April 27/2005

Ever since the EPRDF took power in Addis Ababa, it has been abusively laying off government employees often for ethnic and political motives. The early and crude moves to "cleanse" the bureaucracy from civil servants coming from certain ethnic groups has now given place to the so called "gimgema", a process in which employees are supposedly evaluated by the officials or other ruling front cadres and loyalists. Under this process, employees and workers who are suspected of being disloyal to the ruling Front are laid off often losing their pensions.

Hundreds of workers of the Addis Ababa municipality/City Hall/ were arbitrarily laid off two years ago by the central committee member of the ruling Tigrean Front/TPLF/,Arkebe Iquabye, who was then named Mayor of Addis Ababa. The victims took their case to court and even the Standing Legal Committee of the federal Parliament ordered the City Administration to reinstate them but with no result at all. Denied of work and unable to get another job, the workers gathered at the Municipality compound last Friday to appeal to the mayor who did come by ten in the morning but chose to threaten them to leave or else he would call the police and have them all jailed. A woman ex employee, Zemenai Yohannes, cried out to the Mayor: " take my children as I cannot feed them anymore" and this was considered such a lese majeste that a body guard of the Mayor, called Aregawi, slapped her and as she fell to the ground kicked her repeatedly. The Mayor looked on impassive while his vice and his chauffeur stopped the body guard from further beating the woman. No legal action ahs been taken against the aggressor.

This particular case is exemplary in that the top officials of the ruling front/TPLF-ERPRDF/ are often behind the violations of the rights of the people at the general and individual level. Threats and verbal aggression, the trademark of the Prime Minister himself, are often put into practice and the rights of the people routinely violated. SOCEPP has called on the arrest and trial of the bodyguard of the Mayor and the respect of the rights of the illegally laid off workers.