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SOME OPPOSITONS’ ENDLESS HOODWINKING, DENIALS AND LYING
By Mathza
Part II: Further Comments on Development
and Inflation
Economic Development
To
the three MPs and the parties they represent, admitting that there has
been significant social and economic development in the country, they
think, is against their interest. Their strategy is to discredit the
government using any means, including lying to, misinforming and
misdirecting the people. They, apparently, think that such denial,
deception, and misinformation will help them bring down the government. At
this point, I would like to refer readers to my article PARLAMENTARIAN
DENIES ANY DEVELOPMENT IN ETHIOPIA (http://aigaforum.com/mathza050807.htm).
The
MP in question is Mr. Bulcha. The article which provides more
detail is in response to his denial that he could not observe development
in his constituency and elsewhere in the country.
Some of the
opposition MPs rejected the PM’s assertion that the economy was strong.
Under African conditions, a sustained rate of growth of 7% is considered
necessary for a country like
Ethiopia
to come out of the predicament it is in. Obviously, with double-digit
growth the Ethiopian economy qualifies to be characterized as strong.
According to respondents to Fortune’s questionnaires “close
to 60pc - were persuaded by his [PM’s] argument that the economy is
strong enough to bear the cold and survive the inflationary storm.” Such
a high rate of approval indicates the MPs, who supposedly should know
better, are way behind the public. They are, apparently, working
against the interest of their constituents.
Now,
it is bizarre to hear ad infinitum the cliché “there is no
development” when the MPs themselves are in the middle of development.
They see development in all directions and sectors and yet they claim they
do not. Who is fooling whom? Let us leave the urban area where development
is glaringly obvious, even to those who purposely turn blind eyes so that
they can lie. In the rural areas, the standard of living of farmers is
significantly improving by the day. Hundreds of thousands, if not
millions, of households are
becoming self-sufficient and beyond every year. It will, of course, take
some time before the majority of them join the club of successful farmers.
As the Chinese say, some would have to be rich before all become rich. The
government does not have all the required inputs (resources, funds, hard
currency, skilled manpower, and appropriate technologies) to enable all
rural people to join the club. It does not have genuine opposition parties
which criticize it when justified and support it when what it does is in
the interest of the people and country. Instead, they sabotage its
activities, support its enemies, and beg the development partners to deny
it assistance. It does not have the magic wand that could make development
happen overnight. From what they say and do oppositions give the impression that they have a magic solution.
All Ethiopians, including the PM, I am sure, would wholeheartedly accept
the leadership of the MPs if they have the magic wand.
The
awards that are given to farmers every year are clear indicators of
development in rural
Ethiopia
. From those awards, the average Ethiopian knows something good is
happening in the country. Farmers who were destitute a few years ago are
now not only self sufficient and market-oriented but also a few of them
have become millionaires. The case of two farmers, one from Amhara region
and one from SNNP region who lost money to rats and a cow, respectively,
is an indication of wealth being accumulated by ordinary farmers never
done during the previous regimes. The former lost 35,000 Br of 114,000 Br
and the latter, 4,800 Br of 9,800
Br.
The
model farmers, the most successful among the farmers, have established the
unstoppable trend and are proving to their neighbors they too can do it.
Each year each model farmer will be emulated by others thereby
significantly increasing the number of model and other successful farmers
to encompass more and more farmers. The new comers will duplicate the
success of such farmers by adopting new working attitudes, new
technologies, and appropriate inputs to increase their productivity and
production. This is the stark reality, not the gloomy picture painted by
the conscienceless MPs and their likes. They know this is happening but
cannot swallow it!
I
can go on and on reviewing developments in various sectors citing
statistics. Suffice it to just mention that commendable success has been
achieved in education, health, infrastructure, and industry in addition
agriculture implied in the improving standard of living of the farmers
referred to above. The people, especially the rural people comprising 85%
of the population, know this. To the naysayers the longer you continue
your denials the more you expose yourselves and the more the people
distance you, as happened during the recent elections.
