Editors of Abugida, Addis Voice, ECADForum, Ethioforum, Ethiofreedom, Ethiomedia, Ethiopian Review, Quatero, Satenaw and Zehabesha took the unprecedented step to hold the minister accountable for his propaganda stunt over a 14-year old Beritu Jaleta, an Ethiopian-Australian schoolgirl from Melbourne. He said the school girl won 20 million Australian dollars in an international school competition and was partnering with the regime.
In a joint press conference he held two weeks ago in his office with the teenager, the minister misled the public alleging that Beritu was partnering with the government to build a school. He called her an exemplary philanthropist among the Ethiopian Diaspora. The story has been dismissed as bogus by the Baden Powell College, which was said to have organized the 8th grade competition, and the alleged funders of the prize, Rotary Foundation and the Government of Australia.
“It is high time the Foreign Minister took full responsibility for his reckless behaviour not only to retract it in the same way as he told it but also unreservedly apologize to the people of Ethiopia,” the editors said.
The editors noted that as the fabrications have been totally discredited and exposed as a big lie, the Foreign Minister must take full responsibility for the blatant fabrication instead of blaming it on a teenager who has been paraded TV to promote the propaganda stunt.
Dr. Adhanom blamed the girl indirectly in a Facebook post last Saturday. He said he would rather trust children and make mistakes without offering any responsibility for the scandal. “Because the Foreign Minister tried to tell such an outlandish and blatant lie to the people of Ethiopia, he has earned the honor ‘Top Ethiopian Pinocchio’ in appreciation of his effort,” the editors said.
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