Time for national inventory

It has been several months now since news first broke of the gilded steel fraud that is rocking the nation. The scandal we dubbed ‘Goldengate’ is unfolding in ever widening dimensions and is even going off on tangents. Several revelations of its impact can already be gleaned.
Firstly, Goldengate has exposed serious flaws in Ethiopia’s system of fiscal checks and balances (if indeed there is a system) and has left Ethiopians wondering about the authenticity of other national assets, including the tumbling Ethiopian birr. The scandal has also revealed weaknesses in the government machine as aspects of the scandal were in operation for at least several years.
It was inevitable that world media would finally come around to reporting the scandal. The just concluded week has informed the international community about Ethiopia’s ‘crime of the millennium’ and we await with trepidation the consequences.
Disturbing questions arise – how is Goldengate going to affect Ethiopia’s relatively high credit rating? If the birr really crashes, are we to enter economic doldrums again after working so hard and sacrificing so much over the last five years of tangible progress? How can the National Bank – the repository of Ethiopia’s bullion, re-build its stock before it is too late?
Weighty questions – fears really, that should also be viewed against the general backdrop of Wild West manners by parts of the business community.
The state, to be fair, has started to take forceful measures against remorseless profiteers who are collectively emasculating consumers to the point of distraction. Raids have been conducted on black market money changers who had virtually legalized their activity to the point of even soliciting passersby for dollars, Euros and other hard currency.
The public welcomes, indeed had yearned, for the government to prove its presence – that it has not lost control of a runway free market. However, the public wishes that government had acted with such corrective and punitive measures earlier from the very first time fuel prices began to climb and when the price of red pepper, an irreplaceable part of Ethiopian diet, inexplicably shot up nearly 100%. Alas, spilled milk is irretrievable and we should best focus on the here and now. Thererfore, it is growingly apparent that what Ethiopia needs is a full scale and exhaustive national inventory. Lets take stock of our natural, structural, monetary and other assets.
Perversely, it may be that Goldengate has some positive elements as perhaps, it is the lowest point in the corruption scourge that is afflicting us. If so, then we can take a measure of solace that having arrived at the sordid depths, there is only one way left out of the sink hole of corruption.
The state is well reminded that it does not do to take all the brakes off the market. It has a moral duty and legal the right to mitigate the excesses of a few for the greater good of all.
Corruption is not confined to Ethiopia and the current scandal, despite its severity, is no worse than what is taking place all over the world. However, having said that, in the Ethiopian context, this is the absolute worst. The only way out is up ………fingers crossed.