Ethiopia: Commodity Exchange Seat Sells for 1.3 Million Br

The auction of a full membership seat at the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) attracted a 1.3 million Br offer from a single bidder last week.
The seat, which belongs to Oral Agro Industries, was put up for auction on December 7. This was after Oral expressed interest in selling the seat, which it acquired for 50,000 Br, in 2008, when the ECX was first founded.
Oral, run by owner and manager Fasil Tsegaye and his wife, is an agricultural company that has farms in the Southern Regional State, where it grows sesame, rice and maize. Fasil says he is selling the seat because there were too many oversights from the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Authority (ECEA).
A punishment of 8,000 Br, by the ECEA, for failing to report on a monthly basis was the final straw, which led him to decide to leave the ECX, according to Fasil.
A full membership seat allows customers to buy or sell on the exchange floor, in all of the commodities in which the ECX transacts. Seats are either sold by the Exchange itself, when it wants to increase the number of members, or by members, three years after acquisition.
A member should not be suspended, and must be clear of any outstanding debts when selling their membership.
Having fulfilled these requirements, Oral was cleared by the Exchange to auction the seat. The auction was facilitated by the ECX, but it is up to Oral to make a decision on whether to accept the final offer.
Despite 20 people buying bid documents, only one person made an offer, before the bid closing date, of December 21, 2012. Oral has been informed of the offer and it has made a decision to accept, according to Shimeles Habtewold, chief compliance officer at the ECX.
The amount offered is much lower than previous ones, where ECX itself had floated additional membership seats. A record high offer of 3.5 million Br had come from sesame and cereal exporter, Zablon Trading, when the ECX had offered 92 seats for auction in December, 2011. Out of the 92 seats, 80 were additional ones set by the Authority.
An offer of 3.2 million Br had also come in when the ECX added 150 membership seats two years after it was founded. This had boded well for the Exchange, which initially had to advertise and set a fixed price to attract members to join.
Since the auction of the 92 seats by the ECX, three people, aside from Oral, have come forward to sell their seats.
The highest price fetched so far is 1.8 million Br, offered by Desma General Plc, which bought membership from Smart Business Group Plc. A very low offer of 855,555 Br, by Sultan Selamu Ahmed, for a membership seat sold by Garden Mocha Plc also came in, on May 17, 2012.
The offer Oral received is the second lowest out of the four.
Although the ECX requires that members notify their decision to accept or reject offers within 24 hours, Oral is still considering the offer, according to Fasil. His asking price was one million Birr.
The identity of the person who had made the offer remains undisclosed.

 

Ethiopia: Govt Grants Textile, Garment Sectors Customs Duty Relief

Significant duty reductions on imported materials have been issued to textile and garment manufacturers, by the government.
Garment manufacturers will now pay 20pc duty for imported textiles, down from 35pc, starting Friday, December 28, 2012, announced the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development (MoFED). Both textile and garment manufacturers will also no longer pay any duty for imported spare parts.
The reduction was announced by Sufian Ahmed, minister of the MoFED, in a meeting attended by Mekonnen Manyazewal, minister of the Ministry of Industry (MoI), at the MoFED, according to sources. Senior officials of the Ethiopian Revenues & Customs Authority (ERCA), Ethiopian Textile & Garment Association (ETGAMA), MoI and Textile Development Institute (TIDI) also attended the meeting.
Dampening the joy of the garment manufacturers attending the meeting was the government's decision to not scrap the 10pc excise tax it charges upon production. Sufian said that they would now pay it as a sales tax, after selling their products.
The reductions were a result of a long negotiation that the ETGAMA has been conducting with the government, since December, 2010. The Association hired a consultant to conduct research, in order to analyse the constraints of the sector and to provide recommendations for improvement.
The Association said that high tax rate in the sector had negatively affected its competitiveness and proposed for the removal of excise tax and reduction of customs duty, on fabrics and textiles, from 35pc to 15pc.
The Association complained that the old duty was disadvantageous to manufacturers, as traders who imported finished materials were charged the same duty. The duty was also high compared to other east African countries, where the maximum duty levied is 25pc, the Association said.
The research was first presented to the MoI, which forwarded it to the MoFED for a decision, convinced by the findings. The MoFED thus composed a committee, comprised of experts from the MoI and TIDI, in order to discuss the issue in detail.
The committee did not accept the removal of excise taxes, but Sufian promised the Association that the tariff rate would be reduced, from 10pc, when shifted to sales tax, according to sources.

