The glittering façade and the miserable reality of a nation in distress

Opinion · Economy & Governance

The glittering façade and the miserable reality of a nation in distress

By Professor Girma Berhanu

Boulevards are widened, buildings rise and the night is lit up, while nearly two-thirds of Ethiopians live on less than USD 4.20 a day. Professor Girma Berhanu argues that a government which offers spectacle in place of welfare, security and accountability has confused the look of progress with the thing itself.

There is something profoundly disturbing, morally indefensible and politically grotesque about a country where glittering boulevards coexist with grinding poverty; where decorative lights illuminate the night while millions struggle to secure their next meal; and where monumental buildings rise against a backdrop of collapsing public trust, insecurity and widespread human suffering. This is the tragic paradox of contemporary Ethiopia under the incumbent government: a spectacle of urban splendour unfolding alongside an abyss of socioeconomic misery and political instability.

Beneath the dazzling façade of modernisation lies a nation confronting an increasingly unbearable socioeconomic predicament. For millions of ordinary Ethiopians, poverty, hunger, deprivation and uncertainty have become defining features of everyday existence. The economic hardship experienced by large sections of the population raises fundamental questions about the government’s development priorities and its understanding of public responsibility.

The Arithmetic of Hunger

According to the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Brief for Ethiopia (October 2026), almost two-thirds of Ethiopians (63.7 per cent) live on less than USD 4.20 a day, the poverty line the Bank uses for lower-middle-income countries. Close to four in ten (38.6 per cent) fall below the international extreme poverty line of USD 3.00 a day, and more than nine in ten (93.5 per cent) live on less than USD 8.30. For millions, this means an existence characterised not simply by poverty but by a relentless struggle for survival. Food insecurity, malnutrition, inadequate housing, unsafe drinking water, inaccessible transport and insufficient health care remain serious challenges. The suffering of children, particularly those affected by malnutrition and stunted growth, and of elderly citizens facing hunger and destitution, raises profound questions about the country’s political and economic priorities.

Meanwhile, inflation continues to erode purchasing power, placing essential commodities beyond the reach of ordinary households. Persistent inflationary pressures, structural economic weaknesses, mounting indebtedness and declining economic confidence further complicate an already precarious situation. External debt and fiscal vulnerabilities raise troubling questions about economic sustainability, the prospects of future generations, and the state’s capacity to meet its obligations without imposing additional hardship on an impoverished population.

A Crisis of Trust and Security

Yet the economic crisis represents only one dimension of Ethiopia’s unfolding tragedy. The erosion of public confidence in government institutions has become equally consequential. Trust, an indispensable foundation of political legitimacy, has been undermined by widespread perceptions of corruption, authoritarian governance, institutional weakness and impunity. A government increasingly estranged from the lived experiences and aspirations of its citizens cannot indefinitely compensate for diminishing public trust through propaganda, monumental projects or choreographed spectacles of national grandeur.

Even more devastating is the deterioration of peace and security across substantial parts of the country. Armed conflicts, mass displacement, communal violence and persistent insecurity have inflicted enormous suffering on civilian populations. Reports and allegations of extrajudicial detention, unlawful killings, war crimes, mass atrocities and other grave human rights violations demand independent investigation, accountability and an unwavering commitment to justice. The increasing reliance on coercion and repression, rather than dialogue, reconciliation and democratic accommodation, raises serious questions about the governing approach of the incumbent administration.

The Showcase

Against this distressing backdrop, however, the government proudly showcases its urban transformation projects: widened boulevards, elegant walkways, expansive parks, imposing edifices, decorative lighting and ambitious digitalisation initiatives. These developments are presented as evidence of progress, modernisation and national renaissance.

To be fair, urban infrastructure, public spaces and digital technologies can be valuable instruments of development. Cities need roads, parks, efficient public services and modern infrastructure. Digitalisation can improve governance, facilitate transactions and enhance administrative efficiency.

The problem, therefore, is not modernisation itself. The problem is modernisation divorced from human welfare, social justice, economic inclusion and political accountability.

What moral or developmental justification can there be for an urban landscape of dazzling sophistication when millions remain trapped in hunger, homelessness, unemployment and deprivation? What meaningful achievement is represented by decorative illumination when children are denied adequate nutrition, elderly citizens face destitution, and displaced families struggle to survive? What is the significance of digital sophistication when citizens lack fundamental freedoms, institutional accountability and personal security?

These questions expose a fundamental contradiction in the government’s developmental narrative: the substitution of spectacular visibility for substantive progress, and the privileging of architectural grandeur over human dignity.

“Decorative lighting cannot dispel the darkness of repression. Monumental architecture cannot conceal the erosion of public trust.”

Modernisation Without Welfare

The contradiction becomes even more pronounced when digitalisation and urban beautification receive extraordinary public attention while the essential foundations of a functioning state (security, justice, institutional integrity and public confidence) remain gravely compromised. Technology cannot substitute for political legitimacy. Decorative lighting cannot dispel the darkness of repression. Monumental architecture cannot conceal the erosion of public trust. Nor can urban beautification compensate for the destruction of livelihoods and the disintegration of social cohesion.

Ultimately, development must be measured not by the brightness of streetlights, the breadth of boulevards or the magnificence of government buildings, but by the quality of human life. Its genuine indicators are the nutritional status of children, the dignity of elderly citizens, the affordability of food, the availability of housing, access to health care, the security of communities, and the freedom of citizens to live without fear.

A nation cannot credibly celebrate prosperity when its children suffer malnutrition, its elderly face hunger, its citizens are displaced, and its communities remain engulfed in violence. Nor can a government adequately demonstrate developmental success by pointing exclusively to the visible manifestations of modernisation while profound and pervasive human suffering persists.

The tragedy of Ethiopia today is not simply that poverty and political repression coexist with urban beautification. It is that the spectacle of beautification is increasingly presented as though it were an adequate response to the country’s existential crises.

The Measure of a Government

The bottom line is as heartbreaking as it is politically consequential: undernourished and stunted children, impoverished elderly citizens, displaced families and struggling communities stand bewildered beneath decorative lights and glittering urban landscapes that appear to celebrate a prosperity they themselves have yet to experience.

This is not development in its fullest human sense. It is a disturbing juxtaposition of glitter and deprivation, spectacle and suffering, ostentation and despair.

It is, indeed, apocalyptic suffering in Sin and Tinsel Town.

History will ultimately judge a government not by the lights it switches on, the buildings it erects or the boulevards it widens, but by the lives it protects, the hunger it alleviates, the freedoms it respects, the peace it secures, and the dignity it restores, or fails to restore, to its people.

“A country is not illuminated merely because its streets are brightly lit. It is illuminated when its people are free, fed, secure and dignified.”

References

World Bank. (2026). Poverty & Equity Brief: Ethiopia, October 2026. World Bank Group. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099559004212518954/pdf/IDU-74184097-0606-4f26-a1b5-135f87d3c88c.pdf

World Bank. (2026). Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2026: Jobs at the Center of Poverty Eradication. World Bank Group. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-2342-8

About the author: Girma Berhanu is Professor in the Department of Education and Special Education at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and a regular contributor to The Ethiopian Tribune.