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By Staff Reporter
October 8, 2020 (Ezega.com) – The decision of the Ethiopian Federation Chamber to cut the budget subsidy to the Tigray region is equivalent to declaring war on the region and its people, an official said.
Tigray region vice president Dr Abrham Tekeste told the BBC’s Amharic service that the decision would push the Tigray regional state into secession.
The upper house’s decision comes after the Tigray region held elections on September 9, 2020, challenging the Federation House’s decision that postponed general elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In retaliation, the Chamber ordered the Federal Government to suspend the budget subsidy to the region and suspend any form of relationship with the Tigray regional council and higher executive bodies.
However, according to the decision of the Chamber, the Federal Government will maintain working relationships with the legal institutions of the region, including the administrations of cities / towns and localities (kebele) to provide “basic services” to the population of the region.
“The latest decision is an extension of the illegal measures taken by the House against the Tigray region and is pressuring the region to secede from the federal government,” Abrham said.
He said that the budget issue is one of the ties that binds the federal government and member states together. “The federal budget is nothing more than the annual contribution of the total funds collected through taxes and other means by the regional states to be redistributed among them based on the budget formula,” he added.
“We will not sit around and see if the federal government refuses to provide the budget to the Tigray region, which is a member state of the Ethiopian federation,” he warned.
The vice president described the decision as “dangerous and irresponsible” and could potentially push the nation into continued chaos.
“Tigray is a member of the federal government and the House’s decision will ruin the federal system,” he added.
According to the vice president, if the Federation Chamber sticks to its decision, the Tigray region would suspend the fund that it is supposed to contribute to the federal government.
He said the federal government collected seven billion birr from the Tigray region during the last budget year and is scheduled to collect nine billion birr from the region this Ethiopian budget year.
The relationship between Ethiopia’s ruling party and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party of the Tigray regional state, is deteriorating, increasing political tension in the country.
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