(ION) – Now that the EPRDF [a front organization for the ruling Tigrean People Liberation Front] has been in power for almost two decades, its leaders have had time to accumulate wealth. We make a roundup — by no means exhaustive — of their activity.
Azeb Mesfin, the wife of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, takes no mean interest in the world of business and sometimes has been highly interventionist in defending the commercial interests of those close to her. She recently put the spoke in the wheels of the firm Nyala Motors over the importing of UD Nissan lorries; conversely she has lobbied in favour of Sunshine Construction whose executives Samuel Tadesse and Fetlework Elala are close to her. Moreover, Azeb Mesfin is believed to have a stake in Alfa University College and in property in Addis Ababa.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Seyoum Mesfin, is for his part at the head of a unit producing ceramics for the construction industry. It is winning all of the contracts, to such an extent that it has pushed some of its rivals to close down. Asefaw Yirga, the manager of Ase Marble, is believed to be one of them. He committed suicide on 20 December. Seyoum Mesfin also owns several tens of lorries registered in his name. Addisu Legese, the Deputy Prime Minister currently on the way out, owns a hotel at Bahr Dar, which is the stopping place for all the officials visiting this town. The State Minister for Public Works, Arkebe Oqubay Mitiku, owns two buildings in the capital, while one adviser to the Prime Minister, Bereket Simon, owns a rental building and a fleet of lorries transporting oil products from Djibouti. The Police Commissioner Workineh Gebreyehu is at the head of an import-export company which has no difficulty in getting foreign currency when it needs it. A band of generals is very active in the property market, buying and selling villas and plots of land, beginning with the army chief of staff, General Samora Younis, who owns a building in the smart neighborhood of Bole.
The Ethiopian regime recently attributed plots of land in Addis Ababa together with money for building, to some generals, mainly Tigrayans. Samora Younis, Yohannes Gebre Meskel and a few others are among the lucky beneficiaries of this scheme.
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The Ethiopian people are very much aware of these corrupt individuals. I feel bad for them for not learning from the previous rulers.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:51 am
Dear All,
YeeHin GodoLo YeSatNael QuraChe SaiWeL SayaDer KeSeLtaN MaSeWeged ALebin.
We should remove this neo-nazi from power immediately before he completly destroys the socio-cultural fabric that unites our people and endanger the very existance of our beloved country Ethiopia as a nation state.
Thank you.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:38 am
This what I can call, "PICTURE PERFECT", WHOEVER TOOK THIS PICTURE SHOULD THE CANDIDATE FOR PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR. My brothers and sisters these families and their masters/advisors traitor Eritreans did not only bring to this great nation and people corruption, manipulation, prostitution, fabrication, deceit, lies, back stabbing, but they are also on the verge of distroying the culture, trust, hospitality, that all Ethiopian people are known for. The disease they created and invented in the jungle of aiga and brought to the greatest country in Africa must be eradicated before it consumes more people in the horn of Africa. Legesse and his marble face wife are the mother of diseases of Ethiopia and neighboring countries today and for that they must face the Ethiopians, Eritreans, and Somalians.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Does anyone believed when these people came, they are going to be righteous. Do not forget that they came a dirty shirt on their back, a sandal shoe and their AK47. Now look at them where they are. They are the riches people in Ethiopia and most probably from Africa. And there is nothing anyone of us can do. When they time comes they will gone to a different country of their choosing, like that of their teacher Mingestu, who also stole ss100 millions of dollars. So shut up and just for another so called leader to come and do the same thing all over again, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history"
President Barack Obama, Inaguration Speech
January 20, 2009
God Save Ethiopia, Amen!
January 20th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
This is meles' legacy, and a prize to those who have sacrificed in the struggle to bring him to power beliving that they are ding to bring democracy. it is good that they will not raise and ask or witness, what is going on, ask why they have died, wounded, starved, travelled all the field and mountains leve their wife children… behind. It is an injury to the surviving jenuine liberation fighters, whose mentality hasnot been corrupted by the leftovers of their greedy leaders like GEBRU ASRAT, GOD be with them
January 20th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
The Meles gang is corrupt through and through.we must remove them from power
January 20th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
As I saw it overtime, corruption is natural because of human greed. Given the opportunity, if a person in authority is not corrupt then such a person must be an exception. See Cheney or Mubarek. What most trebling to me is African's leaders to cling to power. I would even be in favor of guaranteeing an amnesty for such corrupt leaders if they peacefully handover power to an elected person as it happened in Russia for Yeltsin.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Meles Zenawi, the murderer your days are numbered. President Obama's inagural speech, more than any other dictator in the world, best describes you.
"…To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist…"
You better pack and leave before you will be dragged to the court of law.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Elias, this is cheap. Having a property is not a crime. The crime is that they are in power for 18 years without te will of the people. Get organized in stead nof gosiping.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Thank you Elias for exposing corrupt Woyane officials.They won't learn from the mistakes commited by other despotic and corrupt pliticians in many African,Asian and Latin American countries.Mobutus' case is a classic example.But no change of mind on the part of Woyanne officials.They will continue doing it until they are forced power.
Whle Woyannes continue to enrich themselves, in contrast,the majority people of Ethiopia, are wallowing in abject poverty more than any time under Woyanes 18-years rule.Under Meles Zenawis'devide-and -rule unown in the history of the country. Ethiopias' all-round development has been draged for Two decades.That's my personal assessment.Do you agree guys?
