Borkena
Toronto – The government seems to be relentless in deepening the social crisis in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. In the latest string of what appears to be politically motivated action against public servants, Addis Ababa City Administration terminated over 400 City Bus Service employees.
A BBC Amharic report published on Wednesday indicates that the employees are terminated as of January this year. Government did terminate the employees on alleged grounds of “assignment and reassignment” to positions in the structure.
The Anbessa Bus service that served the city for over 70 years was merged with Sheger Bus (which was established recently) about two years ago under the guise of “better service delivery.”
Employees say the number of employees terminated is 480. However, the bus service says the number is only 382. However, it is clear that thousands of families will be negatively impacted given the unbearable cost of living in the capital city. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration has been deepening neoliberal practices over the past few years in addition to taking measures allegedly motivated by the organization of the city administration.
Employees who served for over 10 years including cleaning staff and guards are among those terminated. Some of them are near their retirement age. Some of the employees terminated have reportedly a university education in addition to experience.
The termination of the employees is rationalized as part of a “reform process” – according to a BBC Amharic report. However, employees accuse the city administration of terminating them arbitrarily and unfairly.
The government fired hundreds of city employees who served for decades about a year or so ago. The action was framed as a form of promoting “efficiency” in the city administration. Experienced employees were made to write exams and fired based on “results.” It was widely seen as a politically motivated action to purge elements who could potentially resist the discriminatory practices in what was perceived as a government move to Oromize the public service. The Oromia region has a “constitutional special right over Addis Ababa.”
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This earthquake is not letting up at all. Now it is hitting places faraway from its center. Yesterday it shook Gelemso that is close to 100 km away from Awash with a 4.5 tremor. It must have terrorized residents there. There are several members of my Itu clan who live there. I will try to call relatives who live in the capital to find out more about it and if there were any casualties. We should remember none of homes in the entire country are built earthquakes in mind except a few of those built in the capital before 1974, Gelemso is a diverse town where many ethnic groups have lived there in harmony for decades until bigots came into town in the early 1990’s. But still it has retained its harmonious life since then. Let’s all hope and pray everyone is safe. Insha’Allah!
I think you are here mistaken. The Oromia region has so far no “constitutional special right over Addis Ababa.” Let’s not generalize it as such. Meles granted that region some benefit from Addis Abeba’s annual income, period. Addis is constitutionally a region on its own.