CAN MELES FIGHT CORRUPTION?
“Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere” Rev. Martin Luther King
There are many on going tragic
stories in Ethiopia that most of us are not aware of or prefer to simply gloss
over. I will try to give two paradigm of how people both collectively and
individually are being mistreated by the system set up by the current
government. In any case, I hope this will amplify how the people of Tigray
endured 26 years of brutality and terror in the name of “National Self-Determination”,
“National Struggle”, “People’s Revolution”, “Peace & Democracy”, etc, high
sounding words but essentially hollow and meaningless. Considering the number
of people mistreated by the TPLF during and after the convention of the armed
struggle, many of us undermined the armed struggle as primarily self-inflicting
and heavily damaging the values of the ordinary people. Is there any household
in Tigray that has not lost, at least a beloved one from either side, i.e. the
Derg or the TPLF, both separately and during their confrontations?
There are over 24,000 political
prisoners in Oromia. In Tigray, there are over 40,000 in the hidden
incarcerating dungeons. God knows how many people that are more innocent are in
the prisons of Amhara, Ogaden and other regions. Could any body be called
reckless to state that Meles is running a reign of terror as far as the
Ethiopian people are concerned? The whole TPLF-led armed struggle was meant for
“equality, justice, peace and democracy” and to bring about fundamental social
change. However, if democracy is stampeded, there could not be peace. Our
predicament is that we do have neither peace nor democracy. The TPLF, as we all
know, has traveled through a bumpy road. It claimed that it was far more
revolutionary than all the other fronts. It fought essentially against all of
them. TLF, Teranafit, EDU, EPRP, ELF, and Derg. It was at the same time jumping
from ideology to ideology while calling others “reactionaries”. Initially it
preached Maoism, then Stalinism, then came Albanian Marxist-Leninist (Enver
Hoaxa ML), then its own brand of ML the Marxist Leninist League of Tigray,
(MLLT), then the Ethiopian Marxist Leninist Party. Today, somehow, the TPLF
abandoned its Marxist cloak to become the most vociferous advocate of American
capitalism. At the turn of every change of posture, there were victims and
sacrifices were paid. Many able people were lost merely for asking
questions.
However, we have gone back to
square one. We are back to pre 1975. What was the necessity of all the
bloodshed? So, where did the TPLF go
wrong? Conversely, was it ever right? For obvious reasons we cannot dare to
answer these questions here. Sooner than later we ought to answer these
drawbacks if at all, we are going to start reconciling with our past. There are questions that the current
government needs to answer. Why did the government start the ethnic based
social division of the country? Why did the government fail to see that it the
TPLF that caused the political and financial corruption is both at
institutional and individual levels? That is why the EPRDF/TPLF is in the midst
of financial and political corruptions of all sorts. Since it is immersed in
such immoral, illegal and unethical acts, we cannot expect it to redeem itself
overnight and solve the current upheaval. The TPLF had a chance and ample time
(of ten years) to tackle these and many other problems from the onset.
Unfortunately, it failed abysmally. With some of the money it brought in to
Ethiopia, the TPLF has created a business empire worth Eth.Birr 3.3. Billion.[1]
Out of EPRDF controlled 44 companies that run 3.5 billion Eth.Birr, the TPLF
owns 32 of them. Most of the companies were state owned and sold by the
Privatization Agency to the TPLF. On the main, these companies are run by a
political organization for profit making, not as the name indicates a
non-profit organization by the Tigray Redevelopment Agency. The companies were
sold with preferential advantage to TPLF and Co. It would be naïve to assume
that fair and equal competitive opportunities to bid were given to parties not
affiliated with the TPLF. Some were
naturally able to obtain insider information. Who will adhere to the law that
states that political organizations are not allowed to run a profit making companies?
Vindictive political measures,
persecution, inhuman treatment to helpless dissenters and political opposition,
are some of the main characteristics that partially explain the TPLF. The
victims are all members of the Ethiopian society. Because the problem affects
the whole society, people collectively and individuals at large suffer for the
sake of one megalomaniac personality.
a) Collectively:
There are places that Tigrayans
are not allowed to go through. There are political prisoners who are not allowed
visit by family and friends, prisoners whose whereabouts are not known. Nobody
knows whether they are dead or alive. There are over 13 massive prisons in
Tigray [i.e. like Woree, Geheneb, Tekezze, etc] in caves and valleys at various
locations each with over three thousand inmates. These are beyond the known /
official prisons of the cities and towns that are known to the public. Worse of
all, instead of building schools, hospitals, roads, etc Meles, the leader of
the TPLF/EPRDF, head of state of Ethiopia, has built the biggest prison in
Ethiopia. The prison, which can take 50,000 inmates, is in Shire, Western
Tigray. This is a place to keep under lock and key the whole society. For PM
Meles, Sebhate and Co, this is the meaning and definition of democracy. It is
the special gift of TPLF/EPRDF to the people of Northern Ethiopia.
