Corruption and the Ethiopian Regime

Semahagn Gashu Abebe (PhD)

The legal measures undertaken by the Ethiopian regime last week has once again brought about the issue of corruption to the spot light. According to the statement released by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission of Ethiopia, high ranking government officials and prominent business personalities have been arrested for their alleged involvement in corrupted practices. A measure against such high profile personalities prompts us to look at the various perspectives of addressing corruption in the country. The measure gives an impression that the regime is determined to fight the rampant corruption in the country. But there are numerous issues surrounding the problem of corruption in the country and its implications.
Some commentators associate the measure taken by the regime in relation to the internal strife emerging within the party after the passing way of the godfather of the regime some eight months before. After the deaths of the only unifying force within otherwise a fragmented EPRDF leadership, the emergence internal struggle for dominance is a natural sequence. After all, applying the parameters of corruption to root out dissent within EPRDF is not a new phenomenon. Leaders of EPRDF, particularly Meles Zenawi, have been applying the rhetoric of fighting corruption to attack political opponents. The imprisonment of the former prime minister of the country Tamerat Layne as well the veteran TPLF leaders such as Seye Abreha in 2003 were largely associated with the use of corruption rhetoric to purge out power rivalries with in TPLF and the larger EPRDF circles. If the current campaign against corruption is taken in light of the rivalry among the various factions within the vanguard party, the implications are more serious to the survival of the regime and stability for the country in the short term since the power struggle is now conducted without any apparent ‘big man’ that may manipulate the power play to emerge victories. Due to this new scenario, the consequences of this power struggle may not be a limited one as it was before.
To emerge as victors in this power rivalry, each group will use every opportunity to attack the strong hold of the other groups. The problem will make the issue complicated as security officials and army generals are also involved in the power struggle and they are implicated in the rent-seeking trends rampant in the country. The involvement of the security and the military in the power struggle will create division that leads to conflict within the army. This will in turn creates political instability having serious implications to the country given the ethnicized political environment and the precarious economic situation that has been galvanized by hyper inflation. Since there are no strong institutions such as the media, civil society groups or other governmental institutions that may facilitate the smooth transition, the division may take the country into an unpredictable situation we have never dreamt of.
The other perplexing question with regard to the contemporary campaign against corruption is whether the regime is willing and capable of fighting corruption to the very end. In order to have some response to the issue, it is imperative to study the nature and behavior of the Ethiopian regime. In light of the power relations and the decision making process that have been developed within the regime, there appear to be no efficient system that could fight corruption effectively. As a typical African state, the Ethiopian regime is a neopatrimonial one where patrons use state resources in order to secure the loyalty of clients in the general population. Such a system is characterized by an informal patron-client relationship that can reach from very high up in state structures down to small villages.This has been the case with in the EPRDF controlled regime in Ethiopia. The regime claims to have more than 6 million members and increasingly forcing others co-opt with it for it has become increasingly difficult to get a job or freely conduct business without directly or indirectly supporting the regime.
EPRDF has monopolized productive resources such as land, capital, telecommunications, the banks as well as public utilities that expand rent-seeking behaviour. In addition to controlling government resources, the ruling party owns and manages businesses engaged in manufacturing and service industries that receive preferential access to land leases and credit. This has forced citizens to co-opt into the status quo for survival and obtain access to economic benefits. Since access to employment or benefits directly or indirectly requires loyalty to party policies, people are increasingly attempting to obtain favour in the eyes of the power holders rather than developing their competence, personal integrity and commitment to the rule of law.
The rent-seeking trend is exacerbated by the fact that the whole state machinery is largely controlled by less competent individuals who have much to gain by joining the ranks of the party. These less competent individuals are particularly attracted to the rank and file of the party structure due to their rent-seeking motives rather than because they are convinced by the system’s policies. From the beginning, their motive of joining the party is not ideological affiliation or commitment to public service. When such people are assigned to some positions, they immediately engage in corruption and due to lack of competence, they render poor public service. Such kind of personalities have infested the ranks and file of the institutions such as the parliament, the administrative agencies, regional legislative and executive organs up to the smallest kebele administrative units.
The whole power relation is entirely functioning on patron-client loyalty motivated by undue economic benefits rather than merit or ideological commitments. Such power relations have made corruption systemic in the country rather than an isolated incident you fight it through establishing anti-corruption commission or arresting few individuals. Since corruption is systemic in the country, fighting corruption to the very end will threaten the survival of the regime itself. Due to the threat to its very survival, the regime will stop the campaign against corruption at certain stage or only target junior government officials. If the regime determined to address corruption altogether, it is likely that the regime will disappears in the coming few years as its members and supporters will no more be interested to work with the system once they knew that the regime could not render them the benefits they were receiving for their support to the regime. The regime will be unlikely to engage in such kind of suicidal alternative that will wipe it out from its grip to power.
The regime’s action rather reminds me of a very interesting story we find in the bible under the Gospel of John chapter 8. In this text, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery. They said to him ‘Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?’ But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. When they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. After that, being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. In the same way, who in the regime is clean enough to accuse the others and cast the stone? One way or the other the ranks and file in the regime from top to bottom are engaged in corruptive practices. The very lifeline for the support of the regime is related to the army of supporters and members who have joined for job opportunities, financial incentives and getting priorities in public funds. Fighting corruption primarily requires clean hands and pure conscience!
The most effective way of fighting corruption is establishing accountable, transparent system where rule of law reigns. As things stands now, the percepts of revolutionary democracy do not permit the existence of independent institutions such as the media, civil society groups, effective parliament, the judiciary, Ombudsman and other democratic institutions that are instrumental in addressing corruption in the country. Without such institutions, it is almost impossible to address the trends of corruption consuming the country’s limited resources. The regime is unlikely to allow the existence of such institutions in the country as their existence amounts to the end of the police state it runs. What is the alternative way out? I presume we are yet to live with the rampant corruption in the country until the appointed time for freedom comes and we are able to install the institutions that address the root causes of corruption!

