BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
The three successive regimes which captured state power in the modern history of the country imposed their own desire over their subjects and govern without having a sense of accountability.
True, at times occurred change but always lacked continuity. Political systems were changed by force rather than by constitutional means. The absence of strong and functioning institutions played its own negative role in missing the chance to attain rule of law.
These again gave way for the prevalence of tyranny where the issue of government transparency and accountability were out of the question. Though offering gift and bribing officials has its own cultural roots, in the era of Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF), the level of corruption and the amount of resources and capital the country lost significantly increased at an alarming rate.
One of the major factors for the rising level of corruption is nepotism which is a result of ethnic politics. The appointment of weak persons with no professional qualification and integrity in high public offices gave way for nepotism and corruption.
TPLF, as a the dominant member of the ruling collation, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) assumed power in the early 1990s when the then global political order, known as the cold war was over. For countries like Ethiopia that were siding with the east, the situation brought a good opportunity to improve relations with the west and this enabled the TPLF to garner diplomatic and financial support.
During the transition period, it showed its willingness to introduce a free market system, accommodate plural views in the political spectrum and form broad-based political establishment.
But soon, the party’s real intention became clear that instead of entertaining plural ideas, it began to take repressive measures against its opponents. And in order to advance its economic gains, it resorted to a land ownership system which granted the state exclusive right to right to ownership of rural and urban land.
This gave an opportunity for party officials to amass a large amount of capital illegally by selling plots of public land with a significantly higher price. This also enabled the party to ensure its monopoly in the sphere of politics and economy.
Favoring economic opportunities to supporters and disfavoring opponents became a common practice. Party organizations turned in to business entities contrary to the principles of the country’s criminal and civil codes.
Years ago TPLF veteran Sebhat Nega told VOA that The Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), his party’s conglomerate played a dominant role in the Ethiopian economy. Party members appointed as managers in key profit-making public institution by their ethnic affiliation rather than by their career. Laws were legislated to favor party-owned companies.
After it lost its central role in the Ethiopian politics, TPLF retreated to Mekele and used the wealth it plundered from the nation to orchestrate ethnic conflict and subversive the activities.
As compared to the previous two regimes, in the era of TPLF corruption became rampant; nepotism also became the order of the day; the social fabrics which hold the society together eroded and morally decadency became pervasive. The recent World Bank report indicated that in the last two decades, about 50 billion dollar illegally flew out of the country.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Dr. Atlaw Alemu, a lecturer at Addis Ababa University’s Department of Economic said that the now fugitive TPLF gangs pumped their ill-gained money circulated outside the formal channel to rally groups of people for demonstration, blockade of roads, and political upheaval and provoke ethnic violence by deploying mercenaries.
They also used their money to transport explosives, armament and ammunition to fuel conflicts.
Money launderers preferred the informal channel because it is untraceable. If they use the banking system, it would be easy to trace the amount of money they deposit, where and to whom they send.
Besides engaging in contraband, the party officials and their business partners took part in the import-export business without opening a letter of credit from the National Bank. With this, as to the economist, they managed to evade a significant amount of tax. They have managed to accumulate wealth illegally that could have been utilized to foster other development activities.
The illegal trade went as far as the livestock sub-sector. Livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels and donkeys find their ways to the neighboring countries in such manner. They exchanged the commodities with various kinds of currencies widely used in those countries such as the Kenyan shillings, Djibouti’s Franc, Sudan’s pound, US Dollars and others. In return, they purchased commodities or deposited the money in foreign banks.
In Djibouti, hard currencies are sold in the open market and anyone can purchase and use it for whatever purpose. Efforts to control contraband in the border checkpoints and airports have been carried out but the illegal traders have their own roots and transit goods in a clandestine manner.
The rampant corruption prevailed in the revenue offices were exploited by the illegal traders. Some army’s and government institutions’ vehicles were immune from inspection at checkpoints and brought untaxed goods to the city.
Illegal trade was fused with political and ethnic affiliation and this helped culprits to continue their illegal activities with impunity, as to him.
Price setters in the tax collection sites were handpicked from the politically dominant ethnic group and levied tax in a discriminatory manner. When some traders were requested to pay a much higher tax than the amount of goods they imported, others were let to take their goods worth of million ber freely in to the country just because of their ethnic affiliation.
As to Atlaw, the non-inclusive politics prevailed for the last 27 years significantly hindered business and economic activities.
Regarding the government’s effort to contain the black-market, the economist said that the effort was in vain because the political officials themselves were involved in such illegal activities.
TPLF supporter groups in the diaspora also involved in money laundering through remittance. A person who wants to send money from abroad to his relatives here in Ethiopia will send the hard currency to the launderer there and tells his relatives to get the money here in birr in the black market exchange rate. As a result, the nation lost hard currency. Had the money been sent through the banking system, the nation would have gained the hard currency to boost its economy and foreign trade.
What is worse is that the criminal gangs who have linkages with the TPLF channel the hard currency to foreign banks and used it to purchase arms to smuggle them to the country via neighboring countries to advance their subversive activities, as to him
The Ethiopian herald December 15/2020
