The rise of corruption in Ethiopia: Is a lack of constitutionalism to blame?
Loading...
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oxford
Abstract
In 2001, a political division arose within the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF)1
, arguably the
core the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the ruling party and a
coalition of four ethnic-based regional parties.2 There was a disagreement between the late Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi (also the former Chair of both EPRDF and TPLF) and some of the top
brass of TPLF. The true cause of the dispute still remains unclear.3
It is clear though that Meles
faced strong opposition from some of the most senior party members, including Gebru Asrat (the
former president of Tigray, one of Ethiopia’s nine states), and Siye Abraha (the then Minister of
Defense). Some of the leaders of the other three constituent units of EPRDF also sided with the
dissenters as the division spread to these parties.
4 This led Meles to undertake an extensive political
‘purge’ within the TPLF and the other EPRDF member parties. ‘Dissenters’ were expelled from
TPLF and, therefore, EPRDF. Those among the dissenters who had been elected to national and
regional representative councils representing the party were informed that they had been ‘recalled
by their constituencies’ and were dismissed from those councils.
Description
Keywords
Corruption, Policy Study and Research Centre, Ministry of Public Civil Service, Ethiopia
Citation
Ayele, Zemelak ‘The rise of corruption in Ethiopia: Is a lack of constitutionalism to blame?’ in Charles Fombad and Nico Steytler (eds.) Corruption and Constitutionalism in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2020) pp. 168-191