I think Hailu Shawel has good ideas on how to improve the economy devastated by Meles Zenawi's bankrupt socialist policy.
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Interview with Hailu Shawel, Chairman of the
Coalition for Unity and Democracy

« Immediately they should get rid of these useless factories which they cannot manage, useless transport systems, so many things which are loosing money. »


Interview by Robert Wiren, Les nouvelles d'Addis

Addis-Abeba, 6 April 2005

Mr Hailu Shawil was born in 1936. He graduated in Civil Engineering and post-graduated in Financial Management and in National Development Planning. He gained professional experience in various positions in both public and private sector, especially in the fields of hydrology and road infrastructures. He has been a Minister of State Farms and became later a consultant to the European Commission in agro-industrial projects for ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific).

Mr Hailu chairs a coalition of 4 parties, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), launched in 2003. The member are : All Ethiopia Unity Party (AEUP), Ethiopian Democratic Union Party – Medhin (EDUP – Medhin), Rainbow Party and Ethiopian Democratic League (EDL). Mr Hailu Shawils’s former party was the AAPO, an Amhara party chaired by late Professor Asrat Woldeyes who was opposed to the federal solution and was jailed for about 5 years.

But later a number of AAPO members decided to accept federalism and launched the AEUP, a multiethnic party with strong support in the Amhara region, in the Southern People’s region and in Addis Ababa. The three other parties have a more urban membership. The Rainbow Party of Mr Berhanu Nega, former Chairman of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce, represents the buisiness community.


LNA. This coalition has four parties as members. How could they unite ?
Hailu Shawil. These four parties have come together on the base of multiethnic thinking. Each of the parties must accept any Ethiopian from ever origin. Secondly, we believe in privatization of land. Number three, we believe in the unity of Ethiopia and not in article 39 which allows complete secession. So all parties agree on these basic principles.

LNA. These points are principles, they do not represent a political program. If you win what would be the main decisions to be taken within a short period ?
HS. Land is a very essential component of economic development. What we are saying is not about buying and selling land. We say that the government should not be owner of land. In Ethiopia since there are many ethnic groups, the land holding system of each ethnic group is different. For example if you take the Afar people, it is communal ownership, not individual ownership, but they prefer to continue with that communal ownership. We agree with that. If the Afars want to develop, they should not be held by the government. It is their land, they have to decide what they do with their land, not the governement. That is one thing. If you come to private ownership of land, the cadres of the ruling party tell people which part of the land thay should have, where they should move, how they should do it. The farmers say no. “We want to decide on our own life. To decide what to do with the land.” That is why now the farmers joined our coalition in big numbers.

LNA. In the northern part of the country, there has always been a collective system for the land. Is that contradictory with privatization ?
HS. It is not contradictory. What we say is this : previously the people themselves used to decide how to use the land. We say the same thing. People should decide. The government should not interfere in allocation of land or in demarcation of any boundaries.

LNA. But for urban land, privatization could provoke speculation and the cost of land would increase.
HS. But actually the government is selling land today.

LNA. Leasing ?
HS. Yes, leasing, but a 50 year’s lease is like selling. Buying at least allows you to pass it to your grandchildren. Now you can pass it for 50 years and the government takes it. Regarding urban land, anything is based on supply and demand. If there is only one seller, a monopolistic seller, he can decide how much to charge for each plot of land. The reality is how much the government is asking for each square meter of urban land. It is astronomic. It is more expensive than in some bigger cities in the world.

LNA. You are talking about private persons who want a plot of land to build a house ? What would be the price ?
HS. In Addis Ababa it goes over 5000 birr a square meter.

LNA. This is the price for a lease ?
HS. Yes, it is leasing. But if there were several owners, they would compete for the price and the price comes down. When I built my house, I bought the land for 5 birr during the last days of Hayle Sellassie. 5 birr per square meter. That same land costs now 3000 birr per square meter. It is not an inflation issue. It is a supply-demand issue where the supplyer jigs up the prices.

LNA. What other important decisions would you suggest for a new governement ?
HS. The new government should sell land at very low prices, reserving some development land for the poor and selling the rest for a reasonable price. If there are some industries you want, for them you give the land at give away prices, for almost nothing because you want job creations. You do this in accordance to the benefit of the society, not in accordance to some bureaucrate sitting in his office.

