I sent two years ago 50,000 dollars exchanging currency 11 birr .total 550,000 .If I send that money at this time it will be 850, 000 , so I lost 300,000 birr.

Dear Ato Jawisaw Metta:
Please try to communicate with me using my official email address which you can find at the bottom of the article. Please remind me who you are and all that so that I would be able to remember you. I have written many (and some of them highly technical) professional articles, but I did not have any clue how many people have read them, These 3 short articles that were posted on Ethiopian related web pages (thank you admins and webmasters!)are not only read by so many people, but they also have brought me several friends who have been helpful to me. I can’t believe that there are so many intelligent and humble Ethiopians all over the world!
Please send me an email message privately, Ato Jawisaw Metta. I will put you in my pool of friends.
Keep hope alive!
Let God help our people and Homeland.
Seid

I am sure you have noticed one more cancerous habit that spread like wild fire since the 1960′s among our educated people with at least high school education. That is the quickness to name-calling of others with different ideas and convictions. Here we have one of the poorest nations in the world economically but it is not very hard to find one who is an expert in labeling others. He/she does not have any ides a simple screw driver is made but knows how to disassemble an AK-47. It is almost scary to air an opinion if it different because of what is about to follow. Like you I have read comments and articles calling others ‘fascists’, ‘traitors’, ‘bandas’ you name it. ‘Dictators’ ‘Hoodlums’ ‘boot-lickers’ might have been more fitting than those I mentioned above. I have seen articles and announcements calling for example the ‘Derg’ and the current regimes ‘fascists’. Mind you calling these regimes ‘fascists’ in stead of ‘ruthless dictators’ will be putting this so backward country with the 1930′s Germany, Italy and Japan. I wish it were technologically. I remember a funny story a gentleman who fled the Derg regime in the 1970′s told me about the conversation he had with one of the top Derg members. I think this gentleman was trying to give the officer a sliver of some economics of supply and demand. The officer was thinking about and limited to the depot he was once guarding. He had no idea of how technology evolves and how it strives. Such mooncalves were the ones who used to be compared with Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo. They were just a bunch blood sucking hoodlums bunched together at the helm a dictatorship. I wish Ethiopia was the same with Germany and Italy or Japan of the 1930′s technologically in the 1970′s or even now for that matter. I think this name calling disease will stay with us until the regimes become freedom and people-loving themselves.

I spent most of my time here in Hong Kong and Taiwan. I have a home in the USA. I will make sure I keep in touch with in the future.

As I mentioned before I will not stop praying for the better in our old country where people like you and me will be able to invest, start factories and do what is long-lasting to improve the livelihood of those people. That is with out the need to worry of being rudely called names or destructive red tape. I will not give up on the Good Lord/Allah. The people have suffered enough.

In Wayne’s Ethiopia, it is not only asset, but also life is on the line. I knew two non-tigrean Ethiopians, both in mid 40ties who were killed, one with suspicious circumstance and the other within 24 hours of his impressments. I am sure so many people are killed by Tigreans mafia for being succeful and competitive.

One more thing, there are many who have returned and invested in their country with mixed return, i.e. successful or “lost”. Even those who “lost” have at least contributed to the well being of the country & people in one way or another like our saying “melted butter in the pot”. Haji will help to decipher our saying, a hint from an old & forgotten friend.

Cheers

Ato abc-hahu:
I am in favor of doing an honest business in Ethiopia and you should care less about what people say as long as you or your business are not involved in the rampant corruption. Calling every investor a traitor without knowing the facts would be totally uncalled for.

By the way, some people suggested recentaly that we should begin preparing a list of people who are doing business in Ethiopia in order to blacklist them. Such an action is a slippery slope. Even though I am open to this idea, I understand that it requires extreme care and, if done, it should be done with high secrecy and by reputable people. If people and their businesses are blacklisted wrongly, such an action would be counterproductive and downright dangerous, as its consequences would be long-term- even after this regime is gone!
Seid

Thanks for your earnest participation in the comment section and giving clarification.

As an educator you are in a better position to evaluate and explain the pros & cons of a situation including political parties and governments provided you are not affiliated with a certain group. I envisioned you as an independent intellectual who is sharing his views in the current affairs of our country not as an affiliated individual. Therefore, my concern was that is there any positive aspect one to invest in his home country irrespective of the many hurdles and difficulties one faces in the third world, in our case Ethiopia.

For how long can we wait to do something in our country?
This has nothing to do supporting or opposing government/party, but social responsibility. As an individual one might opt to be politician and pursue that line. What about the mass? Should all be politician?

I am sure you will agree with me that there are many honest people who are striving to change their surrounding in a very difficult situation and surviving in a hellish environment. Change however small is a change.

To make it easy & plain, if anyone who return to his country should be called traitor? I know you are not saying that but there is no clarity in the public to that effect. I hope you can help too.

Anyways, once again many thanks.

