The condemnation from the DAG (the Development Assistance Group) in Ethiopia against the recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report regarding Woyane’s abuse of foreign aid forced me to write this article.
I have spent most of my professional life working for government (20%), local non-profit, international non-profit, multilateral organizations and as an independent consultant (80%) in Ethiopia, from 1984-2005, until I was forced to flee my country in 2005.
During that period and the periods following after, I have seen a number of internal documents and local research articles by so many International NGOs (INGOs) and Multilateral organizations (MOs) in Ethiopia (including the UN and the World Bank) that reveal abuse of power and mismanagement of donor resources by the Woyane government in Ethiopia. I have a vivid memory of internal staff level discussions in the INGOs and MOs that criticize the abuse and advocate for the redressing of these abuses. That was until 2005, when I left the country, in the aftermath of the rigged election then. There are a number of reports within the World Bank and local and INGOs that show how donor funds leak and funjibly used within the Ethiopian government structure throughout the country.
But when it comes to publicly discussing and raising these issues of abuse and mismanagement of resources, self and national interests of the staff of the INGOs and MOs take precedence. Just like the local hodams, members of the international community are also afraid of “rocking the boat” and challenging the status quo in Ethiopia.
Invariably speaking, most of the INGO and MO staff in Ethiopia today know the deceptive economic strategies of the Woyane, since its assumption of power in Ethiopia (ADLI= Agricultural Development Led Industrialization in the early 1990s, SPRSP= Sustainable Poverty Reduction Strategic Plan of the early 2000s, the PASDEP= Plan for Accelerated and Sustainable Development to End Poverty, for the period 2005-2010, and the GTP=Growth and Transformation Plan, for the period 2010-2015) that have delivered nothing except a rhetoric. Except the change in the title of the strategies, there has been no change in substance and details of these strategies.
Staffs of INGOs and MOs know how un-mercy the Woyane government is towards its critics whatsoever. They have witnessed a diplomat after diplomat, an INGO staff after an INGO staff being ordered to leave the country within 24/48 hours upon a slight slip of tongue against the government’s handling of economic and political issues in Ethiopia.
Having worked within that sector in Ethiopia, I know the kind of financial freedom, respect and authority they enjoy in that poor county of mine, with very little to no accountability to the Ethiopian people, that they never imagined they would have in their own countries of origin.
As my favorite author, Graham Hancock, described in his famous book’ “Lords of Poverty”, staff of the “development industry’ will continue to pay lip service to causes of poverty and continue to amass their own wealth. They will even go as far as defending the dictatorial Woyane government of Ethiopia against the genuine reports of HRW regarding the mismanagement of donor funds to stifle opposition in Ethiopia.
My fellow citizens, don’t count on this international technocrats to deliver us from Woyane’s yolk of repression. Right now, they are defending Woyane and commending it for its performance in reducing poverty and advancing democracy. What a shame!!!
Count on your own sons and daughters and contribute your share towards the struggle for freedom.
