The Reporter; March 31, 1999

This was a time during which the Eritrean regime was claiming that it had destroyed several tanks by the day, killing hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers and shooting down Ethiopian fighter jets.

Explaining why the Ethiopian side is less conservative in talking about the war, the spokesperson said in a recent interview that the policies of Ethiopia and Eritrea as regards publicizing the event were not similar, that the Eritrean propaganda machine was only engaged in exaggeration and prevarication, and also that public relations work did not mean disseminating fabricated stories. The spokesperson also said that some information is deliberately withheld due to "army sensitivity," as they might hamper subsequent military operations.

In the fighting near the Mereb river, it was announced by the spokesperson last Sunday that 13,700 enemy forces were put out of action, 15 tanks were destroyed and 4 captured, a large ammunitions depot was burnt down, 2 batteries of long range heavy artillery were destroyed, and over 30 enemy trucks were destroyed by the Ethiopian Air Force.

However, some of these facts were already revealed by the private press well before they were announced by the government spokesperson, and contrary to the concerns of the latter, the publicity did not hamper any military operations. Hence, one would be correct in concluding that the spokesperson, by remaining tight-lipped during the fighting near Mereb River, was only being over-cautious - thus failing unjustifiably to provide us with harmless information that the public was craving for.

The statistics in the recent fighting testify that this was one of the major wars in Ethiopian history; yet, while it was going on, we knew less about it than something as remote as NATO's bombing of Serbia. While the fighting was by far the most significant public event in the country, we were less informed about it than regional symposiums and conferences. Is there not something wrong with that?

The Reporter; March 31, 1999
by Yemisrach Benalfew

The journalist's misery in getting access to information has now become an exhausted subject. However, as a symposium last week entitled, "Development and Public Access to Information in Ethiopia" revealed, we in the media are not all alone. Researchers, historians, private enterprises and various individuals and organizations, information is something to be won in a battle, not with guns but usually through "connections."

For Yeraswork Admassie at the department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Addis Ababa University, there are "gargantuan proportions" of information continuously produced, moved about and "stored" by government bureaus, authorities, and agencies at federal and regional levels.

However, not all the information thus produced sees light. Rather, it is stored somewhere, and access is quite a hurdle. First, you don't know where to look for, as there is no public information, and even if you know where it is, there is no proper cataloguing.

Second, the information is deposited irregularly. "Many research results are not found in the right place and in the right order and number, thereby endangering their safety as well as their future availability and accessibility," Yeraswork said.

In addition, the tradition of attaching importance to those in power and distributing those few copies of study papers to them (while neglecting the potential custodians) has been developed. The officials regarded them as trophies and "treat them as their personal property to simply let them lay around without ever serving any purpose other than decorating their offices."

Under the pretext of confidentiality, access to information is denied even though researchers know of the existence, whereabouts and relevance of reports. No clear guidelines exist to determine what is confidential or not, or to clearly "fix and enumerate" what would threaten state security or individual privacy.

Officials used "confidentiality" sometimes as a cover-up when they felt their actions or omissions would be threatened with public exposure.

One researcher was denied access, under the same pretext, to data on payment distribution to displaced households to make way for the reservoir of a hydroelectric dam in southern Ethiopia. Actually, he was turned down, because, according to the displaced people, they were not paid any compensation at all.

However, in 1986, researching on the Addis Bah fuel wood study, the CSA turned down his request for a population data given by peasant associations, on grounds of confidentiality. However, when the study's team leader, a European, went to the CSA, he was provided with the population data, together with sketch maps of the peasant associations in question, "within less than an hour."

At the same time, reorganization of ministries, state authorities, agencies and so on has destabilized the preservation of irreplaceable documents. The Ministry of Agriculture, for instance, has undergone six "major waves" of restructuring in the last two decades. But it was only in 1993 that the ministry was spilt into two in the ratio of 60% to 40% - the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Natural Resources Development and Environmental Protection (MoNRDEP).

The library, like the other units, was divided into two along with its personnel and materials. Different volumes of a same book were then sent to different ministries. Then, the MoNRDEP, which got 60% of the old ministry's property, was dissolved in 1995 and was split into three. The old ministry got 80% of the personnel and materials.

Meanwhile, Professor Bahru Zewde of the Department of History (AAU) expected that the "long denied or capriciously granted" access to historical records would be granted with the formation of the national archives.

In the absence of the national archive - "the great anomaly" as he called it - the Ethiopian royal court documented royal correspondence and other important documents.

By 1907, the traditional office became the Ministry of Pen, access to which was confined to the imperial secretariat, court historians and favoured researchers. With the 1974 revolution and the abolition of the monarchy, "nobody could claim responsibility for the archives."

The archive keepers faced difficulties in protecting the documents from the "wrath of some over-zealous Derg members, who were convinced that such 'reactionary' documents deserved no fate other than burning."

The year 1991 was even worse, with the disappearance of the keepers. "The records were left to the mercy of rodents and intruders." Luckily, some documents survived as they were "off limits to ordinary mortals." Only those privileged had access to them.

The Ministry of Interior kept its records in good order until 1991 and was also accessible to researchers. Now, however, the archives have been sealed, with the key in the Prime Minister's Office.

In the two major changes of government in 1974 and 1991, records were destroyed, "sometimes wilfully but more often out of neglect" - to leave space for new records. To cite an example, the fiscal history of Ethiopia at the Ministry of Finance is kept at the old depot in Shola.

Most military records of the old Imperial Bodyguard were "sold in bulk to shops for wrapping material" after 1991. Those of the Third Division in Harar were similarly lost. The period also saw the destruction of records with a view to starting from zero.

On the other hand, the fate of development planning in Ethiopia is as follows: development plans are without facts, poor information systems for macroeconomics and sectoral policy formulation and monitoring, limited access to planning information by researchers and higher education institutions.

