Seeye Opens up about EFFORT & control over resources by super-rich Meles and Azeb

Wikileaks: Ethiopia - Seeye Opens up about EFFORT & control over resources by super-rich Meles and Azeb

Upon taking power in 1991, the ruling Tigrayan
People's Liberation Front (TPLF) liquidated non-military
assets held by the movement to found a series of companies
whose profits would be used as venture capital to
rehabilitate the war-torn Tigray region's economy. The
TPLF bestowed a portion of this initial roughly US $100
million to each of the three other component parties in the
ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF) coalition to establish similar endeavors in each of
their home regions. While companies were initially
established in the names of party loyalists, they were
formally transferred to the Endowment Fund for the
Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) under the "endowment"
provisions within the Ethiopian civil code, which prevented
individuals from withdrawing money from enterprises for
their own gain. Although the Board of Directors of EFFORT
closely monitors the finances and business plans for each
company under its umbrella, EFFORT's books themselves are
not subject to any transparent external review. Throughout
the 1990s, EFFORT commissioned feasibility studies and
provided capital for various commercial ventures throughout
Tigray. In this decade, however, no new EFFORT ventures
have been established despite significant profits, lending
credibility to the popular perception that the ruling party
and its members are drawing on endowment resources to fund
their own interests or for personal gain.

Seeye argued confidently that the business community's
perception that EFFORT's and similar EPRDF parties
endowments' companies receive preferential access to
limited credit and/or foreign exchange stocks, or treatment
on government bids and contracts, customs clearance, and
import/export license is certainly true. He went so far as
to argue that these "party-statals" likely receive
preferences even over the special treatment received by
state-owned enterprises. Seeye argued that, much like
Sebhat Nega's removal from the TPLF Central Committee in
2006, his removal as CEO of EFFORT in late 2008 likely
reflects tensions between Sebhat and Prime Minister Meles'
wife Azeb Mesfin. While former regional Vice President of
Tigray Abadi Zemo has taken over the CEO position at
EFFORT, Seeye argued that Azeb's ascendance to the EFFORT
Vice Chairmanship reflects an increasing consolidation of
influence within the party and control over resources by
Meles and Azeb.

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