A Nation in Flames, A Leader in Fantasy

Comments on Abiy Ahmed Two Parts Interview

By Amsal Woreta

I watched Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s two-part interview with cautious hope — hoping, naively, that a leader presiding over a nation in deep crisis would speak to the suffering of 130 million Ethiopians. I expected acknowledgement of the war-torn regions, the hunger, the displacement, the mass arrests, and the deepening divisions that have defined his leadership since 2018.

Instead, what I saw was shocking: a head of government, entirely detached from the people’s reality, spinning dreams of artificial intelligence and futuristic cities — while his nation bleeds.

Where is the empathy? Where is the urgency?

Not once in the two-hour interview did he mention the hundreds of thousands Amhara  killed in Oromia and Amhara regions, the Tigrean , the millions displaced, the youth dying in senseless wars, or the farmers who cannot harvest or feed their families. Not a word about the silence surrounding mass graves, drone strikes, or the erosion of national unity. Not a single expression of grief or responsibility. Only fantasies of robots in every home.

A leader’s first duty is to protect and serve the people 

This was a missed opportunity — or a calculated one — to speak to the soul of a nation in pain. While mothers bury their sons, while soldiers defect or die in meaningless conflicts, the Prime Minister speaks like a man promoting a tech expo, not leading a broken, traumatized country.

Fantasy cannot substitute for leadership

Building palaces, launching drones, and talking about future technologies means little when children starve, when elders are shot in their homes, and when the country is more divided than ever. Ethiopia does not need hollow optimism or utopian speeches. It needs truth, accountability, and a vision rooted.

Silence is violence — and the silence on Ethiopia’s true condition is deafening.
A press interview that ignores the central crisis of the nation is not journalism — it is theater. And it sends a terrifying message: that the pain of ordinary Ethiopians is invisible to their own leader.

Luxury Tours While the People Starve

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has misused public funds, which come from taxpayers who often struggle to afford daily meals. At a time when Ethiopians are enduring starvation, displacement, and war, Abiy continues to take state-funded international tours to countries like Singapore, Vietnam, and South Korea — nations that have overcome division through visionary leadership rooted in unity, industrialization, and social harmony.

Yet Abiy does not go to learn. He goes to pose

These visits are not study missions for transformation. They are photo opportunities, disconnected from Ethiopia’s reality. The countries he visits have risen through hard work, justice, and prioritizing citizens’ welfare. In contrast, Abiy has prioritized fantasy projects, elite appeasement, and ethnic polarization. By ignoring the true lessons of the nations he visits — and by failing to apply them to Ethiopia’s burning crises — he not only wastes national resources but sends a clear message to the world. 

Peace, unity, and the survival of Ethiopians are not his priority

In a country where citizens are killed, arrested, and evicted while billions are spent on palaces and overseas tours, this is not just negligence — it borders on a crime against humanity.

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

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