Fake doctor Tsegaye Ararssa is dangerous ( By Tariku Beyene )

For the last few years, Mr. Tsegaye Ararssa enjoyed spreading highly inflammatory tantrums pretending that he was a world-class scholar with a PhD from the prestigious Melbourne Law School. But what he was doing was appealing to machete-rattling hate groups and mobs until his facade and masks fell apart. He is now shaking in his boots in Melbourne where he is seeking asylum.

Following recent revelations that “Doctor” Tsegaye Ararssa was faking his academic credentials and title that he claimed to have received from Melbourne Law School, some of his fanatic social media followers are now busy with their campaign on his behalf that lighted up Facebook and Twitter.

The campaign, “We are all Dr. Tsegaye Ararssa” was aimed at countering the serious allegations of flagrant deception the “doctor” is facing. Nonetheless, the online effort has proved to be futile as the University of Melbourne issued a statement about Mr. Ararssa. Anyone, can confirm this by contacting the university, as I did.

Curious about the real cause of the scandal, I reached out to the university. The university emailed me the same statement that spread on social media. The statement reads: “Thank you for contacting the University of Melbourne with your concerns.  We take them seriously and are considering them further in accordance with the University’s governance framework.

“At this time we can confirm that Tsegaye Ararssa has not completed his doctoral studies and has not received a doctorate from the University of Melbourne.

“Mr Ararssa is not an employee of the University of Melbourne. All students of the University must comply with our Student Conduct policy, which can be found at: https://policy.unimelb.edu.au/MPF1324”

In fact the statement has clearly stated that Mr. Ararssa did not complete his doctoral studies. It turned out that he dropped out three years ago and never returned after failing to fulfill the requirements to rap up his studies in order to earn a PhD.

The university also noted that he has not received a doctorate degree from its law school. Another claim that the university has refuted is that he is an employee of the university, contrary his repeated claims.

Apparently, Mr. Ararssa is facing further scrutinies and investigations as a group of Ethiopians in Australia have filed multiple complaints over his hateful and divisive messages that are being linked to violent ethnic attacks in Ethiopia.

Mr. Ararssa first declared that he successfully completed his doctoral studies at the University of Melbourne in December 2015. Jawar, another polarizing hate preacher, posted a congratulatory message on December 6, 2015 which was widely shared. “Congratulations to our own Tsegaye Ararssa who successfully completed his PhD at Melbourne Law School. I am eagerly awaiting to read his dissertation titled “Presenting Absence: The Figure of the Oromo in the Constitution of Ethiopia.”

In January 2016, Mr. Ararssa appeared on ESAT with Sisay Agena and repeated the now discredited lies that he received his doctoral degree from Melbourne Law School and claimed that he was also lecturing at the school.

Despite the fact that his fanatic followers are still calling him “doctor”, he has not yet apologized for his fraudulent and deceptive activities. Instead of doing the right thing, the shameless man tries to preach about morality and ethics. In a recent social media post, he wrote about false narrations, inconvenient truth, tales and myths.

Speaking of inconvenient truth, why is Mr. Ararssa living a big lie? Why can’t he confront the inconvenient truth? The only time he tried to address his own scandal was on social media. However, the hate preacher was vague and cryptic.

“Tsegaye Ararssa should not be a subject of discussion of any sort let alone a site of political point scoring. We need to beware of the tactic of distraction,” he wrote.

The fake doctor had even the audacity to transfer his own scandal to the “people” that every lunatic hate preacher desires to own like a herd of cattle. “Since 2015, every time our adversaries lose the argument on the political agenda of the time, they discuss the personalities involved in this debate, mainly to silence us, to vilify the cause we stand for, and to humiliate the people whose cause we ‘represent’–the people they are increasingly acting and speaking against,” he lamented.

If anyone pretends to be what he is not, the personality matters before the message. A dishonorable man should not try to define the fate of millions of many vulnerable people. Mr. Tsegaye’s contribution to the Burayu massacre is hard to ignore. Hate preachers are as guilty as the brutes agitated by messages from someone like Mr. Ararssa who seems to have an influence on organized mobs.

Mr. Ararssa doesn’t lack knowledge. The one thing that he failed to get is a PhD. His project to earn a PhD started over 16 years ago. He joined a PhD program at the University of Amsterdam in 2003. But he dropped out after a few years. He gave conflicting reasons why he pulled out of the race. In 2011, he joined the University of Melbourne. The Melbourne Law School is known for its strict standard and rigor. If one falls below the expected standard, they are out.

According informed sources, Mr. Ararssa was wasting a lot of time preaching hatred and missed critical deadlines. He also had serious issues with his professors. Apparently, the university pulled the plug on him and showed him the door for his poor performance and failing to meet the requirements to earn a PhD. As a matter of fact, anyone can start a marathon, but they cannot declare themselves a champion after pulling out in midway.

Educated or not, Mr. Ararssa is certified to be good at spreading venom and inciting ethnic violence. For that matter, inciting violence needs no diploma. It is obvious that his toxic rants are dangerous not only to the poor people being displaced and killed because of ethnic conflicts but also to himself. The severe consequences of inciting bloody conflicts, in a country where ethnic relations is extremely delicate, must not be underestimated.

Anyone should not argue with Mr. Ararssa before he stops telling lies to himself. As the saying goes, never argue with someone who believes their own fat lies. His grandiose delusions is certainly worsening. He definitely needs help as he is a danger to himself as his illusions about his greatness are totally shattered.