Twenty-five-thousand-truck loads of coffee disappeared from the government warehouse this year and Meles Zenawi’s explanation was: “let’s forget about it, but don’t do it again.” Of course he knows, and we all know, who stole the coffee. It’s none other than his own wife, making the act the most {www:brazen} theft of public property this year. Watch Meles Zenawi’s explanation below:
Nonviolent movements are faced every day with stresses in the areas of leadership, fear-management, and avoiding {www:contamination}, so they need to be prepared. They also need to be tactically innovative and choose issues and actions that put the tyrant in dilemmas. … [read more]
(CNN) — Two Swedish journalists who were found guilty in Ethiopia of supporting terrorism were sentenced to 11 years in jail Tuesday, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said.
“Our belief was that the court would think they were journalists and they would be released. This is what the prime minister has said before,” ministry spokesman Anders Jörle said. “It is not fair that they are sentenced since they are journalists on a journalistic mission.”
“They are innocent and have been convicted because of their journalistic work,” said Tomas Olsson, the journalists’ Swedish attorney. “We are very disappointed.”
A court convicted Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye last week.
Ethiopian Woaynne troops captured Persson and Schibbye in July during an exchange of gunfire with a rebel group in the Ogaden, a prohibited region along the nation’s border with Somalia, according to state media.
Ethiopian Woyanne officials accused the journalists of being accomplices to terrorism after the government declared the Ogaden National Liberation Front a terrorist group in June.
Olsson said the 11-year sentence was the lowest possible one for the crimes they were convicted of.
“The prosecutor sought 18 years imprisonment, so if you look at it that way, it is a positive thing that they got the lowest possible sentence,” Olsson said. “But since they are innocent, they are very disappointed.”
Schibbye and Persson have until January 10 to decide if they want to appeal — a process that could take up to two years — or if they want to seek a pardon.
However, Olsson said, if they want to apply for a pardon the two have to admit the crimes, “and since they are not guilty then this is not something they’d want to do.”
Fredric Alm at the Sweden-based photojournalism agency Kontinent, for which the two men work, said they “have a very hard decision ahead of them” in considering whether to appeal or ask for a pardon, but that an 11-year sentence in an Ethiopian prison “could effectively be a death sentence for them.”
Alm added: “The purpose of this verdict is to scare away all journalists from reporting in the Ogaden. But as journalists we have to continue reporting from closed areas. It’s a very sad day for press freedom. It’s a very sad day but it didn’t come as a surprise for us. It’s still a political verdict; it’s not a real trial. It is the (Ethiopian) prime minister who has decided.”
Persson and Schibbye were convicted on two counts: entering the country illegally and providing assistance to a terrorist organization, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Press freedom groups say the two were embedded with the rebels while working on a story about the region.
Journalists and aid workers are prohibited from entering the Ogaden, where human rights organizations say human rights abuses against ethnic Somalis by rebels and Ethiopian troops are rampant.
“The Ethiopian Woyanne army’s answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden,” said Georgette Ganon of Human Rights Watch. “These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity.”
Reporters Without Borders criticized the court’s decision.
“What are the Ethiopian authorities hoping to achieve?” the international secretariat of the group asked. “To discourage anyone from visiting the Ogaden, as these two journalists did? To send a warning signal to the national and international media about the danger of receiving a long jail sentence on a terrorism charge if they attempt any potentially embarrassing investigative reporting?”
“Our starting point is and remains that they have been in the country on a journalistic mission,” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in a statement last week. “They should be freed as soon as possible and be able to rejoin their families in Sweden.”
But presiding judge Shemsu Sirgaga said the two “have not been able to prove that they did not support terrorism.”
“They have shown that they are esteemed journalists, but we cannot conclude that someone with a good reputation does not engage in criminal acts,” Sirgaga said.
Both journalists pleaded guilty to entering the country illegally through Somalia without accreditation, according to the CPJ, which says Ethiopian officials deny media access without government minders.
“We have documented violations of due process and the politicization of their trial,” the CPJ said, complaining that the government pronounced the two guilty even before the trial started.
Amnesty International called for their release ahead of Tuesday’s sentencing.
“There is nothing to suggest that the two men entered Ethiopia with any intention other than conducting their legitimate work as journalists. The government chooses to interpret meeting with a terrorist organization as support of that group and therefore a terrorist act,” said Claire Beston with the human rights group.
In a statement issued in September, Kontinent said that its journalists do not take sides or participate in any conflict and report under international rights regarding freedom of the press, which it believes should be upheld by any government.
The trial against the journalists turned into a fight for press freedom in Ethiopia, according to international journalists’ organizations. In a letter sent to the United Nations, Reporters without Borders accused Ethiopia of using its anti-terrorism law to lessen press freedom and penalize free speech.
