By Samuel Estefanous
(estefanoussamuel@yahoo.com)
I write this in the background of the alleged 8.1% economic growth registered by the country and with knowledge that Fitch has upgraded Ethiopia’s Sovereign Credit Rating from –CCC to +CCC. I am one of this class of born optimists who tend to see the half full glass and not necessarily the half empty one. But the reality on the ground is so outrageously incongruent with the rosy picture being depicted by the government that I would rather take the quality of life deteriorating at an incredibly fast pace around me as a factor to reckon with. I would rather draw parallels with the neutral UN parameters of measuring poverty like the MDGs. And the recent figures released by Afro-Barometer.
Otherwise the only reasonable logic that could explain the parallel growth of poverty and steady economic growth is the making of a new filthy Rich Class exclusively benefitting from the bonanza. Milovan Djilas’ theories are still valid if you really want to know the truth. Changes in a system of government tend to create a new class unless checked.
1- A flashback
A few months after Dr. Abiy had assumed the Premiership, some supporters were already beginning to look askance. I am not making reference just to the hot headed groupies who had run amok in the aftermath-jostling to take an imaginary bullet aimed at the Premier. We all remember how those funny devotees used to chase around anybody who didn’t share their raw enthusiasm.
That was before the war in Tigray. That was when the Premier’s solid support base was still in the Amharic speaking belt of the country. That was before the divisive legacy projects were launched. That was when the Premier was welcomed like a rock star at Mekelle stadium. That was when the Premier could travel to Gondar to address an angry but welcoming crowd and charm them with warm words like-I am not faultless I am liable to make mistakes but when I do I am positive as a native son Gondarines would reroute me back and wouldn’t judge me. That was when the accumulated sins of EPRDF were presented to the public without any semblance of reservation and the only defense the culprits could come up with was-we were into it all together.
However some dots wouldn’t just connect. The velvet revolution was in clear and present danger. Hyperbolic statements are certain to accompany major transitions and they are hardly taken literally. Yet this time around some statements began making our polite smiles awkwardly freeze on our faces. Patriotism was taken to a higher level in such terms as ‘I am a junkie for Ethiopian Nationalism’ by the very detractors who had been ridiculing it just months before.
Scared that either the velvet revolution would turn bloody red or it would be hijacked by the old guard, some folks began writing articles In Defense of Dr. Abiy. We had reason to panic. In this country there is a tendency to spoil the gains of a promising bloodless revolution. Dergue had vowed to effect regime change without spilling a drop of blood. But eventually it was drowned in its pool. I, for one, wrote dozens and argued that I stood supporting the Premier not for his erudition in classical school of thoughts or wise bureaucratic flexibility or high caliber acumen in economics or military genius or diplomatic finesse but for being one of us. He is someone to whom any common Ethiopian could easily relate to. Most important of all as he isn’t heir to the demographic curse of the 70s and we assumed he would be immune to the concomitant malaise of that generation.
Unfortunately, we are left adrift on pieces of broken optimism and we are hanging on it for dear life.
2 – A Square Meal Thrice a Day
In a thinly veiled insinuation Dr. Abiy tried to mock Ato Meles’ lifetime goal – to make sure that Ethiopians had a square meal thrice a day. No fancy jargons. No claim to make Ethiopia the roaring Tiger of the Horn, just a humble promise to see half starving citizens eat their fill. Much as I am inclined to, I couldn’t find anything in my gut to doubt the sincerity of those words. In a country where three quarters of its citizens are living below the poverty line- as Afro Barometer and UN Agencies have made it public- the cumulative effort of all public activities should have been to ultimately achieve that goal Ato Meles had tersely summarized in few words.
When Dr.Abiy made that ill-fated statement I don’t think he realized that he was in fact mocking 87 million Ethiopians. Sure he counted on the enduring assumption that the public would take any counter measure or statement against Ato Meles with exploding cheers. On my part I didn’t feel like cheering him on. To make it even worse he tried to explain his objection by resorting to a religious parable that reads man is sustained not only by injera. I mean how could a secular Premier promising us endless vistas of Prosperity with a straight face tell us that Prosperity is actually in our respective heads. For that we have got an army of phonies, junkies, shrinks and motivational speakers that are swindling the public shamelessly.
I am certain he had regretted saying those words as he talked of securing ‘food sovereignty’ in such inspiring terms later on. You see, the world has agreed on the factors that qualify a human being living in a condition unfit for the dignity of the human person. In this connection I just don’t understand how the Plan Commission sorts the priorities. I am not an economics major but we were taught the subject just enough to understand that resources are scarce, demands are unlimited and the wisdom lies in exploiting the limited resources so wisely as to extract maximum dividend from the expenditure. Otherwise who in his right mind hates to see the impeccably renovated clean quarters of Piassa?
