Woyane's Millennium+1 Report Card

2008 - Here are Woyane's Ethiopia global rankings in corruption, development, governance, freedom and other indices. The government is led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi; and the ruling party goes by Woyane or EPRDF (Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front) or TPLF (Tigrayan People Liberation Front).

* 16th out of 177 in the Fund for Peace's Failed State Index.

* 31st out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance.

* 82nd out of 88 developing countries in the IFPRI's Global Hunger Index.

* 142nd out of 173 countries in the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index.

* 122nd out of 130 countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index.

* Meles Zenawi - 15th in the Parade.com's the World's Worst Dictators List.

* 126th out of 180 in the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International.

* 116th out of 181 in the Ease of Doing Business Ranking of the World Bank Group.

* 114th out of 121 in the Best Countries for Business Ranking of Forbes.com.

* 121st out of 134 in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index.

* 123rd out of 127 in the World Economic Forum's the Networked Readiness Index.

* 124th out of 157 in the Heritage Foundation & Wall Street Journal's Index of Economic Freedom.

* 171st out of 195 in the Freedom House's Freedom of the Press World Ranking (2007).

* 108th out of 200 in the FIFA's World Soccer Ranking.

Instead of addressing the above real problems of the Ethiopian state, the government wants to "cheat" the world about its image by parading Lucy (click here to learn about Lucy or Chaltu - her Afaan Oromoo name) around the globe. What will the opinion of a person visiting the Lucy exhibition in Houston or Seattle towards Ethiopia bring to a mother of four children, who eat their meals in weekly shifts, in Addis Ababa? Absolutely, Nothing. Image-building is not what other citizens feel about Ethiopia; image-building should be what the peoples of Ethiopia feel about Ethiopia. Read Last Year's Woyane's Millennium Report Card.

When the government finds home for these kids and others living in sewage canals in Addis Ababa, the image-building process may start then. When the government reinstates the Afaan Oromoo Television, the image-building process may start then. When the government unconditionally releases all political prisoners, the image-building process may start then. When the government does not interfere with Oromo's constitutional right to self-determination, the image-building process may start then. The image-building should be done from inside out; otherwise, the process is simply a marketing decoy, funded by money that should have been spent at home to feed the hungry.