The Ethiopian government Woyanne is proposing a new law to restrict activities of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the country. The law would allow a government agency to assign a police officer or an official to attend any NGO’s internal meetings without a court order.
By Argaw Ashine, Business Daily (Kenya)
It will also authorise the seizing of property, conducting searches and removing NGO staff if their activities are believed to be unlawful. The law excludes international and non-Ethiopian organisations from democracy, human rights, good governance, and conflict resolution activities. Known as Charities and Societies Proclamation, the law restricts local NGOs to source more than 90 per cent of their funding from within the country.
Observers have protested the development, saying the funding clause was unrealistic for a country dependent on high amount of foreign aid.
Most NGOs depend on foreign aid, and local financing is negligible. Western diplomats and donor groups are preparing to request Meles Zenawi, one of the architects and chairman of African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) forum, to reconsider this move which they believe is another attempt at crippling the country’s democracy. After the 2005 post-election crisis, Meles was seen defiant of Western pressure and he described their aid cut as “a shameful act”.
The government has alleged some NGOs affiliated to international organisations operating in Ethiopia have a hidden agenda. Last year, the government expelled the International Red Cross Society from eastern Ethiopia claiming it was involved in “illegal” activities. The charity dismissed the allegations. In the attempts to have the law reviewed, local and international NGOs have appealed to the government for further discussions.
Minas Hiruy, the head and founder of Hope — a local orphanage — has asked the authorities to reconsider the move. “It’s death penalty against us and we are appealing and crying to the government for dialogue before the law is sent to Parliament,” Minas said.
Getnet Assefa, a consultant with the European Union, said a government that receives the highest percentage of international aid lacks the moral stand to disqualify NGOs based on how they get the funds.
Executive director of Poverty Action Network in Ethiopian (PANE), Eshetu Bekele, asked the government to appreciate the role of NGOs towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals. “The government must respect its commitment in various international conventions including NEPAD and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM),” Eshetu said.
Five religious groups have aslo indicated they will be seeking audience with the authorities, saying the development would not only be limiting participation in development activities, but will also threaten religious rights.
Assefa Kesito, Minister of Justice, however, said the law would first be sent to the Cabinet before it goes to Parliament within a “short period of time.”
“We are running out of time to send out the law and they [NGOs] can forward their inputs in the coming days” Assafa added. Assefa said Parliament had until the end of June this year to approve the law.
There are more than 3,000 NGOs covering various sectors in the country. They are estimated to be controlling more than $1 billion.
10 thoughts on “Woyanne to assign one police officer for every NGO”
GOOD JOB EPRDF!!
THANKS,
Weyane has riched the highest dectatorial level.Who can interfer in what they are doing as far us they are serving the western world and their hiden interest?
Zeraf Woyane!!!that is smart move…for minds like abadula abajiraf…hahahaha
The shameless and narrow minded tegray’s people liberation front went crazy and made, because most countries refused to give millions of dollars in aid forms. so tplf has already started attacking all it;s former backers. the whole world tired of TPLF’s begging kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Please watch. There are absolutely truth to what Esaias Says
Watch and deside for your self
http://www.eastafro.com/test.html
How much money do the so called NGOs generate to support the poor? It is estimated around one 1. 5 Billion birr every year. How many NGO are in the country? 3,000. On average how many employees do they have? 5 employees. The average monthly salary per employee is estimated around 6,000 * 12= 72,000 in one year. 72,000* 5 = 360000 slaray expense for each NGO; that amount mulitplied by 3000 NGOs will be 1,080,000,000. Let us say their running cost is 300 million. what is left for the needy people or what ever the NGOs plan to do is 120 million. So what sould be ones conclusion. Either they reduce their total over head cost including salary or let them pack up and go. This must be the decision of any government be it woyane or the coming governments
That is all what a paranoid parochial minority dictatorship is able to do in its attempt to stay in power and keep 80 million good people as its slaves in disgrace.
Folks: The direction and the course of the dictatorship’s journey will ionly be back to the middle ages and down the drains. Any one who tends to expect otherwise and any change of directions to anythiong positive will surely live to see and experience unending hopelessness and painfull disapiontments.
The parochial dictators will soon become increasingly paranoid and start implementing the policies and practices of the late leader of Cambodia, Mr. Pol Pot, who built high barbed wire walls and electrical fences around foreign embassies and all the other foreign residents’ buildings while asigning police agents to follow every single steps of these foreigners every where and listening to every single word of their utterences and whisperings.
