By Teodros Kiros
The miserable life of Ethiopians is replete with facts such as:
- Ethiopia is ranked at 210th out of a total of 210 countries.
- That Ethiopia by any measure is the 2nd poorest nation in the world.
- That it is at the bottom of the list of the three weighed indicators of well-being.
- That 64.9% of school children are not enrolled.
- In health, child mortality, it stands at 38%.
- 85.7% lack electricity.
- 54% do not get any clean water.
- 89.5% do not have any cooking oil.
- It has one of the smallest economies in Africa inspite of its population, accounting only for the continent’s 1% National domestic product.
- 90% of the nation’s 77 million people live below the poverty line (Getachew Begashaw, “Acute Poverty amidst “Double Digit Economic Growth”: Contradiction in Terms, Addis Voice, 2010)
Yet the regime is daring us, when it has selected Boston and Los Angeles as cities in which to display its vacuous new five-year plan.
The gruesome facts above should have been attended to twenty years ago, and by now nine of the points above could have been reduced to at least one half and yet twenty years later Ethiopians are still saddled with this primitive existence unfit for animals. The Prime Minister is more concerned to clean his legacy in four more years and fool the Ethiopian people, again and shamelessly with false promises.
Which transformational strategy is going to make Ethiopia free of famine in five years, when the regime had twenty long years of attending to them slowly, carefully and intelligently? Instead, the reality on the ground can be changed only by a total regime change, consisting of new faces, new thoughts, and new transformational strategies.
The new plan may aim at embarrassing the Diaspora opposition but the regime forgets that it will only embarrass itself when its plans are logically attacked by those who know and by those who see through the aim of the caravan of another five year plan and will subject it to a vigorous scrutiny and demand that the regime gives a regime change a real chance for the love and respect of the Ethiopian people.
The new plan does not address the existential and political rights of the people, the violation of their dignities and economic opportunities. Only a civilized uprising can change the reality on the ground, with a new vision of the Ethiopian person, a new political party and most importantly replacing ethnocracy with Ethiopianity.
(Teodros Kiros, PhD, can be reached at [email protected])
20 thoughts on “The gruesome reality Ethiopia’s regime cannot hide”
What a brilliant idea comes out from a real human being!!That is how a human being could think and teach his citizens. Thank you for your constructive advice and I always read your articles whenever I found them on any web pages.
God bless you and the likes who think rightly.
points number 7 and 10.
Number 7 should read “54% do not get any CLEAN water”
Number 10 should read “90% of the nation’s 77 million people live BELOW the poverty line” and not beyond which can give the positive impression of people doing well.
Please tell the good doctor to edit his articles before he submits them for posting on you website. Or Ato Elias please keep an eye out for such editorial mistakes and make the necessary corrections.
Other than that, the article is the same old Blah! Blah! Blah! of those spineless Ethiopians who are just trying to bring a revolution wishfully.
“Only a civilized uprising can change the reality on the ground, with a new vision of the Ethiopian person, a new political party and most importantly replacing ethnocracy with Ethiopianity”.
Well said fellow Ethiopian; that is the demand of the overwhelming majority of the Ethiopian populace.The clock strikes 3.00pm.as I scribble this message, reminding me that evening is here, but more importantly Ethiopians have been under this condition two decades. At this time of the late game Ethiopians are not so much careful about hearing irrelevant propoganda.They simply stress the one thing that will work for them best- regime change now. There is no room for reform within rotten weyane dominated regime.Weyane need to be discarded to the dust bean of history now. Ethiopians have learned from their past misery they have been through a great deal. They learned experimentally the way forward is through the inauguration of a democratic instutitions.Only institutions geared with check and balance can guarantee free expression, free election, law and order. Only such institutions can guarantee citizens to have a say in the affairs of their country. Only such institutions can prevent future corruption and every beurocratic malady that has been characterizes the weyane rule.
It just breaks my heart to see these beautiful people to suffer with no end in sight who were condemned to live in a hard to imagine condition and totally ignored by their own government; a government that doesn’t have the love and affection for the country and people it is ruling.
Well written but how long is possible to terrorize the Ethiopian people, enough is enoug. It is time for every Ethiopian to unite and fight against woyane state terrorism and ethnic politics.
Where is the moral obligation to all Rich Ethiopians inside the country
including Mr. AL-Moudi can they at least help their own people when they
see them feeding from dumpster where is their moral values and we all
knew this regime is enemy of Ethiopia but we should help each other until something better comes a long let us help one another to help the
poor Ethiopians
A minor comment – Number 1 should be clear. 210th from 210 countries interms of what ? I only got the answer looking the original paper by Getachew Begashaw, it should read…
Ethiopia ranked 210th out of a total of 210 countries in terms GNP per capita.
well written the only way to change this is popular uprising
On top of the above facts, Meles Zenawi and Azeb Mesfin are building $82 million mansion to finsihed and ready to be moved in by January 2013. Meles Zebawi has been stealing while the people of Ethiopia live under such misery of feeding off the garbage dump?
