Hagerfiker Commentary

11/22/2006

Ever since Solomon Tekalign revealed to the public the mythical EPPF the world of the diaspora politics has been dealt a political death sentence.

What Solomon Tekalign managed to do was bring into the public sphere the dirty game the CUD in diaspora leadership was playing. It all seems clear now but during the past year the reality was as clear as mud. To some the CUD diaspora leadership seemed committed and principled. They appeared as if they were prepared to sacrifice all they had to further the objectives of their agenda and party. Their supporters seemed prepared to trust their wisdom and foresight. To that end millions of dollars was raised and entrusted to the wise leaders.

In reality it appears that the agenda of these principled leaders was to position themselves to acquire through deception countless amount of dollars raised to challenge the EPRDF. The folks lucky enough to have been put in these positions for the most part are personally wealthier today than one year ago. From CUD’s own mouth $850,000 dollars is missing an unaccounted for. We at Hagerfiker contend that figure is in the millions.  Furthermore, no one knows who collected the monies, what accounts they were deposited into.

It was a matter of time before this information became public. That day has come and passed. The casualties of that revelation are mounting by the day. There seems no end to this grand robbery. Instead of conducting an investigation using the proper authorities, such as the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, the same elites are preparing another scheme to raise another One million dollars. Lord have mercy on those naïve enough to be fooled again. We are completely shocked by the brazen behavior of the CUD leadership. We would think that the leadership would do whatever it could, including utilizing the proper law enforcement agencies to recover the missing funds and hold accountable the thieves who stole the money. Instead these folks have decided to lay the ground work for another day light robbery. Seriously, folks what in the world is going on? How can this enlightened leadership just forget about $850,000.00 (US dollars) and start from scratch. What are they hiding from the public? If somebody stole $50.00 from the Hagerfiker Radio Budget, we would lock the door and conduct a full investigation. We would balance our check books and consult with a financial advisor. We would leave no stones unturned. Now we are talking about $50.00 not $850,000. If we lost $850,000 dollars the police would be conducting that investigation. Furthermore we would not dare ask our supporters for more money until we were able to account for how and why the monies were lost. This is what they call accountability, responsibility and honesty.

The fund raising phenomenon is also being pushed in certain Paltalk rooms. For instance, one room is currently conducting a fundraising to expand the room to host more people. The current free room can hold up to 250-300 people at any given time. As most of you know with very few exceptions the room usually has an average of 85-125 people at any given time. Sometimes when they have a special guest the room may fill up and prevent others from entering the room. By far, this is the exception rather than the rule. The fund raising according to the room owners, will require anywhere from a few thousand dollars to as much as $15,000. We seriously question those figures and warn the participants to think hard about who they send their money to. We hear that on a daily basis they announce the names of the people who have made contributions. What folks have to keep in mind is that all the names in Paltalk are nicknames, nobody knows who is who. Furthermore, beware of the old Shabia tactic these Paltalkers have learned. Back in the days Shabia used to raise funds by using a tactic of shame. During fundraising events a few pre-selected collaborators would stand up in front of the audience and pledge an incredible amount of money. Of course these people are only making that pledge to pressure others to contribute. Some women used to take off all their gold and give it to the leaders in the audience (they later got them back after the fundraiser). These actions almost always roused up emotions from the other innocent participants forcing them to pledge monies they neither had nor could afford. These days Paltalkers are using the same tactic. They announce so and so contributed this much. That person then gets all kinds of compliments and respect. Others feeling the heat also make pledges and actually send the money. Folks have to realize that someone is laughing all the way to the bank with their money.

All we want to say to folks is to think hard about your hard earned money. Ask yourselves why in the world you want to contribute to an organization who officially has misplaced $850,000.00 dollars. Ask yourselves why the leaders are not seriously pursuing the recovery of those funds and the prosecution of the thieves. Be wise and be wary of these modern day pirates. Save your money and spend it on yourselves.