[1] From 2008 to 2013 he was mayor of Addis Ababa; previous positions include President of the Oromia Region (1995–2001), and Minister of Defense (2005–2008).
[2] Kuma was born in Gore with the name "Taye Teklemariam", a town in the Illubabor Zone, the oldest of three children.
[citation needed] Following the fall of the Derg in 1991, Kuma was appointed as the Minister of Internal Affairs, the security agency of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia, which was dissolved four years later with the founding of the Federal Republic, at which time Kuma Demeska became President of Oromia.
This was part of the fallout of an internal split within the TPLF, senior partner in the ERDPF alliance, which left Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Sebhat Nega and Arkebe Oqubay on the one side, and Tewolde Wolde Mariam, Siye Abraha and Gebru Asrat on the other.
Despite this setback, he was reappointed the Central Committee of the OPDO in 2003, and was also appointed as one of the three state ministers for Capacity Building.