Editor’s Note – A group is taking the government of Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi to court in the UK for failing to pay expenses incurred while hosting an international beauty pageant that was held in connection with the Millennium Celebrations in 2007 in Addis Ababa. The full text sent by the group to Ethiomedia follows:
A very embarrassing and messy UK court battle involving the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the UK Based organizers of the Ethiopian Millennium pageant is increasingly likely as 2 years after obtaining the promotional services of a UK company to promote and produce its Special Millennium pageant, the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism has to date simply continued to defy all reasonable attempts and requests to pay the Organizers any of the pre-agreed production and hosting costs for the event, in short they never paid a single penny for the event, they have more or less attempted to extensively obtain services by what appears to be a well managed premeditated and clever act of official deception and abuse of office by giving guarantees they have abandoned after obtaining the service .
Officials at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Ethiopian Embassy in London who were contacted instead of doing the honorable thing and settling this matter quietly, since 2007 simply continue to dance Esketas around the issue, coming up with every excuse under the sun they can think of and make up to delay this matter further, despite having obtained the service in October 2007.
This matter was first brought to the attention of H.E. Ambassador Berhanu Kebede, the Ethiopian ambassador to the UK, in December 2007, when the final payment was due and did not come, he simply forwarded a carefully worded letter via his press secretary Gail Warden, denying any involvement in the Ethiopian Minsity of Tourism and Culture in the event, issued by State Minister: Mohamouda Gaas in January 2008, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, in that letter on Ethiopian Official government letter head, Mohamouda Gaas claims that the Millennium pageant was an international event and his Ministry had “no say in its implementation”, yet he was at the center of the official fund raiser and the Chairman of the official “Organizing committee” he set up, one has to respectfully ask if 37 International beauty queens could possibly visit Ethiopia on the occasion of the New Ethiopian Millennium, for a huge media event like Miss Tourism of the Millennium, be met by the Minster at Bole airport, fast tracked through VIP channels, taken round to state enterprises, be escorted by Federal police outriders and even get to visit H.E. President of Ethiopia etc but Ato Mohamuda Gaas and his Ministry of Culture and Tourism just happened to be innocent by standers?, or how he and other Ministers came to be present at every event uninvited, carefully orchestrating the event for maximum personal publicity and issuing glowing press statements, interviews on TV and media, posing of photos, but he now it is time to pay for the service he conveniently claims he had nothing to do with the implementation, certainly the facts do not support this preposterous claim by Mohamouda Gaas.
Throughout 2008 officials from the MOCT and Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK continued to give excuse after excuse, pleading poverty, budget deficit, blaming Sheik Al Amoudi etc asking for more time to resolve this matter etc and claiming Official fundraisers were being organized to pay what the Ministry owed the UK company, and urging us to be patient and never think the Ministry had abandoned their obligation to us, and we should be part of the solution etc, this is despite over 1.8 million birr collected / confirmed from Lead sponsors who were visited and promoted like:
Ethiopian Airlines
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia
Ethiopian Electric power
Ethiopian Telecommunications
Ethiopian Horticultural exporters association
Ethiopian Coffee association
Ethiopian Leather association
Addis Ababa chamber of commerce and many more
Who all supposedly paid their sponsorship to the Ministry and mohamouda Gaas who in turn never passed a penny on to us the organisers, despite agreeing to do that, the sponsorship money simply quietly disappeared under clever and deliberate misappropriations and secrecy despite the Ministry having an independently issued budget every year, further more all the ticket sales revenue likewise simply disappeared and was never publicly accounted for to us or anybody in short every penny collected for the event conveniently disspeared and two years on the excuses just keep coming .
Efforts from the British Ambassador to Ethiopia H.E. Norman Ling, who raised this matter to the Minister Mohamoud Dirir in July 2008 to get him to settle this matter quetly simply once more fell on deaf ears.
In April 2009, upon receipt of formal and final notice of impending UK court action from UK lawyers H.E. Mohamoud Dirir suddenly claimed he now wanted to “settle this matter amicably without resorting to court action” and we thought they had come to their senses, but how ever since April and to date all that has come from him has been just letter after letter repeating the same thing “I want settle this matter amicably without resorting to court action” and asking for more time.
Repeated promises to invite us the aggrieved / cheated parties to settlement in Ethiopia were also made many times by the Ministry but they were never kept, as the Ministry simply would not pay for the Air ticket to Ethiopia like they agreed, nor would they consent to a conference call with the Ethiopian Ambassador and our Lawyers present to solve the matter instead of us flying to Ethiopia, they insisted that no lawyers on our side should be present, and all the negotiations must take place in Ethiopia in front of their “Committee”, and we must sign a letter to that effect that we accept to negotiate on their terms, at the same time the Minister kept refusing to answer his phone for weeks on end and then claiming to be in meetings or in the rural areas on tour for months on end according to his secretary, when she makes the mistake of answering the phone, but still not one penny has ever been paid, not surprisingly the event for which a five year license to be held in Ethiopia until 2012 to Promote Ethiopian Culture and Tourism to the World did not return to Ethiopia in 2008 or 2009 and will now never return to Ethiopia as a result of this breech of trust and refusal to pay for service obtained by the Ministry in 2007.
Instead the Ministry have chosen to collaborate with a local individual to try and organise “Miss Tourism Ethiopia” which they know fully well is our exclusive intellectual property, and have also been very busy trying to convince the International production crew we brought to Ethiopia in 2007 from all over the world, who were not paid to date, to come back to Ethiopia and organise an event for them behind our backs.
At this point we feel this is a further example of the level of unethical behavior and practices by certain officials in the Ministry that is totally unacceptable. What is even more disappointing is that every one we have contacted in the Ethiopian Government to try and resolve this issue quietly and diplomatically since January 2008 has simply closed ranks with the Ministry, erected walls of silence and do not seem to think that the Ministry should honor its financial obligations it entered into in 2007. So now a UK High court will tell us who is right and wrong.
The Breach of Contract case will be heard at the UK Royal courts of Justice in London and all unpaid obligations sought and also include substantial damages for lost income since 2007.
