Who is The World Bank’s Ethiopia
representative, Isaac Diwan, trying to fool?
We know with absolute certainty that he can never fool the Ethiopian
people. He could sugar coat all he wants the destructive role he and the
institution that he represents are playing in Ethiopia but no façade can mask
their duplicity. Mr. Diwan may peddle evil for good, but we are not
fooled.
First the façade. There is a technique all merchants in evil
employ to hide their part in crime or their indifference to crime. And that
technique is to come across as people of conscience whose heart goes out to the
innocent civilians, the plight of the poor, and the mother of all façade, the
plight of women, children and the elderly. If the tragedy happens to be massive
political repression such as the situation in Ethiopia today, their popular
line is the importance of democracy, rule of law, good governance, free press
etc. The idea is to appear compassionate and principled in the midst of bank
rolling dictatorship and the associated crimes not only against democracy but
also against the very civilians, the poor, women, children, and the elderly
they pretend to care. In such a mission of deception, the World Bank’s top dog
in Ethiopia is not an exception.
In his recent interview with IRIN
(Addis Ababa, 18 Nov 2005), Mr. Diwan tried to snow us with impunity. On the
surface, the Moneyman’s viewpoint passes for considerate and compassion. And if we did not know the lifeline for the
Meles regime, Mr. Diwan would have scored a home run with his deception. He
would have gotten away with crocodile tears.
But we Ethiopians know better.
We know that the Stalinist dictatorship running supreme in Ethiopia
today is courtesy, at the minimum, of the indifference by the World Bank and
other institutions of the democratic West
In the IRIN interview, Mr. Diwan’s
charade begins with the patented crocodile tears “…recent events are doubly painful, because of the loss of life…”
That is not all. The moneyman in Addis
Ababa had more charades in his bag. He
also talked about “…great risks to the good development outcomes we have been
seeing …” And when pressed to elaborate “what good development outcomes?” Mr.
Diwan shamelessly peddled “…in the past two years, we have been seeing
double-digit growth. We are seeing growth in agriculture and in the private
sector. We have seen that past efforts in building roads are starting to give
rise to dynamic small towns. We have seen a horticultural rose revolution. We
are also seeing more efforts in new sectors like construction, tourism or the
information and communication sector. There have been major gains in education
and against malnutrition. The possibility that Ethiopia is turning the corner,
getting on the path of long-term growth, is - or was - quite incredible…” That
is not all folks. He is not finished. The moneyman had more tricks in his bag
and more gimmicks in his lips. In the very same interview, he also told the
world of the consequences of bad governance and how the deteriorating political
climate in Ethiopia could “jeopardize growth…affect… the investment climate…”
and how bad governance could result not only in the decline of growth “…but
also stops being pro-poor…” You heard it folks. Incredible! The same old double-talk and the same old
art of deception to hide the crime or to hide the indifference to crime not
only against democracy but also against the Ethiopian people. If we did not know better, the good old
money man would have snowed us into believing that he and his Bank have an
ounce of humanity. But we Ethiopians
have been around. Over three thousand years to be exact. We have seen it all,
heard it all, and experienced it all.
We Ethiopians may treat our guest like a king or a queen and our
time-tested code of conduct may not dictate pleasure in shaming the pretender
in the public square, our farewells are brutally honest. We may not chase our guests out of our home
or confront them with their own humiliation, we do in fact make it plain at the
hour of parting. In that, we Ethiopians
are known to say a lot by simply washing off our sacred soil from the feet of those
with bad intent or those without conscience.
It would be a mistake for the likes of Mr. Diwan to take our great
hospitality for weakness or our silence for ignorance. We know the reality of
our country. In deed, it would be a mistake not to be aware of the sword behind
the Ethiopian smile.
Mr. Diwan talks of his sorrow
about the “loss of life” in Ethiopia. Could this really be true? In our view, it can never be. If in fact Mr. Diwan was sincere about the
lose of life in Ethiopia, he would not have been selectively saddened by the
“…recent events…of the loss of life…” If he was concerned about the loss of
life in Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi did not start extinguishing the lives of
Ethiopians only recently! Mr. Diwan and
the World Bank that he represents were in Addis Ababa when the people of Awassa
were mowed down en masse for expressing their grievances peacefully.