“In the name of the fight against terrorism, the government muzzles dissident and critical voices, thus abusing human rights and fundamental freedoms,” wrote the secretary general of Reporters without Borders, Jean-Francois Julliard
Alemayehu G. Mariam
In December 2008, I wrote a weekly column entitled “Groundhog Year in Prison Nation” summarizing some of my weekly columns for that year. I used the “groundhog” metaphor from a popular motion picture in which a hapless television weatherman is trapped in a time warp and finds himself reliving the same day over and over. I wrote:
“2008 in Ethiopia was Groundhog Year! It was a repetition of 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004… Everyday millions of Ethiopians woke up only to find themselves trapped in a time loop where their lives replayed like a broken record. Each “new” day is the same as the one before it: Repression, intimidation, corruption, incarceration, deception, brutalization and human rights violation. Everything that happened to them the previous day, the previous week, the previous month and the previous 18 years happens to them today. They are resigned to the fact that they are doomed to spend the rest of their lives asphyxiated in a Prison Nation. They have no idea how to get out of this awful cycle of misery, agony, despair and tribulation. So, they pray and pray and pray and pray… for deliverance from Evil!
In December 2010, in another column summarizing some of my weekly columns for that year, I rhetorically asked:
It is December 2010, the end of the first decade of the 21st Century. Are Ethiopians better off today than they were in 2009, 2005…2000?
Does bread (teff) cost more today than it did a year ago…, five years ago? Cooking oil, household fuel, beef, poultry, gasoline, housing, water, electricity, public transport…?
Are there more poor people today in Ethiopia than there were a year ago… five years ago? More unemployment among youth, less educational opportunities, less health care?
Is there more corruption, more secrecy, less transparency and less accountability in December 2010 than in December 2009…?
Are elections more free and fair in 2010 than they were in 2008, 2005?
Is there more press freedom today than five years ago? More human rights violations?
Is Ethiopia more dependent on international charity for its daily bread today than a year ago…?
Is there more environmental pollution, habitat destruction, forced human displacement and land grabs in Ethiopia today than there was in 2005?
Are businesses paying more taxes and bribes in Ethiopia today than in years past?
Is Ethiopia today at the very bottom of the global Index of Economic Freedom (limited access to financing, inefficient government bureaucracy, inadequate supply of infrastructure)?
Here is a recap of some of my weekly commentaries for groundhog year 2011 in the Republic of Corruptistan:
The Art of Bleeding a Country Dry
“The people of Ethiopia are being bled dry. No matter how hard they try to fight their way out of absolute destitution and poverty, they will be swimming upstream against the current of illicit capital leakage”, wrote Economist Sarah Freitas of Global Financial Integrity (GFI). US$11.7 billion was stolen out of Ethiopia between 2000 and 2009, according to GFI.
Ethiopians are poor because they have been robbed, ripped off, flimflammed, bamboozled, conned, fleeced, scammed, hosed, swindled, suckered, hoodwinked, victimized, shafted and taken to the cleaners by those clinging to power like bloodsucking ticks on an African milk cow. The fact of the matter is that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Zenawi has absolute power in Ethiopia. Pleading for transparency and issuing moral exhortations against corruption will have no effect on the behavior of Zenawi or any of the other African dictators. Indeed, to plead the virtues of accountability, transparency and good governance with Zenawi and Co., is like preaching Scripture to a gathering of heathens. It means nothing to them.
Death of the Great Ethiopian Patriot Yenesew Gebre
On 11/11/11, Teacher Yenesew Gebre, a 29 year-old Ethiopian school teacher and human rights activist set himself ablaze in Southern Ethiopia. He died three days later from his injuries. Yenesew was protesting the politically-motivated illegal detention of some young people at an official town meeting. He demanded their immediate release. Officials offered him hush money to “go and enjoy” himself, but he refused: “I am not going to sell my conscience. I do not want money. I want my people released.” Yenesew could not take it anymore. Before setting himself on fire, he spoke his peace: “In a country where there is no justice and no fair administration, where human rights are not respected, I will sacrifice myself so that these young people will be set free. I want to show to all that death is preferable than a life without justice and liberty and I call upon my fellow compatriots to fear nothing and rise up…”
But they were not satisfied looking at Yenesew’s ashes; they had to kill him a second time. They scandalized his name claiming he killed himself because he was insane. Yenesew was not insane; he was mad. Mad as hell at dictatorship, human rights violation and abuse of power; and he was madder than hell at state terrorism. Yenesew Gebre had only one choice: “Give me liberty or Give me Death!”
Awramba Times: More Powerful Than….
