Kuma, other central Committee members of OPDO suspended

 Addis Ababa, July 23 (ENA)--- The Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO) has suspended its secretary general Kuma Demeksa and other central committee members from the organization for corruption, anti-democratic practices and abuse of power.

 In a statement it issued on Monday under the title "OPDO is committed as ever before to continue the struggle for the rights and privileges of the Oromo people" the organization said central committee members Chala Hordofa, Diriba Arkona and Yassin Hussien have been suspended from the leadership.

 The organization has also prohibited the suspended central committee members from taking part in any forum representing OPDO.

 The organization, however, has decided that Kuma Demeksa could work upon the assignment of the organization, the statement said.

  It said the region that has been administered by OPDO during the last ten years has witnessed high-level corruption and mal democratic practices.

 It said the dangerous precedents that surrounded OPDO have been the major impediments to accelerate economic development and social progress in the region.

 The people in the region couldn't enjoy the benefits gained through the bitter struggle due to corruption, nepotism and anti democratic tendencies practiced by high-level officials, it said.

 The rampant anti democratic practices that surfaced in the organization have hindered the efforts exerted to bring about fast economic development and ensure the rule of law in the region. 

It said if the present dangerous trend goes unabated, it would be absolutely difficult to apply the principles of revolutionary democracy in the country.

 The renewal process has become mandatory to clear the path and avoid individuals who could think of and dream about only making themselves get rich quick at the expense of the Oromo people who live under abject poverty, the statement said.

 The statement said some anti democratic members who couldn't continue their struggle for the rights of the Oromo people have joined the group that breakaway from the TPLF/EPRDF.

 It said OPDO couldn't tolerate self-centered members who consciously joined the faction by abandoning the causes of the Oromo people that thousands have been martyred.

 Some members of the central committee of OPDO have been amassing wealth at the expense of the people through their relatives and under the cover of high-level officials.

 The suspended members of the organization have taken various destructive measures to disrupt the renewal process and cover up the crimes that they committed against the country and the people.

 OPDO has been committed as ever before to continue the struggle and apply the principles of revolutionary democracy and build a new Ethiopia that could be home for all nations, nationalities and peoples.

 The statement has also called upon the peoples of Ethiopia to stand in unison to fight narrow nationalism and chauvinism, which it said are dangerous to build a democratic system.

 (END)