Don’t MISS Logo Design Contest for “Kality Foundation”!

 

An Urgent Logo Design Competition Call for the Kality Foundation from Sweden to Everybody!
It’s to be recalled that Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson, thetwo Swedish journalists who were imprisoned charged with cooked up “terrorism” charges, sentenced to eleven years prison terms and then released on “Pardon” at last Ethiopian New Year in September. During their imprisonment the Swedish section of Reporters Without Borders and the Swedish Union of Journalists launched a fund to primarily cover legal fees and expenses of Schibbye and Persson’s but also other expenses for their families. For them who were in an extremely vulnerable and difficult situation, this money really made a difference during their fourteen months of Kality ordeal – since one can not eat letters of support.
Nevertheless, the duo journalists made a promise during their release to their Ethiopian cellmates ( Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Eskinder Nega and thousands of other prisoners of conscience being incarcerated in Kality and hundreds of prisons and detention centers across Ethiopia) that they will never forget them and try every avenue to keep their voices be heard and alive. To this effect, Schibbye and Persson decided to dedicate the remaining money of the Fund to help other journalists who are, or risk ending up in the same situation as they were where in. Once their book which chronicles about their stay in Ethiopia is released (in Sweden this autumn), the Kality Foundation will be launched which aims to to provide financial assistance to reporters and photographers worldwide who are imprisoned, persecuted, or forced into exile because of their profession. The foundation which is the brainchild of Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson, will be launched soon.
The Kality Foundation’s start-up capital will be the remaining money from the Fund when Schibbye and Persson were released in addition to the ten percent of the revenues from their upcoming book which they pledged to funnel. The Foundation now has established a board which comprises Martin Schibbye, Johan Persson, The Swedish section of Reporters Without Borders, The Swedish Union of Journalists, Filter Magazine, representatives from the “Free Martin and Johan”– group, two Ethiopian exiled journalists, the photo agency Kontinent and others.
Initially, the focus of the Foundation’s work will be to support journalists who get into trouble and their families. But eventually, when the fund is established, it will be expanded into more pro-active projects (more details, charter and a website will follow).
To realize this dream, the Kality Foundation invites all talented professionals all over the world in the field to submit their works before May 24th to this email address johan_martin@martinschibbye.se The logo will be used on their book’s cover and on the website for the Kality Foundation.
Please take into account that the design of your logo should send a clear, strong message and incorporates/reflects
Freedom,
Democracy and
Journalism.
Hurry up! and Please send your proposals to johan_martin@martinschibbye.se
The deadline for submitting entries is May 24
A vote will be held to choose the winner here on Schibbye’s blog and everybody is of course warmly welcomed to submit proposals to be part of this noble and great cause geared towards to support the struggle to bring Freedom Expression all over the world in general and in Ethiopia in particular.
Good luck!
Let’s fight for the immediate and unconditional release of all Ethiopian journalists, opposition party leaders/members/supporters and other prisoners conscience in Ethiopia.