January 21st, 2009 at 12:23 am
As I saw it overtime, corruption is natural because of human greed. Given the opportunity, if a person in authority is not corrupt then such a person must be an exception. See Cheney or Mubarek. The wicked Condoleezza Rice received at least $316,000 worth of jewelry from the corrupt Arab kings. What is most trebling to me is African's leaders clining to power. I would even be in favor of granting an amnesty for such corrupt leaders if they peacefully handover power to an elected person as it happened in Russia for Yeltsin.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:28 am
Comment #9, Joe, Having property by stealing and robbing is big crime. The reason that Meles wants to continue murdering and killing Ethiopians is to accumulate wealth and property unjustly. He is a theif. He is a bank robber. The whole world knows that.
January 21st, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Dued,
I love the picture! I really due cause it portrays Meles and company (including his ugly wife).
…but can you please correct the spelling??
Absolut is spelled 'Absolute' and it's mispelled twice!
Just an fyi EK! Keep up the good work dued!
Peace!
January 21st, 2009 at 7:14 pm
የመንግስት ባለስልጣናት ያላቸውን ገንዘብ መዘርዘሩ ያን ያክል እንደ ወንጀለኛ ሊያስቆጥራቸው ይችላል ብየ አላምንም። ነገር ግን ይህ የያዙት ገንዘብ ያለ አግባብ ከመንግስትና ከህዝብ የዘረፉት ነው ከተባለና ማስረጃ ከቀረበባቸው ከስልጣናቸው ከተወገዱም በኃላም እንኳን ቢሆን ለፍርድ ቀርበው የሚዳኙ መሆኑን የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ከራሳቸው በመንግስቱና በአጫፋሪዎች ላይ ካደረጉት ትምህርት ለመረዳት ይችላል።
ዋናው ግን ተጨባጭ መረጃዎችን ማን ይሰብስብ ነው? እስኪ ሁላችንም እንተባበርና ንብረታችንን እናስመልስ።
ሌላው የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ የችግሩን መፍትሄ አውቆት እያለ የደ/ር ብርሃኑና ተባባሪዎቹ ሌላ ከመለስ የበለጠ የገንዘብ ዝርፊያ ሳይሆን በህይዎት የሚከፈል ጥፋትን እያዘገጁ ስለሆነ ለዚህም የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ብሎም በውጭ የሚኖሩ ኢትዮጵያናት የችግሩን አሳሳቢነት ተገንዝበው አፋጣኝ እርምጃ እንድንወስድ አሳስባለሁኝ።
በርግጥም የመለስን አውዳሚነት፣ ገዳይነት፣ ዘራፊነትና አገር ሻጭነት ድርጊቱን እንኳን በህይወት ላለ ኢትዮጵያዊ አይደለም በድንጋይ በታች ያሉትም ብሆኑ አስከፊ እንደሆነ ማሳሰቡ አስፈላጊ አይደልም። ይልቁንም ይህን ችግር በዴሞክራሲያዊ መልኩ ለመፍታት መታገል አሁንም መታገል የኖርብናል።
ከዚህ በፊት ኢዴፓ ይዞትና ሲያራምደው የነበረውን መንፈስ አሁንም ብንቀጥልበት ውጤታማ እንሆናለነን በየ አምናለሁኝ።
January 21st, 2009 at 8:20 pm
አስቀያሚ አስጠሊ ምስል!!
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:57 pm
DEAR all as we know there are alot of things that are own by eprdf(woyane members).do u know one of the big hotel in bahir dar _PAPIRES HOTEL.
do you know who is the owner? your answer will be _mr TEBKEW. if u say yes u wrong the owner is the former prisedant of the amhara region(ADDISU LEGESE)so friends please wakeup!
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:01 pm
the meles regim is totaly robing the country wealth while the poor citzen donot have any thing to put in their stomack.it is shame to those tigray bandit at the end of the finishing of tigray empire. know that there is no a permanat government or regim in the world.We as Ethiopean need to united to trush this corrupted regim.
February 1st, 2009 at 4:21 am
The opposition parties supposed to shape the political behavior of the country and, without a dought I admit, the woyane's skillful manipulation of the absence of genuine leadership in these opposition parties, the luck of discipline and focus to the prime directive of their claim – the freedom of Ethiopian people and the establishment of genuine rule of law in the country, were simply diverted to lead into compromise with the Meles regime because of their choice of engagement in achieving the goal. Simply put they dag their own trap and the recent prisonement of woizerit Birtukan was strengthen the ruthless behavior of the woyane government and the falsehood of peaceful power transition.
As much the woyane government is responsible to the crises in the country, the political parties and the "LFs" are also accountable to victimized Ethiopians on their causes. The same individuals who encouraged the people for a peaceful transformation of power have misunderstood the woyane's brutal behaviors and caused several hundreds and thousands of Ethiopians to die on their causes. The Ethiopian people has been aware the tribal nature of the woyane government and opposed them in many ways. But some of the leaders of the so-called opposition parties were friends with Meles and I believe this relationship and the paper tiger democracy blinded their cause and apparently lead them to sabotage the Ethiopian people.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
The good thing is they are investing it in Ethiopia, will return to the ppl of Ethiopia when it is a right time.
February 26th, 2009 at 11:54 am
as an independent observer and concerned ethiopoian, I would be outraged if these corruption allegations were true. Is there any shed of collaborative evidence or is this just hearsay?
tazabiw
March 16th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
For corruption in Ethiopia please go to google and write tesfaye biru. there comes number of interesting websites about corruption in ethiopia. you will taken by surprise. you can also visit: http://gce-etc.tripod.com
May 6th, 2009 at 7:58 am