reprint the statements of “forced involuntary settlements” that they have been publishing in defense of the Land Grabbers simply because the victims this time were the unrelated Kunamas and Western Lowlanders. I have no doubt that our Sahos have more courageous people than they need to kick these guys in the behind and get them moving on the right path to lead those who need their leadership in feeling proud of who they are.”

Dear reader, tell me who acted as a kerosene.  Do you believe the Kebesa or Christians are Neo-Nazis or skin heads?  Brother Saleh and the awate team directly or indirectly own those messages of hate.  Hate message is not about freedom of speech but about vengeance, insightful, and crime.  I am not sure if brother Saleh was consulted by Mekele ethnic organizers before he made the ethnic row calling.    

In principle I don’t believe in writing personal issues but this one I am forced to share with the public.  It was July 18, 2009 that I received an email from brother Saleh in response to my email in regards to Ali Salem’s writing.  For public information, brother Saleh included portion of my email in his article in August 12, 2009 and I never responded to his acts.  The content of my email was for him to play a bridge, a Kerenite value, not a divider.  The following is a quote that he attached in his response, “NB: “O’Lord, save me from my friends, I know how to deal with my enemies.”   Now, help me in identifying who are the enemies here?  Are the Kebesa and tigryna the enemies?  That couldn’t be for he is a kebesa himself.  He must then was talking about the Christians.  That couldn’t be either because he was a Jehovah witness convert himself in his teen years.  I am out of reasons then and I am leaving it to the reader.

In his recent article, “Good News, Bad News and Ngst Hanna, awate.com August 3, 2010” Gadi wrote, “Those whose fathers were instruments in oppressing our fathers now want to oppress us, and worse, they are grooming their children to oppress our children.”  Does this tone sound to you like Ali Salim’s?  Do you believe that was a hate message as well?  I thought I found my lost answer for the enemy saga.  Is brother Saleh talking about the Christians oppressing the Moslems for generations?  I am not sure if he has the answer as to when, how and where this had happened?  In fact it is very interesting to witness how the onion layers are peeling to give us the real personality.

 From Beeves and Butthead cartoon show!

“Hreeeeer dea belu’ember”, I am not sure what to make of this psychotic expression.  It is as good as it gets.  It is very cartoonish.  It was in Gadi’s article, “Good News, Bad News and Ngst Hanna, awate.com August 3, 2010”.  Since he was talking about his book, I would like to pass my congrats for his accomplishment.  Given his background it is a milestone for him.  I also want to applaud him for his push marketing tactics, quite transformation from sand marketing.  If brother Saleh is preaching us about retail, I suggest he takes baby steps and focus in his fulfillment terms for there are far more retail experts in both bricks and clicks.

In conclusion, people are not measured by what they say but rather by what they do.  Integrity is not a make up that can be replaced by different color every time.  It is the value of someone that defines them.  I am glad brother Gadi is talking about integrity and honesty.  They are the only investments that never fail.  I hope he is courageous enough to hold his ground and take my challenge.  Here is my challenge to my friend; tell the world about the awate defense fund, condemn Ali Salem for calling Christians Neo-Nazis and skin heads, and apologize to Christians for willingly allowing Ali Salem to demonize them.  These are the ABC of integrity and honesty and invest in them wisely.

Integrity is not a lip service but a way of life!