Evading the truth?

Inducing starvation as a weapon of repression Editor's note: -On top of the current widespread hunger in Ethiopia, new documents by former TPLF rebels claim millions of dollars received during the 1984 famine was spent on TPLF party inauguration while millions of dollars disappeared into the private accounts of TPLF leaders Meles Zenawi and his confidants like Sebhat Nega. "For instance, Bob Geldof of Band Aid," says former TPLF finance chief, Gebremedhin Araya, "he alone donated $100 million and the aid money was given to Meles and Sebhat Nega, who were summoned to Khartoum, Sudan. The money was never traced back after the two shared the fortune between them." Gebremedhin says leaders and political cadres were partying for several months over the formation of Marxist Leninist League of Tigrai (MLLT) while the people they forced to travel to Sudan and in whose name they received aid from around the world were dying en masse of hunger and being eaten by hyenas. TPLF had hoarded huge food aid consignments in about 1,000 locations scattered across the wilderness between Ethiopia and the Sudan. The group that committed such crimes against humanity is still in power, and critics say Ethiopia is a victim of policies deliberately decreed to fail the country and punish the people. A ludicrous claim, one may say, but tragically true. An excerpt from the 1984 famine After his parents starved to death this winter, Fantaye Abay, the 10-year-old orphan [top right], walked 20 miles from his village of Gereb kola to Korem, a relief camp 250 miles north of Addis Ababa. He has nothing to wear during the near-freezing nights at this altitude of 12,000 feet except a pair of shorts and his father’s only legacy, a tattered, filthy suit jacket. The Ethiopian Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), which controls all aid distribution, has refused him food, clothing and shelter because he has not been officially registered as an orphan by the Farm Administration. “His parents could still be alive,” explains the bureaucrat at the orphans’ tent.” “He could be lying just to get some food.” It is a form of murder by bureaucracy. He sends Fantaye away to almost certain death in the open fields outside the camp. Read details at www.maryellenmark.com

1. Mekonnen Manyazewal, Chairman and State Minister, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
2. Ahmed Tussa, State Minister, Ministry of Trade and Industry
3. Bekalu Zeleke, President, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
4. Beyene G. Meskel, Director General, Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency
5. Mesfin Lemma, Head, Legal Affairs Bureau (Prime Minister's Office)
6. Abdella Bagresh, General Manager, S.A. Bagresh Plc
7. Berhane Haiu, General Manager, Ethiopia Grain Trade Enterprise
8. Captain Fekade Mamo, General Manager, Challenge Coffee Traders Plc
9. Getu Kebede, General Manager, Kality Food Share Co.
10. DebreTsion T. Michael, Director General, Ethiopian Information and Communications Development Agency
11. Yehualashet Aschenaki, General Manager, Southern Region Farmers Cooperative Federation

The addition of Yehualashet brings the total number of private sector representatives to three, which includes Abdella Bagersh and Captain Fekade Mamo. This is a good first step but more needs to be done. Still, ECX is controlled by the government as eight of the eleven or 73% of the Board of Directors entirely represent the interests of the government.

Such an imbalance of power in any organization is a recipe for corruption and monopoly.

The unfettered power given to the government-owned Ethiopia Grain Trade Enterprise (EGTE), which is the major supplier of coffee to domestic and export markets, highlights an egregious violation of ECX's own market conduct rules concerning conflict of interest. It also subjects the public to exploitation and the market to a dysfunctional bureaucracy.

In a market where export prices are set by international markets, enterprises, such as EGTE, maximize their profits mainly by pushing down on their purchase prices and by forcing competitors out of business. The ultimate losers of such unchecked market monopoly and corruption are the powerless coffee farmers, private businesses, and, eventually, the coffee sector at large.

To be accepted by the public as a viable and trusted marketplace, ECX needs the voluntary active participation and fair representation of the private businesses and farmers in addition to policymakers. It is obvious that the government owned enterprises function within the policy framework developed by policymakers (listed above from 1 to 5). It is also known that EGTE and Kality Food Share Co. are directly answerable to the Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency, which plays a central role in ECX's board. Therefore, the representation in ECX's board of the General Managers of these enterprises is redundant. To maintain a reasonable balance between the interests of the public and private sectors, the government should allot these two seats to additional representatives from farmers. In a country where 85% of the population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture, it is only fair and sensible that farmers are given the chance to have a say in the agricultural commodity market.

In a related development, the much anticipated ECX event, termed "ECX Specialty Coffee Event 2009" opened on October 21, 2009 (October 20th, 11:00 pm, Pacific Time) at the luxurious Sheraton Addis, in the Ethiopian capital.

The four-day event (Oct 21-24) includes speeches, plenary discussions, sessions to hear and discuss the findings of the ECX-SCAA Working Group, and visits to ECX trading floor, coffee washing stations, the coffee growing region of Yirgachefe, where ECX inaugurates a regional laboratory located in Dilla, and more.

"The purpose of our event is to highlight how we at ECX think Ethiopia’s producers, traders, and export community can work best with our international buyers to offer our best to the global market," reads ECX's invitation to the attendees.

The most valued guests of the event are members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). Ric Rhinehart, President of the SCAA is one of the speakers at the opening ceremony whereas Tefera Deribew, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, delivers the keynote speech.

Analysis of the findings of the Working Group and the outcome of this highly confidential event will be made public soon.

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