Members of the Enat Party at the party’s second regular general assembly in Addis Ababa on October 10, 2026, where it elected a new president and vice president. (Photo: Ethiopian Reporter via X)
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed 62 state ministers on Saturday, including EZEMA’s leader, while the opposition Enat Party elected a new president and chose one of the appointees as its deputy.
The Office of the Prime Minister published the full list on X on Saturday morning in a three-page image. The Reporter said the appointments cover 22 ministries. They follow Parliament’s approval of the new cabinet on Thursday and its reorganization of four ministries on Wednesday, both of which Mereja reported.
The list includes several names from outside the ruling Prosperity Party. Eyob Mesafint, the leader of the Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice party, known as EZEMA, was named a state minister at the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure. borkena said it was the second major post for EZEMA in the executive branch, after the party’s former leader, Professor Berhanu Nega, kept his job as Minister of Education.
Keria Ibrahim, a former Speaker of the House of Federation, returned to government as a state minister at the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, Sputnik Ethiopia reported. borkena noted that she held posts in the Tigray region from 2002/2003, resigned as speaker in June 2020, was held in federal custody during the northern war and was later expelled from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
Tirumar Abate is listed next to Keria as another state minister at the same ministry. On the same day, the Enat Party elected her as its vice president at its second regular general assembly in Addis Ababa, according to the Amharic edition of The Reporter.
The Enat Party chose Yohannes Shewakena, a teacher, as its new president by majority vote. He replaces Dr. Seifeselassie Ayalew, who led the party for two terms and could not run for a third under the party’s bylaws, The Reporter said. Tirumar replaces Getnet Worku, the former vice president, who recently withdrew from all political activity. Tibebu Yirga was elected secretary general and Libanos Demisse head of public relations.
The meeting was due to start at 8:00 in the morning but began about four hours late because a quorum of 500 members had not arrived. When it opened, 503 members were present. Voting for the executive members and coordinators of the party’s council ended at 9:26 in the evening. Seifeselassie, who is abroad, sent a message online asking the assembly to proceed, and Habtam Giletew chaired the meeting by proxy. Observers from the National Election Board of Ethiopia attended.
The party told the assembly that insecurity in the country had stopped it from moving from place to place and had badly affected its plans, and that it had faced pressure from inside and outside. It said it would review the situation in the country and use methods of struggle that fit the time. Enat joined Ethiopian politics in 2012 in the Ethiopian calendar and has 33 coordination offices, The Reporter said.
Guests from other opposition parties spoke at the meeting. Mistreselassie Tamrat, secretary general of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party, said his party had worked in coalition with Enat for four years and urged the new leadership to continue that work. Sisay Negash, an executive member of the Freedom and Equality Party, said the multiparty system has a noose around its neck and that the struggle would continue until better leadership comes.
The news drew sharp reaction online. Journalist and news anchor Mesay Mekonnen wrote on X on Sunday, in Amharic, that the Enat Party had “confirmed that it has finally entered the embrace of Prosperity.” He wrote that a woman appointed by the Prosperity Party had become the party’s second most senior leader, and he used a mixed word joining the names of the two parties to describe what he said Enat had become. He also wrote that EZEMA had collected federal and regional posts, which he described as a reward from Abiy Ahmed for its loyalty, and that members of the National Movement of Amhara, known as NaMA, had been removed from federal and regional positions. He said the only such parties left were the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party and the All Ethiopian Unity Organization, adding that there was no guarantee they would not go the same way. Mereja did not find a public response from the Enat Party to his post by Sunday morning.
Ministries welcomed their new leaders on X. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Ambassador Hadera Abera and Ambassador Berhanu Tsegaye were reappointed as its state ministers. The Ministry of Innovation and Technology congratulated Minister Frehiwot Tamiru and State Ministers Muluken Kere, Yodahe Arayaselassie and Solomon Soka.
The Reporter said Yodahe was formerly the head of the National ID Program, known as Fayda, which it said has registered 52 million people and printed 14.8 million identity cards, without giving the date of those figures. The program has since become Faydaverse, a state-owned enterprise under Ethiopian Investment Holdings.
Other officials changed posts. Bareo Hassen, previously a state minister in the transport and logistics sector, moved to the Ministry of Youth and Sport, and Sileshi Girma, formerly a state minister in the tourism sector, was also appointed there, The Reporter said. Dr. Endashaw Tasew, who recently finished three years as chief administrator of the Central Ethiopia Region and earlier served as Federal Police Commissioner, was named State Minister of Peace, according to borkena.
The appointments complete the senior leadership of Abiy Ahmed’s new government, which began its five-year term this month while war continues in Tigray and fighting goes on in the Amhara region.
Sources:
- Office of the Prime Minister on X (list of 62 state ministers)
- The Reporter
- The Reporter (Amharic, Enat Party assembly)
- Ethiopian Reporter on X
- borkena
- Sputnik Ethiopia on X
- Mesay Mekonnen on X
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs on X
- Ministry of Innovation and Technology on X
- Mereja (Parliament approves cabinet)
- Mereja (ministry reorganization)