Book Review: “Erkab Ena Menber” (እርካብ ና መንበር)

Prologue: The book titled “Erkab Ena Menber”(እርካብ ና መንበር ) was written in
Amharic language by DRAZ and published in 2017. The book has four parts and seven
chapters. The author used penname called DRAZ (ዲራአዝ) and there is a widely held
postulation that this name is acronym representing the names of the author and the
names of his family members: Deborah (daughter), Rakeb (daughter),Abiy (the author),
and Zinash (wife). In the Commemoration section of the book, the author said the book
serves as attribute to Tizita and Zinaye, who are the sources of his life and love. These
two women are assumed to be his mother and wife respectively. Therefore, all the
circumstantial evidences show that the writer of the book is the current Chairman of
EPRDF and Prime Minister of Ethiopia Dr. Abiy Ahmed and believed by many that way.
Even though I am not aware that this assumption has been denied or rebutted by Dr.
Abiy, in this review, I respect the choice of the author and call him either by the name on
the book (DRAZ) or refer to him simply as “the author”, or “the writer”, or “he”.

The Title of the Book- The title of the book (ErkabEnaMenber) (Stirrup and Throne) is
the good choice to reflect the content of the book. According to the online Abyssinica
Dictionary,Erkab (እርካብ) is defined as supporter of a rider's feet,
stirrup(ወደ ኮርቻ ላይ ለመውጣት በእግር አውራ ጣት ረግጦ የሚወጣበት ርካብ(ረከበ ወጣ))and
member (መንበር) is defined as royal seat, monarch's chair, throne, political seat, chair of
monarch or bishop, power, rank, and privileges of a monarch
(መቀመጫ የታቦት ዙፋን ጠረጴዛ ወይም ወንበር (ነበረ ተቀመጠ መንበር)). In a nutshell, the
book is about where to step and how to ascend to power and be there.

Preface: In the preface (pages xi-xiii), the author mentioned that Ethiopia has
thousands of years of history and civilization. However, he didn’t tell us how many
thousand years and from which year the counting of that thousands starts. He argues
that Ethiopia’s situation got from bad to worse because of misguided political and
economic policies and accuses the past governments of Ethiopia which he said brought
catastrophe to the country. He blames the current generation for failing to be like their
fathers and forefathers. He tried to set the stage by portraying Ethiopia of the past as
civilized and glorious than the current one.

Introduction:In the introduction part of the book (pages xv-xix), the author provided
the definitions of the two words (Erkab and Menber) he used for the title of the book.
These definitions are similar with the definitions given above. He stressed the
importance of stepping upon stirrup to get the desiredpower. He discussed about the
importance of power and argued that political, economic, and social powers are the key
engines and instruments to have an authority. Power comes before leadership and
leadership uses power to achieve objectives. Regarding exercising power, he said, there
are two extreme leadership types and gave an examples of these two opposite
extremes—Hitler and Idi Amin on one extreme and Gandhi and Mandela on the other.

Videos From Around The World In this

section,
the author also explained about the objective of the book which is to discuss about
power and authority, to list the threats and calls of our era, to get away from
entrapment politics and exercise politics which is free of partisanship and dogmatic
political ideology. He arguesthat Ethiopia’s situation is going from bad to worse
(kedituwedematu) and the country is sinking in the sea of darkness. He sees today’s
Ethiopia as a country whose light became dim, whose body temperature became cold,
and a destitute country bent like a bow with problems. To change this situation, he
advises the current generation to get prepared to be servant leaders.

PART ONE: Part one of the book starts with a quote “We cannot solve our problems
with the same level of thinking that created them” by Albert Einstein. This calls for a
change in the way we think and the way we do things. To achieve positive results, the
change should be progressive not regressive; for a better not for worse. The attempt to
take Ethiopia backward in the name of “Ethiopian renaissance” or “ making Ethiopia
great again” widen the gap between peoples in Ethiopia rather than narrowing it and
we can’t solve the problems of Ethiopia which the author listed with the level of
thinking that created them and that wishes to take the country backward. Therefore, the
quotation he used and the argument he made do not support each other.

1. Chapter One (Facing the Threat and Call of the Epoch): In this chapter (pages 2-
15), the author repeated his argument about Ethiopia having thousands of years of
history. We are not sure if he is equating the current Ethiopia with Axumite Kingdom
or Abyssinia or really talking about the current Ethiopia because he didn’t tell us
when the country called Ethiopia was established with a defined territory, people
called Ethiopian citizens, and central government. These are important factors to
define a country as a country. He argues that our knowledge is the source of our
problems rather than being solution to our problems. According to the author,
religious and ethnic based conflicts in today’s Ethiopia are led by educated and
degree holder Ethiopians.

