BY FITSUM GETACHEW
Prime Minister Abiy invited all citizens of Ethiopia particularly those who hail from that region to come together, forget the TPLF criminal attitude and mentality and work together to realize the dreams of millions of poor people.
The premier said the rights of all peoples need to be respected and protected equally and not only of those who have ‘lobbyists’ or social media followers because have they had the wealth necessary to pay for it!
On March 23, 2021, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was in parliament to address some of the current issues in the country. In a prolonged question and answer session, the premier dealt with several national and international current issues among which the principal objective of the session was the approval of the ten-year national economic plan after a brief introduction of the highlights by the premier.
The premier’s general message was one of optimism and hope for the immediate and long-term future of the country despite the multiple challenges he admitted the country was made to face. After explaining the general highlights of the economic performance during the past three years of his tenure, the premier did not hide the biggest challenge or obstacle to realize his plans and ascertain sustained growth in the country was inflation. He said despite the data showing positive figures and substantial improvement in practically every sector and the brighter future that the economic reform may bring about, he said however the greatest threat to the economic growth is the galloping inflation that destroys every initiative of the country and positive progress; and this affects mostly he underlined the lower income circle of the population.
He tried to outline the multiple factors that contributed to the inflationary tendency in the country stating that the problem is not a newly born phenomenon but has been present for the last fifteen years. He did not hide that the challenge was burdensome and has become very difficult to tackle and defeat. All rounded attempts are being made to curb inflationary tendencies but some of these are beyond the control of the government, he admitted.
There are he said several factors that are out of the control of the government. For instance, he mentioned imported inflation due to increases in prices at the international level and he cited for example the price of fertilizers of whose use in Ethiopia there has been increasing need with the expansion of agriculture. He said the budget allotted for agriculture has substantially increased but this hike in the price of fertilizers has been very impactful negatively.
Increases in prices of food items as well have been another factor but he did not obscure internal limitations as well such as problems with the way distribution is carried out internally, the issue of greedy traders and importers of items from abroad and etc have all contributed to the gravity of the situation. He reiterated that an ad hoc subcommittee has been formed to deal with this specific issue because it threatens the livelihood of millions. If this issue is not adequately addressed, it puts at risk the entire economy and that was what has been a motive of concern to the government.
One of the major expenses connected with foreign currency is the issue of imported fuel which has affected the government’s coffers. He said fuel was too cheaply sold because of the subsidy the government is forced to give to users not to create more inflation. But he said that it was not sustainable any more as it is too burdensome. He pointed out that the price of fuel in the country is too low as compared to neighbouring countries. The current price has been kept artificially low to support the economy and avoid skyrocketing inflation as the price of fuel has direct impact on consumer goods and other services. The premier pointed out that there is a huge problem in addressing this issue because the government is indirectly ‘subsiding rich people’ who are owners of vehicles while what the real intention behind the subsidy was to alleviate the burden on public transport costs so that they could give their services without resorting to increasing fares. He said work is underway to try and find a solution to this conundrum because the situation could not continue as it is.
The premier was however very emphatic while responding to issues of internal conflicts and narrow nationalism as presented by some MPs. The first recommendation he made was to reject the claims of these MPs who have reduced themselves to being advocates of certain regions and localities rather than look at the bigger picture of the country as a whole. He warned that there is need to avoid falling into subscribing to the agendas of enemies of Ethiopia such as TPLF and OLF-Shene who he reiterated are sworn enemies of the country and have been trying to destroy it.
MPs should not be catalysts of these evil forces he said and settle to look at the bigger picture and not add fuel to the fire by making it the principal agenda of the country. He said that was what the enemies of the country are trying to achieve and we must be careful not to fall prey to such activities. Our ways are far apart and in the opposite direction. Trying to create incidents of violence here and there is the principal objective of our enemies while we want to keep ourselves busy with trying to register growth and development while we also try to build up a united and strong democratic Ethiopia.