Where was the World Bank when the European Union pressed the Meles regime for
an “independent inquiry” into the massacre in Awassa? If the World bank had any
concern for the loss of life in Ethiopia, it was not only Mr. Diwan who was
present in Addis Ababa when the Anuak people of Ethiopia were mowed down to
extinction but also the former President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn as
well. And what did the latter have to say? The latter had nothing to say of the
genocide but he had lavish words of praise to the perpetrator of the crime
against humanity, Meles Zenawi. The
former President of the World Bank said nothing of the genocide but he was
eager to talk about the voodoo economics of Meles Zenawi “…My own opinion is
that this government is now on an absolutely first rate path to growth…” If the World Bank had any concern about the
loss of life in Ethiopia, the massacre of the students of Addis Ababa
University did not take place far away from the its branch office in Addis
Ababa. And yet, it is only today Mr.
Diwan surfaced from his cocoon to shed crocodile tears about the recent event’s
loss of life. In our view, be it Mr,
Diwan or the Bank that he represents are now going public and pretending to be
concerned about the loss of life in Ethiopia not because they give a damn of
the genocides and the massive political repression in Ethiopia but because the
situation in Ethiopia is no longer conduceive for the World Bank’s modus
operandi- business as usual and in the dark.
The Bank and its personnel are now going public with their pretension
because the regime they praised as with “…an absolutely first rate path to
growth…” is in fact a first rate not in economic growth and the development of
democracy but in the mass murder of peaceful protesters. The Bank and its personnel are shading
crocodile tears not because of the loss of life in Ethiopia but because their
moral and financial support to one of the most grotesque regime in the
continent of Africa if not in the world, has been brought before the court of
not only the people of the world but also before the eyes of God.
The charade is not confined to
“…recent events…of the loss of life…”
Mr. Diwan and his former boss have tried to hoodwink us into believing
that Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi is blessed with “first rate path to growth, ”
which has resulted in “…in the past two years, we have been seeing double-digit
growth. We are seeing growth in agriculture and in the private sector. We have
seen that past efforts in building roads are starting to give rise to dynamic
small towns. We have seen a horticultural rose revolution. We are also seeing
more efforts in new sectors like construction, tourism or the information and
communication sector. There have been major gains in education and against
malnutrition. The possibility that Ethiopia is turning the corner, getting on
the path of long-term growth, is - or was - quite incredible…” We wish what Mr.
Diwan and his former boss Dr. James Wolfensohn, said were true. But we know better. We know that Ethiopia has not seen “a
horticultural rose revolution” but the duplicity of Yara Foundation in
marketing the phantom reality of “Green Revolution.” How could there be “a horticultural rose revolution” when the
farmers of Ethiopia are relegated to landless serfs and as such subjected to
what the UN’s Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE) calls collective punishment
of the farmers by the Meles regime (http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30663&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA),
and the agricultural policy is set by a headless Stalinist thug who in the past
thirty two years has murdered about a million Ethiopians? And how could a regime, which holds the poor
hostage to Yara’s fertilizer, be “pro poor?”
We would like to alert Mr. Diwan and the Bank that he represents to what
they already know but they selectively forget.
It is not without reason that the EUE is condemning the Meles regime for
the “collective punishment” against the poor.
It is not without reason that the UNECA in its annual Economic Report on
Africa, said land ownership should form the cornerstone of any agriculture-led
development plan in Ethiopia, and that “land tenure and governance are among
the most pressing areas requiring institutional reforms in Ethiopia." Mr. Diwan may waste his time manufacturing a
smoke screen to justify his support for one of the most crazy dictator in the
world, but the economic reality in Ethiopia testify not to “turning the corner”
with “first rate path to growth” but to the absence of freedom and the rule of democratic
law, both of which are globally known as the first rate prerequisite for
development.
Incidentally, Mr. Diwan does not
have any evidence for his claim of economic “turning the corner” in
Ethiopia. The best he has to offer is
similar to his “recent events…loss of life…” crocodile tears. All that “first rate growth path” and
“turning the corner” snake oil has nothing to show for but a claim about what
has taken place “in the past two years.”
And what does Mr. Diwan and the World Bank have to say for the twelve of
the fourteen years that Meles Zenawi has been ruining not only the economy of
Ethiopia but also the lives and freedom of the Ethiopian people? Even if we were to believe the sham and
shame nonsense of “the past two years,” the money man of the World Bank should
have known that two out of fourteen data points do not represent a legitimate
statistical trend. Claiming outliers or aberrations for a trend is not only
Stalinist voodoo economics courtesy of Meles Zenawi but also the World Bank’s
collusion in covering up a total failure in Ethiopia.
