Ethiopia's PM Ahmed coronated as ruling party's president

ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was on Saturday coronated as the de facto leader of the Prosperity Party, an outfit he used for his 2021 re-election as the country battled internal rifts in the Tigray region.

In its first Congress, the Prosperity Party picked Abiy Ahmed as the president, a position that gives him executive powers to control the outfit. Abiy Ahmed, the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2019, has been battling to delink himself from claims that he's a dictator.

The Prime Minister, who hails from the Oromo region, will be assisted by Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen and Adan Farah who will jointly serve as vice presidents of the party. The party swept most parliamentary seats last year amid a boycott by Tigray People's Liberation Front [TPLF].

After his election as the leader of the ruling party, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reiterated a call for Meddemer [Synergy] for the realization of prosperous Ethiopia upon his election as president of the party.

“I am absolutely sure that Ethiopia will prosper if you come together under the umbrella of Medemer” he underscored.

Adan Farah who was Head of the Office of the party expressed delight in his election as vice president pledging commitment to discharge his responsibility diligently. He comes from the Somali region of Ethiopia, which had traditionally decried exclusion from Ethiopia's mainstream politics.

President of Somali Region Mustafa Omer tweeted “The Somali people in Ethiopia have today lived to see their son elected as the deputy president of the ruling Prosperity Party. Unthinkable just years back when Somalis were branded unfit to comprehend “revolutionary democracy” Congratulations brother Adan Farah. We are at the center!"

Throughout the war in the Tigray region, the Somali region stood with Abiy Ahmed's administration, accusing TPLF of sabotage. The region was previously known as Ogaden and at one point, it was claimed by Somalia.

GAROWE ONLINE