EEPCo tells clients to import their own transformers 

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), the state-owned power utility, has offered its clients a new option; to obtain high voltage power rapidly and avoid

delay in their investments they should import their transformer devices on their own. .
Previously, EEPCo, the sole power utility company, has been supplying every component needed to acquire electric power for industries or companies. Clients pay for the service and for the cost of the materials supplied and installed by EEPCo. Now, the company has urged clients requesting high voltage power, mainly for industries and big investments to take care of the transformers needed for their projects themselves. 
Clients have stated that EEPCo has informed them that it does not have sufficient transformers and projects can be interminably delayed if everybody waits for EEPCo to supply the transformers. EEPCo had made an agreement with another  state-owned enterprise, Metal and Engineering Corporation (MetEC), to produce supply and maintain EEPCo’s transformer devices. Due to that fact, the corporation has reportedly reduced its importation of the vital component. 
Misikir Negash, Public Relations head of EEPCo, said that the corporation has put forward the two options so that clients can decide on how to proceed in regards to their investment requirements. “If they can’t wait until the corporation imports the components, we have given them the option to import the components based on EEPCo’s specifications,” he informed Capital.     
He said that the power demand that is related to the country’s rapid growth is increasing at a fast pace and this causes the kind of gaps that are observed from time to time. According to the public relations head, currently MetEC is producing, supplying and repairing transformers for the corporation but the Metal and Engineering Corporation may not be able to meet the current demand as the need for power is increasing. “Until local production is capable of fulfilling the demand of local customers and EEPCo, clients have to import to meet their own demands,” he added.
Even though EEPCo has granted permission to clients to import the components, the latter are complaining that it is difficult to acquire hard currency to import the transformers as per their requirements. The delay in the LC (Letter of Credit) processing is the major obstacle, they stated. Hence, “the corporation has to supply the product itself because there will be even longer delays if we are to also take in the delays in the processing of LCs by banks,” they explained.
Addis Transformer and Switchgears Plc, a private company  established with an investment capital of 300 million birr as a joint venture between a local company, Bridgetech Plc, and Federal Transformer LLC, (a subsidiary of Al Nasser Industrial Enterprises (ANIE) based in United Arab Emirates), plans to commence production of transformers in the near future.
The company aims to supply 4,000 transformers per year to EEPCo and may become the second transformer producing company in the country, after MetEC.

World Bank Releases $4b over Four Years

Macro-economic stability and poverty alleviation top the list of requirements

Ethiopia is to receive four billion dollars, under the new World Bank’s Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), for the 2013 to 2016 fiscal years, where a specific allocation for the two outer years of the CPS is not available.
The World Bank officially introduced the CPS during a workshop held with government officials, ambassadors and people from the private sector, at the Sheraton Hotel, on Wednesday, December 19, 2012.
The new strategy has two main pillars, with governance as the foundation and gender and climate change as cross cutting themes.
The first pillar, “Fostering competitiveness and employment”, aims to supportEthiopiain increasing agricultural productivity. It will also aid job creation, by improving competitiveness in manufacturing and services, whilst maintaining a stable macroeconomic environment.
The second pillar aims to support the country in improving the delivery of social services and developing a comprehensive approach to social protection and risk management.
“This partnership document is yet another testimony to the strong and longstanding collaboration between the Bank andEthiopia,” said Sufiyan Ahmed, minister of Finance & Economic Development (MoFED).
Trust on the Ethiopian side is well reflected on the World Bank’s CPS, which highlights increased competitiveness and productivity, increased and improved delivery of infrastructure, enhancing resilience and reduced vulnerability, stated Sufiyan.
The Bank’s disbursement forEthiopia, in the 2011 fiscal year, reached 730 million dollars, which is also one of the highest disbursement rates for the Bank on the African continent. The Bank has close to six billion dollars in commitments for 27 projects, of which roughly 2.4 billion dollars is still undisbursed.
The partnership strategy document states that, althoughEthiopiahas shown positive developments, important challenges have emerged during the last few years that may require the government to adjust some of its policies. Enabling the country to move to a higher growth trajectory may require attention to several challenges, including ensuring macroeconomic stability and addressing the persistently high volume of poor individuals. The lagging quality of social services and the weak capacity of the public sector are also areas that need to be looked into.
“As with the previous Country Assistance Strategy, the CPS is a results-based strategy, anchored in the government’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), as well as the World Bank Strategy for Africa,” said Guang Z. Chen, World Bank country director forEthiopia.
During the GTP period, a total of 75.4 billion Br budget deficit will be financed. 50.6 billion Br will come from domestic borrowing and 24.4 billion Br from external borrowing.
The CPS puts particular emphasis on supporting the government agenda in enhancing competitiveness and employment generation, as one of the key pillars of the CPS, according to Chen.
The lending program, for the first two years of the CPS, has been designed with a buffer of about 19pc, which is 2.7 billion dollars to allow for responsible delays on individual operations.
Most attendees of the workshop welcomed the new project.
“I congratulate the World Bank for the new strategy to supportEthiopiain various ways,” said Eleni GabreMadhin, the former CEO of Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX), leading the discussion on the launch of the CPS. “The World Bank should foster a closer link between academia and the policy engine,” she went on to recommend.
The last World Bank Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) forEthiopia, originally covering 2008-2011, was extended by one year to cover the 2012 financial year. This extension was due to the slower than expected implementation of CAS activities, in addition to allowing more time to undertake a necessary poverty diagnostic.
The CPS was endorsed by the World Bank’s executive directors, on September 25, 2012.

Priscilla Bacon Centre nurse and Aylsham GP visit Ethiopia to help dying patients

 A Norfolk hospice nurse and her GP husband have visited Ethiopia to support people dying from HIV Aids and cancer.
Sue Mumford, a community specialist palliative care nurse at the Priscilla Bacon Centre, in Norwich, and Dr Jamie Mumford, from The Market Surgery, Aylsham, recently spent five days in the capital city, Addis Ababa.