I thank you for starting this platform available for people like me to use it in airing our opinion. I am not a political expert by any means. But I have developed an instinct with which I can tell where to go next for favorable manufacturing environment. But one thing I got tired is some of these exaggerating excuses I am hearing all the time that external forces are the main factors for our backwardness. One fact we have to be ready to swallow is all these western countries are free enterprise societies. They have to make money (profits). That is their right too. There should be a return from their investment. If conditions are not right, they may try to create favorable conditions where they will be able to open factories and make products they need at profits. If we expect something else from them, then we are so naive or incognizant of the basic tenets of free market. America did this to us, Russia did that to us. Italy did all those things to our people
( sometimes I think it might not have been a bad idea if the Italians had stayed 5-10 more years) blah..blah.. won’t cut the mustard. I am not saying that the door should be wide open for looters. But we should work with these free enterprise countries and thankfully copy them. Some of us may say: Well we are black people and most of these western countries don’t like people like us to advance. That is just a cop-out. Am I being told that an identical commodity product, say a 24oz. spray bottle, one made in China will have better reception by western companies than the one made in Ethiopia even though the one made is Ethiopia is 10-20% cheaper(at landed cost)? I don’t think so. Free markets love their money, love their profits. If price, service and quality are in place and beat the competition, then that is the winner.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Elias in creating this form so we can exchange ideas pertinent to economy. I am going to continue praying to Almighty God to descend upon all those concerned and in charge back home with enlightenment like yours. May God Save This Beloved Country We All Call Mamma Ethiopia!!!! Otherwise, I am afraid that another irreparable corrupt society like Nigeria is in the offing. That is where you go to college to sharpen your skills of stealing.

However, I decided not deal with the positive aspects of handling the Ethiopian economy by the current regime, but decided not to do so for number of reasons, among them being:

1. Whenever I begin enumerating the “positive” things, logic dictated me to follow with a “but,…..” and the “but”s outnumbered the positive looking arguments. Just to satisfy abc-hau’s thirst for me to say something positive about handling the Ethiopian economy by the current regime, one thing that stands out is the handling of the exchange rate system, especially compared to Derg and other regimes in other countries. The way the regime reacted lately forced me to refrain from saying too much about it, you know.

2. I have decided, for good reasons, such a talk about positive accomplishments by the current regime, would lead me to compare the two regimes, Derg and TPLF. However, such a comparison is totally misplaced and a slippery slope. If a comparison is attempted, the entire situation would have to be compared, including comparing the socialist and communist systems, which we (at least most of us) have rejected.

3. If I begin talking about the positive contributions of the TPLF, what else could the cadres and the hodams do? If I were to begin talking positively about this regime, the souls of those millions of Ethiopians who lost their lives due to the economic mishandling by this regime will curse me, I am afraid. I have neither the backbone nor the mental capacity to talk about the positive contributions of this regime, and I am being extremely polite here!

4. As an educator, my place is to show the shortcomings of the ruling government so that it could do better. That is exactly what I do in my classes. The difference is that, the government I criticize – in my case, the US government, take the criticisms as valuable and important.

5. In general, the opposition is neither morally nor politically and legally obligated to act as a lawyer for the ruling government- talking about its positive contributions. If they do, they would cease to be opposition parties. I brought this last point mainly because similar criticisms have been labeled against the opposition. In my view, such criticism that is possibly coming out of the TPLF cadres sounds like: “OK opposition members, we are tired of lying to the public that the Ethiopian economy is growing in double digits, while at the same time millions of the country’s citizens are starving. Please lie on our behalf so that the public would trust us if we tell them the same thing….” I think the opposition should not fall in to such TPLF created trap.

Having said that, there are situations/scenarios where one is expected to compare the positives and the negatives. Such an article that I presented is not one of the venues for such presentation, though.

I thank the admins for letting all of us communicate with each other here. I also thank all of you who took your time to leave your comments.
Seid

It is good analysis in general but I believe not even to consider and much less to apply in Ethiopia or any other corrupt African regimes. You could ponder you points in most developing countries like in south east Asia and Latin America and some West African were there is economic independence for businesses from the political systems. Were courts have some sort of limited independence to set rules of game in economic matters at least for small to medium business. I contrast in Ethiopia and other African rough regimes the economic pressure and corruption is not limited to the regime trying to control state crown assets and the big players on key sectors but the economic pressures and corruption is spread to any kind of economic activity even for very small it could be as the regime cadres room in the country as lords of every piece of asset theirs and other people’s as well. You are pondering if it wise to invest your hardly earned money in this kind of environment, and my view is I would not even consider it for being to risky. To put my point clear, let me bring the example of the micro financing guru Nobel price that worked with the poor in south east and the system is working for the poor people as well for the investor (which also turned him a very wealthy man). Now coming to even consider that in Ethiopia is almost a failure unless you aliniete politcally with the regime as the regime not only has economical interest on those poors (e.g. farmers) but also a political one. So you will not make money unless you engage with the political control part of it and you economic venue is as well be lined by the degree of your association with the regime. Believe ma we all love our country and most people including non-Ethiopians would like to engage in some kind of investment if there were a bit “fair” game that exist in South East Asia or Latin America or West Africa.

