Bulcha Demeksa

Bulcha Demeksa (born 1930) is an outspoken Ethiopian politician and businessman. He is the founder of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), one of Ethiopia's largest opposition parties.

Bulcha Demeksa
Leader of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement
Assumed office
2005
Member of the House of Peoples' Representatives for Mirab (West) Welega
In office
2005–2010
Member of Parliament
for OFDM
Personal details
Born1930
Bodji, Wollega
NationalityEthiopian
Political partyOFDM
ProfessionPolitician, businessman

Career

In 1967, Demeksa was appointed vice-minister of Finance before representing his country at the board of the World Bank. In 1974, when the Ethiopian Revolution started, he left Ethiopia and was hired by the UN administration. Demeksa took his retirement in Ethiopia in 1991, and in 1994, he created the Awash International Bank which became a success.[1]

Bulcha Demeksa has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the late Meles Zenawi's government and the opposition leader most referred by the international media. With other opposition officials, he helped the creation of Medrek, a larger opposition alliance.

Bulcha resigned as OFDM party chairman in late 2010 but continues as an adviser for the leadership. His retirement from OFDM and his harsh criticism of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and on the 2010 elections were a regular feature story on dozens of private Amharic and English newspapers in the country. In 2019 he announced his intention to run in the 2020 elections.[2]

Awards

At the end of 2008, Bulcha was named "Person of the Year" by Jimma Times, the online version of the defunct Afan Oromo private Yeroo newspaper. He was chosen for his work in the financial sector and his work for human rights and democracy as well as peace activist between different warring sections of the Ethiopian society.[3]

gollark: Interesting, I'll look into that. I need something to detect duplicates in my meme library.
gollark: "AI" is so uselessly general as to be useless and general.
gollark: How does it do comparisons, then?
gollark: Neat.
gollark: You should probably use <#738494669775700018> instead of <#426116061415342080> now that that exists.

References
  1. "Bulcha Demeksa, Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM)", Addis Ababa, 4 April 2005. Archived 10 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Bulcha Demeksa announces run for parliament". Ethiopia Observer. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  3. Bulcha Person of the Year Archived 8 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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