Awramba Times, the last popular independent weekly in Ethiopia, stopped publication after its outstanding managing editor and recipient of the 2010 Committee to Protect Journalists’ International Press Freedom Award, Dawit Kebede, was forced to flee the country. Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” [Ke shee toregna, aand gazetegna.] For dictator Meles Zenawi, Awramba Times, the tip of the spear of press freedom in Ethiopia, is more to be feared than ten thousand bayonets. Thank you Awramba Times! Thank you Dawit Kebede, Woubshet Taye (recently jailed by Zenawi), Gizaw Legesse, Nebyou Mesfin, Abel Alemayehu, Wosenseged G Kidan, Mekdes Fisseha, Abe Tokichaw and Mehret Tadesse, Nafkot Yoseph, Moges Tikuye, Tigist Wondimu, Elias Gebru, Teshale Seifu, Fitsum Mammo and [not pictured] Ananya Sori, Surafel Girma and Tadios Getahun.
The SEEDs of Hope in the Ethiopian Diaspora
The truth is Ethiopia’s young people are Ethiopia’s future. Nearly 70 percent of the Ethiopian population of 80 million is estimated to be young people (50 percent of them under age 15). An old Ethiopian proverb reminds us: “Our youth are today’s seeds and tomorrow’s flowers. (Ye zare frewoch, ye’nege abebawoch).” For me, the most important question today revolves around these future flowers in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora. Young people want freedom, peace and equal opportunity. They are deeply offended by unfairness and injustice and despise those who abuse their powers. When I look across the proverbial “generation gap,” I see a gap in thinking, attitude and perspective, not age. I became a hopeless idealist [by following in the footsteps of young people]. When you become an idealist, you stand up for your convictions. You preach and teach what you believe in. So I do my best to promote democracy, human rights and freedom in Ethiopia and Africa and elsewhere. I try to be the voice of the voiceless, though some may think I am just a voice in the wilderness.
In what Zenawi describes as “one of fastest growing non-oil economies in Africa,” inflation is soaring; and by mid-2011, Zenawi’s Central Statistical Agency reported that the annual inflation rate had increased by 38 percent and food prices had surged by 45.3 percent. There are more than 12 million people who are chronically or periodically food insecure. Yet, Zenawi is handing out “large chunks” of the most fertile land in the country for free, to be sure for pennies, to foreign agribusiness multinational corporations to farm commercially and export the harvest. This past July, the U.S. Census Bureau had a frightening population forecast: By 2050, Ethiopia’s current population of 90 million will more than triple to 278 million, placing that country in the top 10 most populous countries in the world. It just does not make any sense.
Poor governance, lack of accountability and transparency (a/k/a corruption), lack of citizen participation and the absence of the rule of law are the root causes of extreme and widespread poverty, underdevelopment, aid-dependency, conflict, instability, starvation and injustice in Ethiopia. Have free and fair elections, allow the independent press to flourish, institutionalize the rule of law and maintain an independent judiciary, professionalize and depoliticize the civil service, the military and police forces and Ethiopians will be well on their way to permanently defeating poverty and making starvation a footnote in the history of the Ethiopian nation.
Why are Ethiopians Starving Again in 2011?
On December 21, 1987, Time Magazine on its cover page asked two timeless questions: “Why are Ethiopians starving again? What should the world do and not do?” Famine is not merely a humanitarian catastrophe in Ethiopia; it is a powerful political and military weapon. Ethiopia has been trapped in an endless cycle of dictatorship for decades. Its dictators do not give a damn if the people die one by one or by the millions. Famine is a structural part of the Ethiopian economy because the “government” owns all the land. Famine persists in Ethiopia because massive human rights abuses persist and because Zenawi has succeeded in keeping the famine hidden from public view in a “conspiracy of silence” with Western aid agencies and timid NGOs.
The Fakeonomics of Meles Zenawi
Zenawi’s economic planning is based on juggled figures, massaged statistics and irrational exuberance about overrated and illusory economic development. Systematic falsification of economic data, fraudulent statistics and creative accounting in economic reports have largely gone unchallenged for years by the learned Ethiopian Diaspora economists. The lack of systematic and sustained critique is all the more surprising and baffling given the fact that the economic swagger and wind-bagging about stratospheric economic growth and development comes from a regime not known for its economic “literacy”. Zenawi seems to follow the old principle that “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” (Who believes in make-believe?)
