Invitation for Investment in Eritrea
By Gelmo A. Tesfa In 1999 when the country Eritrea was actively engaged in the border war with Ethiopia and when the Eritrean regime desperately needed money for the war, it sold bonds to Eritreans in
By Gelmo A. Tesfa
In 1999 when the country Eritrea was actively engaged in the border war with Ethiopia and when the Eritrean regime desperately needed money for the war, it sold bonds to Eritreans in Diaspora. It collected over $10million from the sale of these bonds. The regime later on turned the bonds to land allotment for the bond owners. Thus some 800 bond owners were given land in Sembel area of Asmara for private house construction. This was Sembel I project. The construction of the homes started in 2001 and continued until 2005. The diasporas invested in total over 150million for the house construction. Then when construction by the private sector was stopped by the government in 2005, most of the homes under construction were left in limbo. To this day a large number of the houses remain unfinished – with no proper roads, no water and waste water systems and no electricity supply even if the owners have already paid in foreign currency for the installation of these infra-structures.
Then Sembel II project came – the second fraud scheme of the PFDJ regime. It announced in mid 2003 through its embassies and the internet its plan to allot land for house building by the diasporas – By this the PFDJ collected from over 6200 of the diasporas an amount of US $13,500 for a plot of 500meter square of land and US$6,700 for 250meter square of land up to the end of 2003. Thus it collected an average of 10,000 US dollars from each of the 6,200 diasporas for the land allotment, totalling some 62million from the 6,200 diasporas. It did not allot the land to the diasporas who paid for the land until the summer of 2006 when at that time it posted on the internet the virtual allocation of the plot of land for each of these diasporas. To this day it did not in reality hand over the land to the 6200 diasporas. While the diasporas paid their money with the pre-agreed notion of building their own home, instead the regime ignored this and came later on in 2009 with idea building houses through the PFDJ construction firms and selling the houses to the public. And it invited the diasporas who had paid for the land in the Sembel II Project to participate in this home purchase program. It was to sale imaginary homes at very high costs and it asked a large portion of the cost in advance. The diasporas who realized that many of them were already swindled more than twice decided not to be sucked again into this new fraud scheme. Who in his right mind would allow himself to be deceived after knowing the past fraud schemes of this shameless regime?
Thus while the investment on Sembel I project, the initial housing construction of the diasporas (totalling over US$160million) has been left to crumble by the PFDJ mafia, the diasporas was again cheated in the Sembel II Project where this mafia regime netted some US$62million for land allocation that remained virtual to this day. In total this is over US$222million Diasporas investment money that was practically left to perish through these PFDJ land and housing development schemes.
And now new Diasporas are being lured by the same gangster regime for another swindling game. The regime is desperately in need of foreign currency and wants the Diasporas to transfer its money to Eritrea in the name of investment in housing development and other sectors. But who can trust a regime that has the habit of cheating? Who can invest in a state where there is no accountability, no rule of law, no constitution, no justice, and no freedom of movement, expression or other human rights in general, no water supply, no electric power supply, no building material (including cement, steel and timber) and no labour force? – Under such situation the time for investment is not now. First the nation must be free from the prevailing tyranny, then a democratic state must be established and immediately after that the time investment, work and prosperity for the nation as a whole will proceed. I think this is a logical and wise sequence of events to follow if genuine development of the nation of Eritrea is to happen.
vero asmarino January 3, 2014
ohhhhh my dear readers there is noting to do with mafias,, ka tseba zeyterekebe ka may tseba
halibsete January 3, 2014
Pleas,somebady shoud trenaslate in tigrigna,,in order pplm will
understand and juste to be aware with thid mafia groupe
Delay Selam January 3, 2014
A small correction , Paragraph 2
Construction stopped in April 2006 not 2005. Unsigned letters were issued from Asmara municipality to all contractors and consultants to return their licenses yet it is not the issuing authority.
oromay January 3, 2014
Halisete, your request seems genuine, however, try to learn English.
Mr. Tesfa’s advice is commendable for those those who want to listen and learn lessons from the past.
If you are compassionate, save lives instead as there is no a nation without its population. Please donot lose your hard earned money and cause yourselves distress induced internal diseases. Learn from the forgotten Bologna mothers.