The trip was part of the Priscilla Bacon’s twinning arrangements with charitable organisation, Hospice Ethiopia.
The Mumfords took drugs and other supplies with them bought with sponsorship money raised by Priscilla Bacon staff who have pledged to walk, run, swim, and cycle the equivalent of the 3,663 miles between Norwich and Addis Ababa. So far they have raised more than £5,000.
Mrs Mumford said they had met hospice inpatients, including a woman with breast cancer who had been screaming in pain when she was first admitted.
She added: “Her pain had been well-controlled by the nurses at Hospice Ethiopia, but she was awaiting palliative x-ray treatment. We were told that there are only two suitable x-ray units in the whole country, leading to a six-month waiting time for palliative radiotherapy.”

The couple also took part in home visits, including a trip to see a patient with bowel cancer who was being looked after by her daughter, who had given up her education to become a carer.
Dr Mumford said: “The patient’s symptoms were being controlled though oral morphine, but she remained weak. We heard how the family had been economically affected too, as the mother had previously been the breadwinner.”
Mrs Mumford’s visit was partly funded by the Priscilla Bacon Lodge Support Group, which matched funding from the British Council which supported visits earlier this year. Dr Mumford paid for himself

from:ethiopianreporter.com

ለዓይነስውራን መፍትሔ የሰጡት ዓይነስውር

ፒያሳ በተለምዶ ኢትሆፍ ተብሎ ከሚጠራው ድርጅት ፊት ለፊት አገልግሎቱ ለየት ያለ የኢንተርኔት ካፌ ተክፍቷል፡፡ በካፌው ያለው የኢንተርኔት አገልግሎት ዓይነስውራን ያለማንም ዕርዳታ ግላዊ የሆኑ የአሌክትሮኒክስ መልዕክቶቻቸውን ኢ-ሜይል እንዲያዳምጡና ራሳቸው መልዕክታቸውን ጽፈው እንዲልኩ የሚያስችል ነው፡፡ ‹‹ኢትዮፒክ ብሬል›› የተሰኘን ፕሮግራም ‹‹ለዓይነስውራን አመቺ የዴስክቶፕ መጠቀሚያ›› (None visual desktop access NVDA) የተሰኘ ሶፍትዌር ውስጥ ተካትቶ ለኢትዮጵያውያን አገልግሎት መሰጠት ከጀመረ ሳምንት አልፎታል፡፡  

ዓይነስውራን በነፃ እንዲጠቀሙበት የተዘጋጀው ይህ ሶፍትዌር ‹‹ስክሪን ሪደር›› የሚባል ፕሮግራም ይዟል፡፡ በመሆኑም ሶፍትዌሩ ዓይነስውራኑ የሚጠቀሙበት ኮምፒውተር ላይ ሲገጠም ኮምፒውተሩ ላይ የሚገኙ መረጃዎችን በሙሉ በማዳመጥ መጠቀም ያስችላል፡፡ 

ሶፍትዌሩ ‹‹ኢትዮፒክ ብሬል›› የተሰኘው ፕሮግራም ስለተካተተበት ዓይነስውራን የመጣላቸውን መልዕክት ወደ ማንኛውም የአገር ውስጥ ቋንቋዎች ቀይሮ እንዲያዳምጡ ይረዳል፡፡ ሶፍትዌሩ ላይ የ‹‹ኢትዮፒክ ብሬል›› ፕሮግራምን ለማካተት ብሬል ዲስፕሌይ የተሰኘውን ፕሮግራም ተጠቅመው የሠሩት ነዋሪነታቸውን በካናዳ ያደረጉት ዓይነስውሩ ዶክተር ታምሩ እውነቱ ናቸው፡፡

ዶክተር ታምሩ ዶክትሬታቸውን በኢንፎርሜሽን ቴክኖሎጂ ሠርተዋል፡፡ የሳውንድ ኢንጂነሪንግ ባለሙያ ሲሆኑ የአዳፕቲቭ ቴክኖሎጂን በማማከር ሥራ ላይም ተሰማርተዋል፡፡ ‹‹ዓይነስውር የሆነ ግለሰብ  ኢንተርኔትን ብቻውን መጠቀም ያለመቻልን ችግር በራሴ ያየሁት በመሆኑ ሶፍተዌሩ ላይ የኢትዮፒክ ብሬል ፕሮግራም እንዲካተት ፕሮግራሙን ሠርቻለሁ፤›› ያሉት ዶክተር ታምሩ፣ ‹‹ተስማሚ የቴክኖሎጂ ማዕከል ለዓይነስውራን›› የሚል መጠሪያ ያለውን የኢንተርኔት ካፌ ከፍተዋል፡፡

ሶፍትዌሩ ማንኛውም ሰው የሚጠቀምበት ኮምፒውተር ላይ መገጠም ይችላል፡፡ ባለው የድምፅ ሲስተም በመታገዝም ኮምፒውተሩ ስክሪን ላይ ያለውን ጽሑፍ ይናገራል፡፡ ኮምፒውተሩ ላይ ያሉት የመተየቢያ ቁልፎች ላይ ያሉት ፊደሎች ሲነኩ ሶፍትዌሩ ባለው የድምፅ ሲስተም የተጫኑትን ፊደል ያሰማል፡፡

