Abiy Ahmed Sold Ethiopians to Foreign Forces (IMF, World Bank and Arabs) In Exchange for his Fancy Projects

By Yetemare Yishalal 

These days, we are seeing highly educated health professionals who have been on a strike since Tuesday, May 13, demanding improved pay, better working conditions, and the protection of professional rights. This strike is led by the Ethiopian Medical Association (EMA), Ethiopia’s largest professional body of physicians. For your information, the salary of an Ethiopian medical doctor is about $85 a month.

To compare with other African medical doctors, the neighboring country Kenya pays $3,000 and South Africa pays $3,400. This means Ethiopian medical doctors are paid 3% of Kenya’s medical doctors and 2.5% of South African medical doctors. One may argue that, in 2025, South Africa’s and Kenya’s GDP is about $410 and $131, while Ethiopia’s GDP is $118. Compared to South Africa’s GDP and medical doctors’ payment, Ethiopia should have paid $979 for its medical doctors. Whereas, compared to the Kenyan GDP and medical doctor payment, Ethiopia should pay $2,702, not just $85.

We do not think that medical doctors are asking for a drastic raise in salary; they are asking for a meaningful increase so that they do not suffer while providing service to the public. So far, the government has responded with defiance and imprisoned many across the country. Why is the government not responding responsibly? 

Earlier in his rise to power, Abiy Ahmed was heard saying that borrowing from the World Bank and IMF means getting money from your grandmother. In contrast to him, President Ibrahim Traore delivered the following speech directly to the IMF. The speech has yet to be verified, but the content resonates with many across Africa. 

“ … For too long the IMF has posed as a benevolent doctor prescribing economic treatment to sick nations. But what we’ve learned, what we’ve suffered, is that your medicine kills the patient. Your loans arrive with smiles, they are poisoned arrows wrapped in contracts.  You speak of stabilization, but you deliver strangulation. You speak of reform, but what you really mean is obedient to models built in foreign labs never meant for African soil. But we are not your laboratory. We are not your experiments. We are at pawns in your economic chess game. … ”   

Traore told the IMF that your loan is a recipe for weakening and destroying nations, while Abiy said that your loan is almost like a gift from a grandmother. Who is more precise in their judgment, Abiy or Traore? Traore’s reflection is to the point. Evidence? Let us look at what Abiy did to his people by taking IMF and World Bank loans and agreeing to their preconditions. Abiy agreed with the IMF to lower the Ethiopian Birr exchange rate, and the country’s Birr currency fell dramatically. In July 2024, one dollar was valued at 57.77 Birr. Today, May 21, 2025, one dollar is traded at 134.7 Birr. This shows that the purchasing power of the Birr has fallen by 133%. This has created huge pressure and stress on civil servants.

Actually, health professionals raised the issue in 2019 to the Prime Minister, urging that his government should consider their working conditions and salaries. They waited six years with no response. That is why the living conditions of health professionals have worsened, and they are on strike right now. Remember, medical doctors were the best students, with longer years of study in the country. It used to be a profession with the best pay and good living conditions in comparison to the rest of the population. Now, imagine how university educators, teachers, soldiers, and other civil servants are suffering right now. If the wet wood is burning, how will the dry wood survive this fire? According to Traore’s analysis, the IMF-designed strangulation is happening in the country now. People are suffering at an alarming rate as Traore said excellently – “your medicine kills the patient.” 

It might seem like an unfair analysis to the IMF, but it is not. You (the IMF and others) might intend to do better, but the leaders in Africa, like Abiy, might not work for the people but against them. For example, Abiy is seeking funding from the World Bank, the IMF, and even Arab countries like the UAE, in the form of gifts or loans. He is using this money for his extravagant ideas and projects that are not bringing benefits to the people. As Traore said, models made in foreign lands do not work for Africans. For example, look at what Abiy is prioritizing. He is working for his legacy, believing he is the king of the country. As a king, he wants to build palaces, lodges, and corridors that will carry his name after he leaves this world. He uses your money as a loan to the country and uses it for himself without accountability. The consequence for the people is that you (the IMF) demanded some changes, including those related to inflation, which have created disasters in the living conditions of the people. That is why we say Abiy sold his people to foreign forces. 

Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com

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