16. Hilawi Tadesse (Ato)
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office claims that the neutrality of the Economic Council is relevant from the point of view of policy inclusiveness and gets perspectives on issues not included in the policy agenda. Government also hopes to get insight to understand complex security and social problems and examine policy alternatives.
Seen from the trajectory that there are at least individuals who were full-time politicians, the assertion about neutrality of the council could be questionable. For example, Dima Negao is among the founders of Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and was also a member of Oromo Democratic Forum (ODF) a party that he co-founded after he left OLF. It is also unclear if the questions of neutrality seen from Conflict of Interest perspective as there could be people with a business interest in the country.