MELES Zenawi & AZEB MESFIN have to go!!!
BEKA! BEKA!! BEKA!!!
Indeed, our people are finding themselves facing a horrible, horrible reality. May God help our people back home remove this useless, crazy tyrant, Meles Zenawi!
These should be translated in amharic and oromoiffa distributed to all Ethiopians accross the globe most of all for the woyanne foot soldiers even though they are blinded from their messiah who is hiding in
the minilik palace and fabricated lies all the way for the last 20 years so to say has already creat a gujille of liers who in the meantime enjoys the looted Ethiopian resource as the saying “bere hoy sarun ayehina gedelun satay”
We all share the blame as why Ethiopia stands on those metrics that the writer jotted down. So please stop putting the blames on one party alone.and put forward solutions as what we should to improve the lives of Ethiopians ans Eritreans!!!!!!!!!!
Wouldn’t it be more useful to you to go to those cities and discuss about your people with other diaspora Ethiopians from all walks of life rather than posting such a pessimistic article on websites Mr.Tedros Kiros? Only if we cooperate will we win poverty and not this way. The ones in power can not make miracles. The future of our people is in the hands of all of us, not merely in the hands of those in power. bla bla bla bla
I always enjoy your article Dr. Teodros Kiros.
Short crisp and to the point. This is the kind of article
others have to yearn.
wey gud
#4.George,
“It just breaks my heart to see these beautiful people to suffer with no end in sight who were condemned to live in a hard to imagine condition and totally ignored by their own government; a government that doesn’t have the love and affection for the country and people it is ruling.” you wrote
Mind you that this dictatorial government is not the government of the people and cannot be defined as such even though that is what they would like to project, but is the government of the minority power holding tplf government, governing in favor of Tigrians in general, but without saying (similar to Sirte, Gaddafi’s birth place in Libya) their tiny elites in particular. They have not been elected in a free and fair competitive democratic election and as such are only keeping power by the visible and invisible barrel of the gun being exercised by Wayane military leaders monopolizing the military institutions for the tplf front.
Our people are suffering in silence while Melese and his thugs robbing the country out of it’s foundation.I hope and pray that the revolution we are witnesing in North Africa and Middle East will reach Ethiopia to free our people from these blood suckers who have no shame and willing to sale their country for anyone who offer them money.We have to put aside any diffrent we have and unite to over throw Melse and his cronies before they take our country back to the stone age.
meles has been telling lies, created division and animosity among ethiopian ethnic and religious groups to stay in power for eternity.he has shown hatred and lack of respect for ethiopians.he failed to support ethiopian intersts when ethiopia was in need of a genuine leader.he betrayed ethiopia by collabrating with our adverseries.he he has made life unbearable for most ethiopians except a sellected few who are leading a lavish life style.he is selling out ethiopian farm land for foreiners.the previous ethiopian leaders did not put ethiopian land for sale as the locals donot have enough capilal to compete with foreign nationals.you might remember our history where atse teodros forced foreiners to remove ethiopian soil from their shoes when they leave ethiopia.that is how much our etiopian leaders loved their country.ethiopia.for meles the ethiopian flag is a piece of cloth,and ethiopia is a piece of land which can be sold for any body who is wiiling to buy,and ethiopioans are people who are treated like captors and prisnors in their own country.we are tired of this ethiopia hater.enough is enough.
How?any one regardless whose ethnicity you have seen this sad picture children are feeding from dumpster and taking side with this shameful regime is absurd not only the regime who ever was making profit by supporting this regime starting from Kemalam Al-moudi and others like him need to pay back when time has come.this are human being with no food cloth no education while our political people try to tell us there is 11% economy growth and they were celebrating big on 2000 Millennuim Hall by disregard this poor people and collecting donations in their name as the same time.
[[…tplf government, governing in favor of Tigrians in general, but without saying (similar to Sirte, Gaddafi’s birth place in Libya) their tiny elites in particular….]]
Some of us may not know that but Libya had the highest Human Development Index of any country on the continent of Africa.
Did you know that fewer percentage Libyans live below poverty line than the Netherlands?
Purchasing power of Libyans is $15,000.00; S Africa’s is $5000.00 less than that.
meles monkey agazzi leader & azeb gola(mesfin) sudanisee prostitute must go
weyane/tplf worest fear is for ethiopian & eritrean to work together.
# 1 enemy of ethiopian & eritrean people is weyane/tplf.
long live
ethiopian-eritrean cooperation
end of weyane/tplf is comming