Inflation
Now,
let us move on to inflation. Some of the opposition parties accused the
government for the current high
inflation. They went to the extent of claiming that the cause for
inflation was due to more internal than external factors and government
failure. They further said: reducing inflation through kebeles is a
simplistic solution; the government should not monitor or control
foodstuff traders; and the government should not have a hand in the
Ethiopian Commodity Exchange which recently started operation. In other
words, the government should not interfere in the market mechanism but
should strictly apply Western standards, requirements, prescriptions, etc.
in regard to the so-called free market economy. This approach fails to
take into account the real situation in developing countries
requiring government intervention when necessary.
The current
inflation is due to a combination of internal and external factors, not
mostly internal as the opposition MPs would have us believe. Supply-demand
imbalance which, by the way, is indicative of both high population growth
and income increases, particularly in rural households, coupled with
farmers’ access to market information, is the major cause of internal
inflation. It is a manifestation of fast development and rising income
leading to higher per capita consumption and therefore higher demand
pushing prices up. More and more farmers who may have been eating once or
twice a day on meager diets are likely having three quality meals a day.
They are surely buying industrial goods which they had not been able to do
in the past. The increase of import of sugar from 50,000 tonnes last year
to 150,000 tonnes to supplement this year’s demand is a clear example of
this. It is apparent that incessant and sustained increase in productivity
and production of foodstuffs is the main solution to internally caused
inflation. This is what is exactly happening based on planned and actual
production reported by most regions. Barring drought and global recession,
the rising trend in production will, in the not distant future, free the
country from food dependency on external aid.
The whole world
is under the grip of inflation and food crisis. World Food Program (WFP)
Director Josette Shearan corroborated these facts. She said that no
country has been immune from the inflationary pressures on the most
vulnerable people. According to WFP cost of cereals in the world doubled
between last year and this year. As per FAO “Food
costs worldwide spiked 23 percent from 2006 to 2007. Grains went up 42
percent, oils 50 percent and dairy 80 percent.” According to
Reuters/World Bank world prices of rice increased by around 75% within two
months and those of wheat by 120% over the past year. Wheat bread price
per pound in
U.S.
—where wheat farmers are highly subsidized—increased from $0.98 in
2000 to $1.81 in 2008. In neighboring
Kenya
inflation stands at 21%. The Ethiopian government should inform its
citizens the global nature of the inflation they are, unfortunately,
experiencing. The MPs and their
likes are unashamedly using inflation to swindle the innocent people with
a view to salvaging the support they lost.
Most African
countries, particularly oil importing countries, are the hardest hit. For
their own agenda, the MPs try to minimize the devastating role of imported
inflation. They give the people the impression that Ethiopians alone are
the victims of inflation. They do not want the people to know the extent
of devastation caused by the continuing soaring price of oil. The
consequences of rising oil price are many and overwhelming. First,
transport cost shoots up making all transported items more expensive.
Second, cost of industrial and agricultural production escalates. Besides,
instead of passing on the actual cost increases to the consumers there is
always the tendency on the part of transporters, producers, wholesalers,
and retailers of exaggerating the increases, i.e., unduly fattening their
margins. Third, for the same reasons costs of imported products spiral.
Thousands of products, such as fertilizers, pesticides, pharmaceuticals,
plastics and synthetic fibers are made from oil. It is unfortunate that
the prices of fertilizers, pesticides, plastic pipes and sheets have been
spiraling when Ethiopian farmers have come to appreciate their use.
Fertilizer procurement cost to farmers this year is reported to have
doubled compared to last year.
Realizing
the devastating consequences of continuing to import oil in increasing
quantities and the increasingly skyrocketing prices, the government is
encouraging and facilitating local production of biofuels: ethanol and
biodiesel from castor seeds and Jatropha. Some projects are already under
development and construction. Coal exploitation will, according to Derba East Africa Coal Mining Company, hopefully follow within the
foreseeable future. Until such and similar projects that could reduce oil
import dependency come to fruition the country will continue to suffer and
its promising economic and social development could be negatively
impacted.
