Never escape from the truth, every war or conflict has adversities and ushers uphill struggle demanding dedication and commitments of states men and the citizenry to put the clock of peace back to humanity.
Beyond the inevitable casualties in terms of human life, war left citizens with some episodes difficult to discard from one’s own mind and children, woman and other vulnerable part of the society that are prone to be exposed to post traumatic syndrome coupled with psycho sickness.
Furthermore, what makes war a double, triple and more jeopardy for emerging nations is damages occurred to infrastructures, drawbacks to compensate and difficulty to rehabilitate the victims and compensate loses of properties at own capacity.
To say a spade a spade, ever since its inception TPLF had been formulated strategies for the abolishment of mighty and historical Ethiopia and it is an entity striving to lay foundation for the emergence of its own new state from debris of Ethiopia.
The current destruction of properties and social institutions can be an instance how the group dies trying to lead Ethiopia in a nose dive economic stature.
Let alone the human loses, the country is obliged to put itself under pressure to reconstruct and rebuild the infrastructures and damaged facilities. The aftermath will be shocking when public facilities and infrastructures like schools and hospitals are attacked and destroyed.
In the Ethiopian context, the erupted war in the northern part of the country between the legitimate government and the terrorist group, TPLF, has caused a massive destruction on various places especially in Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions targeting public facilities. These deeds claim the government to incur staggering finance and will continue to perpetuate to demand even after the war.
There are several parties who are involved in this Ethiopian war. Countries, international organizations and well-known media with their skewed information have been participating. These organs have shouted about humanitarian aid assistances and Tigray genocide for their hoarded agenda. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) hasn’t uttered a word regarding the destroyed public facilities like hospitals in Amhara and Afar regions.
It is a fact that all the responsibilities will fall on the shoulders of the government and the citizens. Rebuilding those facilities will cost Ethiopia a lot of money on the three war affected regions.
In a recent development, around 280 billion Birr worth facilities have been destroyed by the terrorist TPLF. Based on reports from GETFact, TPLF destroyed 57 health centers in Afar Region. The terrorist group has caused around one billion Birr (more than 20 million USD) damages in Afar Region, Chifra Woreda.
Kombolcha Deputy Mayor Ahmed Yesuf told the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) that the rapacious element has caused immense destruction and looting of 40 factories in its short-lived occupation. The rebels also looted a sizable number of machineries that resulted in cease of operation.
Having a stay with one of the local media, Education Minister, Prof. Berhanu Nega explained some points about war or emergency economy. The Minster said that in the time of war and state of emergency, everything is done very differently when compared to business as usual. Steps that should be taken by both the government and the people have to be altered. The whole economic practice would temporarily seem different until the problem will be solved.
As the country imports most of its items, one can observe the challenge related with foreign currency deficit. Importation may become a huge challenge as the price of goods is elevated in the international market. For instance, the price of fertilizers becomes doubled. These show how the country is under pressure from various sides, the Minister added.
“At this point, we can see that the government consumption will exceed. So, when the government’s consumption rises, it needs a means to cover its expenses. In this regard, tax will be increased, there will be price inflation on basic items like fuel and fertilizers, and development will be decreased. In order to come up stronger, both the government and the people should work together and promote people to people support,” Berhanu highlighted.
Regarding basic commodities, the Minister has also pinpointed that there are agents who want to get unnecessary benefits by raising the price in this time of emergency. Therefore, the people and the government should work in unison to stop such evil deeds.
The government has plenty of responsibilities to carryout, added Berhanu that the most important thing is the resources in the hands of the government should be utilized wisely. Doing so, it plays the pioneering role for its citizens.
As mentioned above, it is real that the government has foreign currency shortage. To minimize this risk, thus, the government should not allow deluxe items to be imported. Importing some of these items is already ceased completely. It is a wise decision to give priorities to basic commodities.
In a similar scenario, an economist, Jemal Mohammed (PhD) stressed that it is proved there are plenty of arguments shown in most occasions; aftershock or after a country went through difficult moments, the shock will bring huge opportunities for the country.
“We might build different infrastructures that replace the outdated ones, because when we go far with such kind of old technologies, it will be hard to go back and restructure these facilities. Therefore, in such emergency times, they will provide us to reshape the infrastructures. Physical destructions could pave ways for new beginnings. We can say that difficult times are not only bad situations; they can bring more opportunities for us. Though we cannot replace the human lives we have lost during such harsh times, we need to be very optimistic for the materials we lost,” he said.
According to the Economist, during this time of war, the most challenging problems the country encounters is the psychological pain that people experience due to loss of beloved one’s life and humiliating deeds the terrorist group committed including gang rapes.
The other thing is that there are women and children who have suffered a lot from the war. For children, it may take longer time to fix post traumas and psychological make ups.
Moreover, Jemal pinpointed that the government has started the way to minimize its resources consumptions. A simple example is that the government has released facilities to the private sector while handling building of infrastructures like schools and hospitals with special attention that the private sector cannot perform.
Aiming to utilize its resources more effectively the government has also taken actions to withdraw employees even though it has its own drawbacks. While undertaking reconstruction of the lost infrastructures, according to Jemal, the government should give priority to schools and health centers as they are among the most crucial facilities the population benefits from. Besides, the government should focus on mobilizing the human capital when reconstructing the infrastructures that in turn resulted in cost minimizing.
On a recent press brief, State Minister of Government Communication Service, Selamawit Kassa highlighted some of the major economic achievements and action plans the government has set. She said that the terrorist group has committed various crimes in the regions under invasion. In order to reconstruct these war- torn regions, all bodies should work together. The government has taken different steps to establish the economy that carries the drawbacks from the war.
Furthermore, Selamawit remarked that in the first quarter of current fiscal year, inflation hits 33 percent. This is lower when compared with the previous two months.
This achievement brought up due to government’s various measures towards fiscal and monetary policies along with other administrative reforms. As this is a harvesting season, the inflation is expected to be even lower. In the first three months of this fiscal year, tax revenue of the Federal Government was raised by 10.8 percent compared with the same time last year. The country earned 972 million Dollar from commodity exports which rose by 16 percent. This year so far, the government has scored better in revenue, expenditure, commodity trade, and foreign direct investment attraction. This shows that the country is on a good economic track.
U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee also tweeted, “Ethiopia is a strong economic engine on the continent of Africa, and its survival as a democratic and safe nation will be dependent on its ability to engage in trade and economic opportunities for its people.
“We have to stand with Ethiopia against divisive forces and support its efforts to stand for democratization of its people and surrounding nations. We must renew Ethiopia’s eligibility and participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act. I remember the first inaugural trip to establish AGOA on the continent of Africa, where I traveled with a Congressional Delegation. Ethiopia was one of the reasons that AGOA passed the United States Congress!” she stated.
BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD DECEMBER 23/2021