ይህ ሶፍትዌር ማንኛውም ኮምፒውተር ላይ ያለምንም ገደብ እንዲገጠም ተደርጎ የተሠራ በመሆኑ፣ ግለሰቦች በሚዋሱት ላፕቶፕ አሊያም በሚሔዱበት ቦታዎች ላይ በሚያጋጥሟቸው ኮምፒውተሮች ላይ ሁሉ በቀላሉ እንዲጫን ተደርጎ ተሠርቷል፡፡ ሶፍትዌሩን ፍላሽዲስክ ላይ አሊያም ሲዲ ላይ መገልበጥ የሚቻል በመሆኑ ማንኛውም ኮምፒውተር ላይ ሲዲው ሲከተት ወይም ፍላሹ ሲሰካ ሶፍተዌሩ ራሱን አስነስቶ ለጥቅም ዝግጁ ይሆናል፡፡ በመሆኑም ሶፍዌሩ ኮምፒውተሮቻቸው ላይ እንዲገጠምባቸው የማይፈልጉ ሰዎች፣ ዓይነስውራን ሶፍተዌሩን በቀጥታ ከሲዲው ወይም ከፍላሽ ዲስኩ ላይ እንዲጠቀሙ ተደርጎ የተመቻቸም ነው፡፡ ይህ በመሆኑ ደግሞ ኢንተርኔት መጠቀም የሚፈልጉ ዓይነስውራን በወዳጅ ቤትም፣ በቤተ መጻሕፍትም ሆነ በኢንተርኔት ካፌ ሲጠቀሙ ‹‹አንዴ አንብቡልኝ›› ወይም ‹‹አንዴ ጻፉልኝ›› የሚለውን ጥገኝነት ያስቀራል፡፡ ለተጨማሪ ቀላል አጠቃቀምም ሶፍተዌሩ ወደሚሞሪ ካርድ እንዲገለበጥ እንደሚደረግም ዶክተር ታምሩ ተናግረዋል፡፡ 

ፕሮግራሙን ሠርቶ ለማጠናቀቅ አራት ዓመታትን የወሰደ ሲሆን አማርኛን ጨምሮ ከ50 በላይ በሆኑ ቋንቋዎች ያስጠቅማል፡፡ 

ኢንተርኔት ካፌው አገልግሎት የሚሰጠው ለዓይነስውራን ብቻ ሳይሆን ማየት ለሚችሉም ግለሰቦች በመሆኑ፣ ዓይነ ስውራን ማየት ከሚችሉት ጋር በአንድ ላይ ኢንተርኔትን ለመጠቀም መገናኘታቸው ማኅበራዊ ግንኙነታቸውን ከማጠናከሩ ባሻገር የተለያዩ የቴክኖሎጂ ዕውቀቶችን እንዲለዋወጡ ምክንያት እንደሚሆን ዶክተሩ ያላቸውን እምነት ገልጸዋል፡፡

ዶክተር ታምሩ የዛሬ 12 ዓመት ‹‹ተስማሚ የቴክኖሎጂ ማዕከል ለአይነስውራን›› የሚል ድርጅት አቋቁመዋል፡፡ ‹‹ማየት ባልችልም ራዕይ አለኝ›› የሚል መሪ መልዕክት ያለው ይህ ድርጅት የቴክኒክና ሙያ ኮሌጅ ሲኖረው ኮሌጁ ለዓይነስውራን የኮምፒውተር ሥልጠና ይሰጣል፡፡ በተጨማሪም ከዜሮ ክፍል እስከ ዩኒቨርስቲ ያሉ ተማሪዎች የሚማሩባቸውን የትምህርት መርጃ መጻሕፍት፣ ትምህርት በሚሰጥባቸው ቋንቋዎች ወደ ብሬል ይቀይራል፡፡ ይሁንና ከዚህ ቀደም በነበረው አሠራር መጻሕፍትን ወደ ብሬል የሚቀየረው በእንግሊዝኛና በአማርኛ ቋንቋዎች ብቻ የነበረ ቢሆንም፣ አሁን ላይ ግን ዓይነስውራን በሚማሩበትና በሚኖሩበት አካባቢ በሚገኙ ቋንቋዎች በሙሉ የትምህርት መጻሕፍትን ወደ ብሬል እንዲቀየር እንቅስቃሴ እያደረገ ነው፡፡ 

from: ethiopianreporter.com

ፀረ ሙስና ኮሚሽን ትላልቅ ፕሮጀክቶችን ለመመርመር ከብሔራዊ ደኅንነት ጋር የተጣመረ ግብረ ኃይል እያቋቋመ ነው

የሥነ ምግባርና ፀረ ሙስና ኮሚሽን ትላልቅ የመንግሥት ፕሮጀክቶችን ለመመርመር የያዘውን ዕቅድ ለማሳካት፣ ከብሔራዊ ደኅንነት ኤጀንሲ ጋር በመቀናጀት ሥራውን የሚያካሂድ ግብረ ኃይል እያደራጀ መሆኑን ምንጮች ገለጹ፡፡ መንግሥት ከፍተኛ ገንዘብ በመመደብ ከፍተኛ የኤሌክትሪክ ኃይል፣ የስኳር ፕሮጀክቶች፣ የባቡር መስመሮችና የተለያዩ የመሠረተ ልማት ግንባታዎች እያካሄደ መሆኑ ይታወቃል፡፡ 