The World Bank’s top
representative to Ethiopia did also talk of “major gains in education and
against malnutrition” in Ethiopia. Here
too, we know better. The “major gains in
education” in Ethiopia the World Bank’s top dog touts is in conflict with what
the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had to say. According to the IOM, “Ethiopia loses the
most qualified professionals of all African countries.” Mr. Diwan’s rosy assessment of the
educational achievement is further in conflict with the US Congressman Jim
Kolbe testimony. The Congressman said
“…brain drain from Ethiopia had robbed the country of much of its talent…the
best brains and best entrepreneurs of a country like this end up coming to the
United States and thus rob the people of Ethiopia of their talents…" And the reason for the brain drain in
Ethiopia? According to Kibre Moges from
the Ethiopian Economic Association, a leading think-tank in Ethiopia “…the main
reason people go is politics…Across Africa…the main reason people go is
political, the lack of development, democratization and human rights...” What good does it do, should we ask Mr.
Diwan, to boast of major gain in education of children when we know for a fact
that those already educated are being hunted to extinction by a run away
Stalinist thug? What is the meaning of
major gains in education of children when what awaits them as adults is
joblessness, political repression on a massive scale, and eventually disposal
as “bozene” by a Stalinist thug with pure contempt and hatred for those with
education? We would like to alert the
money man from the World Bank that in the Court of Meles Zenawi, the mission of
education is not to produce a thinking population but to create the “new” man
with Stalinist robotics. Meles Zenawi may tout education in order to have
access to the resources of the World Bank but his deep-seated fear of
intellectuals and scholars is well documented. As to Mr. Diwan’s remark of
“major gains against malnutrition,” the realities on the ground are that there
are ten to fifteen million Ethiopians without food this year. What is truly sad is that such a reality has
been the case for the past fourteen years. And yet, the World Bank is telling
us of “first rate path for growth” and “turning the corner” using indefensible
statistical outliers.
Finally, let us look now at the
mother of all charade peddled by Mr, Diwan.
In the IRIN interview, he testified about the consequences of bad
governance and how the deteriorating political climate in Ethiopia could
“jeopardize growth…affect… the investment climate…” and how bad governance
could result not only in the decline of growth “…but also stops being
pro-poor…” Is Mr. Diwan trying to tell us that the bad governance of the Meles
regime is a function of the violence since the hijacked election? Is he trying to tell us that there was good
governance before the election but that since then it is deteriorating into bad
governance? If the latter is the case,
he is once again knowingly mistaken.
May be he has forgotton the UNECA Report of 13 October 2004 (http://www.uneca.org/agr/),
which in the words of the Reporter Magazine “The government of Ethiopia's
failure to live up to its promises and commitment is again making the
rounds…Despite all the rhetoric by officials and the drummed up propaganda, the
ECA's governance report showed the government failing to equate with the sample
average of 28 other African countries, in fact lagging so far behind that it is
one of the three at the bottom of the pile. ..” Quoting the same report the UN’s Integrated Regional Information
Networks (IRIN) reported (http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=43642) that
“…Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya and Swaziland are lagging in good governance…The four
countries fell short in areas like corruption, political representation,
economic management and respect of human rights…in Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad,
Zimbabwe and Malawi, there are doubts about the commitment of government
agencies to respect and implement the rule of law…" . As can be seen on the table below,
“Ethiopia's overall performance with respect to good governance is dismal. In
spite of the commitment to democracy and good governance expressed by the
Stalinist thug, Meles Zenawi, the UNECA Report rated the governance in Ethiopia
well below the group average…” In other words, the Meles regime is not with a
“policy with a first rate path to growth” or one turning Ethiopia for the
better but ruining Ethiopia into disrepair.
Clearly, the ratings by the UNECA do not show a promising future for
Ethiopia under Meles. Let alone for the
Meles regime to turn the
|
Criteria |
Ethiopia's Rating |
Average rating of 28 Countries in Africa |
|
Political
representation |
42% |
66% |
|
Institutional
Effectiveness |
31 |
50% |
|
Executive's
effectiveness |
30 |
50% |
|
Rule of
law |
34% |
50% |
|
Press
freedom |
32% |
54% |
|
Overall performance |
36% |
53% |
Source: UNECA
development and democratic woes in
Ethiopia around, as an Albanian inspired thug, he cannot even rescue his own
banishment into the dustbin of history.
