As Ethiopia inaugurates the Gibe II project, Gibe III continues to face opposition from those who supposedly mean well for us Africans
One of the biggest challenges we Ethiopians face today is the bad image of our country all over the world. Some of us quite vividly remember the faces people used to make in the U.S once they realize we were from Ethiopia…followed usually by a moment of silence and some muttering about how lucky we were to have escaped such a God forsaken place. Our country earned this image mostly during the 80s when widespread famine ravished our country and those with big hearts scrambled together to help save millions of lives.
But that was then, and this is now. What was needed in this country back then is exactly what is not needed now. Decades of inefficient aid programs have helped us little while continuing to tarnish our national image. While today’s Ethiopia is starving for investment, technology transfer, and trade, the country continues to receive, more sympathy from self proclaimed do-gooders pronouncing their “I know what’s good for you advice”, and even more damaging…more bad branding.
Case in point is the financing of the huge hydropower dam, Gibe III, which is being built by the Ethiopian Government. Gibe III is exactly the kind of project Ethiopia needs so that it will never need another Live Aid concert. It is exactly the kind of ambitious investment needed so that our population can stop cutting the last remaining trees, something that has played a role in creating the famine of the 1980s. Gibe III is also the kind of project needed to reduce dependence on fossil fuels both in Ethiopia and in Kenya, something with positive repercussions beyond the region to the rest of the world.
So why is the international do-gooder society up in arms about Gibe III? Well, as the old adage goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
For more information about the controversy surrounding Gibe III, please visit: www.gibedam.org.Read more blogs by clicking here or by going to our E.I Blog