People should realize that we do not deserve to kill one another to benefit some greedy politicians and gamblers such as TPLF and OLF-Shene who are losers! Focusing on ‘artificial internal boundaries’ issues can only drag us to interminable controversies and make us miss the bigger picture of the growth of our country and that is exactly what our enemies want us to do, he underlined! He urged MPs and other political actors to come out of this endless and harmful practice which is killing our people and thwarting every attempt to endeavour in our plans to push the standard of living of people higher up.
He said there are so many enemies that are happy that we do not grow and become a huge force. He implored all those who focus on intestinal issues that could be resolved with civilized discussion and push the country to disintegration which is the dream of enemies. He spoke at length about the ‘law enforcement campaign’ that was carried out successfully in three weeks and that the current force of the TPLF residual forces is influencing international relations of the country by presenting accusations of human rights violations thus capturing the headlines of some international media outlets.
The premier said while Ethiopia was the party that suffered all of the injustices and violations of rights and yet it is perplexing to see the accusations of violations made against Ethiopia the victim in this entire crisis. We are made to appear as if we were the ones who initiated the aggression while we suffered the attack of TPLF armed forces in two hundred separate locations in a thoroughly organized manner. It is adding insult to injury! But as I warned earlier there was no manner of defeating Ethiopian forces in this way and the history of the country testifies to this, he said that TPLF forces were so shortsighted and full of arrogance and ignorance that they launched an attack against the federal forces that was bound to fail because of the wrongness and criminal attitude of the TPLF leadership and he said it was sad that we had to resort to killing our own citizens to save the sovereignty and integrity of the country. We won because we had the higher moral ground! He underlined that using whatever parameter or whatever reason, war is such a detestable exercise because it kills lives and destroys families and communities destroying everything; and that is what unfortunately happened during the law enforcement campaign in November last year. People who do not learn from past history are condemned to repeat it and that is really tragic.
After its defeat TPLF is now engaged in a propaganda war using social media and hiring professional lobbyists in international circles trying to make Ethiopia the guilty party while hiding their crimes against the Ethiopian federal forces and the massacres carried out shamelessly at places such as Mai Kadra about which few media talk! He expressed his profound sadness that all the attention is given to only the situation in Tigray while the consequences of what TPLF did to the entire country during the past three decades has been downplayed or neglected as if it never happened.
Dr. Abiy told parliament it was a matter of time but the truth will transpire eventually and as we won the battle on the ground, we will also win the propaganda and diplomatic battle later on. He thanked the diaspora who have been protesting against the wrong characterization of the law enforcement campaign by trying to interfere in the internal affairs of the country which is a sovereign country. He dismissed any attempts of interference and involvement of third parties in our own internal affairs using economic assistance and similar influence. He rejected every attempt of blackmail. This shows how the TPLF leadership had all the right international contacts and having prepared lobbyists on their payroll using Ethiopians’ plundered wealth while back at home, people of the Tigray region do not even have enough food to eat! He said about two million people have remained on safety net programs for more than two decades with little improvement in their lives! The premier added it was in any case a matter of time before things get cleared and the truth comes out triumphant!
Dr. Abiy however underlined that all those that have been perpetrating crimes such as rape and robbery against civilians will be made accountable because that was not the mission given to them. In this basket, he mentioned even Eritrean soldiers who happened to occupy the fortresses on the border left vacant by Ethiopian troops in the wake of the TPLF junta’s assaults. He wholeheartedly thanked the Eritrean government for its full collaboration and support it gave to Ethiopian troops forced to flee the sudden attacks without any arms and ammunitions and their assistance in overturning the organized and well-coordinated attacks perpetrated by TPLF forces. History will always recall that, he underlined.
The premier was candid on what actually happened before the ‘law enforcement campaign’ was launched, during the campaign and in the post campaign period. In the end, TPLF had managed to convince foreigners that they were indomitable forces and hence everyone would kneel down to them! You have seen what has happened in mere three weeks he underlined and that was a result of higher moral ground.