Let’s not deceive ourselves. The
figures above clearly tell the whole reality.
The “first rate growth path” which would “turn the corner around” is not
the preservation of the Meles regime but its replacement.
We have advice to Mr. Diwan and
the World Bank that he represents. Our
advice is an obvious one. Not a rocket
science but a simple common sense. We
advise the World Bank to be governed by one standard. Follow the same rule of law, legal frame work, accountability,
democracy, justice, ethics and moral code which has propelled the West into
economic miracles in its dealings in Ethiopia. The World Bank must take note
that the “first rate path to growth” is freedom from the shackles of
tyranny. The reason for the economic
miracle in the West, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and South Korea is nothing else
but the ordination of freethinking with democratic law. And we know the reason why the Socialist
East collapsed. No freedom, no
development! Mr. Diwan and the World
Bank may want to kid themselves into believeing that the Stalinist relic in
Ethiopia is of different “breed,” but there can be no dispute that, just as in
Stalin times, Ethiopians are being mowed down by the thousands, thrown into
concentration camps, condmned to long prison terms without due process of law,
and the educated are either being hang by kangaroo courts or forced in to
exile.
We urge the World Bank and its
personnel to open up their eyes. Meles
Zenawi is ruling by apartheid.
Compartmentalization not by the color of the skin but by language and
ethnicity. Just as apartheid in South
Africa, Ethiopians are being forced to carry a “Pass Card” to travel and live
within their country. Article 39 of
Meles’s constitution is not about embracing differences but about magnifying
differences. It is not about appealing
to the best of people but to their worst instinct. It is about divide and rule.
And we know the products of the latter; we have learned it from the
cataclysm in Rwanda. Meles Zenawi has
already talked about Intrahamwee. He
has labeled the opposition political parties as Intrahamwee and he has
subjected them and their followers to the very intrahamwee justice he is
accusing the opposition. It would be
unforgivable not only in the court of global justice but also in the Court of
God if we fool ourselves with talks of “first rate growth path” or “turning the
corner around” nonsense when in fact the first rate growth path and turning the
corner around so touted by Mr. Diwan and the World Bank is doing nothing but
serve as fuel for a cataclysmic apocalypse in Ethiopia.
May be we can argue about whether
or not two out of fourteen data points represent a trend or a statistical
outlier. May be the World Bank does not
understand the inhumanity behind Article 39.
May be, despite the fact that Meles Zenawi has been the Founder and
General Secretary of the Marxist Leninist League of Tigray (MLLT) for the past
thirty two years, and may be, despite the fact that the MLLT has been and is
the main Godless evil and power broker behind the TPLF/EPRDF or behind the current
Stalinist onslaught upon the Ethiopian people, it is beyond the World Bank’s
grasp to understand the evil nature of Meles Zenawi. But there can be no excuse for not knowing as to who is
responsible for the imprisonment of the leaders and followers of the opposition
political parties. Mr. Diwan and the
World Bank cannot pretend as though duly elected political leaders and their
supporters are not being gun down, tortured and condemned to malaria-infested
concentration camps. The World Bank and
its personnel cannot be oblivious to the fact that political leaders who can
muster millions of Ethiopians to Masquel Square, and leaders elected by tens of
millions of Ethiopians are imprisoned without the right to habeas corpus. It is time for the World Bank to open its
eyes and see the horrendous crime against democracy in Ethiopia. We demand of
the World Bank with the utmost urgency to take note of the crucifixion of
democracy with a Stalinist sword in Ethiopia. It is time for the end of double
standard. It is time for straight
talk. It is time to do the right thing.
It is time to call not only for real democracy in Ethiopia but also for the
prosecution of Meles Zenawi for crimes against the Ethiopian people, and democracy. We call upon the World Bank and other
democratic institutions of the West to play by the same standards played in
their home turf. Ethiopians are not asking for charity. But the same standard
of accountability practiced in the home front of the West. It is time for those who should know better
to serve as partners in good and not as a fuel for evil in Ethiopia.