UN chief aware of crimes against humanity in Ethiopia

  The Monday April 29, 2013 cloudy sky with drizzle seems to remind the largest Ethiopian crowd in recent memory here in NYC the darkest time of our people under the minority regime of TPLF/Woyane. The cry of Amharas in Beni Shanguel Gumuz, Gura Ferda, Waldiba who were ethnically cleansed and dumped as landless and homeless by cruel and inhuman TPLF/Woyane thugs carrying the ID of "Nations and Nationalities" is indeed the turning point in our struggle.
It reminded us how it is uncomfortable just to stay few hours out in a rain knowing that it will be over and each one of us will go to our home in D.C., Maryland, Buffalo, Philadelphia, NJ and to all boroughs of New York City. We stood tall to be the voice of poor farmers and monks and challenge UN to condemn the Ethnic Cleansing underway in Ethiopia. We stared at the UN building where Tewodros Adhanom lectured just last week about TPLF/Woyane's role on Somalia "security". We call it "Kiraye Sebsaba Politica" or blackmailing politics.
Shame on him and his regime who snatched the "security" of thousands of Amharas from their home they built from scratch. Shame on him who Kicked out children from their school without warning. Shame on him who forced pregnant women to give birth in forests with no medical care. The condemnation of the Woyane fascist and barbaric regime that started at 11am by fifty brave Ethiopians who came from NY Tri State area some driving seven hours from upstate New York started with a good news from NY organizers. By 10:30am the copy of the letter prepared for H.E. Ban Ki-Moon UN Secretary General was delivered to USA Ambassador to United Nations, Ambassador Susan Rice. We know pretty well that the content of this letter will soon reach to President Obama via John Carry, Secretary of State.John Carry who is travelling to Addis Ababa on the 50th anniversary of OAU next month will be challenged to condemn Ethnic Cleansing and all human rights violations in Ethiopia in public. The USA Ambassadors to Ethiopia past and present were and are acting as "member" of TPLF. The State Department findings about Ethiopia is nothing more than empty gesture. We believe this time is different if they take note of the anger building in the diaspora community this month alone. We demand the Obama Administration to follow the recommendation of its own department without any excuse whatsoever.The campaign to be heard by UN Secretary-General went on for a week by email and fax from the Ethiopian Diaspora all over the world. The fax and email flooded his office. When our five delegates went to deliver the letter asking UN to condemn Ethnic Cleansing and send an independent investigation team the positive reply we received was not surprising to most of us."The Secretary Genera was aware of what was going in Ethiopia " especially the Ethnic Cleansing even before he received our letter. The Prime Worshipper/Minster Hailemariam was forced to admit in his own parliament about Ethnic Cleansing after his European tour of begging. He blamed the "locals" for carrying out the crime. Yes crime is committed locally but order was given from TPLF/Woyane who some were heard saying on VOA and ESAT Radio that they needed to clear the land for investment.The Ethnic Cleansing of Amharas was to secure land for Woyane landlords. The list of the people who are directly connected to the crime against humanity was out to the public and UN . Omad Obang, Gambella, Shiferaw Shigute, Gura Ferda and South Omo Valley, Ahmed Nasir, Beni Shanguel Gumuz, Abdi Mohamud Omar, Ogaden, Abdi Maxamud Cumar, Ogaden, Abay Tsehai and Sebhat Nega , Waldiba was a short list for crimes against humanity present and past for which we demanded UN investigation.The past crimes against Annuak, Mursi, Ogaden and Oromo people were executed under the direct order of late Meles Zenawi. The crowd condemned Hailemariam as a "leader" who is led by TPLF/Woyane thugs behind the curtain to finish the Job the late Meles Zenawi started more than 21 years ago. Bereket Simon and Shiferaw Tekelamriam