By Samuel Estefanous
Giving allowances to the exigencies of submitting a convenient asylum application lacing it with political overtones, one cannot help but sympathize with opposition politicians who have defected in Norway a few days ago. Prominent among the reasons given to defect was the near omnipotent corruption network in the government that is capable of liquidating anybody with the slightest sincere intention of standing in its way. Many have fallen as its silent victims and a considerable number of families have been pushed over the precipice as the result.
Thus, with all the potential of being hijacked for purposes other than intended, I truly believe that the legislation adopted on 09 January 2025 to confiscate assets incommensurate with a person’s known source of income was long overdue.
It isn’t that difficult to understand why. Without dwelling much on the extensive comparative studies on the subject, we can justify the legislation on the actual circumstances on the ground here in the country. Besides, this particular law is meant to gun for the big fish in the sea-the filthy rich.
When Ato Birhan Tsigab’s telltale book titled ‘EPRDF’S Descent to the Abyss’ came out in 2019, it certainly had given a new meaning to corruption in a dominant party system. I remember the host of a popular talk show ‘benegerachin lay’ exclaiming in disbelief while interviewing Birhan-‘are you saying there has never been a government in the true sense of the term these past three decades?’ The guest’s reply was positive.
Let us get this straight when it comes to corruption EPRDFites are beyond redemption and by their own account they are all presumed guilty until proven innocent. The first proclamation of 2001 providing for special procedures and rules of evidence to investigate and prosecute corruption crimes emanated from these underlying existing circumstances. The downside is they judge the rest by their own standard. Unfortunately, corrupt officials have an EPRDFite God Godfather. They are wealthy and capable of tipping kick- backs generously. They are advised by armies of top notch lawyers and financial experts with ‘insider knowledge’. Correspondingly, there has been little chance of apprehending the true culprits. On the contrary as the latter are efficient pros at the job, they would turn the table on anyone threatening them and have him ‘liquidated or silenced’. In the worst cases the special procedure and rule of evidence was used for political purposes and the Parliament was obliged to revise the law in 2005 and 2015.
In a way the latest legislation is a third generation bill in the fight against corruption and in all honesty Ethiopians would do good to help it bear some tangible fruit. The first two were dismal failures judging by the reduced accord extended to the Commission over the year even by the government. The fate of this legislation would be promising if the Commission had the guts to publish the registered assets of public officials in parallel.
In this connection, the one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the audacity of top gun EPRDFites (you know the MVPs of the corruption league) to defend their ill-gotten wealth. Around 2018, one after another they went on television programs and repeated a line from a scripted statement-where is the evidence?
‘What about the five multi- story buildings you own located in four different towns of the Region?’ One cadre was demanded to account and his answer was classic EPRDFite-‘one I have long sold, the other is in my son’s name, another is registered in my wife’s name, the one you keep bringing up is rented and the true fact of the matter is I live in the single house I actually own-where is the evidence of my being corrupt? ‘ . I mean wouldn’t this sound extremely hyperbolic even for a comedy script? Who could have believed it had someone like Ato Birhan Tsigab not written it?
The monthly tuition fee one pays for his kids attending an expensive school catering for the international community exceeded his total gross quarterly salary and he was inquired to explain this magical home economics. Without the slightest qualms of conscience and with tears glistening in his kind eyes he gushed out something like ‘I don’t think I have done much good to my community but the outpouring love and gratitude expressed in covering such small expenses is truly beyond words could to explain.’
Ato Birhan Tsigab writes that at the Council of EPRDF it had become standard practice to denounce corruption and symbolically fight it with the combined might of the senior cadres in attendance. However no one was expected to take it seriously otherwise he would be kicked out of the Fellowship most unceremoniously. Scouts would be dispatched to different offices to ‘photocopy’ compromising documents. In most instances as such a naïve inductee believes in his innocence he rarely tries to sweep mistakes under the rug. So it goes without saying that ‘evidences’ would be all over the place to indict him.
Contrary to systematically ‘tidying up documents’, he would write about them in official correspondences addressed to his colleagues and superiors. Having secured such documents the pros would summon an emergency meeting and wave the papers across his face-‘now this is evidence, as you have owned the mistakes unsolicited we don’t need corroboration!’ In no time the police and prosecutors would descend on him like a hawk chasing a poor bunny with two sets of sharp scary open claws.
Besides, as the Commission would be starving for cases, it would only be too happy to drag the poor fellow to prison with the express or implicit acquiesce of the Front. That no financial loss was incurred wouldn’t be a defense. That he didn’t benefit himself or any third party wouldn’t serve him as a ground to escape the wrath of the mighty- at least not until four or five years later.
Chances are no one would hear from him for years to come while he rots away in prison, though in some cases secretly his affluent comrades might send word to the landlord leasing his family a small pad not to bother the poor wife and the unfortunate kids demanding rent. If I am not mistaken this group of ‘losers’ (that is what they are called among the corrupt rich and glams) has founded a civil society organization after being released- broken and wasted. It is in this context that the eminent fear of the defected members of the opposition parties sounds credible.
According to Ato Birhan at one point Ato Hailemariam was so irritated by the unusual length of time the ‘standard denunciation of corruption’ had taken at a Council meeting that he’d snapped uncharacteristically- ‘we all are here together, aren’t we? We all know that most heads of the corruption networks are in this hall, last time we tried to investigate, all of us took cover behind our respective nationalities, didn’t we?’. Sadly little seems to have changed since.
With such enabling bad governance for corruption to thrive at the highest level, one cannot find any kind of substantial wealth in the country which isn’t supported by a network of corruption. A few which had tried to go legit have long burnt out with incredible net debt owed to the IRM. The culture has permeated the entire system of public and corporate governance that, according some reports, young job seekers cannot compete for vacant positions without ‘oiling dry palms’. In large measure thanks this culture induced by EPRDF, a new vocabulary has entered the Amharic lexicon to express doing any kind of business or getting any kind of service in the country-ፍርቅ ማስያዝ .Corruption is threatening every fabric of social life and unless something as draconian as the latest legislation is implemented in the long run society is certain to take the law in to its hands- seeking equitable redistribution of wealth.
Thus, in all fairness, going after the actual ‘incommensurate wealth’ is certain to serve the true purpose in the fight against corruption if due care is taken not to allow it to be hijacked as usual.
God Bless.
The writer can be reached at : estefanoussamuel@yahoo.com
Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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