Dictatorship is State Terrorism
Lately, Meles Zenawi, the dictator in Ethiopia, has been rounding up dissidents, journalists, opposition party political leaders and members under a diktat known as “Anti-Terrorism Proclamation No. 652/2009”. State terrorism is the systematic use and threat of use of violence and coercion, intimidation, imprisonment and persecution to create a prevailing climate of fear in a population with a specific political message and outcome: “Resistance is futile! Resistance will be crushed! There will be no resistance!” State terrorism paralyzes the whole society and incapacitates individuals by entrenching fear as a paramount feature of social inaction and immobilization through the exercise of arbitrary power and extreme brutality. In Ethiopia today, it is not just that the climate of fear and loathing permeates every aspect of social and economic life, indeed the climate of fear has transformed the “Land of Thirteen Months of Sunshine” in to the “Land of Thirteen Months of Fear, Loathing, Despair and Darkness”.
Why Do Things Always Fall Apart in Africa?
Things keep falling apart in Africa because over the past one-half century of independence it has been nearly impossible to hold Africa’s so-called leaders accountable. For fifty years, African “leaders” have been telling Africans and the world that Africa’s problems are all externally caused. Africa is what it is (or is not) because of its colonial legacy. It is the white man. It is imperialism. It is capitalism. It is the International Monetary Fund. It is the World Bank. The continent’s underdevelopment, poverty, backwardness, mismanagement are all caused by evil powers outside the continent. The latest re-invention of the old African Boogeyman is “globalization” and “neoliberalism”, which Zenawi claims has “created three consecutive lost decades for Africa”. Things keep falling apart in Africa because of the lack of competent leadership with vision, purpose and integrity. Indeed the common thread that sews the vast majority of post-independence African leaders is not steadfast commitment to good governance and democratic practices, but their incredible sense of entitlement to rule forever and ever and ever.
Thugtatorship: The Highest Stage of African Dictatorship
If democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people, a thugocracy is a government of thieves, for thieves, by thieves. Simply stated, a thugtatorship is rule by a gang of thieves and robbers (thugs) in designer suits. It is becoming crystal clear that much of Africa today is a thugocracy privately managed and operated for the exclusive benefit of bloodthirsty thugtators. In a thugtatorship, the purpose of seizing and clinging to political power is solely to accumulate personal wealth for the ruling class by stealing public funds and depriving the broader population scarce resources necessary for basic survival. Africa’s thugtatorships have longstanding and profitable partnerships with the West. Through aid and trade, the West has enabled these thugocracies to flourish in Africa and repress Africans. The fact of the matter is that the West is interested only in “stability” in Africa. That simply means, in any African country, they want a “guy they can do business with.” The business they want to do in Africa is the oil business, the (blood) diamond business, the arms sales business, the coffee and cocoa export business, the tourism business, the luxury goods export business and the war on terrorism business. They are not interested in the African peoples’ business, the human rights business, the rule of law business, the accountability and transparency business and the fair and free elections business.
Out of Touch in the Horn of Africa?
Western diplomats meeting in Berlin agreed, “The Ethiopian political opposition is weak, disunited, and out of touch with the average Ethiopian.” Who is the “average Ethiopian” whose contact is so highly prized and coveted? It seems s/he has an average life expectancy at birth of less than 45 years. S/he lives on less than $USD 1 per day. S/he is engaged in subsistence agriculture eking out a living. S/he survives on a daily intake of 800 calories (starvation level). S/he can neither read nor write. If s/he is sick, she has a 1 chance in 39,772 persons to see a doctor, 1 in 828,000 to see a dentist, 1 in 4,985 chance to see a nurse. She has little or no access to family planning services, reproductive health and emergency obstetric services and suffers from high maternal mortality during childbirth. She is a victim of gender discrimination, domestic violence and female genital mutilation. She has fewer employment and educational opportunities than the “average” man and is not paid equal pay for equal work. S/he is likely to die from malaria and other preventable infectious diseases, severe shortages of clean water and poor sanitation. The “average” Ethiopian youth is undereducated, underemployed and underappreciated with little opportunity for social mobility or economic self-sufficiency.
It is true that the Ethiopian “political opposition is weak and disunited”. But Western governments seem to be conveniently oblivious of the reasons for the disarray in the Ethiopian opposition. For two decades, Meles Zenawi and his regime have done everything in their power to keep the opposition divided, defeated, discombobulated and dysfunctional. In 2005, he rounded up almost all of the major opposition political and civic leaders, human rights advocates, journalists and dissidents in the country and jailed them for nearly two years on bogus charges of genocide, among many others.
