Ethiopia: Ruling party to reshuffle cabinet within days

ESAT News (October 26, 2016)

Ethiopia’s ruling party, dominated by the minority TPLF clique, is to reshuffle the cabinet after widespread anti-government protests forced the government to declare a state of emergency early this month.

“Any time between now and next week, the prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, will present the parliament his proposals to reshuffle his government. He is expected to defend his proposals,” Getachew Reda, the government spokesperson told the press in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

Reda did not mention which government ministers and departments would be affected by the titular PM’s reshuffle. “ You shouldn’t be surprised if this is going to be my swan song,” he told the press.

Responding to a question regarding the ban imposed by the state of emergency on diplomats not to travel beyond 40kms outside the capital, the spokesperson said his government does not rule out “the possibility of a diplomat supporting a violence.”

Reda, who is , widely seen as the minority regime’s blunt motormouth rather than a skilled communicator, also warned arch foe Eritrea against violating the state of emergency. “If they [Eritrea] cross us by doing something counter to the state of emergency, they will be dealt with harshly,” he said.

The Ethiopian regime has been blaming neighboring Eritrea and Egypt of fomenting unrest in the country. A year long protest claimed the lives of hundreds of people as security forces use deadly force to crush protests.

The unhinged regime, after declaring a state of emergency, has now moved to reshuffling the government with an intent to calm the populace that is fumed by 25 years of Tigrayan domination of the politics and the economy.

A leader of an opposition political party believes the crises in the country could only be solved with new elections. “They are still playing their own game with the reshuffling of their own personnel which for us it is nothing when people are asking fundamental basic change of policies and in fact the resignation of the ruling party, and demanding for new elections,” Merara Gudina of the Oromo Federalist Congress told VOA on Tuesday.  

According to Reda, the regime has no intention of holding an early election or making any fundamental changes. “What we are trying to do is to follow the election cycle. This government does not have the slightest of intention to all of sudden change the law and call for a vote based on a changed law. We are here for the long haul.”

Despite the regime’s public statements and show of confidence, the ruling party is reportedly consumed with deep divisions and constant bickering. In an unprecedented political posturing, the Amhara regional state, as well as the majority of its representatives in the federal legislature, rejected the state of emergency and raised constitutional issues last week.