Rino Moidic January 3, 2014
Gelom:
Thank you for your timely advise. I could not have said it better. I hope we all learn from our past mistakes. As the saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”.
tesfaldet January 3, 2014
correct in 1999 ipay money not for BOND OR LAND to help the ERITREAN gov buy wepone to diffet THE WEYANE regime evry eritrean who love his caountry did the good job if iwill ask to do it again to DIFFET THE WEYANES & THEIR sellout opposition iwill do it
Genet January 3, 2014
Tesfaldet
You didn’t pay anything at any time on the be half Eritrean or our country Eritrea. You are one of those crook who took the money. You brainwhased dead zombie, if you diffeted the Weyane, then why is the dictator still useing the border issue to deney our people a basic right? You filthy mouth, I know you don’t understand what is right and wrong. Like a programed robot you repet what you are told to say. You are filthy, filthy and disgusting opportunistic parasite.
ER ITRAWIT January 3, 2014
First time when he sell the lands the Deadline was one week to pay the money did you know he took him four years to give land but people they didn’t even ask because we were at war thanks to him!!!!!!! and the construction started 2003 a lot of people were working it seems like the Country moving forward at last even ladies were working in the construction. as soon as people they start Building some finished some half way he use his trick he said he will sell more land second round. I do understand people they Believe him because they are seen people Building and he took thousands people money God knows how much he makes. it’s been more than 10 years no land!!!!!! now another project NO NO NO. but for saying all this everyone knows what happened to others but still they are paying all 2% clearance as well as nay Derkey, Mekete and so on ……….. and 25% first payment so who is getting the blame this round ?????????
Genet January 3, 2014
ERITREAWIT
Who is to blame? Well, fool me once, shame on you, fool me two times or three times, shame on me. The brain dead zombies out there, who are going to get in to this are to blame 100%. Not the dictator or any body like Tesfledat. This dictator is from out of this world. He is so arrogant, he is trying to sell a dead case.
Genet
ER ITRAWIT January 3, 2014
Genet,
You have the answer, the problem is most of us we don’t really feel other people pain if we do the dictator should been gone long time ago ab Eritrea zeytenegre enber zeytegebre yelen my sister.
merhawit January 3, 2014
Isaias knows pretty well that his so-called housing project is simply a cloud castle (Luftschloss). By all judgements of the realities on the ground, he doesn’t avail himself of the imperative prerequisites for its implementation. What is worse, isaias never deals with counterparts in good faith and in this particular case, he only wants to milk the self-alluding Diaspora cow, knowing full well that he’ll neither meet his obligations, nor be made answerable, as always, for the consequences ensued. Once he has cashed in the ncessary funds, he utilises his deceit as instrument of blackmail against the very deceited cow, and the latter, literally put under his mercy, is left with no choice, but to succumb to whatever dictum he confers upon. In place of the aspired housing, a self-built labyrinth thus comes into being, and the parasitic Hgdef of Isaias advertentlysucks the prey there are still people on this planet who haven’t cognised the world of Isaias Afewerqi and the sordid realities of the kingship he subjugates, then it’s hardly conceivable that such people carry heads with brains capable of analytical thinking. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”, goes the saying.
Isaias should stop always putting the cart before the horse.
merhawit January 3, 2014
Isaias knows pretty well that his so-called housing project is simply a cloud castle (Luftschloss). By all judgements of the realities on the ground, he doesn’t avail himself of the imperative prerequisites for its implementation. What is worse, isaias never deals with counterparts in good faith and in this particular case, he only wants to milk the self-alluding Diaspora cow, knowing full well that he’ll neither meet his obligations, nor be made answerable, as always, for the consequences ensued. Once he has cashed in the ncessary funds, he utilises his deceit as instrument of blackmail against the very deceited cow, and the latter, literally put under his mercy, is left with no choice, but to succumb to whatever dictum he confers upon. In place of the aspired housing, a self-built labyrinth thus comes into being, and the parasitic Hgdef of Isaias advertently sucks the prey till it is eventuell dried out.
If there are still people on this planet who haven’t cognised the world of Isaias Afewerqi and the sordid realities of the kingship he subjugates, then it’s hardly conceivable that such people carry heads with brains capable of analytical thinking. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”, goes the saying. Nothing positive can be expected from a lawless regime operating as classical criminal grouping.
Zgeremo January 5, 2014
I don’t think they will understand what investment is. They are brainwashed not think, understand and analyze. “Trit” like thier name, they are playing with them. How can you inverst in a system with out accountability, policy, and investment mechanism.