Content: Fineline
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There is hardly anything bureaucrats love than having policymakers who are zealots …
There is hardly anything bureaucrats love than having policymakers who are zealots in regulations. While regulation disempowers members of the public, no bureaucrat can thrive without having that indispensable weapon: a directive. So last week was one of such times where the federal government goes full force in regulating the imports of mobile handsets and […]
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Describing what transpires inside the most powerful governing party of Ethiopia as an intense power struggle may sound a bit far-fetched
Describing what transpires inside the most powerful governing party of Ethiopia as an intense power struggle may sound a bit far-fetched, says gossip. The power dynamics and alliances are fluid; it can be misleading to discern formations of groups neither on party affiliations nor ideological preferences, claims gossip. There are however tensions simmering among various […]
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Of late, there are a few places where public perception of professionalism is under erosion…
Of late, there are a few places where public perception of professionalism is under erosion as in the nation’s diplomatic front, claims gossip. Such misgivings on ambassadorial appointments do not necessarily come from lack of understanding that there are both the career diplomats as in political appointments serving the nation. It rather comes mostly from […]
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There is a growing anxiety at the top tier of the Administration of the PM …
There is a growing anxiety at the top tier of the Administration of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn over the build-up of debts to foreign creditors, largely to China, gossip revealed. The macroeconomic team – less mettlesome than its predecessor – appears to be complacent in the face of mounting concerns about debt sustainability, claims gossip. […]
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Two seemingly unrelated events but of national significance took place last week…
Two seemingly unrelated events but of national significance took place last week. Members of the all-EPRDF-and-allies dominated Parliament plucked up their courage last week in grilling Kinfe Dagnew (B. Gen.), director general of the Metal & Engineering Corporation (MetEC), for four hours. It is not a usual affair to see incensed Members of Parliament (MPs) […]
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Enforcing discipline with the state to shape up in its budgeting is often an uphill task
Enforcing discipline with the state to shape up in its budgeting is often an uphill task. All the more though, ensuring its functionaries are tight in their spendings and regulate their excesses made in the name of the public’s business is not only controversial. Such is a matter of significant misgivings in the corridors of […]
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Abraham is up rocking the boat; he appears to be determined . . .
The Ministry of Finance, one of the oldest institutions in the country, has a charismatic, intelligent and courageous minister in the persona of Abraham Tekeste (PhD), gossip noted. Brought to the frontline following the cabinet reshuffle of November last year, Abraham is not new to the Ministry, for he had served the institution under Sufian […]
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The Revolutionary Democrats have mustered their rank . . .
The Revolutionary Democrats have mustered their rank and file at the Civil Service College, attending their ritual and marathon indoctrination sessions. Having three rounds, the first batch, comprising the top leadership of the EPRDFites, completed the first round last week, gossip disclosed. These trainings, ingrained in the party’s culture since the days of its insurgency, […]
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Apparently, it takes so little for this government to please people in Addis Abeba…
Apparently, it takes so little for this government to please people in Addis Abeba and a few other cities across the country, gossip observed. The formula is to unplug major public services people take for granted and keep them complaining for a couple of days. The moment of euphoria is utterly perplexing when these services […]
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The Revolutionary Democrats are to celebrate their 25th year in power
Having their roots deeply entrenched in the leftist spectrum of politics, the Revolutionary Democrats are to celebrate their 25th year in power come May 28, 2017. Over the past quarter of a century, their leaders have had various formulas they thought would have legitimised their rule on a vastly diverse and highly polarized society. From […]
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The one thing EPRDFites are averse to in their rule is the formation of more than one power centre…
The one thing EPRDFites are averse to in their rule is the formation of more than one power centre, gossip has observed. A quarter of a century on, with their strong grip on political power, their track record shows juggling between the party’s undue influence over the state as the case had been during the […]
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It is unusual for a federal agency to get estranged with the very administration it…
It is unusual for a federal agency to get estranged with the very administration it belongs to. Yet, that is what is happening with the Ethiopian Policy Studies & Research Centre (EPSRC), runs under the directorship of Abay Tsehaye, one of the founders and veterans of the TPLF. For the second time in a couple […]
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The results of the last national elections have no doubt undermined…
