Seid Hassan- Murray State University-USA

My own research as well as the research of other scholars show that the control of donor resources allowed the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), not only to consolidate political power that it seized in 1991, but also virtually penetrate the Ethiopian society at the grassroots level and expand its repressive and predatory tentacles.*

This paper also makes use of my ongoing studies regarding corruption in Ethiopia. The concluding part of the paper ties the corruptive practices of the TPLF/EPRDF when it was a liberation front (that is, the humanitarian aid-corruption nexus) with its current and similar activities (that is, the capture and misuse of development aid.) The paper exclusively focuses on the development aid -corruption nexus.

The paper uses theme-based cases (heavily donor-funded projects) in order to illustrate the captured nature of development aid and extent of corruption in…