Following the decision by the Council of Ministers to remove groups from terrorists list and enable them to be engaged in the country’s political activities, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) is scheduled to appear before the House of Peoples’ Representatives (HPR) to defend this decision on Thursday Friday July 6, 2018.
The PM will also give explanations on the draft budget bill for the coming Ethiopia Fiscal Year of 2018/19.
Seven years ago, the House had labeled some local and foreign organizations as terrorists upon request from the government. These organizations include Patriots Ginbot 7, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda. The decision from the Council of Ministers removes the terrorist labeling from the three Ethiopian political groups pending parliamentary approval.
According to the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, the Ethiopian parliament has the final say to designate or remove designation of any organization in Ethiopia as well as grant amnesty to list of names presented from cabinet and according to the Amnesty Procedural Law.
In a related news, the PM is also scheduled to defend list of names to be granted amnesty under the recently ratified amnesty procedural law in the same parliamentary session. The explanation will also include granting amnesty of individuals accused and convicted of crimes.
Although the Prime Minister is not legally obliged to appear before the House to defend people that will be granted amnesty as well as organizations to be removed from the list of terrorists, he is expected to use his appearance to defend the budget and address other pertinent issues.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is scheduled to leave for the US by the end of this week to conduct the much talked about meeting with Ethiopian Diaspora in the US.
Ed.’s Note: In the previous version of this news story, the original date of the Prime Minister’s appearance in parliament was Thursday July 4, 2018. That has been corrected to Friday July 6, 2018.
