The World Bank: A Partner for Good or A Fuel for Evil

 

Dejen Radio & Ethiopian Commentator Editorial

November 28, 2005

 

Who is The World Bank’s Ethiopia representative, Isaac Diwan, trying to fool?  We know with absolute certainty that he can never fool the Ethiopian people. He could sugar coat all he wants the destructive role he and the institution that he represents are playing in Ethiopia but no façade can mask their duplicity. Mr. Diwan may peddle evil for good, but we are not fooled. 

 

First the façade.  There is a technique all merchants in evil employ to hide their part in crime or their indifference to crime. And that technique is to come across as people of conscience whose heart goes out to the innocent civilians, the plight of the poor, and the mother of all façade, the plight of women, children and the elderly. If the tragedy happens to be massive political repression such as the situation in Ethiopia today, their popular line is the importance of democracy, rule of law, good governance, free press etc. The idea is to appear compassionate and principled in the midst of bank rolling dictatorship and the associated crimes not only against democracy but also against the very civilians, the poor, women, children, and the elderly they pretend to care. In such a mission of deception, the World Bank’s top dog in Ethiopia is not an exception.

 

In his recent interview with IRIN (Addis Ababa, 18 Nov 2005), Mr. Diwan tried to snow us with impunity. On the surface, the Moneyman’s viewpoint passes for considerate and compassion.  And if we did not know the lifeline for the Meles regime, Mr. Diwan would have scored a home run with his deception. He would have gotten away with crocodile tears.  But we Ethiopians know better.  We know that the Stalinist dictatorship running supreme in Ethiopia today is courtesy, at the minimum, of the indifference by the World Bank and other institutions of the democratic West

 

In the IRIN interview, Mr. Diwan’s charade begins with the patented crocodile tears  “…recent events are doubly painful, because of the loss of life…” That is not all.  The moneyman in Addis Ababa had more charades in his bag.  He also talked about “…great risks to the good development outcomes we have been seeing …” And when pressed to elaborate “what good development outcomes?” Mr. Diwan shamelessly peddled “…in the past two years, we have been seeing double-digit growth. We are seeing growth in agriculture and in the private sector. We have seen that past efforts in building roads are starting to give rise to dynamic small towns. We have seen a horticultural rose revolution. We are also seeing more efforts in new sectors like construction, tourism or the information and communication sector. There have been major gains in education and against malnutrition. The possibility that Ethiopia is turning the corner, getting on the path of long-term growth, is - or was - quite incredible…” That is not all folks. He is not finished. The moneyman had more tricks in his bag and more gimmicks in his lips. In the very same interview, he also told the world of the consequences of bad governance and how the deteriorating political climate in Ethiopia could “jeopardize growth…affect… the investment climate…” and how bad governance could result not only in the decline of growth “…but also stops being pro-poor…” You heard it folks. Incredible!  The same old double-talk and the same old art of deception to hide the crime or to hide the indifference to crime not only against democracy but also against the Ethiopian people.  If we did not know better, the good old money man would have snowed us into believing that he and his Bank have an ounce of humanity.  But we Ethiopians have been around. Over three thousand years to be exact. We have seen it all, heard it all, and experienced it all.  We Ethiopians may treat our guest like a king or a queen and our time-tested code of conduct may not dictate pleasure in shaming the pretender in the public square, our farewells are brutally honest.  We may not chase our guests out of our home or confront them with their own humiliation, we do in fact make it plain at the hour of parting.  In that, we Ethiopians are known to say a lot by simply washing off our sacred soil from the feet of those with bad intent or those without conscience.  It would be a mistake for the likes of Mr. Diwan to take our great hospitality for weakness or our silence for ignorance. We know the reality of our country. In deed, it would be a mistake not to be aware of the sword behind the Ethiopian smile. 

