Appeal to Mr. Wolfowitz

By Kassa Ayalew, M.D., M.P.H.

May 24, 2006

Dear Mr. Wolfowitz:

I am writing to express my deep concern to you about the proposal on Protection of Basic Services (PBS) and the Interim Country Assistance Strategy (ICAS) for Ethiopia. I hope you give the highest regard to my concerns and recommendations.

I value the banks endeavor to promote fairness, transparency and advancement of economic development by reducing the government discretion over donor resources in Ethiopia. Equally, I highly admire the bank’s interest to work together with Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans in Diaspora. My findings to the proposed PBS are summarized below:

Component 1 to 3 [Component 1 on the Sub-National Basic Services, Sub-Program A; Component 2 on the Health MDG Performance Facility, Sub-Program B, and Component 3 on Financial Transparency and Accountability, Sub-Program C] of the PBS proposal aim to preserve the originally budgeted level of delivery of basic services to the regional and local governments. The proposed plan intends to implement PBS using the regimes governmental institutions such as: Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ministry of Capacity Building, Ministry of Health and Office of the Federal Auditor General, Ministries of Education, Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Food Security Coordination Bureau, Federal Affairs, Water Resources, the Federal Food Security Coordination Bureau, and the Central Statistical Authority. The only component where the overall management and coordination of activities will be handled by a non-governmental agency is the Component 4.

As it is very eminent to the bank and the donor organizations, Ethiopia is presently governed by a totalitarian central government, which owns and controls all activities at regional, district, and local levels. At any level (sub national levels including woredas and kebeles) the central government has a 100% control on developmental and political policies. Therefore, the Protection of Basic Services proposal and the Interim Country Assistance Strategy for FY06-FY07, which has been developed partly in consultation with members of the dictatorial government, appear a new approach to provide direct budgetary assistance to totalitarians. I do not believe assisting a totalitarian dictatorial regime through a new method will be an alternative to maintain poverty reduction as long as the question of Democracy and Human Right is not settled. In fact, in my view, the interim proposal and ICAS seem to offer the financial means to the repressive regime by ignoring the will and the torment of over 70 million people and it strengthens the repressive apparatus of the regime.

Although Ethiopia is still one of the poorest countries in the world and needs the developmental assistance, I believe the proposed PBS only benefits the repressors and will not able to ensure enduring economical development as it is not attached with vital preconditions that require the government in power to make major political commitments and changes. In my view, until those commitments and changes are made, banks and donors must suspend the PBS and loans for all non-humanitarian purposes.

I propose to the World Bank the following vital preconditions as requirement for the PBS:

1. The bank must demand democracy as pre condition to give a loan to Ethiopia, if it holds the people responsible for repayment.
2. The Protection of Basic Services and the Interim Country Assistance Strategy must be bound to the regimes commitment to unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience immediately and not to imprison any one for his/her opinion, belief, ethnic origin or political position.
3. The Protection of Basic Services and the Interim Country Assistance Strategy must be preconditioned with the regimes commitment to respect human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law.
4. The Protection of Basic Services and Interim Country Assistance Strategy must be bound with the regimes commitment to allow the principles of free press and put an end to state medial monopoly.
5. The Protection of Basic Services and Interim Country Assistance Strategy must be bound with the regimes commitment to end arbitrary detention, torture, prevent extrajudicial executions.

With best regards,

Kassa Ayalew, M.D., M.P.H.
Pediatric and Infectious Diseases Specialist
Tel: 703 868 7122/ Fax: 703 998 5558
Email: abyssiniak@yahoo.com