In this chapter, the author listed major threats or problems that our world has
including conflicts, terrorism, extremism, poverty, migration, child mortality, and
computer virus and argues that these threats lead the people into despair which in
turn led to the election of individuals like President Donald Trump. According to the
writer, our world is in the darkness before the dawn and in labor to give birth to an
inevitable change.

2. Chapter Two (Heroism, Adventurous Cruelty, and Adventurous Sincerity): In

this chapter (pages 17-26), the author discussed about the meanings of heroism and
adventurism. He says, in most societies, heroism is associated with killing. He refers
to Alexander the Great to explain heroism, to Adolf Hitler to explain adventurous
 cruelty and to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandel to explain adventurous sincerity.
He said Ethiopia had many adventurous cruel and adventurous sincere leaders and
individuals, and listed some of them in chapter four of the book.

PART TWO: Power comes before a leader; power to be practical, it shall wait for a
Leader

3. Chapter Three (Power and Authority): In this chapter three (pages 28-45), the
author discusses about the lust for power and authority. He discusses the love
Emperors Tewodros II, Yohannes IV, Menelik II, and Hailesellassie I had for power
and how they put their own interests for power and authority above the interest of
the country. He mentioned Emperor Yohannes IV whom he said cooperated with the
British forces that killed Emperor Tewodros II as an example.

By referring to Holy Bible and Nichol Machiavelli’s book, The Prince, he mentioned
that human beings are naturally not thankful for what have been done for them and
emphasizes on the importance of using “stick” than love to be revered. He also
discusses about the importance of having double personalities- the visible and
concealed personalities. He says, the leader should use visible personality to win the
support of the people in good times and should use the concealed personality when
there are revolts or treasons. He says, if the choice of immersing one’s hands either
into water or fire is given to an individual, no reasonable person can choose to
immerse his or her hands into a fire; no one would like to wake up the sleeping devil
against him or her.

In this chapter he also discusses the need to be shrewd, to keep one’s plan for power
in secrete, and navigate carefully to take power and get authority because power
and authority cannot be attained easily. This reminded me Sun Tszu’s advice in his
Art of War which says “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when
you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” This strategy worked for some of the leaders. For
example, as Dr. Abiy himself told us on public television, he had been planning for a
long time to become a head of government of Ethiopia (Prime Minister) and he kept
that plan in secret (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTMA4jvFp78&t=5s).
However, he advised others not to hide their plan to take power. This is also another
strategy to know who is who and to know who is planning to do what.

The author listed some of the strategies and tactics that help to defeat
enemies/opponents, to take power and authority, and stay in power and authority.
These are:
a. To win over your opponents by generating new ideas and to make them come
to your side;
b. If your opponent is not submitting to your ideas, design alternative strategy;
c. Bark on your opponents like a dog and give them a way to escape/ to go away;
d. Set a hidden trap for your opponent and make sure it is defeated for once and
for all to the extent it will not come back again and bother you;
e. People are selfish. Therefore, use bait (enticement benefits) to take them where
you want and then throw them away;
f. Get your objectives implemented through diplomatic ways;
g. Put pressure on your opponent to accept your terms and conditions;
 h. Build your capacity and get ready to face problems coming from your
opponents;
i. Get your objectives implemented using legal system;
j. Use coercive force as needed.

He also discussed about the use of power and authority in general and mentioned
that in some countries, especially in developing countries, the provisions written in
the constitution are simply to give cover for the actions of the government.—in
realty, law enforcement institutions and religious institutions are horses
thatgovernments ride.

4. Chapter Four (Power and Authority in Ethiopia):The writer started this chapter
(pages 47-73) by repeating again the stereotype of three thousand years history of
Ethiopia, the number that never changes over years. He discussessource and usage
of power and authority in Ethiopia. He explained that the group which came to
power through the support of military and religion claimed that its linage is connect
to King Solomon of Israel and anointed by God. It made the God fearing people to
obey without resistance.He argues that the followers of kingship system
intentionally divided the people and led them to war along ethnic and religious lines
and divided them along class lines.

The author also discussed the attemptsto change adventurous cruel actions to
adventurous sincere actions by praising adventurous cruel actions in music,
literatures, books, over the radios and televisions, by presenting cruel actions as
genuine and sincere actions, and by feeding poisons coated with honey to this
generation.