b) Individually:
To individual Ethiopian
citizens, the tragedy is even worse. We hear of journalists being imprisoned on
mere pretexts. In the last four months, as we witness the TPLF splitting into
two, we are also observing the PM’s definition and yard stick of democracy
changing according to the mood of the day, and never has followed a consistent
universal definition. Thus, his senior and junior cadres have been implementing
his lop-sided democracy on local people ever since the TPLF came to power. The
cadres, as the walking robots of the TPLF, have been implementing policies
without hesitation. That is also, where individual citizens have been
victimized and suffering needlessly. We have heard of individuals being
incarcerated for months and released without court hearing. Even worse, we know
and have heard of individuals who were incarcerated for ten years and more,
still rotting without court hearing of any sort. This is Meles’s judicial
system efficiently at work.
We know an 83 year old lady in
Tigray who has a plot of land and an ordinary house. Her life savings is the
plot of land and her old house which she and her late husband built during
their working life. Our investigation concerning property taxes in different
places including Addis Ababa indicates that an average annual tax on property/
land in inner cities is not more than Eth.Birr 100.00 per annum. (In fact, the
best villas in Addis Ababa only pay a maximum of Eth Birr150-200.00 annually.)
[Please, ask people in Addis how much property tax they pay per year. Please
note that we are also not advocating for the increase or decrease of property
tax what so ever. We are just using this instance as a means of comparing and
contrasting the tragedy that many ordinary Ethiopians suffer.] Can any one
guess how much the old grandmother pays annually? She has been paying Eth Birr 4300. per year [Four thousand and
three hundred Birr per year] for the last six years.[2]
The question is what service does she get in return. Nothing! Zilch! What
happens if she does not pay the tax? If the money is not paid on time, she will
be evicted and become homeless the next day and the land will be confiscated by
Sebhate and his cronies. They have been waiting for the opportunity so long
now. However, the typical Tigrayan
Grany is more alert at 83 than those CC members who betrayed and sold out the
principles they have been struggling for over 17 years.
So the kernel of the matter is,
people who struggled from 1975-91 have won a small war against Mengistu but
never the victory over the battle on the fundamental issues of peace, justice,
equality, democracy, development, etc.
Ten years of EPRDF’s rule became a decade of sleaze, downward spiral and
economic degeneration. Ten years of EPRDF’s reign has become marked by inward
(parochial) and visionless years. I would not be surprised if tomorrow Meles
put the EPRDF into a cement mixer and attempts to come out with a recycled
“Democratic Party” and starts to preach to extend his reign for another ten
years.
Meles has by now forgotten
about corruption because the main agenda was not corruption. It was only meant
to serve as an instrument to vilify others.
He knew it would backfire on him. The boomerang effect of corruption is
uncontrollable. In a country where officials have made corruption a norm rather
than an exception, the Meles family has been running a corrupt household openly
to the dismay of many of their close friends and the public at large.
Unfortunately, the temptation of sugar is not confined to Tamrat Layne alone,
but has become an inexorable urge contaminating most of the current leaders.
The most affected are, in particular, the current leaders of the TPLF. The
motto seems to be that; the country’s limited wealth has to be looted with a
craving addiction, whenever the opportunity is available. Nevertheless, the
Meles household has been glaringly scandalous than the people we mentioned
their names in our few previous articles.
Not long ago, PM Meles Zenawi was
interviewed about fraud by Abiotawi Democracy. He was asked if he was involved
in corruption. Naturally, in his unwavering reply Meles plainly rejected, and
refuted it as ludicrous and tried to prove that he is cleaner than clean. His
answer was that he does not possess anything except books and the clothing he
wears. Of course, he has forgotten that he is; 1) a joint signatory with
Berhane and Seyume, 2) Tewolde Agame and Seyume, etc. For the multi-million
dollar deposits in the bank accounts of Western Europe and America, yes, he is
right to forget this as it is under temporary trusteeship rather than outright
ownership. Nevertheless, when the Day of Judgment comes the trusteeship will
all evaporate into the thin air of western banks? After 17 heinous years, even Mengistu was airlifted with the aid
of money collected from the poor into a safe place via Kenya to Zembabwe
escorted by the CIA in 1991. Does it not make sense to think that the TPLF
leaders have prearranged their escape when and if the time comes? They have
never disclosed to the people of Ethiopia in general, and in particular, to the
people of Tigray, the amount of money stashed in foreign banks. Money donated
to the people of Tigray in the last twenty-five years is deposited under
private accounts in London, New York, Washington, Roma, etc. According to
reliable sources, the annual budget of Relief Society of Tigray (REST ) way
back in the mid 1980’s was well over $100m. Today it is estimated that well
over $100m is under the joint account of the above named officials alone, not
to mention individuals like Habtom, and others. Is this then waiting for their
rainy day? How would any one expect TPLF leaders to run an open and transparent
government while they have so many things to hide?