እነዚህ ግዙፍ ፕሮጀክቶች ከፍተኛ ገንዘብ የሚወጣባቸው በመሆናቸው የፀረ ሙስና ኮሚሽንን ትኩረት ስበዋል፡፡ ነገር ግን ኮሚሽኑ እንደተለመደው በራሱ መዋቅርና የሰው ኃይል ብቻ በእነዚህ ታላላቅ ፕሮጀክቶች ላይ ምርመራዎችን እንዲያካሂድ አልተፈለገም፡፡ ይልቁንም ምርመራው ከብሔራዊ ደኅንነት ኤጀንሲ ጋር ተባብሮ እንዲሠራ ተወስኗል፡፡ ምንጮች እንደገለጹት፣ የብሔራዊ ደኅንነት ኤጀንሲና የፀረ ሙስና ኮሚሽን ኤክስፐርቶች ተቀናጅተው እየተደራጁ መሆኑ ታውቋል፡፡

ኢትዮጵያ በ2003 ዓ.ም. የአምስት ዓመት የዕድገትና የትራንስፎርሜሽን ዕቅድ ነድፋለች፡፡ በዚህ ዕቅድ መሠረት የአገሪቱን የኤሌክትሪክ ኃይል የማመንጨት አቅም ከ2,000 ሜጋ ዋት ወደ 10,000 ሜጋ ዋት ለማሳደግ ታቅዷል፡፡ የባቡር መስመርን በተመለከተ ከ2,000 ኪሎ ሜትር በላይ ለመገንባት ታቅዷል፡፡ 

እነዚህ ፕሮጀክቶች በአጠቃላይ የአገሪቱ ከፍተኛ ገንዘብ የሚወጣባቸው መሆኑ ይታወቃል፡፡ ፕሮጀክቶቹን ለማካሄድ ከፍተኛ ግዥዎች የሚካሄዱ በመሆቸው ኮሚሽኑ ምርመራ ማካሄድ እንደሚያስፈልግ በዕቅድ ይዟል፡፡ 

በእስካሁኑ ሒደት እነዚህ ዘርፎች ምርመራ ሳይካሄድባቸው የቆዩ በመሆናቸው ፀረ ሙስና ኮሚሽን ዕቅድ ይዞ በእነዚህ ዘርፎች ላይ ማተኮሩ መልካም እንደሆነ ሪፖርተር ያነጋገራቸው አስተያየት ሰጪዎች ያስረዳሉ፡፡ 

የመሠረተ ልማት ግንባታ ዘርፎች ከፍተኛ ገንዘብ የሚንቀሳቀስባቸውና ረቂቅ የሙስና ተግባራት ሊካሄዱ ስለሚችሉ፣ እንዲሁም ከፍተኛ ተሰሚነት ያላቸው ባለሥልጣናት የሚገኙበት በመሆኑ፣ የብሔራዊ ደኅንነት ኤጀንሲ በጉዳዩ እንዲገባበት ማስፈለጉን ምንጮች ጨምረው ገልጸዋል፡፡

from: ethiopianreporter.com

የንብ ባንክ ፕሬዚዳንት ኃላፊነታቸውን ለቀቁ

•    አዲሱ ተጠባባቂ ፕሬዚዳንት ነገ ርክክብ ይፈጽማሉ

በአገሪቱ ከሚገኙ የግል ባንኮች መካከል በቀዳሚነት የሚጠቀሰው ንብ ኢንተርናሽናል ባንክን ከማደራጀት ጀምሮ እስከ ፕሬዚዳንትነት ሲመሩት የቆዩት ታዋቂው የባንክ ባለሙያ አቶ አመርጋ ካሳ ኃላፊነታቸውን ለቀቁ፡፡

አቶ አመርጋ ካሳን ተክተው ከነገ ጀምሮ የንብ ባንክ ተጠባባቂ ፕሬዚዳንት ሆነው እንዲሠሩ የባንኩ ምክትል ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ ክብሩ ፎንጃ ተሰይመዋል፡፡ ባለፈው ሐሙስ አቶ አመርጋና አቶ ክብሩ በሰጡት ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ ላይ እንደተገለጸው፣ አቶ አመርጋ ኃላፊነታቸውን በይፋ በነገው ዕለት ያስረክባሉ፡፡

አቶ አመርጋ ንብ ባንክን ለማቋቋም በመሥራችነትና በአደራጅነት ከዚያም በምክትል ፕሬዚዳንትነትና ላለፉት ሰባት ዓመታት ደግሞ በፕሬዚዳንትነት በአጠቃላይ ለ15 ዓመታት ማገልገላቸውን፣ ባንኩን የለቀቁትም በገዛ ፈቃዳቸው መሆኑንም ገልጸዋል፡፡

የሥልጣን ሽግግሩ ሰላማዊ በሆነ መንገድ የሚከናወንና የመተካካት ባህልን ለማዳበር ጭምር የተወሰደ ዕርምጃ ነው ተብሏል፡፡ እንደ አቶ አመርጋ ገለጻ፣ በመስከረም 2005 ዓ.ም. ለባንኩ ቦርድ በጻፉት ደብዳቤ ኃላፊነታቸውን ለማስተላለፍ የፈለጉት ቀሪ ዘመናቸውን ከቤተሰባቸው ጋር ማሳለፍ በመፈለጋቸው መሆኑን ይጠቁማል፡፡

