By Firehiwot Guluma
Since the dictator TPLF seized power, it has been clearly engaged in massive corruption and unethical business practices by national or international business rules. As a ruling party, it not only owns strategic sectors of the economy and engages in commercial and trading activities, it also puts competing private sectors in a hopeless no-win situation. This preponderant economic dominance is also used as a political weapon to harass, incarcerate, dominate, weaken and control opposition forces in order to stay in power indefinitely.
The TPLF, the core political power of Ethiopian government, has transformed the Ethiopian economy from State ownership to the private ownership by political parties, mainly the TPLF, by buying investment assets formerly owned by the government of Ethiopia, as prescribed by the World Bank Report and political coercion by the United States Government. At the same time, the TPLF has also started a huge investment program of its own through sham corporate structures. For example, the TPLF controlled Endowment Fund of Rehabilitation of Tygrai (EFFORT) is a conglomerate with an asset estimated well over a billion Ethiopian Birr involved in business investment in all aspect of the Ethiopian economy.
It was established by expropriating capital equipment from different parts of the country and by the infamous defaulted bank debts. Currently there is no business sector that is free from the involvement of EFFORT. It stretched from production to distribution, from finance to insurance, from wholesale to retail, from real-estate to horticulture, from mining to IT. Peculiarly, this trade empire hasn’t ever been audited by external auditor nor repays the loan it borrowed periodically.
Surprisingly, almost 99.9% of the employees in these innumerable companies of EFFORT are Tigrian; which means that majority of the economy is occupied by either the Tigrian private companies or by the extractive trade empire called EFFORT; and they primarily privileged job opportunity for Tigrians. As the complete cycle of economic dominance and privileged labour market portrays, we are under a severe economic genocide. The following tables show TPLF companies under EFFORT.
Companies with investment capital of 50.000.000 Million Ethiopian Birr
Company Name Year Esr(Ec) Capital HQ Board chairman
Almedan Garment Factory 1995 660,000,000 Birr Mekele Abadi Zemu
Mesfin Industrial Company 1995 500,000,000 Birr Mekele Arkebe Ekubay
Mesob Cement Factory 1995 240,000,000 Birr Mekele Abadi Zemu
Almeda Textile Factory 1995 180,000,000 Birr Mekele Abadi Zemu
Sur Construction 1995 150,000,000 Birr A.Ababa Arkebe Ekubay
Trans Ethiopia 1995 100,000,000 Birr Mekele Shimelis Kinde
Dedebit Saving & Loan 1995 60,000,000 Birr Mekele Atkilit Kiros
Ezana Mining Development 1995 55,000,000 Birr A.Ababa Tewodros H. Berhe
Addis PharmaceuticalsProduction 1995 53,000,000 Birr A.Ababa Abadi Zemu
Tana Trading House Axion Association 1995 50,000,000 Birr A.Ababa Sibhat Nega
Total Capital 1,868,000,000 Birr
Companies that did not make their paid-up capital public.
Ambassel Commerce Dinsho Share Company Tigrai Tagai Association Brook Chemical Share Company
Dashen Beer Factory Express Ethio Travel Service Tigrai Development PLC Computer Networking Technology
Amhara Meleso MaquaQuam Berhan Building Construction Star Pharmaceutical Importers National Electromechanical
Saba Emnebered Guna Trade Services Biftu Dinsho Oromia Credit Bank
Adwa Flour Factory Wendo Trading Shala Advertisement National Geo-Textile
Trans Ethiopia Tikal Agri Tigrai Walta Industry Alage Forest Products
Sebhat Nega PLC Addis Transport Tikur Abbay Transport Martha poultry
Dima Honey Processinf plant Zeleke Agricultural Mechanization PLC Beruk Tesfa Plastic Factory
Aberdele Animal Export Company Maichew Particle Board
*Some Board Chairmen might have moved within the parastatals.
*The amount shown on the tables above are initial start-up capitals. The total net worth of the parastatals has quadrupled.
Table Source:Ginbot 7