However, Belayneh HabteGebrael, Public Relations Service Department head of the Authority, claimed that there were 159 members, although he had no evidence to show it. Belayneh further justified the Authority’s action by saying that the former Board overstayed its mandate of two years by a year. 
 

Yibeltal also said that representatives of the Authority had to attend the meeting as only observers, according to the bylaws of the Association; however, that bylaw was violated as the officials from the Federal Authority, led by Haile Gebre, overrode the participants of the general assembly, took over the meeting, and pushed for an election of new Board members. Haile is head of the Transport Associations Coordination and Fleet Control Division of the Federal Transport Authority
 

Under such circumstances, four of the old members, including the chairman and his deputy, were nominated, but the Federal officials simply ignored calling their names, thus ensuring their replacement by new blood.
 

Fortune learned that 100 of the 123 members who attended the general assembly meeting signed a petition afterwards opposing the election and calling for re-election, but the Authority did not respond to the request.
 

Consequently, the former Board members declined to hand over the Association’s properties.
 

The Authority reacted by sending letters on November 6, 2006, warning them to immediately go through the hand-over; it also wrote letters to the Paulos Branch of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and the Addis Ketema Branch of Awash International Bank, instructing them to freeze the association accounts. They were also prohibited from accessing their offices.
 

A lawyer who said that banks can only freeze accounts based on court orders, called the banks’ compliance with the Authority’s instruction “illegal”. An employee of the Awash International Bank at the Addis Ketema branch anonymously told Fortune that his bank’s action was not appropriate.
 

“We froze the account because the consequences of freezing the account are easier for us to take than the consequences of not freezing the account,” he said.
 

No one at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia was willing to comment on the matter.
 

Dessalegn Getachew, owner of two buses and member of the association, referred to the Authority’s action as a “coup on the leadership of the Association.”
 

“The Association should be led by its members and not by government appointees,” he said.
 

The new chairman, Tilahun, only said that his Board, which has not yet planned its actions, would keep itself out of the routine management of the Association and focus on making policy decisions on the weekly meetings, just like the outgoing Board did. The former chairman said that the handing over to the new Board was carried out in the best interest of the Association, but he and his fellows would take the case to court.