“ከቤተሰብ ጋር ጊዜዬን ለማሳለፍ በመፈለጌ ራሴ ባቀረብኩት ጥያቄ መሠረት የባንኩ ዳይሬክተሮች ቦርድ ነገሩን ካጤነና የጡረታ መውጫ ጊዜዬን አገናዝቦ ለጥያቄዬ አዎንታዊ መልስ ሰጥቷል፤” ብለዋል፡፡ በመስከረም 2005 ዓ.ም. መጀመሪያ አካባቢ ለቀረበው ጥያቄም ቦርዱ አዎንታዊ ምላሹን የሰጠው በጥቅምት 2005 ዓ.ም. መጀመሪያ ላይ ነው፡፡

በአብዛኛው በአገሪቱ ውስጥ ያሉ የባንክ መሪዎች ከኃላፊነታቸው የሚነሱት በተፅዕኖና በተለያዩ ግፊቶች ስለሆነ፣ የአቶ አመርጋ ካሳ ከኃላፊነት መልቀቅ ከቤተሰብ ጉዳይ ጋር በተያያዘ  ብቻ ነው ወይ? የሚል ጥያቄ ቢያስነሳም፣ አቶ አመርጋ ግን የእርሳቸው ከኃላፊነት መልቀቅ ሌላ ምንም ምክንያት የሌለው እንደሆነ ተናግረዋል፡፡ ከባንኩ ቦርድ የተገኘውም መረጃ ይህንኑ የአቶ አመርጋን ሐሳብ የሚያጠናክር ነው፡፡ በኢንዱስትሪው ውስጥ ያሉ ባለሙያዎች አቶ አመርጋ ሳይገፉ መውጣታቸው መልካም ዕድል ነው ብለዋል፡፡

የአቶ አመርጋ ከኃላፊነት መልቀቅ ጉዳይ ውሳኔ ከተሰጠው ወደ ሁለት ወራት አካባቢ የሆነው ሲሆን፣ ጉዳዩ ይመለከታቸዋል የተባሉና ከባንኩ ጋር ግንኙነት ያላቸው ተቋማት እንዲያውቁት የተደረገው ደግሞ ኅዳር 10 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ነው፡፡

በባንኩ የቦርድ ሊቀ መንበር በአቶ ታደሰ ቦጋለ የተጻፈው ደብዳቤ፣ በአገሪቱ ውስጥ ያሉ ሁሉም ባንኮች አቶ አመርጋ ከታኅሳስ 22 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ጀምሮ ኃላፊነታቸውን መልቀቃቸውንና ለአዲሱ ተጠባባቂ ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ ክብሩ የሚያስረክቡ መሆኑን አስታውቋል፡፡

በኢትዮጵያ የባንክ ኢንዱስትሪ ውስጥ በተለያዩ የሥራ ኃላፊነት ከ40 ዓመታት በላይ አገልግሎት ያላቸው አቶ አመርጋ በብሔራዊ ባንክ ከ25 ዓመታት በላይ ሠርተዋል፡፡ በብሔራዊ ባንክ አገልግሎት ዘመናቸው የውጭ ምንዛሪ መምርያ ኃላፊ ሆነው ያገለገሉ ሲሆን፣ ከብሔራዊ ባንክ ከወጡም በኋላ ከ1983 ዓ.ም. ጀምሮ በኢትዮጵያ የመጀመሪያው የግል ባንክ በመሆን የተቋቋመው የአዋሽ ባንክ መሥራች አባል ናቸው፡፡ ከዚህም በኋላ ንብ ባንክን ወደ ማደራጀት እስከገቡበት ጊዜ ድረስ የአዋሽ ባንክ ምክትል ሥራ አስኪያጅና የቦርድ አባል በመሆንም አገልግለዋል፡፡

ከአዲሱ የንብ ባንክ ተጠባባቂ ፕሬዚዳንት ጋር በመሆን ለሚቀጥሉት ሦስት ወራት በንብ ባንክ ውስጥ የሚቆዩት አቶ አመርጋ፣ ቀጣይ የሥራ ጊዜያቸውን በተመለከተ ምንም ያሰቡት ነገር እንደሌለ ገልጸው፣ ሆኖም በማንኛውም ጊዜ የንብ ባንክ ቦርድና አስተዳደር ለማገዝ ዝግጁ መሆናቸውን አስረድተዋል፡፡  

ባንኩን በተጠባባቂነት እንዲመሩ የተሰየሙት አቶ ክብሩ፣ አሁን የተመደቡበትን ኃላፊነት እንዲይዙ በአቶ አመርጋ መጠቆማቸውም ታውቋል፡፡ አቶ አመርጋም ይህንኑ አረጋግጠዋል፡፡ አቶ ክብሩ የአቶ አመርጋን ቦታ ከመያዛቸው በፊት በንብ ኢንተርናሽናል ባንክ የፋይናንስና አስተዳደር ምክትል ፕሬዚዳንት በመሆን ላለፉት ሦስት ዓመታት ሲያገለግሉ ቆይተዋል፡፡