The premier said he would invite to carry out every investigation necessary to clear the federal forces because that was not a part of the mission of our soldiers. It must be known he said that the fact that the regional state freed thirty thousand detainees has also contributed to all the illegalities that were committed in the region while the campaign was underway. So much destruction was carried out deliberately so that the people of the region would ‘bear all the suffering’ and create a blame game on the federal forces. The premier dismissed the accusations of foreign powers on how to deal with an internal problem and that he would never accept any form of interference with the pretext of giving assistance to Ethiopia. He said Ethiopia would never compromise its sovereignty for the sake of financial
assistance even if it may need it desperately.
He said currently Ethiopia is giving assistance to 4.2 million residents of the Tigray Region and he finds it meaningless to hear the concern of many international agencies and governments who only limit themselves to expressing their ‘concern via social media’ about the situation in Tigray with little actual and tangible substantial assistance to contribute to lessening the burden of the Federal government in trying to deal with the chaos in the regional state.
The premier also dismissed the idea of a reconstitution of TPLF as it has lost not only the war it arrogantly launched but also its face and dignity in front of its constituencies. He said TPLF is like ‘powder thrown into the wind’ and cannot be reformed or re-founded. The people of the regional state need to abandon completely TPLF, forget it for good and organize anew with new spirit and modern goals that are commensurate to the times and the aspirations of the Tigray people in a united and stronger Ethiopia to grow together.
Prime Minister Abiy invited all citizens of Ethiopia particularly those who hail from that region to come together, forget the TPLF criminal attitude and mentality and work together to realize the dreams of millions of poor people in the region and in the country as a whole. There can be no solution to Ethiopia’s problems thinking in terms of local interests or local issues rather than look at the bigger picture of the nation. Every force should contribute their share to a wider and longer perspective rather than adopt a destructive narrow path where one focuses only on their own neighborhoods or villages chasing narrow and parochial interests at the expense of their neighbours.
Irritated by the narrow-minded question of some MPs who wanted to antagonize an ethnic group against another one as not commensurate with the dignity and prestige of the House, the premier scolded them for advancing the ‘politics of the enemies of the country such as the TPLF and OLF-Shene’ who are sworn enemies of Ethiopia. These are the agenda of enemies of Ethiopia who have been sowing seeds of hatred and suspicion among various regions in the country he said and underlined that the country did not belong to only two nationalities, namely the Oromo and Amhara even if they constitute a sizeable population. He said ‘when we talk about abuse of human rights or violations, we need not advocate for only these two nationalities or the Tigray people because there are 80 nationalities in the country and the rights of many of them have been violated in several occasions during the past three decades and we have not heard a lot about them’. He said the rights of all peoples need to be respected and protected equally and not only of those who have lobbyists or social media followers because have they had the wealth necessary to pay for it!
It is hypocrisy to talk only about the major nationalities and disregard all the rest. He reiterated that this ‘cancer of regionalism and ethno-nationalism’ is what pulls back every attempt of the country towards more hope and a bright future and MPs as all other people citizens here and abroad need to settle a bit and think in terms of a huge country of 110 million. He said Ethiopia is a huge power to reckon with and is not limited to this or that region only.
Talking about the upcoming elections he said the government would not hesitate to leave office if defeated but recommended all political parties to take part in it without creating pretexts and accusing the government of various misdeeds. He said whichever political party that chose to boycott the election is one that has lost because there is no reason not to take part in these elections which are bound to be the freest to date. Those parties which have not met the expiry date fixed by the National Electoral Board and yet would like to take part in the elections will he said hopefully be admitted provided they rectify their errors. He did not believe that excluding them due to certain ‘unmet legal formalities’ would be helpful to meet our goals of progressing towards a democratic transition making the election as all-embracing and inclusive as possible.
The Ethiopian Herald 27 March 2021