Karuturistan, Ethiopia: The Fire Next Time
“Karuturi’s First Corn Crop in Ethiopia Destroyed,” announced the headline. Karuturi Global Ltd., the Indian multinational agro company, is today the proud owner of “2,500 sq km of virgin, fertile land – an area the size of Dorset, England-” in Ethiopia. Truth be told, Karuturi did not ask for this bountiful giveaway, nor did it lay eyes on it when it was presented with a 50-year “lease” on a golden platter by the ruling regime in Ethiopia. Karuturi was offered the land together with generous tax breaks and other perks for £150 a week ($USD245). Karuturi’s business model is simple: “Ask not what Karuturi can do for Ethiopia, but what Ethiopians can do for Karuturi.” Karuturi is in Ethiopia for only one thing: Profit and more profits. Just as it has built “dikes to enclose its plantations from flood water”, it also maintains a social, psychological and security enclosure to insulate itself from the local Gambella community.
U.S. Africa Policy: Empty Words, Emptier Promises
When Senator Obama became President, his “Africa Agenda” revolved around three basic objectives including “strengthening relationships with those governments, institutions and civil society organizations committed to deepening democracy, accountability and reducing poverty in Africa.” Over the past two years, what we have seen in Africa is a whole lot of deepening repression, human rights violations and corruption in Africa. We have seen very little “accountability, democracy building, the rule of law, judicial reform” and the rest of it. Much to our dismay, upon becoming President Obama morphed from a “confronter” to an accommodator of Africa’s notorious human rights violators. The U.S. should stop subsidizing Africa’s thugtatorships through its aid policy and hit the panhandling thieves in the pocketbook. If the Obama administration is committed to battling corruption as ‘one of the great struggles of our time’, as it has so often declared, it needs to undertake a thorough and complete investigation of aid money given to African dictators. In November 2009, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelley stated that the U.S. is investigating allegations that “$850 million in food and anti-poverty aid from the U.S. is being distributed on the basis of political favoritism by the current [Ethiopian] prime minister’s party.” No official report has been issued to date on the investigation. (Is it unreasonable to suppose that the results of the investigation have not been publicly released because the allegations of misuse of U.S. aid are confirmed?)
The Ultimate Question of 2011 in Ethiopia
The ultimate question of Year 2011 in Ethiopia is not whether “.04” percent of the Ethiopian population is living in the lap of luxury and wallowing in a bottomless ocean of stolen cash. The ultimate question is whether “99.6” percent of the Ethiopian population was able to keep its head above water better than it did in 2010, 2009, 2008…, 2005…2000….
Previous commentaries by the author are available at: www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ and http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
Ethiopians Can Indeed Unite if they are Willing, Part Six (c) of Six
Aklog Birara, PhD
In my capacity as the World Bank Group’s first and only Senior Advisor on Racial Equality (SARE), I had the privilege of representing this multilateral agency in numerous forums around the globe. The issue at hand was racial, gender, religious and other forms of equality, with special emphasis on the mistreatment of people of Sub-Saharan African origin (blacks) around the globe. Whether state sponsored or societal, the economic, social, cultural, psychological and political costs of discrimination and exclusion of any form anywhere in the world are incalculable. Of these, emotionally charged and elite sponsored discrimination and exclusion that arise from ethnic and religious dominance of one group over another proves to be the most explosive.
One of the most memorable of these events was a worldwide conference on racial equality in Cape Town, South Africa, at which I had the chance to learn about the toxicity of ethnic and racial discrimination. Equally, I had the chance to meet the distinguished Nelson humanist and one of the world’s greatest leaders, Mandela, and to learn from him the value of democratic and inclusive leadership. The conference and his words and messages underscored the toxicity of ethnic or racial based governance whether black or white. His is a philosophy to which I subscribe fully; and I believe you should to.
One vital lesson I should like to draw to the reader’s attention is an enduring legacy Nelson Mandela left for all humanity and for a country such as ours that is beset by a minority ethnic elite governing party, the TPLF. This is narrow and self-serving elite that led, created, promoted and nurtured ethnic hatred and division using boogeymen. This, I suggest, is the root and genesis of political, economic and social capture and dominance by a minority ethnic-based elite that has now normalized and institutionalized the abnormal as normal. The normal is representative governance that allows unrestricted participation by each and every citizen. For this to happen, the government and state have to be impartial.
Revolutionary Democracy is nothing less than the dictatorship of narrow ethnic elite over the vast majority of the population. This form of ideology is never impartial. The abnormality of the system includes preoccupation with self-interest, individualism, clannishness, egoism, self-centeredness, nepotism, greed and power, continuous agitation and turmoil that pities one group against another. It is ‘permanent war’ of the kind inherited from leftist ideology and imposed on the entire society.
By definition, the system must subvert and undermine the common good in order to advance and maintain the interests of the elite; and in order to survive and thrive. It has no choice but to create frictions; and or to fabricate scapegoats or culprits to justify repressive actions. National tendencies are antithetical to this philosophy. These values and tendencies undermine meaningful and healthy transformation that emanates from combining forces on fundamentals or on those issues that are common for everyone. Those who reject the system should therefore do the exact opposite: cooperate on basic issues and leave the rest for resolution once the Ethiopian people are in a position to assert their sovereignty.