በአገሪቱ የፋይናንስ ኢንዱስትሪ ውስጥ የሚንቀሳቀሱ ባንኮችን ለሚመሩ ባለሙያዎች የኢትዮጵያ የብሔራዊ ባንክ መመርያ የራሱ የሆነ አስተዋጽኦ አለው፡፡ አንድ የባንክ ባለሙያ ዋና ሥራ አስፈጻሚ ወይም ፕሬዚዳንት ለመሆን የ16 ዓመታት ልምድ የሚያስፈልገው መሆኑን የብሔራዊ ባንክ መመርያ ይደነግጋል፡፡ ይህ ድንጋጌ ግን በኢንዱስትሪው ውስጥ ወጣቶች ወይም ተተኪዎች እንዳይኖሩ አድርጓል የሚል አስተያየት በተደጋጋሚ ቢሰጥም፣ አቶ አመርጋ ባንካቸው ተተኪዎችን ከሥር የማፍራት ሥራ ሲሠራ መቆየቱን ተናግረዋል፡፡ መመርያው ወጣቶችን የሚያበረታታ አይደለም የሚል ትችት ቢሰነዘርበትም፣ ዘርፉ ጥንቃቄ የሚጠይቅ በመሆኑ የብሔራዊ ባንክ ዕርምጃ ትክክል ነው የሚሉ አሉ፡፡

የአቶ አመርጋን ከኃላፊነት መልቀቅ በተመለከተ አስተያየት የሰጡ የባንክ ባለሙያዎች እንደገለጹት፣ አቶ አመርጋ በሰላማዊ መንገድ ኃላፊነታቸውን ማስረከብ መቻላቸው እንደ ልዩ ዕድል የሚቆጠር ነው፡፡ ለዚህም የሰጡት ምክንያት በኢትዮጵያ የፋይናንስ ኢንዱስትሪ ውስጥ በተለይ የባንኮች መሪዎች በተለያዩ ተፅዕኖዎች ኃላፊነታቸውን የሚለቁ በመሆኑ ነው፡፡ በሌላ በኩል ብዙ የባንክ መሪዎች ባሉበት የኃላፊነት ቦታ እስኪወገዱ ድረስ የመጠበቅ ልምድ ያለ ሲሆን፣ እንደ አቶ አመርጋ ኃላፊነትን በሰላማዊ መንገድ የማስረከብ ልምድ መዳበር እንዳለበት፣ በዕድሜ የገፉ ባለሙያዎችም ለተተኪዎች ኃላፊነታቸውን ማስረከብ ይኖርባቸዋል ብለዋል፡፡

የአቶ አመርጋን ከኃላፊነት መልቀቅ ተከትሎ አዲሱ የንብ ባንክ ተጠባባቂ ፕሬዚዳንት፣ ንብ ኢንተርናሽናል ባንክ በአገሪቱ ውስጥ አንጋፋ ከሚባሉ የግል ባንኮች ምድብ ውስጥ ያለ ነው ብለው፣ ከባንኩ ምሥረታ ጀምሮ አቶ አመርጋ ዕውቀታቸውንና ጊዜያቸውን ሳይቆጥቡ ጉልህ አስተዋጽኦ ማድረጋቸውን አስረድተዋል፡፡ አቶ አመርጋ ከሌሎች የሥራ አጋሮቻቸው ጋር በመሆን ባደረጉት ጥረት ባንኩ አሁን ያለበት ደረጃ እንዳደረሱትም ይገልጻሉ፡፡ በቀጣይም ከአቶ አመርጋ የተረከቡትን ኃላፊነት በብቃት ለመወጣት ጥረት እንደሚያደርጉ አመልክተዋል፡፡ አያይዘውም አቶ አመርጋ እዚህ ያደረሱትን ባንክ በዕረፍት በሚቆዩበት ጊዜ ጭምር እየተከታተሉ ድጋፍ ያደርጋሉ የሚል ዕምነት ያላቸው መሆኑን የገለጹት ተጠባባቂ ፕሬዚዳንቱ፣ የዕረፍት ጊዜያቸው መልካም እንዲሆን ተመኝተውላቸዋል፡፡

ተጠባባቂ ፕሬዚዳንቱ አዲሱን ሥራ ከተሰናባቹ ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ አመርጋ ጎን በመሆን ለሁለት ወራት ያህል ሲለማመዱ መቆየታቸውንና ሙሉ የሥልጣን ርክክቡ የሚከናወነውም ነገ ታኅሳስ 22 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. መሆኑ ተገልጿል፡፡ አዲሱ ተጠባባቂ ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ ክብሩ በኢኮኖሚክስ የመጀመሪያ ዲግሪያቸውን ከአዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርስቲ ያገኙ ሲሆን፣ ሁለተኛ ዲግሪያቸውን በኢኮኖሚክስና ፖሊሲ ማኔጅመንት ከጋና ዩኒቨርሲቲ አግኝተዋል፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ ልማት ባንክ በተለያዩ የኃላፊነት ቦታዎች ለ25 ዓመታት አገልግለዋል፡፡ በንብ ባንክ ውስጥ ደግሞ በምክትል ፕሬዚዳንትነት ሦስተኛ ዓመታቸውን ይዘዋል፡፡ 

from: ethiopianreporter.com

ፓርላማው የአቶ ጁነዲን ሳዶን ያለመከሰስ መብት ሊያነሳ ነው

የሕዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት (ፓርላማ) በቅርቡ ከሲቪል ሰርቪስ ሚኒስትርነታቸው የተነሱትን የአቶ ጁነዲን ሳዶ ያለመከሰስ መብት ሊያነሳ መሆኑን ቅርበት ያላቸው ምንጮች ገለጹ፡፡