The results of the last national elections have no doubt undermined the hopes for competitive multiparty democracy in Ethiopia. Not even the staunch supporters of the EPRDFites have the courage to stand in defence of it, while no fewer number of its leaders are embarrassed with the kind of legislative bodies the results led in […]
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There has been no time when the Revolutionary Democrats were as fragmented…
There has been no time when the Revolutionary Democrats were as fragmented since their formation in 1989 as they are now, claims gossip. The fracture along several layers is mind-boggling, gossip observed. One is the growing dynamics between the centre and regional forces, and for the latter, among each other. Political assertiveness appears to be […]
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There could perhaps be no political party in the world that has mastered the art of self-flagellation…
There could perhaps be no political party in the world that has mastered the art of self-flagellation as the EPRDF does, gossip observes. It is a Maoist culture successfully used during its era of insurgency, fighting a rather brutal military government. Now that the EPRDFites are government, in charge of the “good old Ethiopian state,” […]
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Djibouti’s President, Ismail Omar Guelleh, known among close circles as IOG, is due to arrive here in Addis…
Djibouti’s President, Ismail Omar Guelleh, known among close circles as IOG, is due to arrive here in Addis this week, for a three-day state visit. Born and raised in Dire Dawa, he is no stranger to Ethiopia. Among couple of other languages, the 70-year old Guelleh’s fluency in Amharic is simply impressive. But, his visit […]
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The rift between leaders of the TPLF and the ANDM
There is perhaps no one in the sub-region as perceptive on Ethiopia’s internal dynamics as neighboring Sudan can be, claims gossip. Khartoum appears to have the knack for seeing through the layers of Ethiopia’s political forces, including the fault lines within the ruling party, says gossip. No doubt Khartoumites have a history with Ethiopia’s current […]
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The current leadership of the OPDO is now rocking the boat among the Revolutionary Democrats
The manner in which the current leadership of the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organization (OPDO), Messrs Lemma Megerssa, chairman, and Worqneh Gebeyehu (PhD), deputy, came to power was conventional neither to the party itself nor to the Front that is a coalition of the four regional parties. What was a meeting called to discuss the 15-year […]
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The popular saying that history repeats itself…
The popular saying that history repeats itself was more evident two weeks ago during the summit by heads of state of the African Union (AU). The top most agendas of the summit might have been the election of a new chairperson to the AU Commission and the rejoining of Morocco to the continental body to […]
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Time changes everything…
Time changes everything, so says the popular English dictum. So true, claims gossip considering how much things have changed over the past 25 years since the fall of the military government. The regime that succeeded the once mighty military government may claim so much accomplishment to its records. With the passage of time, the […]
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Ethiopia’s political system has a lot to go for before it masters…
Ethiopia’s political system has a lot to go for before it masters safeguards on untamed political power of those in charge of the executive branch of the government, says gossip. It has always been the case that whoever takes up a residence up in the Menelik Palace evolves to dominate the state of affairs in […]
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There was perhaps no time when the leadership of the Revolutionary Democrats…
There was perhaps no time when the leadership of the Revolutionary Democrats has been as polarized as now, gossip noticed. In fact, some at the gossip corridors rather prefer the word “multipolarized” to describe the hapless situation the leadership of the EPRDF is in now. Ironically, the fault lines have little to do with sharp […]
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Addis Abeba is in a bizarre mood lately…
Addis Abeba is in a bizarre mood lately. And for a good reason. Business is in all-time slow due largely to the hold up in the federal government’s budget disbursement; the subsequent crunch in liquidity; the shortage in foreign exchange and the painful delays by the banks to process letters of credit. Confidence among business […]
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The administration of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn…
The administration of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn had one of its rare emergency cabinet meetings on Saturday afternoon, gossip disclosed. It was called to discuss the alarming deterioration of the security situation in Oromia Regional State, where angry protestors have been torching properties and, in some cases, degenerated into outright lootings, gossip revealed. If the […]
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In the midst of leadership paralysis, the Revolutionary Democrats have…
In the midst of leadership paralysis, the Revolutionary Democrats have continued to be overwhelmed by resistance from within, gossip observed. Suffice to say that the elections of Lemma Megerssa and Worqneh Gebeyehu (PhD) – the other hopeful was Diriba Kuma, mayor of Addis Abeba – to the most senior positions in the OPDO, came without […]