8. Let us establish a shared understanding of the nature of the political problem: the genesis of ethnic governance and its costs
I suggest in the strongest terms possible that those of us who wish the new generation of Ethiopians a better life, and for the survival of a unified and democratic country have a moral obligation and duty to come together and arrive at a shared understanding of the nature, and origin of the problem that emanates from ethnic minority elite political and economic capture. Let us, for once, resort to the Einstein formula of spending “55 minutes diagnosing the problem” and arrive at a shared or common understanding of what it is that we wish to resolve and fix. It is only then that any group can frame the alternative (the five minute solution) that will serve the Ethiopian people as a whole and lift them out of the quagmire they face today.
Opposition to the TPLF/EPRDF alone is not the same as understanding the nature of the problem and why it persists. As critical, unless and until we have a shared understanding of the problem, arriving at a meaningful and credible alternative the day after is a mirage.
There is no contest that minority elite ethnic governance of the TPLF/EPRDF is the most formidable barrier to long-term peace, coexistence, stability, the welfare and sovereignty of the vast majority of the Ethiopian people. Global indices show that growth has not changed the lives of the vast majority of the population; while it has generated insane levels of incomes and wealth for a limited few. By definition, any political and social group that identifies itself as ethnic is exclusive, corrupt and discriminatory. It is the anti-thesis of the South African and Ghanaian models of democratic governance; and fair play in the national economy.
Measurements, statistics and stories in Ethiopia are mind boggling. Regardless of region, key administrative and other positions are literally manned or staffed predominantly by TPLF, mostly, Tigrean cadres and supporters: from the Prime Minister at the top to chauffeurs and janitors and cleaners in ministries and other offices at the bottom. The façade of democratization at the local and regional levels is shallow. Policies and decisions are made centrally; and implemented locally on behalf of the center. How does the ruling party get away with this type of harmful and oppressive governance for so long? My estimation is that the rest of us are divided and do not have a shared understanding of the nature of the governing party itself. Our division is its strength.
We have a wealth of evidence that confirms that the entire system is corrupt and broken. Yet, opponents are unable to collaborate and cooperate with one another. The system survives by pitying one ethnic or religious group against another. The burning of a church does not occur without the tacit approval of the Federal state and its extensions. The regime uses this and other techniques of divide and conquer to prolong its longevity and to extract more wealth and assets for itself and its supporters. This is the reason for my thesis of permanent suspense as an instrument of dominance.
9. Let us champion the formation of a society free of corruption; and shame the governing party
There will not be sustainable and equitable development in the country unless corrupt practices are eliminated. The prospect of doing this successfully resides in the sovereignty of the Ethiopian people and in the accountability of government officials at all levels. If the situation persists as is, I suggest that incomes will not rise; rising costs will not be contained; domestic production will not correspond to demand; employment will not be created to accommodate the country’s youth bulge; illicit outflow will not stop and so on. The opposite will be true: income inequality and the concentration of wealth and uneven development will be more pronounced than today. Why?
I am reminded of what the British Historian, Lord Acton said. “Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Leaders who have no character–such as honesty, integrity, fairness, empathy for human life and so on–tend to be repressive and more corrupt. “The spiritual nature of man,” said Disraeli “is stronger than Codes of Constitutions.” This “spiritual nature” is totally and irrevocably absent in the entire leadership. They recruit likeminded people to their side. They provide substantial financial and material incentives to leaders of key institutions such as security, police and defense to ensure their survival. Acquiring a privileged status is a critical way of maintaining the system regardless of the cost to the rest of the society. It is here that I should like to broaden the now widely used term of corruption, which we tend to equate only with money. Corruption is more than the diversion and misuse of resources.
The TPLF/EPRDF form of corruption embraces all of the following and more:
• It undermines democratic leaning institutions and culture though nepotism, bribery and kickbacks.
• It encourages brain drain as it sees the benefits of human capital export as an instrument to contain completion, and as a key source of foreign exchange. This reinforces brain drain and minimizes domestic intellectual and talent capacity that is fundamental for sustainable development.
• It corrupts elections and reverses outcomes as was done in 2005; and propagates the notion that it is possible for an ethnic-based party to win 99.66 percent of the votes as was the case in 2010.
• It diverts financial and other resources through institutionalized corruption and milks dry an entire economy and harm the poorest of the poor most. There is no independent oversight for accountability. The system is judge and jury and reinforces itself.