the "director" of the Movie "Jihadwi Harkeat", Christians VS Muslims anti Muslim propaganda were among the names accused as crimes against humanity. The huge crowd from D.C. who came in two buses, vans and small cars joined the rally between 12pm and 1pm. Dag Hammarskjold Plaza ( UN Plaza ) was on fire. The big blast from the sound system should have awaken anyone from long distance. No wonder the Woyanes from the surrounding area were forced to come out and face the condemnation of the system they are defending.The drizzle had no impact on the protesters at all. Bishop Filipose and Sheik Kalid short but direct call to all of us here and back home was emotional. Bishop Filippose compared our situation to the time of fascist occupation of Ethiopia where one patriot Dr. Melaku Beyan organized black Americans to stand with the Ethiopian people who were abandoned by League of Nations and USA..However, at this very moment Ethiopia has thousands of Melaku Beyans thanks to the huge populations of Ethiopians in the Diaspora. Woyane's "rent collection/Kiraye Sebsaba" project though succeeded back home using brute force and blackmail it failed miserably to be replicated here in the diaspora, "KeAbaye Befit Zeregnet Yegedeb" before building dam to collect water let us "build" a dam to check on a poison called racism is a rallying cry by Ethiopians.Sheik Khalid reminded us what Woyane did in May 2005. Woyane played effectively Muslims VS Christians. " If Kinijit captured power the Muslims were told the end of their fifteen years of religious freedom". The Muslims though most of them voted for Kinijit did not stand with fellow Ethiopians to call for their vote to be counted. Woyane resurrected for vengeance !!!! Business who supported Kinijit lost their livelihood and now most retail and wholesale is under control of Woyanes.Sheik Khalid did not hide his disappointment for fellow Ethiopian Christians not joining the Muslim struggle "Dimtsachen Yesema", Let our Voice be Heard a more than 16 month peaceful struggle which shook Woyane's foundation of ethnic division as was expected. He said our community need to come together and take back our country.We compliment Sheik Khalid by calling Christians to take their Sunday as a day of prayer and a day to stand with those monks at Waldiba, fellow Christian farmers who are kicked from their land and fellow Muslims who have been struggling for Woyane to get out of Mosques and Islamic Institutions, for Abay Tsehai and Sibhat Nega to get out of our church affairs. We the believers should take this matter into our own hands back home and here in Diaspora. Priests and church administrators who are on our way should be condemned as cowards who bow for the devil. Let us tell them that this is our Christian Obligation to stand with fellow Orthodox Christians and fellow Muslim brothers and sisters.The poems, songs and slogans indeed made our rally a tourist attraction. Many posed to take picture with our beautiful people and flag. Young Ethiopian Muslims dressed in their Hijab, mothers with traditional cloth and many who came with yellow, green and red scarf gave beauty to our rally. When the good news of the Secretary General five staffs reviewing our letter for immediate tangible reply came to the public the roar was deafening. The NYC organizers will update fellow Ethiopians in Social Medias, diaspora radios and TV on the development at UN Secretary General Office.At 3pm NYC organizers thanked all who came from long distance sacrificing a day to be the Voice for the Voiceless Victims of Ethnic Cleansing and Human Rights Violation. The energized crowd extended the rally for 45 minutes. The Woyane Council faced a huge angry crowd denouncing crimes against humanity perpetrated by TPLF/Woyane.Those who are associated with these crimes by collecting money in the name of "building a dam" can not escape responsibility. There is no place in NY, D.C, Oslo or wherever it maybe to hide and lie. Your time is up !!. We will follow you and expose you for the public. God is Great, Alah Wakiber !!!! Ethiopia Will Be Free !!!