The metrics adopted by the UN aren’t fancy works but basic-food, shelter, access to potable water, basic health, safety etc. I mean no one can take issue with the eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) all member countries had agreed to and declared to achieve.
3-Is something derailing off course? Blame it on EPRDF!
How unfortunate that the Mayor of Addis has come out as the matriarch of the Condo killers. Just kidding. However, kidding aside, one thing is for sure. The Condo wasn’t a charity project. It isn’t financed by private donors or PP members. The way the Mayor talked, it sounded like she and cohorts were paying for its construction reaching deep into their respective private accounts. Though it might be pre-financed by the government, eventually the owners will pay for every expense except perhaps for the land and infrastructure. Land is public property, it shouldn’t count and for infrastructure we are paying tax. There is nothing charitable in the program. Besides, Urban Housing Projects are run by established Western capitalists like the US and most Western governments in the event Addis is trying to phase it out assuming it doesn’t configure in the liberal economy. And get this right EPRDF wasn’t wrong to adopt it and register millions.
Incidentally I was corresponding with the Mayor’s recent town hall speech with the twenty and seven question PP cadres are required to answer and reflect on; I am not saying she is flunking them all big time but I am afraid she isn’t doing well either.
The point is…quit blaming your failures on the defunct. Bottom-line, if the Condos weren’t distributed to officials, to those evicted and as a charity by whims and caprice, the Office of the Ombudsman wouldn’t threaten to take the case to the House of People’s Representatives. Besides, if I were a Bank executive I wouldn’t keep financing the venture seeing that the funds are being diverted to an unauthorized sector. In such instances, a Bank’s credit portfolio immediately flags it as a possible non performing debt. Just wondering, though, now that it has become customary to blame failures on EPRDF, would PP be willing to release records of its members who had never been card carrying members of EPRDF? At least if the number is indeed insignificant we would be able to sympathize to some extent.
God Bless.
Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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When we complain about and indict the current constitution of the old country, we are barking at the wrong tree. The constitution did not preach violence as the only way to find amicable solutions to bloody and destructive conflicts. The constitution does not say political power only comes out of the barrels of the gun. Violence has been induced into the psyche of the educated section of the population way before the current constitution. The constitution was not the one that created violence prone groups like MEISON, EPRP, EPLF, OLF, ONLF, TPLF, SNLF and many other groups that took to the bushes and made armed violence as the main modus operandi. All these groups were founded by communists.
The communists were the ones who schlepped into the constitution the phrase from the butchers Stalin and Lenin’s 1913-14 demonic sermons into Article 39 that goes like ‘Every Nation, Nationality and People in Ethiopia has an unconditional right to self- determination, including the right to secession’. But still that was not the instigating factor for former commies to go 100% bigots. First they hated middle and upper classes in the society and when that did not get them too far then they turn their unhinged hatred on others who are not from their ethnicity. That was what the original commies did before their time was over. They had successfully cloned their look-alikes from among the younger generation and now we have this: a vicious cycle of bloody and destructive violence. It was in Tigray before and now it is in Oromia and Amhara regions.
So stop wasting time on something not worth it. Instead I call upon on all well read individuals among us to go full steam in exposing the fallacies of Marxism/Leninism/Maoism that has brought such bloodshed, destruction and misery to those upright and noble people since 1974. Until this demonic philosophy is successfully excavated and discredited, the vicious cycle of violence will go on rendering that pride of the colored and humanity shattered beyond repair.
Okay, bigots! If you don’t like this, you see that lake nearby? Go there and jump in the deep end. Nobody will be looking for you. Good riddance!!!
You are even biased about Ethiopian deaths. You mentioned Tigray, Amaras and oromos, and omitted 27 years of TPLF/EPRF’s United front genocide against Ogaden people. The same people who are trying so hard to keep Ethiopia United are the same ones causing it’s demise. Take that with a grain of salt. You can blame foreign powers all you want but the worst destruction comes from most unexpected places. I genuinely believe that Ethiopia will finally be destroyed by those who call themselves Ethiopiawinet fanatics
Some have been praying for the old country to shatter itself into irreparable pieces and that sounds soothing music to ears of some neighbors(except South Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya). With the widespread anarchy associated with violent breakup they would come in and pillage when every one of us are busy butchering each other like wild animals. That is called fishing in troubled waters. But that will remain just a dream, a fantasy that will never happen.