The vexing question is what will the
millions of US$ that is horded in the western capitals waiting for when the
hospitals, clinics, schools and other social services in Ethiopia are either
non-existent or dilapidated? Has TPLF, REST, TDA, and the other institutions
ever been audited? Do they show their annual budget to the public on whose name
the money was collected? Are there any semblance of transparency in these and
many other organizations? Why should any third party trust the individuals who
do not have any inhibition to betray and slaughter each other whenever one of
them gets the chance to stampede the others? Does it not rather look like a
world of organized criminals with state power? The unfortunate aspect of all of
this is that even TPLF CC members are not told on the over all sum of capital
of their organization. If they are not investing all the financial assets of
the people of Tigray in the National Banks of Ethiopia, it directly means that
they are running a government and the state of Ethiopia to which they do not
feel any sense of belongingness and trust.
Meles’s reply that he does not possess
anything except books and the clothing he wears, is not true at all. We ask
Meles again if this is true to the best of his knowledge or is he running a
corrupt government as well as a corrupt household? “Indian Ocean Newsletter”,
just over one week ago stated that, “Other
members of the prime minister's inner circle who have the reputation of having
enjoyed unwarranted privileges include his brother Nikodimos Zenawi (a former
employee who has struck it rich), his wife Azeb (known as Lemlem and former
head of Mega Net, a firm which has benefited from untaxed imports), and Benyam
Mesfin (son of the foreign minister and owner of a fleet of Scania trucks).”
[3]
In this issue, we are less interested in Nikodimos
Zenawi, and Benyam Mesfin. However, it would be of interest to see how Meles is
running a corrupt family affair. Unless he declares that he had divorced the
“first lady of Ethiopia”, Meles must know that she has been frequently going
out of the country with passports and forged names. Our “first lady” used her
common names as well as other dodgy names for many insidious purposes,
including depositing assets in foreign banks.
When PM Meles said he only has books and cloths that he wears as Head of
State, does he mean that he does not deposit his illicitly obtained money in
Ethiopian Banks? Reliable sources informed us that the “first lady” uses a
number of false names on her frequent travel abroad. Did Meles mean that there
is no Lemlem Molla, Azeb Molla, Aster Gonfa, Azeb Gonfa,
etc that is dishonouring the Ethiopian public with forged names and a number of
authentic passports?
To be fair, let us be her devils
advocates. In order to illuminate the dark cloud over Lemlem Molla, Azeb Molla,
Aster Gonfa, Azeb Gonfa, and who knows what name she used in the last ten years
when she frequented London, New York, Washington DC, etc. let us assume that
she was taking Meles’s brother money to deposit out side. Let us also assume
that she used different names for security reasons, as she is the “first lady”.
Although we know that, many respectable first ladies do not commit crime by
having a forged name for protection. For the benefit of the doubt, however, let
us assume that she was apprehensive and as a precautionary measure, she took a
number of forged names, one after another. It also could be that Samuel Gebre
Mariam issued her with too many passports to hoodwink her.[4]
Our dilemma is that our reliable sources informed us that, as much as she
frequented traveling abroad, she also frequented the Markato (Addis Ababa)
currency exchange shops to transfer a minimum of US$ One Hundred Thousand at
one time (i.e. per trip to the local exchange offices).
As it is said, absolute power corrupts
absolutely. Meles is politically and financially corrupt. How can Meles fight
corruption while benefiting and enjoying corruption himself? A person who is in
the midst of corruption cannot preach to us about democracy. In democracy,
there is accountability, transparency and the realization that the public is
supreme, deserves respect, and thus, is more knowledgeable than the individual.
Meles, as a head of state, and head of a household, has one last thing to do.
Please do the honorable thing before more people spread more of your dirt all
over the news media. It is never too late! Or else, the onus is on you to prove
otherwise.
[1] Tobia: Hamle 5, 1993 [Out of Eth.Birr 3.5 billion, TPLF’s share is 3.3 billion. 94.5 million Amara region, 67.5 million Oromoa region.]
[2] . Since we have the evidence, it would not be worthwhile to dispute it.
[3] . Indian Ocean Newsletter No. 955 23/06/01.
[4] . Samuel Gebre Mariam is a younger
brother of Teklay (Aden) Gebre Mariam, who used to be head of the Secret
Service and CC member of the EPLF in the 1970’s.