Edu-corruption and Mis-education in Ethiopia

by Alemayehu G. Mariam
Educorruption and the miseducation of Ethiopian youth
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela. For the late Meles Zenawi and his apostles (the Melesistas) in Ethiopia, the reverse is true: Ignorance is the most powerful weapon you can use to prevent change and cling to power. They have long adopted the motto of George Orwell’s Oceania: “Ignorance is Strength”. Indeed, ignorance is a powerful weapon to manipulate, emasculate and subjugate the masses. Keep ‘em ignorant and impoverished and they won’t give you any trouble.
For the Melesistas education is indoctrination. They feed the youth a propaganda diet rich in misinformation, disinformation, distortions, misguided opinions, worn out slogans and sterile dogmas from a bygone era. Long ago, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, “Father of African-American History”, warned against such indoctrination and miseducation of the oppressed: “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his proper place and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.” The rulers in Ethiopia continue to use higher educational institutions not as places of learning, inquiry and research but as diploma mills for a new breed of party hacks and zombie ideologues doomed to blind and unquestioning servility. “Zombie go… zombie stop… zombie turn… zombie think…,” sang the great African musician Fela Kuti. I’d say, “zombie teach… zombie learn… zombie read… zombie dumb… zombie dumber.”
For over two decades, Meles and his gang have tried to keep Ethiopians in a state of blissful ignorance where the people are forced at gunpoint to speak no evil, see no evil and hear no evil. Meles and his posse have spent a king’s ransom to jam international radio and satellite transmissions to prevent the free flow of information to the people. They have blocked internet access to alternative and critical sources of information and views. According to a 2012 report of Freedom House, the highly respected nongovernmental research and advocacy organization established in 1941, “Ethiopia has one of the lowest rates of internet and mobile telephone penetration on the continent. Despite low access, the government maintains a strict system of controls and is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa to implement nationwide internet filtering.” They have shuttered independent newspapers, jailed reporters, editors and bloggers and exiled dozens of journalists in a futile attempt to conceal their horrific crimes against humanity and vampiric corruption. They have succeeded in transforming Ethiopia from the “Land of 13 Months of Sunshine” to the “Land of Perpetual Darkness”.
But my commentary here is not about the Benighted Kingdom of Ethiopia where ignoramuses are kings, queens, princes and princesses. I am concerned about the systemic and rampant corruption in Ethiopia’s “education sector”. The most destructive and pernicious form of corruption occurs in education. Educorruption steals the future of youth. It permanently cripples them intellectually by denying them opportunities to acquire knowledge and transform their lives and take control of the destiny of their nation. As Malcom X perceptively observed, “Without education, you are not going anywhere in this world.” Could Ethiopia’s youth go anywhere in this world trapped and chained deep in the belly of a corrupt educational system?
I will admit that in the hundreds of weekly commentaries I have written over the last half dozen or so years, I have not given education in Ethiopia the critical attention it deserved. I have no excuse for not engaging the issue more intensely. In my own defense, I can only say that when an entire generation of Ethiopian scholars, academics, professors and learned elites stands silent as a bronze statute witnessing the tyranny of ignorance in action, the burden on the few who try to become the voices of the voiceless on every issue is enormous.
I have previously commented on the lack of academic freedom in Ethiopian higher education and the politicization of education in Ethiopia. In my February 2008 commentary “Tyranny in the Academy”, I called attention to the lack of academic freedom at Mekelle Law School. I defended Abigail Salisbury who was a visiting professor at that law school when she was summarily fired by Meles after she published an academic commentary on her experiences at that law school:

…I was absolutely shocked, then, when I started reading my students’ work. Out of the hundred third-year students I teach, probably forty of them had inserted a special section, right after the cover page, warning me of what might happen to them were their paper to leave my hands. A number of students wrote that they would never give their real opinions to an Ethiopian professor because they fear being turned in to the government and punished. Others begged me to take their work back to America with me so that people would know what was going on…

