No, TPLF is not TIGRAY: A Case of Ethiopian Airlines

Part one: Leave and never come back!

Three years ago, July 03, 2015 around 10:50 AM, a few (I stress a few) connected and Mafia-like members of TPLF, operating at the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, were still above the law.

That day they used a non-existent ‘security concern’ they claimed I had become and a ‘ political tendency’ they claimed I had,” (as a cover for their planned ‘ethnic profiling) and sent security to my office at the Aviation Academy of the Airline to literary push me out saying, “leave" and by implication,"never come back.” Just like that!

And I never returned since.

This action might be hard to fathom for people from outside of the airline ( How come a civilian airline allow such mafia-like operations on its employees by a political group?)

Well, I am not the only one. Many before me and many after me have been subjected to such intimidations.

Although these people operate in the name of the TPLF, for me Tigray has nothing to do with this, only the Mafia that wanted to hide its corruption has everything to do with it.

But then, “why did they do that?” one might ask. The answer makes the level of impunity with which these mafia groups acted in the company more evident: they wanted to pave the way for someone who they deemed was more ETHIOPIAN than I am because he was a member of the TPLF. 

Making the act more bizarre is that the person they wanted to install was not only unqualified for the position but also and had no aviation experience at all.

This action might sound bizarre for an Internationally acclaimed airline.  One might even ask, “why didn’t they cook some semblance of excuses (as they often did before to jettison  others) to fire me?” Again, three years ago, they felt they were above the law and too arrogantly sure that they could do anything.

So, on that day, they sent security to intimidate and push me out. I am sure they never thought time would change this quickly.

To give context to the whole ‘security risk farce’ I must mention an executive management meeting of the Airlines held in April of 2015 where it all began.

Most of the management personnel of the Airline were present- where I had to answer questions on the state of quality in the Aviation Academy by the CEO’s invitation. After which the CEO, Ato Tewolde, allowed five positions for the Training Quality and Safety Assurance Section where I was the acting manager.

Based on this decision, I ventured on searching for the right people from inside the company per the company policy.

What I did not know was the TPLF mafia group was also eyeing on those vacancies and was already selecting its people from outside the company to fill the spaces.

Without any consultation with my section, the HR manager who is the principal member of the mafia group and the security director did their interview (or claimed they did). And before I know it, people were already completing medical check to join my section. But I was also conducting my recruitment process seeking the right person from inside the Aviation Academy.

So, when the vacancy was announced for the internal applicant, the Mafia Group was irritated. The HR manager of the Academy sent me emails after emails to stop the process because they had their people from outside.

Imagine, I was looking for A pilot, a cabin crew, an aircraft technician, and a marketing professional with safety and quality assurance experience in the aviation field to fill the vacant spaces. However, the mafia group had already interviewed another TPLF member who needed a good paying job but with none of the qualifications the position required.

Tigray did not do this, TPLF did it!

I had to do what I had to do. I told the HR manager if they wanted the person from outside so dearly they can employ him for another position in the airline, but I have needs that could be fulfilled with people with specific skills and that I have found the right applicants. By the time I had already gotten an applicant who was a senior auditor and had more than 15 years of experience.

That was when the mafia started to move like intimidation machinery.

That was when I realized some people I thought were friends were informing the security about and my phone conversations - as if I had some hidden “motives.”  As a result, some projects such as Toastmasters Club that I had suggested and wanted to launch at the Aviation Academy- (apparently to help the trainees and staff develop communication and leadership skills) -were interpreted as neo-liberal movements and should not be conducted in the Airlines. (I know it is bizarre to read such ignorance of world affairs and what Toastmasters was all about to prevail in an Internationa airline -but then the Mafia-group was ‘above the law’ thus they stopped it.)

Then my immediate and other superiors started calling me to their office and advise me to apologize to the mafia group, and especially to the HR manager. (The HR Manager of the Aviation Academy is a fascinating character among the mafia members that I will cover later).She was so full of herself that she sent me emails, which I have for an exhibit, that the qualifications set by the company requiring aviation experience don’t work and that I must allow the person in because of 'their evaluation' of his analytic skills. My superiors even suggested that the person coming is an aide to a minister and that what I was doing could be interpreted as resistance.

I understood their fears.

But I refused to do so because there was no need. And there was no way being a minister’s aid would qualify one to a position in aviation. In the meantime,  I went on completing the recruitment process along with the right recruitment team for the right candidate, conducted interviews-selected the right candidate.

That was the time the Mafia went on claiming that I had some intentions and motives.

Tigray did not do this, TPLF did!

So a month passed, and I managed to fill one of the positions with a qualified aircraft technician with 10 plus years of auditing experience.

On July 03, the morning I was in an ACE Management meeting.

At the end of the session, I walked down to my office on the first floor of the administrative building of EAA.

I was told the security was waiting for me at the Managing Director's office.

I walked in.

And the scared face of the managing director told me something was off. Two security personnel sat with him.

“You are under investigation. From this moment on you leave your office.” As my boss was the one who was supposed to give me orders I asked him. “What investigation is this?” He only said, “do as they said,” so I left.

They were quick to take my office computer for their fake investigation.

And In a week time, since I was forced out, they installed another TPLF member from inside in my section.

I thought that was all.

But they also started to interview my colleagues to cook a nonexistent crime.

In all this, I have not seen the will of the TIGRAYAN people, I only have seen a mafia group that calls itself TPLF acting with impunity.