 

Mr. Diwan talks of his sorrow about the “loss of life” in Ethiopia. Could this really be true?  In our view, it can never be.  If in fact Mr. Diwan was sincere about the lose of life in Ethiopia, he would not have been selectively saddened by the “…recent events…of the loss of life…” If he was concerned about the loss of life in Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi did not start extinguishing the lives of Ethiopians only recently!  Mr. Diwan and the World Bank that he represents were in Addis Ababa when the people of Awassa were mowed down en masse for expressing their grievances peacefully. Where was the World Bank when the European Union pressed the Meles regime for an “independent inquiry” into the massacre in Awassa? If the World bank had any concern for the loss of life in Ethiopia, it was not only Mr. Diwan who was present in Addis Ababa when the Anuak people of Ethiopia were mowed down to extinction but also the former President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn as well. And what did the latter have to say? The latter had nothing to say of the genocide but he had lavish words of praise to the perpetrator of the crime against humanity, Meles Zenawi.  The former President of the World Bank said nothing of the genocide but he was eager to talk about the voodoo economics of Meles Zenawi “…My own opinion is that this government is now on an absolutely first rate path to growth…”  If the World Bank had any concern about the loss of life in Ethiopia, the massacre of the students of Addis Ababa University did not take place far away from the its branch office in Addis Ababa.  And yet, it is only today Mr. Diwan surfaced from his cocoon to shed crocodile tears about the recent event’s loss of life.  In our view, be it Mr, Diwan or the Bank that he represents are now going public and pretending to be concerned about the loss of life in Ethiopia not because they give a damn of the genocides and the massive political repression in Ethiopia but because the situation in Ethiopia is no longer conduceive for the World Bank’s modus operandi- business as usual and in the dark.  The Bank and its personnel are now going public with their pretension because the regime they praised as with “…an absolutely first rate path to growth…” is in fact a first rate not in economic growth and the development of democracy but in the mass murder of peaceful protesters.  The Bank and its personnel are shading crocodile tears not because of the loss of life in Ethiopia but because their moral and financial support to one of the most grotesque regime in the continent of Africa if not in the world, has been brought before the court of not only the people of the world but also before the eyes of God.

 

The charade is not confined to “…recent events…of the loss of life…”  Mr. Diwan and his former boss have tried to hoodwink us into believing that Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi is blessed with “first rate path to growth, ” which has resulted in “…in the past two years, we have been seeing double-digit growth. We are seeing growth in agriculture and in the private sector. We have seen that past efforts in building roads are starting to give rise to dynamic small towns. We have seen a horticultural rose revolution. We are also seeing more efforts in new sectors like construction, tourism or the information and communication sector. There have been major gains in education and against malnutrition. The possibility that Ethiopia is turning the corner, getting on the path of long-term growth, is - or was - quite incredible…” We wish what Mr. Diwan and his former boss Dr. James Wolfensohn, said were true.  But we know better.  We know that Ethiopia has not seen “a horticultural rose revolution” but the duplicity of Yara Foundation in marketing the phantom reality of “Green Revolution.”    How could there be “a horticultural rose revolution” when the farmers of Ethiopia are relegated to landless serfs and as such subjected to what the UN’s Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE) calls collective punishment of the farmers by the Meles regime (http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30663&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=ETHIOPIA), and the agricultural policy is set by a headless Stalinist thug who in the past thirty two years has murdered about a million Ethiopians?  And how could a regime, which holds the poor hostage to Yara’s fertilizer, be “pro poor?”  We would like to alert Mr. Diwan and the Bank that he represents to what they already know but they selectively forget.  It is not without reason that the EUE is condemning the Meles regime for the “collective punishment” against the poor.  It is not without reason that the UNECA in its annual Economic Report on Africa, said land ownership should form the cornerstone of any agriculture-led development plan in Ethiopia, and that “land tenure and governance are among the most pressing areas requiring institutional reforms in Ethiopia."  Mr. Diwan may waste his time manufacturing a smoke screen to justify his support for one of the most crazy dictator in the world, but the economic reality in Ethiopia testify not to “turning the corner” with “first rate path to growth” but to the absence of freedom and the rule of democratic law, both of which are globally known as the first rate prerequisite for development.  

 

Incidentally, Mr. Diwan does not have any evidence for his claim of economic “turning the corner” in Ethiopia.  The best he has to offer is similar to his “recent events…loss of life…” crocodile tears.  All that “first rate growth path” and “turning the corner” snake oil has nothing to show for but a claim about what has taken place “in the past two years.”  And what does Mr. Diwan and the World Bank have to say for the twelve of the fourteen years that Meles Zenawi has been ruining not only the economy of Ethiopia but also the lives and freedom of the Ethiopian people?  Even if we were to believe the sham and shame nonsense of “the past two years,” the money man of the World Bank should have known that two out of fourteen data points do not represent a legitimate statistical trend. Claiming outliers or aberrations for a trend is not only Stalinist voodoo economics courtesy of Meles Zenawi but also the World Bank’s collusion in covering up a total failure in Ethiopia.

