The Americanization of Dr Abiy Ahmed Administration

 By- Abel Asrat 

It has been almost 9 months since PM Abiy took office and throughout these time we have seen a wave of change at a pace we can’t even cope. Aside from the cabinet reshuffling, policy changes, reconciliation, and Sunday holy rituals lots of people seem not to notice the resemblance of Abiy in copy pasting America’s White House format. Here I list a series of events and activities that sums up the Abiy administration Americanizing itself.

Inaugural Day

As someone who has been following the Obama Administration activities closely for eight years, it didn’t take me a minute to spot the similarities between the way PM Abiy and First Lady Zenash were greeted at the national palace. This may not necessarily be a direct copy as we haven’t experienced any peaceful power transition in the country in the past.  

Medal of Honor  

I am not exactly sure if we previously had a Medal of Honor type of award designated to notable people in the country. What I remember was the award that was given by former President Negasso Gidada recognizing artists. Again I cannot confidentially say the idea of such award has been copied from the US. But there is a striking similarity between these photos and the way the ceremony is carried out and it might be possible for the Medal of Honor award to be a copy paste of the White House.

Chief of Staff

First time I heard the term Chief of Staff was after Obama becomes a President and his chief of staff was the famous Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. Then for the first time in Ethiopia history, we had a Chief of Staff named Fitsum Arega and it is not exactly clear to me how the job description matches to the White House Chief of Staff but there is no denying that the idea has been replicated from the US.

Press Secretary

As part of the Prime Minister office restructuring move another similar idea that was replicated from White House is the post of press secretary. Prior to the appointment of the first Press Secretary Billene Seyoum we were informally getting our updates from Fitsum Arega who was serving as Chief of Staff.

Logo

Not long ago Apple filed a sues Samsung for copying look and feel. This shows how serious the creative industry is in the US when it comes to intellectual property. But when Abiy Administration publishs its office logo critical eyes who are mainly designers spotted the imitation of the White House Logo. From the color tone to  fonts,to the white waving flag to the building and the circle frame there was direct similarity.

Photographer

Up until now Ethiopia never had a dedicated photographer that documents the Prime Minister or the photographer has never been publicized as PM photographer and just yesterday the PM office appointed Aron Sime as its photographer. This reminds me Obamas Presidential Photographer Pete Souza.

ODP

Last but not least we look at the direct logo coping by ODP from experiencedObama campaign logo. This doesn’t take anyone an effort to realize that it was taken from Obama campaign. The whole point of my story in one line is WHY CAN’T WE BE AUTHENTIC AND RESPECTFUL OF CREATIVITY