• It facilitates illicit of outflow of more than US$11 billion over the past decade alone; and more than US$3 billion from one of the poorest and least developed countries on the planet. It does not even investigate because investigation will lead nowhere; high officials are among the greatest beneficiaries.
• Its absolute power and the associated occurrences such as corruption and illicit outflow aggravate and deepen poverty, uneven development and inequality. Most Ethiopians are poorer today than they were 20 years ago.
• It intensifies mutual mistrust, crime and instability.
• It reinforces ethnic as well as religious unrest and antagonism. Permanent suspense suits the governing party.
• It undermines national culture such as mutual tolerance and peaceful coexistence, honesty, integrity, humility, the sanctity of human life and so on.
• It implicitly or explicitly allows or promotes dangerous foreign cultural, social and economic penetration and influences such as widespread use of drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and the use of foreign languages at the cost of national languages in educating youth. It condones the export of children and girls to gain foreign exchange and so on.
• It undermines indigenous and nationally oriented development.
• It propagates scapegoats relentlessly, for example, resorting to the notion of irreconcilability among specific ethnic groups and allowing their dispossession and disenfranchisements anywhere and everywhere.
• It undermines national sovereignty and independence by availing well tested Ethiopian soldiers to fight wars across borders.
All of these are indicators of absolute power that corrupts. Corruption is by definition ‘cancerous’ and spreads to the entire fabric of society and deters its healthy and nationally anchored transformation for the better. In this system, leaders who have no character manifest insatiable appetite for incomes, assets and power. This is why I would conclude here that the quest for more incomes and wealth correlates directly to the proclivity to repress and dominate.
This is why political pluralism or democratic governance that emanates from the voices and sovereignty of the people of Ethiopia is the best defense against all forms of corruption. It is the only form of governance that will establish a solid foundation for sustainable and equitable development–even for those who defend the system for temporary gain, often, for crumbs. They should know that a corrupt system is temporal, and will never survive in the long-term. It is in their interest to accept the inevitability and emergence of a just, fair and inclusive system.
The current system that bestows privileged status to a narrowly based ethic elite contains all of the ingredients of a potentially catastrophic social phenomenon that has little comparison anywhere in the world. Part of the reinforcement comes from the diplomatic and donor community that maintains a blind eye to the deteriorating situation in the country. Why?
Primarily two reasons: an incoherent, fragmented and divided opposition that has thus proven incapable of framing and offering a better alternative. Second is the Western and especially US preoccupation with stability in the Horn as an overriding national policy. Dictatorship is preferred over political pluralism and justice. It is the now that predominates national policy. The lack of a viable alternative reinforces the second. This in itself should compel opposition groups whether civil or political to set aside minor differences and speak with one voice on specific national policy issues.
If opponents worked collaboratively and spoke with one voice, they would show to the world that the governing party’s transfers millions of hectares of farmlands and water basins to foreign investors and domestic allies has not and will not boost domestic capabilities and reduce poverty and unemployment. If they cooperated with one another and spoke with one voice, the governing party will not get away with stolen elections or with constant arrests of scores of people and justify it on constitutional and stability grounds. If they cooperated with one another and spoke with one voice, corrupt officials and others will not be brazen in stealing known billions of American dollars and taking these out of the country through illicit means. There will not be a place to hide. It is therefore not rocket science to conclude that meaningful cooperation that will lead to political pluralism or democratic governance is the best defense against this repressive and corrupt system.
Corrupt minority ethnic elite survive by coopting others to its side, for example, by giving material and financial incentives. Those coopted are among the most vigorous defenders of the system. Their composition is ethnic or religious neutral. In the same vein, it prolongs its rule by stirring fear, hatred and division among the population, including the Diaspora. It finds scapegoats in the latter group to blame while it arrests and persecutes those at home without due process of law. Sad, but true, we fall for this type of corrupt and abusive governance at our own peril. Some do not even understand this well.
10. Let us agree and act that illicit outflow weakens aid effectiveness and is a cost to Ethiopia and Ethiopians
“The people of Ethiopia are being bled dry. No matter how hard they try to fight their way out of absolute destitution and poverty, they will be swimming against the current (tide) of illicit capital leakage” to which aid and Diaspora remittances contribute. The facts are shameful for a country with one of the lowest per capita incomes (US$365) in the world; and one of the “hungriest” to boot. Just think of what illicit outflow of US$11.7 billion between 2000 and 2009 means. Think of what illicit outflow of US$3.26 billion in 2009 means. It means plundering precious resources from Ethiopian children. It is a generational punitive punishment.
The parallel I could draw of corruption and illicit outflow is ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ for an ethnic elite that has no soul. Here are its manifestations:
• Institutionalized greed that condones the behaviors and actions of its members.