 

The World Bank’s top representative to Ethiopia did also talk of “major gains in education and against malnutrition” in Ethiopia.  Here too, we know better.  The “major gains in education” in Ethiopia the World Bank’s top dog touts is in conflict with what the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had to say.  According to the IOM, “Ethiopia loses the most qualified professionals of all African countries.”  Mr. Diwan’s rosy assessment of the educational achievement is further in conflict with the US Congressman Jim Kolbe testimony.  The Congressman said “…brain drain from Ethiopia had robbed the country of much of its talent…the best brains and best entrepreneurs of a country like this end up coming to the United States and thus rob the people of Ethiopia of their talents…"  And the reason for the brain drain in Ethiopia?  According to Kibre Moges from the Ethiopian Economic Association, a leading think-tank in Ethiopia “…the main reason people go is politics…Across Africa…the main reason people go is political, the lack of development, democratization and human rights...”  What good does it do, should we ask Mr. Diwan, to boast of major gain in education of children when we know for a fact that those already educated are being hunted to extinction by a run away Stalinist thug?  What is the meaning of major gains in education of children when what awaits them as adults is joblessness, political repression on a massive scale, and eventually disposal as “bozene” by a Stalinist thug with pure contempt and hatred for those with education?  We would like to alert the money man from the World Bank that in the Court of Meles Zenawi, the mission of education is not to produce a thinking population but to create the “new” man with Stalinist robotics. Meles Zenawi may tout education in order to have access to the resources of the World Bank but his deep-seated fear of intellectuals and scholars is well documented. As to Mr. Diwan’s remark of “major gains against malnutrition,” the realities on the ground are that there are ten to fifteen million Ethiopians without food this year.  What is truly sad is that such a reality has been the case for the past fourteen years. And yet, the World Bank is telling us of “first rate path for growth” and “turning the corner” using indefensible statistical outliers.

 

Finally, let us look now at the mother of all charade peddled by Mr, Diwan.  In the IRIN interview, he testified about the consequences of bad governance and how the deteriorating political climate in Ethiopia could “jeopardize growth…affect… the investment climate…” and how bad governance could result not only in the decline of growth “…but also stops being pro-poor…” Is Mr. Diwan trying to tell us that the bad governance of the Meles regime is a function of the violence since the hijacked election?  Is he trying to tell us that there was good governance before the election but that since then it is deteriorating into bad governance?  If the latter is the case, he is once again knowingly mistaken.  May be he has forgotton the UNECA Report of 13 October 2004 (http://www.uneca.org/agr/), which in the words of the Reporter Magazine “The government of Ethiopia's failure to live up to its promises and commitment is again making the rounds…Despite all the rhetoric by officials and the drummed up propaganda, the ECA's governance report showed the government failing to equate with the sample average of 28 other African countries, in fact lagging so far behind that it is one of the three at the bottom of the pile. ..”  Quoting the same report the UN’s Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) reported (http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=43642) that “…Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya and Swaziland are lagging in good governance…The four countries fell short in areas like corruption, political representation, economic management and respect of human rights…in Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad, Zimbabwe and Malawi, there are doubts about the commitment of government agencies to respect and implement the rule of law…" .  As can be seen on the table below, “Ethiopia's overall performance with respect to good governance is dismal. In spite of the commitment to democracy and good governance expressed by the Stalinist thug, Meles Zenawi, the UNECA Report rated the governance in Ethiopia well below the group average…” In other words, the Meles regime is not with a “policy with a first rate path to growth” or one turning Ethiopia for the better but ruining Ethiopia into disrepair.  Clearly, the ratings by the UNECA do not show a promising future for Ethiopia under Meles.  Let alone for the Meles regime to turn the 

 

Criteria

Ethiopia's Rating

Average rating of 28

Countries in Africa

Political representation

42%

66%

Institutional Effectiveness

31

50%

Executive's effectiveness

30

50%

Rule of law

34%

50%

Press freedom

32%

54%

Overall performance

36%

53%

Source: UNECA

 

development and democratic woes in Ethiopia around, as an Albanian inspired thug, he cannot even rescue his own banishment into the dustbin of history.  Let’s not deceive ourselves.  The figures above clearly tell the whole reality.  The “first rate growth path” which would “turn the corner around” is not the preservation of the Meles regime but its replacement.

