Yesterday marked Abiy Ahmed’s 2nd year in office. In a message he sent to the public, he expressed optimism that the current challenges will weather away and the coming years will be better than those transitional period years.
“Do not hesitate, it would pass,” he said in a speech disseminated by his office.
Abiy said that Ethiopia has recently been met by the global pandemic, COVID-19, at a time when it was consolidating its reform process it started two years ago, expanding outcomes and rectifying weaknesses.
In retrospect, Abiy also highlighted some of similar challenges met by the reform process and weathered through time.
Among the major challenges enlisted by Abiy include destabilization activities by armed-to-the teeth-former Somali Regional State in a desperate move to stay in power; anarchism, killing, bank roberies, school and office closures, by some armed groups in Western Oromia; and killings of Amhara regional leaders and army generals, ethnic-related fights and feuds.
Abiy also enumerated a number successful measures taken and results achieved along the way.
Abiy labelled the challenges posed by COVID-19 at a time when Ethiopia was contemplating to expand the gains made over the reform period as heavy, though it is a globally shared problem.
“The new challenge has emerged at a time when our troubled universities were beginning to get back into normal
schooling, when we were talking about elections, prosperity and stronger Ethiopia in the future.”
Ethiopian Airlines, which was the nation’s reliable source of foreign currency, has partially been shut down; other sources like flora export appeared to have irreversibly been shattered; the challenges posed against the export, manufacturing and financial sectors are not to be undermined, Abiy said.
At the same time, Ethiopians are witnessing great potential for cooperation as admirable Ethiopians were scarifying their wealth, knowledge, labour and time.
Abiy called upon all Ethiopians to be generous for their country and expressed optimism that “the coming years would be far better than those past two years”.
The Ethiopian Herald April 3/2020
BY STAFF REPORTER