The author criticizes the killing of the officials of Hailesellassie’s government by the
leaders of the 1961 coup.He argues that the action of the leaders of the coup pushed
Hailesellassie who had previous experience in killing his opponents like Lij Iyasu
Michael and Belay Zeleke to kill the leaders of the coup including General Mengistu
Neway.He argues that Ethiopian political history is full of adventurous cruel actions
and this is deeply rooted in the culture of the Ethiopian peoples who praise the
killers and territorials like lion. He used the commendationthat some individuals
give to Emperor Tewodros and the cruel actions he perpetrated against his
opponents/enemies including burning them alive, cutting their hands, legs, tongues,
ears, throwing them off the cliff, killing them by chopping with knife, and denying
the families of the victims the right to mourn for their loved ones. He said Derg got
the experience of killing opponents and depriving the families of the victims the
right to mourn from Emperor Tewodros.

The writer presented Emperor Tewodros as a representative of adventurous cruel

leaders and argued that the claim which says Emperor Tewodros worked to unit
Ethiopia doesn’t hold water because the person who was left without supporters
because of his cruel behavior could not be a unifier. He also rejected the excuses of
the spirit of the time when Tewodros committed these cruel actions which are
unacceptable by any standard at any era,presentation of the death of his wife as a
cause of change in his behavior,and the good job he did in building canon. He argues
 these are simply futile attempts to change adventurous cruelness to adventurous
sincerity.

The writer also presented Emperors Hailesellassie and Menelik II as well as Colonel
Mengistu as other examples of adventurous cruel leaders of Ethiopia and argued
that adventurous cruelness and adventurous sincerity are two sides of a coin and
explained that the Ethiopian leaders whom he said adventurous cruel leaders were
also adventurous sincere leaders. He also strongly advocated for the unity of
Ethiopia and its peoples.

PART THREE: Those who will be leaders start their leadership role today

5. Chapter Five (To use Power and Authority You Must be True Leader): In this
chapter five (pages 78-119), the author identified three most important
characteristic of a leader in a top government power-- 1) to generate useful ideas, 2)
taking the interest of the country and citizens as a center of its actions, and
3) informed decision making. The author provided long list of what he believes the
characteristics of good leader:

a) To love the people he leads;

b) To be governed by principles;
c) To avoid procrastination;
d) To generate new ideas and to be a person whom others like to follow;
e) To win the trust of others including supervisors;
f) To have a vision and to believe in one’s vision;
g) To choose a right place where to be a leader;
h) Networking and recruiting supporters;
i) Knowing who is who and what to get from who;
j) To be capable, to be ready to learn and to excel;
k) To be likable;
l) To know one’s strengths and weaknesses;
m) To get out of your comfort zone;
n) To mobilize supporters and be in the driver’s seat ;
o) To make your speeches convincing and refrain from criticizing others
unnecessarily;
p) Be visible, use media to sell your ideas and to advertise your achievements;
q) To show love, compassion, and concern to others to attract them;
r) To know the timing and the limit;
s) Consider alternatives; life has many choices;
t) To know yourself, your talent, and to listen to your gut feeling or intuition;
u) Self-control
v) To know the right alignment;
w) To build self-confidence- know what to do and what not to do;
x) To be inclusive;
y) To have integrity;
z) Ability to plan and to follow up the implementation of the plan.

On pages 110- 119, the writer tells us Nasrudin’s story of “Lamp and the Key”,
discusses pieces of disconnected issues such as neo-colonialism,transnational,
 companies, film industries, liberal journalism, developmental journalism, and other
issues not related with the topic of the chapter. These 10 pages affected the flow and
quality of the book.

6. Chapter Six (A Prophet is Not Honored in His Own Country; Great Leader is Not
Always Loved by His People ): The author used the expression of Jesus as written
under Matthew 13:57 and Mark 6:4 as a title for this chapter (pages 121-135).
According to the teaching of the Holy Bible, when Jesus started preaching in
Nazareth, he was not accepted by the residents of Nazareth among whom he lived
and who knew him as the son of carpenter, not as Messiah. As writtenunder
Matthew 13: 54-57 “Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their
synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these
miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s
name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his
sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense
at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own
town and in his own home”.This is simply to give the context to the title and let’s
move on to our review.

