This is the second resignation in a little over a month of an administrative official close to the current government in Ethiopia. The head of the job creation commission has resigned. Ephrem Tekle announced it on Friday. Officially for “personal reasons”. In June, the investment commissioner had done the same. So did the health minister last December.
In all three cases of resignation, they are senior civil servants, rather young, active on social networks. In short, the perfect face of the reforms carried out by the teams around the Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed: a communicating, modern, liberal face. But, unlike the head of government, the three men are not members of the ruling party. Abiy has spent his entire career within the regime in power since 1991.
Ephrem Tekle, Commissioner for Employment, Abebe Abebayehu, Commissioner for Investment, why are they leaving? They have not publicly mentioned any disagreements. But their letters of resignation arrived on Abiy Ahmed’s desk in the midst of a political crisis. The prime minister’s human rights record has come under increasing criticism. This is discouraging to the less politicised members of the senior administration.
The Reporter says another figure may be leaving. Hallelujah Lulie, director of a public think tank. Various sources tell the Addis Ababa weekly that there is pressure. There is growing pressure from party activists to close ranks and return to what has been the hallmark of Ethiopia for the past 30 years: the mixture of party and state.