TPLF poised for reform, Azeb Mesfin walks out

TPLF is poised to adopt reform directions as the Central Committee winds up it meeting this week, according to insider sources.

The Tigrayan People Liberation Front (TPLF), one of the four parties of the Ethiopian ruling party EPRDF, has been holding its Executive Committee and Central Committee meetings since last month.

The meetings has been taking place, on and off, since last month. It has been held in Mekelle in the first week of October, in Addis Ababa in the third and fourth weeks of October. The ongoing session, in Mekelle, started on November 6.

The meeting was publicly announced as a regular 6-monthly meeting of the Central Committee. However, the participants agreed to make comprehensive appraisals when the meeting began last month.

A 59 page critical appraisal of the status of the party, the governance and the economic performance was presented for discussion, according to HornAffairs sources.

The report, prepared by the party Secretariat, made severe criticisms of the state of the leadership and inter-party democracy as well as the performance in good governance and the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP).

The Executive Committee endorsed the report after a tense debate in a 5 to 3 vote, according to HornAffairs sources. The 9th member of the Executive Committee, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, was not in attendance as he has been elected to lead the World Health Organization (WHO) last May.

The report was adopted by acclamation in the Central Committee last week on Wednesday. Though the Central Committee had heated debates on the report, no member registered a protest vote when it was finally tabled for approval.

Photo – TPLF Chairman and Deputy, Nov. 2017, Mekelle
Photo – TPLF Central Committee, Nov. 2017, Mekelle

A criticism and self-criticism of each member individually and the leadership organs as a body has been going on since last week.
The Executive Committee was conducting its criticism and self-criticism sessions in the evening, while the Central Committee debated the report at day time.

The leadership has been tight-lipped about the outcomes of the individuals’ critisism sessions at the Executive Committee and the Central Committee.

The heat of the Central Committee evaluation of individual members appears to have reached its peak on Tuesday.

Azeb Mesfin walked out of the meeting amid a criticism and self-criticism session on Tuesday, according to HornAffairs sources.

Azeb Mesfin is widow of Meles Zenawi and CEO of the TPLF parastatal EFFORT company. She was one of the executive members who voted against the report.

Azeb’s walk out could be taken as a major tangible indicator, next to the adoption of the report, that the meeting has been severe in its criticism of the status quo.

According to HornAffairs sources, the Central Committee is expected to wind up the meeting within a day or two.

“There will be decisions to promote, demote and suspend members of the leadership”, according to three sources present in the meeting.

The central committee is also expected to make decisions on key national and organizational issues, the sources added. “There is a clear understanding that the status quo is not acceptable”.

The meeting is attended by current as well as veteran leaders of TPLF.

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View Comments (9)

  • The late PM Meles decimated collective leadership and made all decisions by himself. Members of the central committee of the TPLF were hand picked by Meles their loyalty to him rather than their merit. In the name of “passing the torch to new generation”, he purged the most capable leaders of the TPLF and replaced them by yes-men. After his death, the TPLF leadership was in disarray because the instruments for collective leadership were all destroyed by Meles.
    Bygones are bygones. Now the TPLF leadership should look forward. They must revise TPLF program to ensure that it addresses the concerns and priorities of the current generation. They must re-institute collective leadership and bring young leaders based on merit. If Azeb has walked out of the meeting, I hope she never returns back. This is not the first time she walked out of an important meeting, but the TPLF leadership didn’t have the spine to rein her arrogance. I hope TPLF truly reforms this time and bring back its glory which was decimated by Meles and Azeb.

  • The late PM Meles decimated collective leadership and made all decisions by himself. Members of the central committee of the TPLF were hand picked by Meles their loyalty to him rather than their merit. In the name of “passing the torch to new generation”, he purged the most capable leaders of the TPLF and replaced them by yes-men. After his death, the TPLF leadership was in disarray because the instruments for collective leadership were all destroyed by Meles.
    Bygones are bygones. Now the TPLF leadership should look forward. They must revise TPLF program to ensure that it addresses the concerns and priorities of the current generation. They must re-institute collective leadership and bring young leaders based on merit. If Azeb has walked out of the meeting, I hope she never returns back. This is not the first time she walked out of an important meeting, but the TPLF leadership didn't have the spine to rein her arrogance. I hope TPLF truly reforms this time and bring back its glory which was decimated by Meles and Azeb.

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