An important fight

                                                                                                                              Taye Kebede

An important fight has been waged to fundamentally root out corruption with the collaborative effort of the government and the people. Although this fight is delayed considering that the issue is wide reaching and complicated, this same fight that is initiated in earnest can bring huge success if it’s undertaken carefully. It can only be the beginning and not the last.

The joke that claims everyone from Addis Ababa to the region will get arrested if everyone that is implicated in corruption is to be arrested goes out to show how many people are involved in corruption either directly or indirectly.  

Although the level of the corruption people do differs from one to another, a thief is a thief. Like the amount and type of crime committed, every person involved in such wrong doing should be held accountable by the law, and return back the public and government wealth that has been stolen to the rightful owners. Let the law hold the culprit responsible by proving it through evidence.

Indeed! The ruling party EPRDF has entered into a deep renewal accepting that the cause of the issue is the party itself. If it had taken measure on those people that had been frustrating the people under the party’s name earlier, all this could have been avoided.

EPRDF as an organization and party has done many unprecedented things for the country. And it is still doing such things. As much as there are those who have iron clad commitment to serve the people, there are also those who have decided to use the power given to them by the government or ruling party to serve their own self interest, blackening what the government and ruling party have done to the country. And they have created a rift between the people and the government in the process.

The main point here is this: although EPRDF is late, it cannot be debated that the ruling party will identify these hindrances through the process it already initiated and will bring the culprits to justice. Their crime is using the responsibility that was given to them by the people and the government for personal gains, looting and causing general pain on the general public.

Without a doubt, the ruling party has the capability and competence to realize the deep renewal that is initiated at national level. The illogical thinking that goes like individuals that have become wealthy by robbing the people is untouchables. And the narrative that says the whole country will be troubled if these people are to be touched is unacceptable.

A historic and grand country like Ethiopia, which is built by the bond of millions of people that have lived together for centuries, will not be destroyed by thieves and looters. The main guards of the country have always been the people in the first place. The army, security force and police are all the children of Ethiopia. Therefore, they protect their country standing next to the people.

Ethiopia is not a country that is built in a single day, and that will be destroyed by the doing of corrupts and rent-seekers. Those people will be brought to justice before that happens. Ethiopia is a country that is based on a firm and concrete basis – it is not a country that will be disintegrated by a sudden storm or hurricane.

Bringing people that have been hurting the people to justice is not a new thing for Ethiopia. Even though the government has been accused for being late, the measure has been started anyway. Nonetheless, it is the time for the citizen of the country to carry out their citizenry role of fighting against corrupts and rent-seekers and bringing them to the law by standing next to the ruling party by giving tips or by establishing any kind of collaboration with the government.

Thievery doesn’t represent ethnicity or nationality. There are many thieves and looters that hail from each nation and nationalities, who have subverted the responsibility bestowed upon them by the government and people. No matter how anyone put it or presents it; a thief is a thief.

Whether a thief builds a building or buys an expensive car or become an investor, if that person does all these things by cheating from the people and the government, then that person is a thief. This is why instead of standing next to the government in the effort to bring the corrupts and thieves before the law, they were condemning the government.

The time that is wasted for condemnation is unnecessary. There can’t be any change in a single day. If we don’t work hard by standing next to the government, change just cannot come from the sky. Change also cannot be expected in a week or month time. It takes time and patience. The change from the renewal process will only get strong through process. The start of the renewal process is to be encouraged, and it demands a change in attitude and thinking from the people and the government.

The corrupts and rent-seekers have a network that is laid from top to bottom and from the city to the region. And to identify this network and destroy it, and bring the public wealth that has been embezzled, it needs huge amount of time, money and manpower. Simply saying EPRDF has sat idly and didn’t take measure will not benefit anyone, and will not get us anywhere.

The question why the issue was delayed, how much complicated it is and how it should be carried out should be answered appropriately. It is not a work that is to be done in haste, or impulse. Even if there may be evidence, information should be build upon, as what rules an individual as criminal in a court of law is the evidence, information, document or human testament that is presented against the person. This is how rule of law is upheld.

The government will provide the necessary protection to innocent people that would protect them against being accused out of revenge and their human rights being violated. Accusing people out of emotion and through a thorough evidence backing is two separate things. This is why there should be a stern caution. Those that should be hold accountable will be so. They will be brought before the law and justice.

There is nothing above the country and people. Individuals are not above the country and the law. And they can’t be either. They will be hold accountable by the law if they need to. In relation to this, it is an issue that demands huge amount of time and that should be done alone without getting merged with other works.

It also demands setting up special courts that are entitled to investigate and oversee such type of corruption cases. It also helps to facilitate the work of the general prosecutor. While these special courts residing over corruption, rent-seeking, good governance and injustice, while investigating on crimes done on the country, government and people, it is important to structures these courts at regional, sub-city, zone level and bring forward corrupts and rent-seekers to court of law as per their crimes.

Recently Federal Police has stated that it has put away 130 individual that are suspected of corruption. In a statement given Commander Desta Asmelash, Special Advisor to the Commissioner General of the commission,  130 individuals out of 260 are suspected of corruption are locked away after receiving tips from the people, government and nongovernmental institutions. The commander also stated that the assets of 13 suspected individual have been freezed, while there have also been a ban issued on eight big share companies, four buildings, 49 vehicles, 22 houses and 2 factories. The rest of the suspects are under investigation.

According to the commander, government officials and expert are part of the suspects. It is reported that 125 individuals that have been suspected of corruption have been put under arrest by Addis Ababa Police Commission at the beginning of this week. Similarly, 198 people have been put to arrest in Sothern region for corruption, according to the region’s ethics and commissioner Abayneh Adeto. He stated that more than one thousand tips have reached the commission in the past five months alone, and 198 individual who have been confirmed as having involved in corruption have been arrested.

The commissioner also stated that 3 million birr that was embezzled have been returned back whilst 67,982 m² of land was also returned back to the region’s land bank. He also said that the number of tips that comes from the public to the commission has increased. And the strong measure that is been taken by the government on corrupts and rent-seekers all over the country is creating huge amount of motivation within the public.