• Watches out for the interests of members of the group at the highest level in a veil of secrecy and confidentiality akin to “Alcoholics Anonymous.”
• Systematic assessment who is allowed in and out.
• Periodic assessment of membership effectiveness through what is called “gimgema” as a tool.
• Deployment of the legal and regulatory system selectively.
• Restrictive regulatory framework to govern private property and to ensure entry or non-entry.
• Invitation to club based on loyalty.
• Pronouncement of fair and market based competition as neoliberalism to shore up crony capitalism.
• Promulgation of laws and regulations to manipulate and sustain insatiable need for wealth making resources and assets.
• Propagation of the notion that failure to defend the corrupt system will result in the destruction of the country; and use this as a pretext to contain dissent.
‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ of ethnic elites is an exclusive club in which members maintain strict anonymity as to who owns what and where. Members are expected to defend one another’s power and wealth interests in the name of growth. They vow not to disclose incomes and assets. This is among the reasons why the current government is among the least transparent in the world. Members refrain from public disclosure of illicit outflow to avert international scrutiny. Ironically but not surprisingly, officials disavow corruption in public and empower the head of their group to assault it and illicit outflow as if the top leadership is not part of the club. The message is this: we are not part of the problem; it is others.
It is worthy to note that members of this anonymous club speak with one voice. They say more or less that corruption and illicit outflow harm development; and that the culprits for billions stolen are outside the government loop.
‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ for the governing elite and its allies is a form of addiction that comes from “absolute power.” Members are not satisfied with the billions they have made; the same way that alcoholics are rarely satisfied until they are cured. They do not see the harm they cause for the rest of the society. They try to maintain calm and stability at any cost by using the full force of the state.
In light of the above, opponents can no longer afford to waste time, energy and resources second guessing, suspecting and undermining one another. They have numerous themes and causes on which to rally and to agree on a framework now. Corruption and illicit outflow are among the most compelling themes on which most opponents and the global community can and will rally.
There are other critical themes and issues that lend themselves to the urgent and doable recommendation for cooperation and collaboration without delay: human rights, social and economic justice, the rule of law, equitable access to opportunities, civil engagement in the political process, unemployment, the traumatic situation of Ethiopian women, especially girls, civil unrest and land grab. All these should mobilize those who resent current minority ethnic-based repressive and corrupt governance. The bleeding of the country’s resources should, in itself, revolt each of us, and unify our behaviors and actions.
To be continued
A court in Nkhata Bay, Malawi, has found over 90 Ethiopians guilty of illegal entry into the country four days after they hang out off shore Lake Malawi to elude police security.
The immigrants have since been fined K4,000 each or if they fail to pay the amount, go to jail for two months each.
Prison authorities in Nkhatabay have since raised fears of congestion at the district prison which has a capacity of 280 if the 94 Ethiopian illegal immigrants are eventually jailed.
Eight of the Ethiopians died of starvation on Lake Malawi where they camped for four days as they tried to elude security to illegally get ashore.
Police say the Ethiopian illegal immigrants, close to 100, were in a boat belonging to a Tanzanian national.
Nkhatabay police spokesperson Sergeant Martin Bwanali says 94 of the Ethiopians have been arrested for illegal entry into Malawi.
“They were forced to stay on the Lake for four days after being tipped by their Malawian agents that police were waiting for them on the shores,” said Sergeant Bwanali.
Sergeant Bwanali said police had prior information on the questionable visit by the aliens.
“Police officers were strategically deployed on the shores of the lake around the area to monitor what was happening,” he said. The Ethiopians were, however, tipped by their Malawian agents that police were monitoring them.
“The strangers then decided to remain on the lake for four days. In the process, eight of them died of starvation and were disposed off right in the lake,” said Sergeant Bwanali.
The tragedy, police suspect, forced the group to show up on the shore where they met local fishermen who sold them off.
The 94 Ethiopians are aged between 20 and 40.
The influx of illegal immigrants has often worried local authorities as they over-stretch government resources and causes security hazard as their backgrounds are not known.
It is generally believed that Ethiopians, Somalis and people from DRC find Malawi a soft security spot in their quest to travel to South Africa where they long to find a better life.
There is a rise in cases of illegal immigrants into Malawi.
Officials from the Immigration Department say close to 3,000 cases were recorded in 2011.
The arrests are being attributed to alertness of officials and routine security operations.
The increasing cases of illegal immigrants are blamed on porous borders Malawi has.
Ethiopians, Somalis, Burundians, Rwandese, Indians, Pakistanis and now Chinese nationals make up the majority of illegal immigrants found in Malawi.
Source: ZodiakMalawi