In
regard to the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, why object to government
initiative in establishing and operating it when the private sector is not
ready? Why should the country deprive itself from the benefits of the
exchange, especially in stabilizing the supply and prices of foodstuffs,
for lack of capability and action on the part of the private sector? In
any case there is always the possibility for its eventual privatization as
is being done with government owned companies. One thing that the MPs
should understand, and understand very well, is there is no such thing as
a purely free economy. Within the free market economy there comes a time
when any government that cares for its citizens has to protect the public
from monopolists, exploiters and saboteurs. It should not allow greedy
businesspersons, particularly those dealing with necessities, to
manipulate prices at their whims and at the expense of the consumer. The
recent closures of 12 cement and 10 pepper retail shops will hopefully
send the message that other retailers as well as the wholesalers will face
similar consequences when they cross the red line.
We
all know that developed countries which impose
market economy system on developing countries undermine it
themselves, usually in the form of high
subsidy, in the interest of both farmers and consumers. It is naïve
to expect the Ethiopian government to close its eyes and not intervene
when required. The MPs would surely and vehemently accuse the government
if it did not do so—in other words, damned if you do, damned if you
don’t. Let us not forget that the so-called free market system can and
is being used to sabotage the effort of the government. How else can one
explain the over night phenomenal price increase of salt, a local resource
readily available in quantities needed, by 800% to 1,300%? Considering the
role of salt in the food people eat, this was probably meant to incite an
uprising leading to change of government. The culprits and their political
associates have, apparently, read or heard of food riots in African
countries and elsewhere in the world. They are eager to do the same but
with hidden agenda of turning the demonstrations into riots (as was
planned and done during aftermath of the 2005 election) to achieve their
goal of snatching power.
In
some of my past articles, I have been raising the question of sabotage
within the bureaucracy the current government inherited from the feudal
and Derg regimes as a double edge sword (killing two birds with one
stone): self-enrichment and smearing the good image and work of the
government. Besides, has not sabotage played a significant role in EPRDF
losing in the 2005 election in
Addis Ababa
? It is clear that what the opposition MPs are saying is do not interfere
with our agents of sabotage, corruption, instability
and disorder. Have we not heard them defending corrupt government
officials (their associates) when the latter were brought to court? I
recommend to readers who may have not read three excellent recent articles
by Abdel, Adal Isaw
and Getachew covering sabotage, corruption, greed, development,
governance, etc., very relevant to the current debates. ***
Why
so much hatred on the PM?
The
problem with the MPs and their likes is they are intimidated and
frustrated by the all rounded intellectual capacity and capability of the
PM (Remember “mels bekisu”). They resent the fact that he obtained his
degrees with great distinctions while administering a country with myriads
and complex problems, including those caused by the oppositions themselves
(an achievement with probably no precedent in the world). They are jealous
of him, hate him and want to revenge him so much for this and the fact
that, unlike them, he successfully fought in the field against the Derg
and instituted a practical and appropriate federal system which saved the
country from disintegration. Worse still for some of them, they lost
power, privileges and property ownership acquired through imperial
handouts, devious means and corruption.
The so-called
highly educated, particularly those whose names are preceded by a
‘PhD’ find it difficult to measure up to him. Whatever irrational
things they say and foolish steps they take are indications of inferiority
complex and frustrations. In their relentless character assassinations,
there are no stones they have not turned to blemish his name, condemn
every thing he says and does, deny all the progress made under him,
belittle his outstanding performance at the international level, and call
him a stooge because of his outstanding ability to obtain international
assistance based on convincing policies, plans, programs and strategies.
And recently they boycotted the elections simply because they, as was
evident, realized that the 2005 protest vote against EPRDF was not going
to repeat. They were scared, and rightly so, that they would utterly fail.
This was exactly what happened. There was no reason for history to repeat
itself.
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*** http://aigaforum.com/Greedy.htm,
http://aigaforum.com/Adal_reply_to_NES.htm,
http://aigaforum.com/The_Developmental_State_vs_Governance.htm
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