Tamrat Layne Says No Distinction Between TPLF and Prosperity Party

Oromo forces are wilding hegemony within Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party : Tamrat Layne 

Borkena

December 28, 2020 

Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Tamrat Layne said that he does not agree with the Prosperity Party. He cited a number of reasons as to why he lost faith in the party — a party that was established in November 2019 after four major parties of the now defunct Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPDRF) and four other support parties merged under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. 

In an interview with Abbay media over the weekend, Tamrat  Layne said that the party was established in a rush — without extensive consultation. 

According to him, political cadres from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed were sent to Bahir Dar, the seat of Amhara regional state, to engage over two thousand cadres in the region. The idea to merge the parties met with resistance from the cadres in the region, said Tramrat who said he was in the city at the time for personal reasons. The cadres were convinced at the time in light of the prospect of a political advantage that Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) would garner from the situation. 

For him, the Prosperity Party is not much different from EPRDF under the domination of TPLF. The latter’s hegemony is now replaced with Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) within the Prosperity Party.  

In fact, there are other political groups that seem to support Tamrat Layne’s position relating to the power of what used to be OPDO in the current power arrangement within the Prosperity Party.  There is accusation that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s political base, OPDO, is working on an expansionist and domination agenda. The massacre in Oromo region, Benishangul Gumuz region and South Ethiopia is now increasingly being seen as part of the Oromo region Prosperity Party expansionist agenda. 

Tamrat Layene was the leader of what later became Amhara National Democratic Movement — an ethnic party after the former Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Movement (EPDM) was rebranded under influence after 1991 under influence from TPLF. 

Tamrat Layne’s critics reject his opinion mostly considering his political involvement under the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government — not on grounds of his view of the current Prosperity Party Politics. He currently lives in Denver, Colorado.