In this chapter, the writer explained how Moses who had been adopted by Egyptian
Prices and grown up in privilege turned against Egyptian Pharaohs and led the
Jewish people from Egyptian slavery to “the promised land”and how rebels from the
inside become liberators from suppression. This is a valid argument and Team
Lemma that came out of EPRDF and dramatically changed EPRDF is the best
example in this regard. He also explains the need to be ready to assist and lead the
change that comes out of dissatisfaction of people and to accept the challenges
which may come from the two extremes—from the oppressor like Pharaoh who
objected the liberation idea of Moses andfrom the oppressed that are liberated but
oppose the change and want to go back to the previous conditions like Jewish who
blamed Moses and asked him that they want to go back to Egyptian slavery. He
presented Moses as an example of good leader.

The other person whom the author presented as an example of god leader in this
chapter is President Park Chung-hee of South Korea. The author glorified President
Park who was a military General that came to power in 1961 through coup and
known for his authoritarian way of ruling and assassinated in 1979. He argued the
New Community Movement (SaemaulUndong) launched on April 22, 1970 by
President Park to modernize rural economy united every South Korean regardless of
race, religion, language, and ethnicity. I think the author wrote this to create an
example for Ethiopia because South Korea has homogenous people with only one
race, one language, and one ethnic group.Here, I observed factual deficiency.

It is undeniable that under President Park (1963-1979) the South Korean

Government promoted the import of raw materials and technology, saving and
investment over consumption, kept wages low, and directed resources to export-
oriented industries and these contributed to the fast economic growth.However, the
credit of that economic growth shouldn’t be given only to his leadership because
there were many factors which played into that. For example, following the end of
Korean War of 1950-1953, South Korea emerged as one of the key allies in the Cold
 War to fight communism and there were huge foreign aid (both financial and
technical) flow into South Korea until early 1980s which contributed to its fast
economic growth. The Confucianteachings of love for a country and hard work and
social system also had its role. However, like the rest of the advocates of the idea of
“Developmental State” including the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi,the author
exaggerated the contribution of President Park who is the controversial person in
Korean history to the fast economic growth of South Korea in 1960s and 1970s.

In this chapter, the author over simplified the relationship of Government and the
people by saying that “government and people are like a family who live in the same
house”.

PART FOUR: “If You Don't Know Where You Are Going, Any Road Will Take You
There” George Harrison

7. Chapter Seven (The Oars by which the Boat of our Political Economic Ideology
is Steered and the Uncertain Destination): In this chapter seven (pages 139-162),
the author discussed four political ideologies (socialism, social democracy,
neoliberalism, and revolutionary democracy) and the concept and result of
developmental state. Out of the four political ideologies, he chosen neoliberalism
and revolutionary democracy as relevant ideologies for Ethiopian situation and
discussed in more details. He criticized neoliberalism and concluded that it is not a
preferred choice for developing countries. However, the arguments he presented to
discredit liberal ideology are not strong.

In his detailed discussion, the author used revolutionary democracy which is a

political ideology and the concept of developmental state interchangeably. He didn’t
tell us the similarities and differences of revolutionary democracy and
developmental state policy and how they are related.He also didn’t tell us whether
the countries he listed as the implementers of developmental economic policy(South
Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore) used revolutionary democracy as their political
ideology or not.

Farewell: In the farewell section of the book (pages 164-173), the author discusses life
and death and mentions about the importance of doing something valuable before we
die. In this section, he also discussed road and bridge, science and technology, the need
for knowledge and honesty. I expected to see the concluding remarks about stirrup and
throne (how to ascend to power) in this last section of the book, but I couldn’t find
them.

Commentaries on the back of the book: On the back of the book, the opinions of two
individual were given. The reviewer by the name of Dr. Miheret Debebe said DRAZ
simplified the hard leadership secrete and shared with us. The reviewer by the name of
Dr. Abdulrezak Muhiyedin said DRAZ is the first Ethiopian to provide us illustrative
sources of modern threats and their solutions in a good language.

Epilogue: The book was written in simple and beautiful language and this shows writer’s
ability of command of the Amharic language. The author used parables and stories to
illustrate some of his ideas; quotations, songs, and figures to support some of his
arguments, and parallelism writing style to attract the readers. These make the book
interesting for readers. In this 173 page book, I noticed only one minor typo on
page148.This shows that the manuscript of the book was well proof read and the
seriousness of the author on what he is doing.

The book is about politics, leadership, history, and motivation. Except chapter seven, all
chapters of the book are connected and the flow of ideas is good. I recommend the book
to readers.