The rhythm of government since the early 2000 is reform; a mammoth task of transforming Ethiopia’s bureaucracy, the foundation of which was laid during the time of Emperor Menelik, if you were to take ministries such as agriculture, war and education.

The Revolutionary Democrats are determined, if not ambitious, to turn a bureaucracy that has the culture of being served by members of the public into one that serves the public. What a challenge!

They established a benchmark of tying promotions not to a number of years a civil servant stayed in a certain federal or regional agency, but to performance and output; this is what is unpopular among the civil service and called “result oriented” performance. Shoving this into the throat of the rotten bureaucracy nearly cost the Revolutionary Democrats the last national elections, of course added on many other elements.

One thing peculiar to being a revolutionary democrat should be having the guts to be stubborn about what one believes, whether right or wrong. Bruised by an electoral wound, the Revolutionary Democrats are pushing the agenda of bureaucratic reform they launched prior to the election, with exotic acronyms such as BPR and ROPE. The Czar of this reform agenda is of course Tefera Walwa, minister of Capacity Building.

It was Girma Birru, and his lieutenants at the Ministry of Trade and Industry that were champions of the reform contest right before the nation ploughed by nasty electoral violence in 2005. The speed and quality of services at his Ministry, and the process of accountability put in place to check on lethargic bureaucrats not only made a fed-up public plea, but also earned Minister Girma the image of icon in the reformist bloc.

Indeed, there were six of the 20 or so ministries selected as laboratories of this experiment at the beginning: ministries of Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs, Revenues, Finance and Economic Development, Information and Agriculture before it was christened with its current name last year.

The rising star in this reform contest is Addisu Legesse, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as deputy prime minister, according to gossip. Known as a humble and meticulous person, he has been aggressive in pushing his reform agenda of transforming the oldest ministries in the country, according to gossip circles.

The final document has been distributed to all officials of the ministry at the end of last week, to grant them an opportunity to incorporate their voices.

Gossipers claim that what will follow may now please every one of them. There is in stock a massive reshuffling in most of the offices below the state minister’s level (these are appointed by the Prime Minister himself), which may end up affecting a significant number from a ministry that has one of the largest staffs in a federal agency. Indeed, rumours suggest some employees from the ministry may already be receiving invitations to attend trainings in Debre Zeit, while those without invitations are already growing nervous.