During Pol Pot’s three and a half years of rule over Cambodia from 1975-1978, his parochial dictatorial party massacared some two to three million cambodians through mass excutions, mass starvations, and brutal slave labour.
As his government was overthrown, Pol Pot died while on the run on April the 15,1998 in the Thai-Cambodia border area bringing an end to most of the brutal and inhuman chapters of the 20th century.
You wish to compare more or less parochial TPLF with Parochial Pol Pot’s party?
http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/pot.html
Bush leaving office, Darfur rebells punching khartuom,s nose bloody just like that, Somalia and Ogadenias teaching Wayane spicy lessons and thinking of hot persuits of crominals to its base, etc, makes parochial Wayane totally insecure and paranoid and may force the frightened dictator’s to become Ethiopia’s Pol pot. Folks this is not joke!
Unity in diversity by the opposition and transforming killer and paranoid dictatorship is a medicine to cure the sick and tired good Ethiopia.
What are unlawful and lawful activities today in Ethiopia?
Out of fear of being overthrown by the opposition party or foreign power either from Somalia, Eritrea, or from his own political party, Meles Seitanawi has given especial training to about 3,ooo new guardian angels (these are angels of darkness, not angels of light) to guard each None-Governmental Organization working in Ethiopia and helping the Ethiopian people. The duties of these guardian angles are to report the unlawful activities performed by the None-Governmental Organization back to the law-abiding Meles Seitanawi within few hours.
The special responsibilities Meles Seitanawi has awarded to these guardian angels are to identify the unlawful and the lawful activities and execute them professionally. The unlawful activities as defined by Meles Seitanawi and understood by his guardian angels are discovering any foreigner helping the needy Ethiopians, finding any Non-Governmental Organization distributing food, medicine, and water to the hungry, thirsty, and sick Ethiopian children, allowing foreign missionaries to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Ethiopian people, and issuing visas for those who would like to come to Ethiopia to establish a new school, a new hospital, and a new orphanage. These are the unlawful activities, and any person found committing them will go to jail for the rest of his/her life.
The lawful activities include praising the Meles Seitanawi regime for killing the Somalis, the Ogadens, the Oromos, and the Amharas people systematically, printing on the first pages of the Ethiopian newspapers and magazines the names of Meles Seitanawi and the names of his political gangs for holding the country together and for selling the fertile Gondar lands to the Sudanese government secretly, naming Azeb Mesfin the First Lady, preventing the country from holding a fair, lawful, and democratic election in Ethiopia, persecuting or killing members of the opposion party, nationalizing all Ethiopia’s assets and distributing them among Meles, his wife, and his political parties, and silencing each Ethiopian person from speaking politics – all these are lawful activities to be carried out by all subjects loyal to Meles Seitanawi.
The next step Meles Seitanawi is ready to take will be hiring more policepersons for each Ethiopian religious and secular activity. For example, for the Ethiopian New Year, 300 police; for Christmas, 200 police; for Timket, 400 police; for mahiber, 200 police; for ekub, 200 police; for teskar, 200 police; for wedding, 200 police; for funeral, 400 police; for Sunday worship in each Addis Ababa Church, 50 police; and in each Addis Ababa school, college, and university, 25 police; and for each crime suspect government official 2 police to be stationed at the house of such a person. Ethiopia then will become a police state under Meles Seitanawi regime; also, each foreign visitor will be given one police as a guide to certain area.
It is through his police force that Meles Seitanawi is running Ethiopia and staying in power, and it is for such an oppressive Dictator Washington and London are pouring their money, but after these two generous cities have learned the true nature of Meles the beast, they may holt at any time their assistance to the Meles regime. When Meles has no enough money to par for his guardian angels, and for the thousands of his death squad, he will leave office before a bankruptcy hit him and his wife Azeb Mesfin.
So, when one goes to Ethiopia, the first person he sees will be a police person: police in the street, police in the Church, police in the Mosque, police in the Synagogue, police in the schools, police in the market place, police in the stores, police in the brothels, police seating with the beggars, police playing with the school children, police in every meeting, big or small, police in a taxi, police in a bus, police on a bicycle, police in a train, police in the airplane, police in the stadium, police in the hospitals, police in the farmland, police in the recreation rooms, police on the hills, police on the valleys, police in the barbershops, police on every street corners, and police everywhere in Ethiopia, and Ethiopia under Meles Seitanawi will be called the land of police, not the land of peace.
Dear Argaw,
Minas is NOT the “founder” of Hope. He was hired in 1987 as the director of an already established and running program. Please make correction.