In my September 2010 commentary, “Indoctri-Nation”, I criticized the Meles regime for politicizing education. The “Ministry of Education” (reminds one of Orwell’s “Ministry of Truth” (Ignorance)) at the time had issued a “directive” effectively outlawing distance learning (education programs that are not delivered in the traditional university classroom or campus) throughout the country. The regime had also sought to corner the disciplines of law and teaching for state-controlled universities, creating a monopoly and pipeline for the training of party hacks to swarm the teaching and legal professions. I demonstrated that “directive” was in flagrant violation and in willful disregard of the procedural safeguards of the Higher Education Proclamation No. 650/2009. It did not faze them. (It was time to mint a new legal maxim: “The ignorant are entitled to ignore their own law and invoke ignorance of their own law as a defense.”)
The “directive” was at odds with the recommendations of the World Bank (which has been assisting the regime in improving education administration and delivery of services) for increased emphasis on the creation of a network of “tertiary educational” institutions (e.g. distance learning centers, private colleges, vocational training services, etc.,) to help support the “production of the higher-order capacity” necessary for Ethiopia’s development. In its 2003 sector study “Higher Education Development for Ethiopia”, the World Bank had recommended “a near term goal [of] doubl[ing] the share of private enrollments from the current 21% to 40% by 2010.” By 2010, the Meles regime had decided to reduce private tertiary institutions, particularly the burgeoning distance learning sector, to zero!
In my October 2010 commentary, “Ethiopia: Education Unbanned!”, I was pleasantly surprised but unconvinced by the Meles regime’s apparent change of strategy to abandon its decision to impose a blanket ban on distance learning and reach a negotiated resolution of instructional quality issues with distance learning providers. I pointed out a few lessons Meles and his crew could learn from the bureaucratic fiasco. (Is it really possible for the closed- and narrow-minded to learn?)
I focus on educational corruption in Ethiopia in this commentary for four reasons: 1) I was appalled by the corruption findings in the recent World Bank 448-page report “Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia”. That report, with bureaucratic delicacy and hesitancy, demonstrates the cancer of corruption which afflicts the Ethiopian body politic has metastasized into the educational sector putting the nation’s youth at grave risk. 2) There is widespread acknowledgement that education in Ethiopia at all levels is in a pitiful condition. For instance, a 2010 Newsweek “study of health, education, economy, and politics” showed Ethiopia with a population of 88 million had a literacy rate of 43.3 percent, and ranked 98 out of 100 countries on education. 3) Few Ethiopian educators and scholars are examining the issue of educational corruption and its implications for the future of the country and its youth. Hopefully, this commentary could spur some of them to investigate corruption in education (and other areas) and conduct related policy research and analysis. 4) I had promised in my first weekly commentary of 2013 to pay special attention to youth issues in Ethiopia during the year. Nothing is more important to Ethiopia’s youth than education. Youth without education are youth without a future and without hope. Youth without education are emblematic of a nation in despair.
World Bank findings on corruption in the Ethiopian education sector
The WB report on the education sector alludes to an Ethiopian proverb in assessing the culture of corruption and impunity: “Sishom Yalbela Sishar Ykochewal” — roughly translates into English as follows: “One who does not exploit to the full his position when he is promoted will lament when he no longer has the opportunity.”
Ethiopia’s education sector has become a haven and a refuge for prebendalist (where those affiliated with the ruling regime feel entitled to receive a share of the loot) party hacks and a bottomless barrel of patronage. The Meles regime has used jobs, procurement and other opportunities in the education sector to reward and sustain loyalty in its support base. They have been handing out teaching jobs to their supporters like candy and procurement opportunities to their cronies like cake. “In Ethiopia’s decentralized yet authoritarian system, considerable powers exist among senior officials at the federal, regional, and woreda levels. Of particular relevance to this study is the discretion exercised by politically appointed officials at the woreda level, directly affecting the management of teachers.”
In “mapping corruption in the education sector in Ethiopia”, “the World Bank report cautions that “corruption in education can be multifaceted, ranging from large distortions in resource allocation and significant procurement-related fraud to smaller amounts garnered through daily opportunities for petty corruption and nontransparent financial management.” Corruption in the education sector is quadri-dimensional “affecting the selection of teachers for training, recruitment, skills upgrading, or promotion; falsification of documents to obtain qualifications, jobs, or promotions and fraud and related bribery in examinations and conflict of interest in procurement.”
The “selection of candidates for technical training colleges (TTCs)” is the fountainhead of educational corruption in Ethiopia. According to the WB report, “students do not generally choose to become teachers but are centrally selected from a pool of those who have failed to achieve high grades.” In other words, the regime’s policy is to populate the teaching profession with, for lack of a better word, the “dumber” students. Such students also make the most servile party hacks. But it is a spectacular revelation that the future of Ethiopia’s youth — the future of Ethiopia itself — is in the hands of “those who have failed to achieve high grades”. Ignorant teachers and ignorant students= Ignorance is strength. Could a greater crime be committed against Ethiopia’s youth and Ethiopia?
To add insult to injury, the selection of underachieving students to pursue teacher training institutes is itself infected by “bribery, favoritism and nepotism.” The most flagrant corrupt practices include “manipulation of the points system for selection of students to higher education.” The “allocate[on] of higher percentage points for results from transcripts and national exams than for entrance exams” has “enabled a large number of inadequately qualified students to join the affected institutes, sometimes with forged transcripts. This practice has affected the quality of students gaining entry to higher education and eroded the quality of the training program.” In other words, even among underachievers seeking to become teachers, it is the washouts, the duds and flops that are likely to become teachers!
Fraud and related corrupt practices in matriculation are commonplace. According to the WB report, there is

