Ethiopia region warns budget cut will be 'dangerous'

By Girmay Gebru

The vice-president of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has warned that the decision by the upper house to cut budget subsidies to the regional government was a “dangerous” move that could escalate tensions in the country.

“The regime is driving the Tigray region away from the federation and this is totally unacceptable,” Abraham Tekeste added.

His comments came after lawmakers in the House of Federation called on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government to cut funding to the Tigray government after it held regional elections in defiance of the National Electoral Board.

The board cancelled all elections - including the national poll that was scheduled for August - citing the coronavirus pandemic.

But the Tigray government rejected the decision, and last week announced that it would no longer follow federal government directives because its mandate had “expired”.

House of Federation Speaker Adem Farah accused the Tigray government of being illegally constituted after an “unconstitutional” regional poll and “as such the federal government cannot give budget subsidies to such bodies”.

Tigray’s vice-president said the federal government collected 7bn Ethiopian birr ($1.9m; £1.4m) from the region last year and planned to collect 8bn this fiscal year.

Money was also collected from other regions, and then distributed to regional states under an agreed funding formula.

“So the implication of their statement is that they are taking Tigray out of this formula and we are not going to be sitting and watching them collect revenue from Tigray if Tigray is not going to get its share,” Dr Abraham added.

He called on the federal government to act responsibly and to let the fiscal arrangement continue rather than taking steps that could deny the people of Tigray education, health and water supplies.

Speaker Adem said the federal government would carry out a study to see how it could provide basic services in Tigray through town and district administrations.

In a further sign of tensions, the Tigray government has recalled its members in the federal parliament and government.

Some of them have already started to report to their offices in the Tigray capital, Mekelle.

This article was originally published by BBC News. [Photo: BBC/Girmay Gebru]