Fresh cabinet faces as Meles starts new term

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced a sweeping cabinet reshuffle this week, pledging to overcome weaknesses in government and implement policies to end poverty. The new team is expected to cement Meles’s 14-year legacy of power by pushing through reforms and improving governance. Critics, however, say many of the new ministers will not be accountable to parliament because they were not elected by the people and do not reflect the ethnic diversity of the country. In the changes, some of Meles’s closest supporters and senior ministers lost their jobs. In all, 11 ministers were replaced and one incumbent moved to a new post. The team was unanimously approved by parliament on Tuesday. Those who were dropped included Education Minister Genet Zewdie, Health Minister Kebede Tadesse and Information Minister Bereket Simon. Deputy Prime Minister Adissu Legesse and Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin retained their positions in the restructuring, which was announced live on state television. The 20-member cabinet - up from 17 - is charged with implementing the prime minister's five-year plan, which includes boosting the country's fledgling democracy, increasing development and ensuring peace. Five of the new ministers are members of the Oromo ethnic community, Ethiopia’s largest with approximately 30 million people. Seven are from the Amhara community, the second largest ethnic group in the country. Three members, including the prime minister, are Tigrayan, who make up 6 percent of the population and spearheaded the 17-year guerrilla war against the former Dergue regime. Analysts say that many of the big guns were removed from the cabinet so that they could dedicate themselves to bolstering the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which suffered heavy losses to the opposition during the 15 May elections. "Some of their top people have lost their ministerial portfolios because they have been taken to strengthen the party rather than the government," explained political analyst Medhane Tadesse. "Maybe the lesson they have learned from the election is that the party needs to be strengthened," he added. "The same people, however, remain at the top." Ethiopia and its 71 million people face enormous problems. The UN warned in September that a simmering border dispute with Eritrea threatened to spill over once more into another war. Although Ethiopia has seen a dramatic increase in recent years in school enrolment, statistics show most children drop out after a year. Tens of thousands of children also die needlessly from preventable diseases, and hunger continues to afflict millions. A much-heralded scheme to cut dependency on food aid has been beset by problems, particularly in terms of getting support to the hungry. A programme to resettle families to supposedly fertile areas was widely criticised after many of those who were relocated found themselves on land with no facilities. Aid, which has increased sharply in recent years, largely pays for emergency feeding rather than development schemes. The prime minister reasoned that at US $1.9 billion per year, Ethiopia’s aid is one of the lowest per capita in Africa, making poverty reduction almost unachievable. He told parliament that the public's unprecedented swing to the opposition during the May election had been a wake-up call. "We have had problems with implementation and good governance, and this should be addressed," he said. "Our people have provided us with constructive criticism and we will be working very diligently." OPPOSITION DISAPPOINTED Beyene Petros, chairman of the opposition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, said that he was disappointed by the cabinet appointments and believed development would continue to elude the poor. "The criteria [Meles] used were party loyalty rather than competence, which has been one of the main reasons implementation of the policies has been poor in the past," he said. "I think the cabinet has actually been weakened with this reshuffle," said Bulcha Demeke, head of the opposition Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement. He noted that relatively inexperienced people had replaced senior ministers. "Everything is now under the control of the prime minister. The control seems to be tighter than before with new rules and regulations for the ministers and ministries," he said. However, the prime minister rejected criticism of his choice of ministers, saying a strong, effective government was the result of a team, not individuals. "The council of ministers is a team - like a football team - and the team's ability is not decided by each player. The most decisive element is the general capacity of the group. If they complement each other, then it is a good team," Meles said. He also rejected criticism that the cabinet included ministers who were not elected, explaining that their appointments were based on capability rather than who voted for them. During the reshuffle the government established a women's affairs ministry to help address some of the fundamental problems faced by women and girls. Headed by newcomer Hirut Dilebo, the ministry aims to ensure that women start participating in decision-making both inside and outside the government. The ministry also is tasked with bridging the huge gender gap in Ethiopia, where only 16 percent of girls attend secondary school and five percent of women are infected with HIV compared to 3.8 percent of men. Meles was re-elected to another five-year term during the official opening of the new parliament on Monday even as more than 100 opposition members boycotted the session. The EPRDF controls 59 percent of the 547-seat parliament after winning 327 seats during the elections and subsequent re-runs of the vote. Opposition parties, which held only 12 seats in the last parliament, won the rest.