A road curves past terraced green slopes on the route between Mekelle and Maychew in Tigray, in a photograph shared on X on September 30, 2020. Photo: Metekaeta Abraha kahs (@abraha_kahs) on X. [file photo]
Tigray’s federally appointed caretaker administration said Tuesday that civil servants who returned to work would be paid from Wednesday, after two missed dates, and that fuel loaded in Djibouti should arrive by Friday.
Atakilti Haileselassie, a member of the caretaker administration, said the payments would begin on Wednesday and that fuel tankers loaded in Djibouti should reach Tigray by Friday, according to reports carried by The Abay Times and Zegabi. The administration had earlier said that pay would start on November 9. Tewodros had said on Monday evening that pay would start Tuesday; on Tuesday, Atakilti said it would begin Wednesday.
Tewodros Aregay, another member of the administration, said on Monday evening that preparations had been finished three or four days earlier except for incomplete payrolls from some government bureaus, which he said had been fixed. He said more than 90 percent of civil servants had reported back to work, and that pay would cover arrears only from the start of the current Ethiopian budget year.
Getachew Reda wrote on Tuesday that the federal government transferred the money almost a week ago and that the delay came from the administration’s records, some of which he said were burned. Zegabi said it could not confirm the transfer, and Mereja Media found no public confirmation from the Ministry of Finance. The government’s account is a claim, and nobody outside the administration has shown the payment records.
Residents on X painted a different picture. An account holder who uses the name Z Medhin and gives his location as Mekelle wrote on Sunday that salaries were unpaid and there was no fuel. After the new promise, he wrote that it was good to hear the salaries would be paid, and asked for regular public information. Goyteom Gebreegziabher wrote that compiling the payroll should not have taken more than a month.
On Tuesday, the region’s trade bureau met more than 21 current and former Mekelle filling-station owners, who told the meeting that checkpoints on the road from Djibouti to Tigray were a main reason fuel prices were rising, according to The Abay Times. Tesfay Girmay, the bureau head, said his office would address the complaints. The administration was formed on October 16 for six months after the federal government said the war in Tigray was over, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rejects it. Earlier in March, the previous interim administration also struggled to pay roughly 137,000 civil servants, The Abay Times reported.
Sources
- Zegabi, Tigray’s caretaker administration says civil servants’ pay will start Wednesday and that fuel loaded in Djibouti will arrive by Friday
- The Abay Times, Tigray caretaker says civil servants’ pay starts Wednesday, fuel due by Friday
- Getachew Reda on X, November 10 (Tigrigna)
- Addis Fortune, Budget freeze leaves a region paying for political deadlock