 

We have advice to Mr. Diwan and the World Bank that he represents.  Our advice is an obvious one.  Not a rocket science but a simple common sense.  We advise the World Bank to be governed by one standard.  Follow the same rule of law, legal frame work, accountability, democracy, justice, ethics and moral code which has propelled the West into economic miracles in its dealings in Ethiopia. The World Bank must take note that the “first rate path to growth” is freedom from the shackles of tyranny.  The reason for the economic miracle in the West, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and South Korea is nothing else but the ordination of freethinking with democratic law.  And we know the reason why the Socialist East collapsed.  No freedom, no development!  Mr. Diwan and the World Bank may want to kid themselves into believeing that the Stalinist relic in Ethiopia is of different “breed,” but there can be no dispute that, just as in Stalin times, Ethiopians are being mowed down by the thousands, thrown into concentration camps, condmned to long prison terms without due process of law, and the educated are either being hang by kangaroo courts or forced in to exile. 

 

We urge the World Bank and its personnel to open up their eyes.  Meles Zenawi is ruling by apartheid.  Compartmentalization not by the color of the skin but by language and ethnicity.   Just as apartheid in South Africa, Ethiopians are being forced to carry a “Pass Card” to travel and live within their country.  Article 39 of Meles’s constitution is not about embracing differences but about magnifying differences.  It is not about appealing to the best of people but to their worst instinct.  It is about divide and rule.  And we know the products of the latter; we have learned it from the cataclysm in Rwanda.  Meles Zenawi has already talked about Intrahamwee.  He has labeled the opposition political parties as Intrahamwee and he has subjected them and their followers to the very intrahamwee justice he is accusing the opposition.  It would be unforgivable not only in the court of global justice but also in the Court of God if we fool ourselves with talks of “first rate growth path” or “turning the corner around” nonsense when in fact the first rate growth path and turning the corner around so touted by Mr. Diwan and the World Bank is doing nothing but serve as fuel for a cataclysmic apocalypse in Ethiopia.

 

May be we can argue about whether or not two out of fourteen data points represent a trend or a statistical outlier.  May be the World Bank does not understand the inhumanity behind Article 39.  May be, despite the fact that Meles Zenawi has been the Founder and General Secretary of the Marxist Leninist League of Tigray (MLLT) for the past thirty two years, and may be, despite the fact that the MLLT has been and is the main Godless evil and power broker behind the TPLF/EPRDF or behind the current Stalinist onslaught upon the Ethiopian people, it is beyond the World Bank’s grasp to understand the evil nature of Meles Zenawi.  But there can be no excuse for not knowing as to who is responsible for the imprisonment of the leaders and followers of the opposition political parties.  Mr. Diwan and the World Bank cannot pretend as though duly elected political leaders and their supporters are not being gun down, tortured and condemned to malaria-infested concentration camps.  The World Bank and its personnel cannot be oblivious to the fact that political leaders who can muster millions of Ethiopians to Masquel Square, and leaders elected by tens of millions of Ethiopians are imprisoned without the right to habeas corpus.  It is time for the World Bank to open its eyes and see the horrendous crime against democracy in Ethiopia. We demand of the World Bank with the utmost urgency to take note of the crucifixion of democracy with a Stalinist sword in Ethiopia. It is time for the end of double standard.  It is time for straight talk.  It is time to do the right thing. It is time to call not only for real democracy in Ethiopia but also for the prosecution of Meles Zenawi for crimes against the Ethiopian people, and democracy.  We call upon the World Bank and other democratic institutions of the West to play by the same standards played in their home turf. Ethiopians are not asking for charity. But the same standard of accountability practiced in the home front of the West.  It is time for those who should know better to serve as partners in good and not as a fuel for evil in Ethiopia.