Minister Brehan Fired Moments After Progress Report to Parliament
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has dismissed Brehan Hailu, minister of Justice, on Thursday, May 9, 2013
Earlier he lost his position in the powerful Executive Committee of the ruling EPRDF, when elections were held in March 2013. He was under fire during the annual convention of his party, the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), held in Bahir Dar during the same month in prelude to the EPRDF congress. Both events were held in the same city this year.
He was criticized by the bigwigs of the party for issues of incompetence when he was nominated to the central committee of ANDM by another member. Late last week, he was grilled by Asmelash W. Sellasie, chair of Parliament’s Legal & Administrative Standing Committee, for the Ministry’s sluggish conduct in completing the nation’s Penal Code, that had been under revision for many years. Brehan had appeared before Parliament on Thursday, reporting on the nine-month performance of his Ministry.
Fortune’s repeated attempts to reach Brehan before going to press were unsuccessful. A representative of Debre Brehan, a small town 130Km north of Addis Abeba, Brehan has served in several positions at the regional state level. He was formerly an administrator for North Showa Zone in the Amhara Regional State, and then moved on to head of the Region’s Health Bureau, where he had joined the region’s cabinet at the time.
Before being appointed by Meles Zenawi as the Minister of Information in 2005, he served as the head of the Ethiopian Radio & Television Agency. He was made a minister of Justice in 2008, where he served until last week. The Ministry will announce this new development on Jomo Kenyatta St. in the coming few days, according to senior officials of the Ministry that Fortune talked to.
The announcement may also include the reappointment of Leul Kahssay as a state minister for Justice, according to officials at the Ministry who spoke on conditions of anonymity, as they are not authorized to speak to the media. Leul had been serving as a deputy minister of Justice under Brehan, before he was replaced in 2010. He has been floating with no formal appointment up until last week, according to a senior aide working in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Source - Addisfortune
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