ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 looks at most of the EPRDF coalition’s implemented economic policies since it seized political power. In doing so, it shows that, although its political as well as economic policies were designed with what the coalition believed was its revered motto of promoting group rights, unfortunately, not only did the coalition fail to achieve them but it did so while violating both group and individual rights. Hence, among other things, the chapter shows how the political parties that made up the EPRDF used their party-owned economic endowments and manipulated the bureaucracy for their economic gains. Moreover, it also discusses how bad implementations of the coalition’s economic programmes unravelled in two crucial decades, how state enterprises were also used to deepen the pockets of the EPRDF elites, and how all these factors led to human rights violations but also led to significant success in terms of the incumbents’ quest to stay in political power, at least for 28 years. The role of the federal system in enabling such outcomes is also examined.
