By Belihu Amare
Hailemariam Desalegn was Prime
Minister (PM) of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. Previously he served as Deputy
Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister of Foreign Affairs under PM Meles Zenawi for
2 years. After the death of PM Meles in August 2012, he became Prime Minister
and Chair of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
Article 75 of the Constitution
of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) deals with a single
Deputy Prime Minister. According to this article “The Deputy Prime Minister
shall: (a) Carry out responsibilities which shall be specifically entrusted to
him by the Prime Minister. (b) Act on behalf of the PM in his absence. The DPM
shall be responsible to the PM.”
However, PM Hailemariam
appointed two extra DPMs. The Prime Minister can’t create ministerial posts or
executive offices by himself. Although the parliament has no any constitutional
provision that allows it to elect three DPMs, the appointment was of the
additional 2PMs was approved by the Parliament.
PM Hailemariam justified the
reason for the need to have three DPMs is to reduce the workload has and thus,
he will focus on mega projects and coordination of cabinet members.
The Opposition Parties argued
according the Ethiopian Constitution the country could not have more than one
DPM. If the government cannot correct this, they even threatened to go to the
court.
Although the PM has 3DPMs that
were expected the enabled him to have more time to follow up the implementation
of the mega projects, he was not able to monitor the performance of the mega
projects. At the end of the day the big mega projects were not completed as per
plan. For example, it was planned starting 2014, Ethiopia will start exporting
Sugar. But until 2017 Ethiopia was importer of sugar. Similarly, the other mega
projects (GERD and fertilizer factories) are not yet completed. The country has
lost billions of dollars that were expected to be earned from the export. It is
assumed the lost opportunity is not less the embezzled money. In the contrary
millions of dollars are paid for sugar import. Similarly, if the fertilizer
factories were completed, we could have saved the millions of dollars we are
paying for fertilizer import.
One of the main reasons for the
poor performance of the mega projects is lack of supervision and networked
corruption. It is shocking to hear the extent of the damage.
It is good job to bring the
corrupt government officials to court by the Attorney General. But it looks the
measure is restricted to limited individuals and one organization, METEC. Every
individual suspected of crimes in all federal institutions and regions should
be held accountable.
So far, many individuals that
have relationship with the corruption in METEC are arrested. But when we say METEC
it includes the board and even PM Hailemariam. The Board of Directors of METEC
is the second highest governing body, after the PM.
Responsibilities of the board
members include overseeing the overall management of the institution. They are
required to actively involve in defining and monitoring the overall activities
of the institution. They have to be informed of the ongoing operations and
issues of the institution. They are required to approve the plan and budget of
the institution and monitor if the implementation is according the approved
plan and budget.
PM Hailemariam is also
responsible for damages done in this respect. According to Article 74, of the
Constitution of Ethiopia, his Powers and Functions include:
1.
The Prime Minister is the Chief
Executive, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and the Commander-in-Chief
of the national armed forces.
2.
He supervises the conduct and
efficiency of the Federal administration and takes such corrective measures as
are necessary.
It is hard to believe the
purchase of the said ships and airplanes by METEC was done without the
knowledge of the board and the PM. Who knows they may have authorized or
endorsed the purchase. Or they may know the issue but preferred to be passive.
In whatever case they are responsible, because they are the highest
decision-making body and are entrusted to protect resources of the country.
The other complicated issue is
in Ethiopia’s largest ever anti-corruption sweep over 60 suspects (senior
government officials, business people and brokers) were arrested in 2016 and
2017 for their involvement in deals that allegedly led to the embezzlement of
Billions of Birr. State entities whose officials are involved include: Addis
Ababa Roads Authority, Ethiopian Roads Authority, Shipping and Logistics
Service Enterprise, Ethiopian Sugar Corporation and Deputy Minister of Ethiopia
Finance and Economic Cooperation. Some of the business people had escaped from
the country when they heard the decision of the government.
The Ethiopian Government has
indicated that the large-scale anti-corruption investigation and arrest of
high-profile individuals is part of the Ethiopian government’s reform agenda,
which was started at the end of 2016 following mass protests in different parts
of the country.
As part of his peace deal PM
Abiy has pardoned or made to be pardoned all the senior government officials
and business people that were arrested in 2016 and 2017. Both the cases of
METEC and these officials and business people is quite the same. Both are
corruptions that involve billions of Dollars. The big question is:
1.
How is the government going to
reconcile the difference between the arrest in 2016/17 and those in 2018? Is it
possible to pardon some and arrest others?
2.
Is the Attorney General going to
bring back to prison the once pardoned officials or individuals?
3.
What about the top leadership that
are entrusted to supervises efficiency of the Federal institutions? Do they
have special immunity?
Pardoning others that were
imprisoned by the previous government (PM Hailemariam) and arresting people
with the same case by the current government (P.M Abiy) does not make sense. It
does not look legal. Where is the transparency?
Every Ethiopian must appreciate
all arrests based on evidence, but there should not be partiality between
people with similar crimes. All responsible government officials and business
organizations should be treated equally. We would like to hear the response of
the government to the above issues.
God bless Ethiopia!!
(Source : Aigaforum)
(Source : Aigaforum)
