Top Kenyan lawyers berate Ethiopia govt over looming implosion

Ethiopia

Two top lawyers in Kenya have slammed the Ethiopian government for presiding over a chaotic governance structure that is sure to implode before long.

Donald Kipkorir of KTK Advocates in a tweet on Monday described the Ethiopian regime as the continent’s “successful benevolent dictatorship” which in his view was imploding. He criticized how a minority ethnic group had locked out the majority with a tight grip on power.

“Ethiopia on its way to be Africa’s most successful benevolent dictatorship is imploding … Its govt concentrated power on Tigray people that form only 6% of the population & locked out Oromo & Amhara that is 62%. Benevolent dictatorship wholly abjures tribalism, nepotism & corruption,” his tweet read.

For his part, Ahmednasir Abdullahi, a lawyer who represented President Kenyatta in the 2017 election petition averred that Ethiopia’s survival was in question adding, “democratisation / openness is the only way out.”

Ethiopia's implosion shows the fragility of the state in Africa. Hailed few yrs ago as new hope for Africa, crowned as a trustee for Somalia, allowed to topple Eriteria…even though it failed…Ethiopia's survival is in question…democratisation/openness is the only way out

— Ahmednasir Abdullahi (@ahmednasirlaw) February 17, 2018

Ethiopia’s government announced political reforms in January this year which move resulted in the mass release of prisonsers at the federal and regional state levels.

But in a shock move Premier Hailemariam Desalegn resigned his post last Thursday and the government subsequently imposed a state of emergency (SOE) with the reason that they needed to curb spreading violence.

Ethiopia’s political and security headaches are seen as a danger to the wider Horn of Africa region which already has a civil war raging in South Sudan and an insurgency in Somalia thanks to Al Shabaab. Diplomatic tensions are also high between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The SOE decision has been criticized by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union as eroding the goodwill that resulted from the announced reforms and prisoner releases. The African Union which is based in Addis Ababa is yet to comment on the development.