The cancellation of a planned construction railway from Mekelle to Shire

Tigrai Online, April 28, 2017

The latest hot issue for Ethiopians is the the cancellation of a planned construction railway from Mekelle to Shire which is part of the phase II of the Ethiopian rail road expansion.

The issue sparked when Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn made a statement in a public meeting in the norther town of Adwa last week. At what seems unplanned announcement the Prime Minister told the residents the cancellation of the railway connecting the capital city of Tigrai Mekelle to the western town of Shire.

Well, a few days after the video of the prime minster surfaced, a heated debate has exploded on social media. Most people are upset the cancellation is not fair to the people of Tigrai. Some people even insinuate some politicians from other states are involved in the cancellation.

The Ethiopian Prime Minster stated the country does not have the fund to build the railroad as planned. At one point he covertly indicted if peace is restored with Eritrea it will help speed up the time for the railroad to the towns of Tigrai at the tip of the country, which is odd.

The questions are:
Why does the government cancel the project, are the other projects in the same phase canceled too, why was it announced in the way it was announced and why did not the government come out and explain in a clear manner?

The worst habit of the EPRDF government is not explaining itself precisely on time before rumors take root and create confusion in the public. Such is the case this week when the Ethiopian Prime Minister was talking about the Railway Project.