Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn declared today that party and government officials as well as individuals who have instigated the recent political turmoil in the country will be brought to justice beginning this week as per the decision passed by the National Security Council.
He announced this in a press conference held at the Prime Minister’s Office today.
Hailemariam also indicated that the majority of these officials who have involvement in the political unrest had already been detained and that his government will continue to so in the coming week.
He also asserted that officials who have connections with anti-peace and terrorist establishments and those who have been using the recent unrests in the country to advance their own agenda will be accountable to their actions.
The Prime Minister said further that there EPRDF officials with rent seeking agendas have played a major role in the recent Somali-Oromia border conflicts. He also indicated that the level of atrocities committed in this particular conflict was really great citing the case of beheadings in Awoday town and said that the fatalities would have been unimaginable had it not been for the intervention of the Oromia Regional Police.
“The Oromia Regional Police is clean” and it has executed its responsibilities properly, he appreciated.
On the other hand, reflecting on the recent decision of the House Speaker, Abadulla Gemeda, and his decision to resign from office, Hailemariam lamented Abadulla’s decision to go on TV and to announce his resignation before the party had the chance to achieve consensus on the matter was a wrong move. He said so while responding to The Reporter’s question regarding the culture of democratic centralism in the EPRDF.
“Democratic centralism is inalienable principle of EPRDF,” he asserted answering whether such culture still exists in the party and if the House Speaker’s statement about his determination “to struggle for the respect of Oromo people and his party” is in line with that culture.
Hailemariam also said that the Speaker went on TV to clarify speculations about his resignation following a report by The Reporter about the speaker’s resignation.
