Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, has made a cabinet reshuffle today and appointed Debretsion Gebremichael, the notorious spy and member of Meles Zenawi’s death squad, as a deputy prime minister. Another TPLF politburo member, Teodros Adhanom, is appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

This is a major blunder on Hailemariam’s part since Debretsion is not only a criminal who was responsible for carrying out assassinations for Meles Zenawi, he is a threat to Hailemariam’s own authority.

On top of being a serial killer, Debretsion’s crime include keeping 99.5 percent of Ethiopians in the information dark age by limiting their access to information technology as Minister of Communication. Because of the policies implemented by him, Ethiopia’s information technology sector is one of the least developed in the world.

The promotion of Debretsion to the deputy premiership is further proof that Ethiopia is sliding deeper into tyranny even after khat-junkie dictator Meles Zenawi is gone.

However, Hailemariam may not have a choice in the matter in the first place. It is likely that he was forced by TPLF to make such cabinet appointments.