Tigray Admin Ignores Court Order To Service 17-month Backpay For Civil Servants, Teachers

New directive blocks courts from accessing administration’s bank accounts

‎‎‎The Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) says it cannot settle nearly 17 months of unpaid salaries for thousands of public servants.

‎‎Speaking to The ReporterAmanuel Assefa, TIA deputy president, said, “This is not just a funding gap. It’s a structural incapacity. Even if we had the finance today, we do not have the systemic buffers or institutional continuity to disburse it in bulk.”

‎‎Thousands of teachers, health professionals, and civil servants in Tigray have gone without their salaries for years, with some not having received pay since 2021, when the region was in the middle of a brutal two-year war.

The financial paralysis resulting from the conflict has pushed the interim administration to ignore a court ruling ordering it to settle 17 months’ worth of backpay for civil servants, including teachers. Instead, the TIA has invoked a new directive that shields its financial accounts from judicial enforcement.
‎
The resumption of federal block grants since the signing of the Pretoria Agreement has done little for unpaid civil servants as those transfers are tied to current operations only—not past liabilities.

‎‎For the new fiscal year, Tigray was allocated an estimated 19 billion Birr in federal subsidies—roughly six percent of Ethiopia’s total regional transfers. According to regional officials, the entire amount is already earmarked for basic administration, including salaries moving forward, emergency health spending, and rebuilding local offices.

Sources who spoke to The Reporter anonymously say the structure of the subsidy does not allocate budgets for unforeseen events. The region has also no flexible pool for past salary obligations, no shock absorption mechanism, and no payroll reserve.

‎‎‎TIA officials confirmed they had formally requested additional budget lines from the federal government to address the salary crisis, but those appeals have yet to be met with positive response.

– Advertisement –

‎‎“We’ve petitioned the Ministry of Finance multiple times,” Amanuel said. “But the salary amounts outstanding were not budgeted for. There’s no political or financial framework for retroactive compensation.”

‎‎The salary backlog is also complicated by damaged administrative systems.

During the war, many of Tigray’s payroll systems were fragmented, while civil service rosters, payment ledgers, and employee verification records were lost or corrupted. As a result, even calculating who is owed what remains a significant hurdle, according to sources familiar with the matter.

‎‎‎‎In response to the public outcry that has lasted for more than three years now, the TIA says it is now working on a multi-year partial settlement scheme that would stretch across successive fiscal years.

‎“We’re designing a model where a portion of the arrears is paid each year, proportional to available budget,” said Amanuel. “But this needs buy-in from both employees and the federal government.”

‎He emphasized that while the demand for salary payments is valid and legitimate, TIA is urging public employees to understand the gravity of the region’s current financial and institutional crisis.

‎‎‎This model, however, faces legal obstacles.

A recent High Court ruling ordered the regional Finance Bureau to release 500 million Birr to disburse the back payment owed to teachers, but a new directive from TIA blocks court-ordered account seizures, citing the need to protect essential service continuity.

Amanuel told The Reporter that the decision “cannot be executed under current conditions” and that the new regional directive supersedes court enforcement powers.

‎Legal experts familiar with the court ruling stated that the decision was rendered before the interim administration issued its directive, and that future legal claims may also be affected by the new policy.

‎‎While the legal tension is real, officials maintain that systemic failure—not defiance—is the root cause.

‎“Our accounts had been frozen by court orders, which obstructed our operations. The new directive prevents further disruptions of this sort,” Amanuel noted.

‎According to another senior TIA official who spoke anonymously, even if the regional finance bureau manages to release the 500 million Birr now, it would not be sufficient given that total claims from teachers alone amount to nearly two billion Birr.

“If the administration were to pay all of the teachers’ back salaries now, it would have no funds left for other employees,” said the official, who added the TIA is grappling with a critical liquidity shortage and facing immense pressure.

Ethiopia’s block grant system distributes recurrent funds to regional states based on a formula, but there is no emergency clause for war-related salary losses. ‎‎‎‎‎‎Experts say the issue exposes the absence of a federal fiscal backstop for regional post-conflict liabilities.

‎‎For civil servants in Tigray, the consequences are personal. A wave of quiet resignations, especially among health professionals, has been reported across rural areas. Some teachers say they are surviving only through remittances from relatives abroad.

‎‎‎‎‎TIA officials admit the pressure is mounting, but warn against oversimplification.