a significant risk of corruption in examinations…The types of fraudulent practices in examinations include forged admission cards enable students to pay other students to sit exams for them, collusion allowing both individual and group cheating in examinations, assistance from invigilators (exam monitors) and school and local officials (during exams), higher-level interference [in which] regional officials overturned the disqualification of cheaters, fraudulent overscoring of examination papers [by] teachers are bribed by parents and students, fraudulent certification of transcripts and certificates to help students graduate.

Although there are public officials who have considered reporting corrupt practices, they have refrained from doing so because there was “a strong sense that there is no protection to guard against possible reprisals directed at those who report malpractice.” There is no place for whistle blowers in Ethiopia’s edu-corruptocracy.
Recruitment and management of teachers is a separate universe of corrupt practices. “In Ethiopia, the overwhelming bulk of expenditure in education is taken up by salaries of teachers” and there is a “high risk of bribery, extortion, favoritism, or nepotism in selecting teachers for promotion, upgrading, or grants.” The WB report found “nepotism and favoritism in recruitment were broad and frequent—namely that, in some woredas, the recruitment of teachers (and other community-based workers) is based on political affiliation, including paid-up membership of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).”
What is shocking is not only the culture of corruption in education but also the culture of impunity — the belief that there are no consequences for practicing corruption. The WB report shows not only the “prevalence of fraud and falsification of teaching qualifications and other documents, reflecting weak controls, poor-quality documents (that are easily falsified), [but also] the widespread belief that such a practice would not be detected… For such falsification to go unnoticed, there is a related risk of the officials supporting or approving the application being implicated in the corrupt practice.”
The types of corrupt practices that occur at the management level are stunning. Managers manipulate access to “program of enhancing teacher qualifications through in-service training during holiday periods by using their positions to influence the selection of candidates. Hidden relationships are used in teacher upgrading, with officials at the zonal or woreda level taking the first option on upgradation programs.” The appointment of local education officials is not “competitive” but “politically assigned”. Collusion between local managers and teachers over noncompliance with curriculum, academic calendar, and similar practices is a relatively common practice and “reduces the provision of educational services.” This situation is made worse by “teacher absenteeism [which] is tolerated by head teachers, within the context of staff perceiving a need to supplement their income through private tutoring or other forms of income generation.” Poorly paid teachers supplement their incomes by “private tutoring [which] is widespread, with 40 percent of school officials reporting it as a practice.” Corruption also extends to “teachers paying bribes or kickbacks to management, mostly school directors, to allocate shorter work hours in schools so that they can use the freed-up time to earn fees as teachers in private schools.” The payola is hierarchically distributed: “Bribes received are likely to be shared first with superiors, then with a political party, and then with colleagues, in that order.”
Falsification of documents including forged transcripts and certificates occurs on an “industrial” scale and is “most prevalent in the provision of certification for completing the primary or secondary school cycles” and in generating bogus “documents in support of applications for promotion”.