The real challenge for Ethiopia in decentralized planning is distributing efficient and equitable information in all directions. After 1991, when the system was decentralized, information was also decentralized. Unless you call your friend in Bahr Dar and ask him for some information, there was no mechanism to integrate the decentralization of information. Regions became the main collectors of information. Sector ministries have no role in this now. The flow of information from regions to the central ministries is not functioning as provided by proclamation.

Countries like us faced inconsistency of information among agricultural statistics by the Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Agriculture Development Bureaus (RADBs), and the Central Statistics Authority (CSA); or the livestock data of the International Livestock Research Centre (ILRC) and CSA.

The question is, which data should planners at national level use? The inconsistency and non-compatibility occurred due to the different way in which the institutions collected and analyzed data, and the scope of coverage of data collected and published.

When we come to the private sector, "information is considered a privilege and not a right," says Berhane Mewa, president of the Ethiopian Private Industries Association.

The problem started from lack of information on where to get "proper" information. Since transparency and revealing to customers the procedures of institutions is non-existent, one has to do the searching informally, which could lead, and is in fact leading to, corruption.

The scenario of access to information is that, "in most places, they don't have information desks, and even if they have one, it will be limited to giving information on office numbers - only if you manage to mention the appropriate department. After you get to the right place, nobody is willing to talk to you first of all. If you are seeking information, you will be referred to somebody else, and this may go on until you are finally told that it is difficult to give out the information you're looking for. It will take days, if not weeks, depending on the type of information you require, before you get it officially. Of course, you always have the option to get what you want through the back door."

Public libraries are so small in number and poor in quality. Information in public or ministry libraries are out of data and usually are not open to the public. Specialized libraries are not popular.

Information is also withheld for lack of confidence; technocrats are afraid but don't know some details which they ought to know.

In conclusion, Berhane said, "It [information] is our right, we demand it, and shall not be denied access to it."

Regarding access and usage of information technology, Daniel Admassie, Manager of OMINTECH identified "serious" problems: absence of a national information technology policy, lack of awareness of the global information society and its effect on countries like Ethiopia, scarce experienced and trained software and management personnel in information technology and modern business management, a "small and parochial" private sector, a "small and weak" middle class with low purchasing power, and a "weak but expensive" telecommunication infrastructure.

A senior journalist and a lecturer at AAU, Ato Mairegu Bezabih, asked in his paper: "Are access to information and freedom of expression practised, or are they constitutional provisions devised to hoodwink both the citizen and the international public?"

Freedom of expression still remains our priority in the political agenda. Access to information is also hampered by cultural, political, educational and technological factors.

The cultural hindrance is the secrecy that prevails in the society. Your good reputation or promotion depends on your ability to keep secrets. You get the trust and respect of your boss and colleagues on the basis of your ability to keep quiet. The code of silence prevails when people are approached formally although they tend to be frank in informal situations.

Ato Mairegu argued that the successive despotic rulers have deprived citizens of their rights to expose their thoughts freely.

Politically, Mairegu classified "all important" information, like appointments, transfer or dismissal of public officials, as "top secret". Although messages from foreign governments to Ethiopian leaders, or discussions between them are main stories, their substance is never revealed.

The state media have to pass some bureaucratic chains to get information, whereas the private media have virtually no access.

The private sector is reluctant to give any information to the private press, because they believe the press would misrepresent or distort facts and figures.

"The educational system doesn't provide adequate knowledge and techniques on how to receive and disseminate accurate and up-to-date information."

Children are thus brought in a society where divulging information is the "forbidden fruit."

In terms of technology, the country lacks modern information revolution. Addis Ababa, rated as the biggest recipient of modern technology, had 266,200 radio sets, 59,876 TV sets and 66,804 telephone receivers per household in 1994.

In the last two decades, during the rule of the Emperor and the Derg, the states owned and controlled the media, while now, the private press is coming up. The media, however, have to comply with the press law which clearly prohibits them from showing the government in bad light.

One participant commented at the symposium that, in the society at large, access to information is restricted. From imperial time up to now, citizens have no right to ask. The governments have not doing anything or allowing institutions to provide information. The only thing that works is your personal contacts with people. "We are still feudals in this sense," he said. "If we insist publicly for institutions to be open and transparent, we may crack traditional attitudes and systems."

The researchers, the historian and the journalist described in general the battle in getting information. Meanwhile, Alem Seged Herouy put a gender perspective into the theme.

Compared to what women have been denied, the above could be better off. Women were given trickles of information only when deemed necessary by men. Lest the male-dominated media be destabilized, the national radio and TV stations refrained from reporting Women's Day in 1978.

Among the outstanding constraints are: in a male dominated media, the content reflected male dominance and female submission. The male bias in turn affected policy decisions on employment opportunities, job allocation, programme planning and implementation.

The media classified women as a homogenous group, disregarding their heterogenous language, culture, social and economic status. This attitude marginalised the already marginalised woman.

Diversionary and abusive information promoting negative images of women are distributed. TV and radio productions depict women as "manipulative, overly aggressive or weak, money grabbers."

Since there is lack of research on sustainable media programmes, rural newspapers directed at the women might have a short life span. Except for the Centre for Research and Training for Women in Development (CERTWID), no resource centre focusing on women exists. While information about prominent Ethiopian male figures in history books or so written by male writers are available, no such things exist in the case of women.

Despite all the pessimistic scenario, Dr. Nishan was rather upbeat in stating that "we are doing well in information technology." The big problem in fact is how fast we understand the issue and act.

The historian hoped for the establishment of the National Archives, while most others suggested for integrated national information policy. As Getachew asserted, moving with a "vacuum policy in the information era is a risky venture and a dangerous portent.