You can lie to a microphone, but you cannot lie to an empty stomach!!
By – Habte H.
In a moment that should have been solemn, reflective, and responsive to the people’s growing despair, Abiy Ahmed once again took to the Ethiopian Parliament with a speech that could only be described as dangerously detached from reality. Numbers flew like confetti – GDP growth, wheat self-sufficiency, productivity gains, technology booms, infrastructure expansion, and more. According to the narrative he pushed, Ethiopia appears self-sufficient and ahead of other African countries. No one is starving. No one is displaced. No one is suffering – at least, not in his version of reality.
But for millions of Ethiopians watching or hearing echoes of that speech, the words landed like salt on a festering wound. You can lie to a microphone, but you cannot lie to an empty stomach. And you certainly cannot lie to a mother who is putting her children to bed without dinner – again.
There is an Ethiopian proverb that says, “You may fool the stomach with cabbage, but energy will expose you in the field.” It means that illusion may last for a moment, but truth eventually has the final word. And today, the truth in Ethiopia is screaming louder than any statistical smoke and mirror show Abiy can conjure.
When Reality Screams Louder Than Rhetoric
While Abiy dazzles Parliament with rosy statistics, the reality on the ground is stark. Over 60% of Ethiopians face food insecurity, many chronically. Across rural and urban communities, families skip meals, children drop out of school to help find food, and humanitarian lines stretch longer each day. Meanwhile, millions remain displaced, many for years, living in forgotten camps with no plans for return. From Tigray to Amhara and Oromia, entire communities mourn war, famine, and the death of hope.
The country’s backbone – teachers, doctors, and civil servants – are quietly leaving, not because they oppose the government, but because they can no longer survive or believe in change. And the youth? Once inspired by promises of reform, they now drift – angry, numbed, or silently planning to escape. This is the Ethiopia Abiy never mentions – but it is the one million are living in. Professionals who never dreamed of leaving Ethiopia now whisper about Canada, the U.S., Germany – anywhere but here. Some have already gone. The brain drain is real and accelerating. These are not political enemies. They are exhausted patriots who no longer see a future under deception and delusion.
These are not vague rumours or foreign propaganda. They are the lived experiences of millions, captured in humanitarian reports, social media testimonies, and the silence of dinner tables across the nation.
And yet, in front of Parliament, Abiy recited numbers like mantras, hoping that repetition would turn fiction into fact. The problem is not just the lies – it is the dangerous confidence with which they are delivered. It is the insult to the intelligence of a nation that has been through hell and knows what pain tastes like.
The Power of Narrative – and the Abuse of It
Abiy’s speech was not just denial. It was calculated storytelling. He is fully aware that narrative is power – that what people believe can matter more than what they live. That is why he keeps telling the story of a thriving Ethiopia, an Ethiopia where everything is fine, even as its children cry from hunger and its cities echo with the silence of despair.
He once said Ethiopians have a “short memory.” That is not just dismissive – it is manipulative. He counts on our exhaustion, on our fading attention, on the disorientation that constant crisis brings. He wants to govern not just the country, but the very perception of reality.
But Ethiopians are not fools!!!
What’s Next?
The painful reality is that Ethiopia is in one of its darkest moments – not just because of hunger or war, but because of the collapse of truth. When leadership turns truth into a tool of manipulation, when suffering is erased in public speeches, when lies are normalized and facts punished – we are not just experiencing a crisis. We are living in a state of strategic national gaslighting.
Abiy’s regime is not just failing to lead. It is actively rewriting the story while people bleed.
This must stop!!!
Ethiopia cannot afford another day of this delusion. The leadership must change – not just in faces, but in philosophy. The truth must return to Parliament, to the press, to the people. Hope cannot grow in soil poisoned by lies.
Until then, Abiy’s speeches may continue to impress his party, but they will never feed the stomachs of the people.
Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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