LNA. Beside the land problem, are there other economic aspects of your program ?
HS. Yes. In our case the economy is almost dead. This economy can be resurrected only by changing the banking and finance system. At the moment banks are very strict. They want collaterals, that is to give a property to the bank in order to borrow cash. In a country where all property has been nationalized, where do you get collaterals ? The banks want a property as guarantee. Even if you have the best project which creates a lot of jobs and is highly profitable, they say where is your guarantee ? And if you do not have property, you do not borrow. Few people can borrow. All properties, factories, houses, have been nationalized by the Derg and this governement kept all of them. No compensation was given. So you cannot lift an economy just like that.

LNA. Nothing was privatized since ten years ?
HS. No privatization. The whole society is empoverished rather. Nothing has been privatized. I mean giving back properties to their owners.

LNA. What about national companies like Ethiopian Airlines, Electricity, Telecommunication ? Should they be private ?
HS. That is a long term issue. Immediately they should get rid of these useless factories which they cannot manage, useless transport systems, so many things which are loosing money. And the governement is keeping them. The governement should not pay money to run a soap factory, to run a transportation company.

LNA. The Privatization Agency did not succeed in selling factories or societies ?
HS. They did not succeed because they were asking too much. They do’nt know that an old factory is an old factory. So I prefer to have a new one instead of an inefficient factory. I would not buy it.

LNA. Now about the political future. How should the country be organized ? What is your main difference with EPRDF ?
HS. We believe in the federal system, but not ethnically.

LNA. You would prefer multiethnic regions ?
HS. There are regions which could have purely one ethnic group. For example in the East you could have a state fully Oromo and more West an other mixed state, Oromo and Gurage.

LNA. But now, if there is a minority in one state, what happens ?
HS. There are special woredas for minorities.

LNA. This seem to complicate the whole system.
HS. Yes. If you look at the south, in Woleyta for instance, there are special zones which do not make sense because they do’nt use their own language. Every body is using Amharic as a primary language. Except keeping their culture, having their own societies to keep their language going, I do’nt see the point of this organization, to say : you speak this language, you work here, you speak that language, you work there. That means that a brilliant man from such an ethnic group can never go up to the government. And if you go to another area, people say : he is this, he is that.

LNA. It seems that there is an evolution in your party, the former AAPO, which was in favour of centralism and not federalism.
HS. When we became AEUP, we decided a complete new policy. The hardliners left and created another AAPO.

LNA. So now there are few people who still believe in the centralized system which failed in Ethiopia ?
HS. Nobody cares for that anymore. Everybody agrees on federalism. But federalism is always dependent on people’s will. A lot of referendums will be needed to solidify such a federation.

LNA. Do you think that the idea of federation is good but that its implementation by EPRDF is not satisfactory ?
HS. We want to change the system because the basic federal idea of EPRDF is ethnic difference. That is not our basic premise. We have to redo the whole thing, bring it to the people for a referendum and have once for all a decision. Administratively a system has to be efficient. At the moment it is not.

LNA. How do you feel about this pre-election period with a lot of complains from the opposition and what are your expectations for the coming vote ?
HS. We knew that we would have a lot of problems. Dictatorships do’nt leave just like that. You have to fight. You have to stand up. We believe that ever devious methods they have, we always have a deterrent against most of them. The people are with us at the moment. They understand what the problems are. So with observers here and with our strong people in each polling station to control the counting, we believe we will have our share. We believe, I tell you, in the federal parliament we will get more than 52% of the seats.

LNA. Do you have enough people to be present in the polling stations ?
HS. Yes. More than enough. We have our members everywhere in Ethiopia. Very strong ones who have sacrificed for the last two years, going to jail, coming out, working hard. And we believe we can win the state election of the Amhara region, of the Afar region, of the Southern region. In Oromiya I think we are the second after the EPRDF’s OPDO. We will have about 25% of the seats in Oromiya. Addis Ababa of course, is automatically ours. So with four regions and the federal government, if they do’nt run away, we will win.

City: New York

He sounds a resonable and competent person to me. I believe any one of the opposition leaders is better than Meles, who has contempt for his own country.

City: Addis

I don't think Mr. Hailu is clear with his goals. He seems taken up by accusations and hersay stories. He should come forward with objective plans. The land ownership and banking system he is talking about is performance improvement scheme and not policy change. I have yet to see his political agnedas in explicit terms.

Email: mfissha@gmail.com

City: Washington DC

I think he has clear political arena.
read it again

Email: kaki

City: aa

Would you mind explaining who you can not get performance improvement scheme without policy change. Mr Getaw?

City: Falls Church