Azeb Mesfin lost TPLF’s cash cow

August 17, 2013

by Abebe Gellaw

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has quietly removed the late dictator’s widow Azeb Mesfin from the helm of EFFORT as Chief Executive Officer a few months after her husband’s demise, it emerged.

Azeb, widely known as the ‘Queen of Mega’ and ‘mother of corruption’ among Ethiopians, had snatched  the reins of  power within the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) from her bitter rival Sibehat Nega and Abadi Zemo. She was once the de facto second in command in her husband’s tyrannical regime.

The new boss appointed to as the Chief Executive Office (CEO) of TPLF’s multi-billion dollars business empire and corruption cash cow emerged to be Berhane Kidane Mariam Yihdego, a Central Committee member of the TPLF.

According to informed sources, Berhane is a close confidant and business partner of Sebhat Nega, a multi-millionaire in his own right like most members of the TPLF ruling class.

Berhane, who enjoys multiple high profile positions as a privileged TPLF loyalist, was the former General Manager of TPLF’s propaganda mouthpiece Walta Information Center from 2006 up to last year. Besides being the President of the nepotistic and corruption-plagued Ethiopian Olympics Committee (EOC), he sits on the boards of Wegagen Bank, which is also owned by the TPLF, and Mekele University. The new EFFORT chief also claims to be the founder and Deputy Board Chairman of a private company called “Ethiopian Quality Award Organization,” according to his CV obtained by Addis Voice.

TPLF’s move to replace Azeb with the new loyalist was confirmed by Berhane himself who recently sent an updated CV and a profile to the Switzerland-based Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), where he represents Ethiopia as EOC president. In his profile posted on ANOC’s website, he listed his current professional position as “Board of Director and Chief Executive Officer of EFFORT Investment Group” since 2012. In spite of the fact that the exact month of his appointment was not mentioned nor made official, the ANOC website indicates that Berhane’s latest profile was updated on May 2, 2013. The French and Spanish versions of his profile web pages also carry exactly the same information.