Yesterday, people in various parts of the country were expressing support for the fruitful outcomes of the government’s overall reform measures over the last seven years. Interestingly, the public stage rallies across several states demonstrated strong support for the national reforms.
April 2 is the day on which PM Abiy Ahmed was sworn in as head of government in 2018. He took office 7 years ago as part of the efforts to end several years of mass upheaval and unrest by the people in all corners of the country. The mass movements took place requesting fundamental changes in the political and economic spheres. The people more specifically sought improvement in the justice and democratic system, and economic policy, among others.
Upon assuming office, PM Abiy led a reformist government, and the ruling party which later became Prosperity Party (PP) planned and accomplished several goals that were only dreams in the past.
One of the prominent accomplishments of the government is its extraordinary acumen in project planning and execution. Project is a generic field that needs due commitment and specialty. For all nations in the world projects are fundamental, as people need new construction like roads, houses, dams, urban facilities … etc. These infrastructure projects are so massive that they require billions of Birr budget. Yet, if they are not carefully planned and monitored, their execution is highly vulnerable to corruption and abuses. The government has shown extraordinary performance towards the planning and execution of projects that is manifested in the effective completion of mega projects like the long overdue Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) the unique eco-tourism projects like Koisha, Halala Kela, Gorgora, Wonchi and Entoto, among others.
The project execution capacity of the government has laid a foundation that a government should carefully identify a need-based project and once the project is chosen, it has to be effectively accomplished at any cost rather than remain abandoned midway like many of those in the past.
Apart from this, the government has also taken a bold measure to design and implement the macroeconomic reform that is the first time in the country. Prior to the Macro Economy Reform, the government has been working strenuously to mend the economic drawbacks of the country through the 10-year perspective development plan which is to be implemented in different phases. Following that the macroeconomic reform was implemented to transform the country’s economy from business as usual approach and introduce measures that were believed to be good for the country but were highly dreaded in the past. One such measure was the floating of currency to the free market. This has gone well in combatting the parallel forex market along with it the government has allowed the entry of foreign banks into the country’s finance industry. This was also a taboo in the past. The government has also allowed the introduction of a capital market in the country. Now the capital market has started operation attracting positive remarks from the main actors.
The government has also scored remarkable achievements in boosting the country’s agricultural productivity. Especially, the streamlining of the summer wheat irrigation farming has helped in propping up the country’s overall efforts of becoming food self-sufficient. Coupled with the activities of raising the productivity of rice and other subsistence crops, the development work is likely to meaningfully transform the country’s wrong image, which is usually associated with poverty and famine.
The corridor development project that started in Addis Ababa and expanded to different cities is also significantly changing the living conditions of residents as well as the overall image of the country. The corridor development works have enabled cities to be safe, clean, beautiful and comfortable for their residents.
In general, the reforms have encompassed diverse measures in the justice system, defense, agriculture and other vital sectors that are believed to fast-track the development of the country. People have also repeated the demonstration that they staged in the past, this time to express support for the fulfillment of the government promises. The government should also work more in the future to respond to the remaining demands of the people in the future. THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 3 APRIL 2025
