Abbay Media News
Yassin Ibrahim
The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, held a closed meeting on December 25, 2017 with members of parliament under the presence heavy security. This was in answer to OPDO and ANDM members of parliament that demanded explanation of the current unrest in the country. Present in this closed meeting were four regional presidents, namely the presidents of Amhara, Oromia, Southern and Tigray, according to the Ethiopian Television that cited as it’s source a pro-TPLF news website based in California, USA.
The meeting was closed and under heavy security, observers say, due to the concern that OPDO and ANDM members are increasingly challenging the superiority and decades long dominance of TPLF. It is left to the imagination of observers familiar with the internal works of the government how ruckus the meeting must have been.
This report, however is filled with few contradictions. First, the national television cited the pro-TPLF website, AIGA forum, known for sowing inflammatory, uncorroborated and often unsubstantiated news. Why would a government owned national media based in Addis Ababa use as its source a California based online media on all the things about the Prime Minister’s meeting with members of parliament, question experts of News media like ESAT.
Second, the regional presidents are neither members of parliament nor members of the PM cabinet. And as such they are not expected to be in the meeting unless the situation was extraordinarily concerning.
Third, the report states that of the four regional presidents the president of Amhara is one of them. But according to ESAT, Ato Gedu Andargachew, was not in the country when the closed meeting between the PM and members of parliament was held.
