On Sunday, September 15, 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) with his spouse Zinash Tayachew and Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen were sharing a laugh at a light moment during a trip to Bonga, Keffa Zone. Abiy, who does far more travelling than his predecessors, has crisscrossed the length and width of the country in the little over a year that he has been in office. This time he pulled a rare surprise on the press corps. Unlike his predecessors who only take a few journalists from the public and party media departments on such trips, he had over 40 journalists from different local and international outlets join him on this outing. He walked the aisle of the plane on the flight to Jimma, greeting each of them.

The purpose of the trip was to have a town hall meeting with restless residents and their leaders who have been asking for more infrastructure projects in their area as well as expressing their desire to form their own regional state, breaking away from the Southern Nations, Nationalities & Peoples' Regional State, whose new Deputy President Restu Yirdaw and Defence Minister Lemma Megersa were part of the visiting dignitaries. The Prime Minister held discussions with the public that had been gathered since early morning waiting for him. It was a sort of homecoming trip for Abiy, who grew up in the nearby small town of Beshehsa, a few kilometres from Jimma. He was warmly received by the crowd that was listening carefully to his argument that regional reconfiguration is not going to solve all their problems. Whether they were convinced remains to be seen.