Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia held a session at Parliament today, in which he layed out a new cabinet of ministers. In total 20 ministers where selected, with a good proportion of them being women.
Yet the talk of the town is the (s)election of Ahmed Shide. The disgraced former ally of the war criminal Abdi Iley and the once Minister of Communication for the Federal Government of Ethiopia. Prior to today’s (s)election as Finance Minister, Mr Ahmed Shide was the head of the pseudo political party representing the occupied Somali region of Ogaden.
Following the ousting of the war criminal Abdi Iley and his bandits, Ahmed Shide was given the role of Chairman for the Somali region (Ogaden) political party once Mustafa Cagjar replaced Abdi Iley in late August. It’s been suspected by many that Ahmed Shide’s was planted as a proxy by the OPDO Junta in Jigjiga to handle and guide the internal affairs of the occupied Somali region (Ogaden) knowing Mustafa Cagjar remains powerless til this day and wields no real power over the nine provinces in Ogaden.
The (s)election of Ahmed Shide as Finance Minister, can be viewed from two perspectives. One being the fact that Ahmed Shide is closely aligned with the OPDO Junta and can be of good use in the long run for the Oromo led Government of Ethiopia. The second case is that Ahmed’s (s)election is politically motivated knowing since the moment imperial Britain seeded control of the Ogaden to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) the Somalis have never been represented in Government and unfortunately have been persecuted and subjugated by consecutive Ethiopian Regimes.
Experts believe the latest move by Abiy Ahmed regarding the (s)election of Ahmed Shide is a PR stunt to show the International Community and Donor nations that Abiy Ahmed is a reformer as mainstream media regularly portrays him to be and is willing to give the Somalis under Abyssinian rule there fair share of power and political representation. However the detrimental policies of mass murder and displacement perpetrated against Somalis by Oromo militias and Oromo paramilitary forces over the past few months with full backing of the OPDO Junta says otherwise.
Time will tell but the matter of the fact remains. The (s)election of Ahmed Shide is reminiscent of “throwing a bone in a bowl” and Somalis will never fall for it, knowing history always repeats itself.
We will keep you updated with the latest developments and updates from the region.
Halgan Media
