webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2010
All rights reserved
From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Oct 27 2010 - 15:11:31 EDT
In Ethiopia, aid for the ruling party
>From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Last updated Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010 11:28AM EDT
Imagine living in a country where access to university, to a loan, or to
fertilizer for your farm is conditional on supporting the ruling party.
Canadian taxpayers are underwriting this practice. It is time for a change
in approach and policy.
The regime in question, Ethiopia's, is a democracy, but in name only. In the
May, 2010 national election, the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front won 499 of 547 seats after locking up many of its
opponents.
And yet Ethiopia is an international aid darling, as it tests innovative
programs to tackle poverty. Canada gave $138.1-million in 2008-09 and is the
fourth largest country donor. Donors have begun setting up new structures to
ensure that more aid is delivered locally, rather than by the central
government.
But a report released today by Human Rights Watch details the consequences:
The party hierarchy has infiltrated every level of society, down to the
village kebele unit, where the aid is actually distributed, dominated by
party officials who know everyone's allegiance. Human Rights Watch found
that "donor-funded services, resources and training opportunities were being
used as threats or rewards for citizens to join the ruling party and cease
supporting the opposition." One interviewee said he was forced to show a
list of receipts for his party membership dues to get assistance.
It is an all too common conundrum, and one not limited to Ethiopia: The aid,
by all accounts, is doing some good. But without human rights, the aid
carries a taint and will not improve the long-term prospects of the country.
Luckily, policy-makers have options. The first is to work more closely with
other donors to pressure Ethiopia to relax its grip on its people, and
threaten to pull out if they don't see improvement.
The second is to find alternative recipients. It would take a cabinet
directive to remove Ethiopia from the Canadian International Development
Agency's list of priority recipients. But surely other states merit
consideration, like Liberia, which is about to have its second free
presidential election and just passed a freedom-of-information law, but has
great needs: a recently demobilized cadre of child soldiers and a capital
city without regular access to electricity.
Canadians are all too aware of how Ethiopians have suffered for decades. But
when politics and party allegiances determine who gets help, taxpayers and
the people left out deserve answers.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----