Capitalism Versus Paternalism?

hy would a government want to lease out three million hectares of fertile land when its citizens have to depend on food aid from donors abroad? When Outlook put that question to government officials, they refused an interview and chose instead to e-mail a response to criticism of land-grabbing by firms. According to the Ethiopian government, these firms will help enhance the country’s food security by investing in agricultural technology and improving farm productivity in these regions.

The land being leased out is located in poorly developed parts that are sparsely populated, such as Gambela, which has a density of 10 persons per sq km, the government maintains. According to the government, investors will bring in money to build schools and hospitals, but curiously the construction of such amenities is listed under investors’ “rights” in the contracts, not under “obligations”. Obang Metho, of the US-based Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, argues that this development approach has bypassed those not directly party to lease agreements. The government insists absolutely no farmer has been displaced from his land to make way for a lease-holder.

The statement also wonders why there is an absence of such “fuss” over similar projects in other parts of the world. “It can be surmised that the uproar about land grab in Africa has everything to do with the paternalism of some of the activists as well as with the identity of the investors (mainly Chinese, Indian and Arabs),” the statement reads. It has also argued that the criticism is largely sustained by members of the Ethiopian diaspora.

But Metho argues that the “repressive regime” of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has hardly left any space for dissent within Ethiopia; Human Rights Watch, the international group, has repeatedly criticised the Ethiopian government for cracking down on dissent. While the country is stable politically, thousands have been arrested for expressing political dissent.