Cheers,

Thank you for your very kind words. You are right on the money about the fact that some of those countries I mentioned in the Fareast do not possess any significant natural resources. Some of them like Hong Kong and Japan had to scour for throw aways(scraps) in the industrialized nations. They still do that from scrap metals to paper. And some of these countries were not democratic. One example was South Korea. They used the aids they were getting(thanks for the cold war years) to improve the infrastructures, invest heavily in education and made things attractive for foreign investors. Those generals were as ruthless as some these regimes in Africa. But they were not stubborn when it comes to economics. The same goes for Malaysia and Singapore. The most unfortunate behavior that has been bedeviling the regimes of our country is stubbornness. They are gripped with stubbornness that they conditioned themselves with from very bloody and protracted warfare they were waging in the bushes. I have watched videos of their past interviews on this and other media outlets. They get so animated. That is bushes (wilderness) mentality. They are all more concerned about their political groupings (cottage) than the well-being of their own citizens. I am sure you and similar other enlightened Ethiopians (Horn-of-Africans) do understand what that typical family in the countryside desperately needs now, today. He/she is concerned more about how he/she is going to feed his/her family including herself/himself. They don’t give a flying tickling who they want to put in the office. I am sure you know that the former ruling generals in South Korean and Indonesia were also lining their own pockets but they did not just squander everything. They created economic giants like Samsung, Hyundai and others when they were in charge. But at the later days they had paid for their corruptions. Then came China. I was there in 1983 to set up an injection molding facility. We did not have to worry about building for the factory. We did the wiring and setting up the machines. They have qualified engineers who do not speak English. We had not-so-good translators. But they were dedicated and determined to get the factory up and running. And in 3 months every thing was running, humming. That was in Southern China around Shenzhen. What a transformation since then!! I used to think about my own country. If there was similar favorable situation in our country, it could have been done there too. I am sure what it used to look like in Ethiopia then. Were the leaders then doing the right thing to make things attractive for foreign investors? No. From what I read on this and other website and hear from others, thing are not yet attractive for foreign investment. We will keep getting one pan handling regime after another. To keep bragging about past gallantry is one thing but getting the people out of unheard misery is completely another beast. I hope and pray that current and subsequent leaders will be endowed with your kind of enlightenment and then if I am still alive I will be there with others like me to set up factories, factories, factories, factories….I can not say it enough. Because things in China are finally maxing out. Inflation is getting worse. This will pose another great opportunity for countries like ours. But what can we do. We will keep looking somewhere else. Sad..Sad…Sad….Sickening sadness!!!!!

May God Bless You All!!!

If the EPDRF or any othe government wants to attract foreign investment in general, and Diaspora investment, in particular, it just needs to clean up its mess, and cleanse itself from corruption and act and behalf like a government that cares about its people and the country. Once that is done, investors will floak to Ethiopia without the beggings of the government officials.
The examples you just used reminds me to say that, Ethiopia is in a much superior position than some of those counties in Southeast Asia who have surprised the world by acheiving fast economic development. Look at Hong Kong (now part of China) and Japan, for example. They do not possess that many natural resources but they have become some of the leading economies of the world, using per capita income as one of the benchmarks for comparison. Good governance, the respect of the rule of law, democracy, and economic policy are the driving force for the well-being of an economy.
In contrast, economies, such as Russia and others which happen to be endowed with huge natural resources still struggle because of bad policies.
Thanks again, Ato Jawisaw Metta.
Seid

I say Invest to reduce unemployment!
Invest to educate
Invest to grow.

How about those of us who can invest our knowlwdge?

The result is a cumulative misery and pain to many more particularly to our Oromo Ethiopians. Those who are hurt and hurting as we speak will hold the so called diaspora investors and the Sheik equally responsible for the numerous economic crime against the people of Ethiopia – since they are partners in crime with Meles and his Adwa thugs.

Very nice to see your article again. This one is very good.
What about the positive aspect of investing, if there is any?

Keep up. Cheers

I would like to point out that I am not a supporter of the EPRDF in any shape or form. I am an ordinary non political person. If your article is to keep investment away from the current government you are free to do so. All what I saw in your article is a collective punishment against all Ethiopians. That is sad indeed.

I did not know a single soul in the current Ethiopian government, no friends or relatives in high places when I went back 5 years ago for a visit. I stayed in a private hotel for one month on my visit which I believed gave good income to the owners and I was happy they had a lot of young people employed there. I completely fell in love again with a place I left in my young years so much so I bought a house to anchor me to the place. That is probably the most rewarding investment I have done in my whole life. I knew there were no expectation of monetary gain from this investment on my part. You can not put a dollar value for love. I love Ethiopia dearly.

I had a spiritual connection to Ethiopia, it is a power that I could not explain here. I did not know that many people in Addis but with the help of a real estate agent I purchased a home.I did not have any hassle at government offices they were doing their job very well, things were very slow at times compared to north america but I had lots of time to move things along.

The spiritual connection and the happiness I am blessed with while I go to my home in addis every year for the last 5 years on my vacation has brought so much fulfillment and happiness in the life I missed here in North America over many years. There is no dollar value for it for me.

It has made me much more productive at work and my returns on my other investments here has brought higher returns and made up for it. In my very little way I hire few individuals who look after my place there. My experience with Ethiopia has brought me many returns and it is great.

Thank God for it