የምክር ቤቱ አባል የሆኑ ምንጮች ለሪፖርተር እንደገለጹት፣ አቶ ጁነዲን በፓርላማ የሥነ ሥርዓት ደንብ መሠረት ሊጠየቁበት የሚችል የሕግ ጉዳይ ሊኖር ስለሚችል፣ በምክር ቤት አባልነታቸው ያገኙትን ያለመከሰስ መብት ምክር ቤቱ እንዲያነሳ የሚጠይቅ ደብዳቤ በመንግሥት ቀርቧል፡፡ ጥያቄው በአዲስ አበባ ከተማ አስተዳደር ከንቲባ አቶ ኩማ ደመቅሳ ወይም በፍትሕ ሚኒስትሩ አቶ ብርሃን ኃይሉ በኩል መቅረብ ያለበት መሆኑን የምክር ቤቱ ደንብ ያዛል የሚሉት እነዚሁ ምንጮች፣ ጥያቄው በየትኛው አካል መቅረቡን ለመረዳት እንዳልቻሉ አስረድተዋል፡፡

ባለፈው ሐሙስ የዓመቱን ዘጠነኛ ስብሰባውን ያካሄደው የሕዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት በአምስት አጀንዳዎች ላይ ለመወያየት ፕሮግራም ይዞ የነበረ ቢሆንም፣ በአራቱ ላይ ብቻ ተወያይቶ የቀረውን ላልተወሰነ ጊዜ አስተላልፎታል፡፡

የስምንተኛ መደበኛ ስብሰባውን ቃለ ጉባዔ፣ በወንጀል ድርጊት የተገኘ ገንዘብ ወይም ንብረትን ሕጋዊ አስመስሎ ማቅረብንና ሽብርተኝነትን በገንዘብ መርዳትን ለመቆጣጠር የቀረበ ረቂቅ አዋጅ፣ እንዲሁም ሁለት የተለያዩ ዓለም አቀፍ የብድርና የትብብር ስምምነቶችን ማፅደቅ በዕለቱ የተወያየባቸውና ውሳኔ ያሳለፈባቸው አጀንዳዎች ናቸው፡፡ በአምስተኛ አጀንዳነት ተይዞ የነበረው “የአንድ የምክር ቤት አባልን የሕግ ከለላ ስለማንሳት የቀረበ የውሳኔ ሐሳብን መርምሮ ማፅደቅ” የሚል ቢሆንም፣ የምክር ቤቱ አፈ ጉባዔ አቶ አባዱላ ገመዳ ይህንን አጀንዳ በቀጣይ ስብሰባ ለመመልከት ላልተወሰነ ጊዜ አስተላልፈውታል፡፡

የምክር ቤቱ አባላት ለጉባዔው የሚቀርቡ አጀንዳዎችን ቀደም ብለው በማወቅ በጉዳዩ ላይ የሚቀርቡ ሰነዶች ካሉ ደግሞ ሰነዶቹ ከውይይቱ ሦስት ቀናት በፊት እንዲደርሳቸው የምክር ቤቱ የአሠራር ደንብ ቢደነግግም፣ የሕግ ከለላን ስለማንሳት ቀርቦ ስለነበረው አጀንዳ የቀረበላቸው ምንም ዓይነት ሰነድ እንደሌለ ምንጮች ተናግረዋል፡፡

የሕግ ከለላው እንዲነሳ ጥያቄ የቀረበበት የምክር ቤት አባል ማንነት በይፋ ባይገለጽም፣ ይፋዊ ባልሆነ መንገድ የአቶ ጁነዲን ሳዶ ጉዳይ መሆኑን እንደተረዱ ለሪፖርተር ተናግረዋል፡፡

አቶ ጁነዲን ሳዶ በአሁኑ ወቅት በሽብር ተግባር ተጠርጥረው በእስር ላይ ከሚገኙት ባለቤታቸው ወ/ሮ ሐቢባ መሐመድ ጋር በተያያዘ፣ በድርጅታቸው ኦሕዴድ ሥራ አስፈጻሚ ኮሚቴ ተገምግመው ከፓርቲው ከፍተኛ አመራርነት ወደ ተራ አባልነት ዝቅ መደረጋቸው ይታወሳል፡፡

በቅርቡ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ኃይለ ማርያም ደሳለኝ በፓርላማ በፀደቀላቸው የሚኒስትሮች ሹመት ደግሞ ከሲቪል ሚኒስትርነታቸው መነሳታቸውን ሪፖርተር ዘግቧል፡፡ 

from: ethiopianreporter.com

ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች በምርጫ ቦርድ ላይ ሚስጥራዊ ያሉዋቸውን ሰነዶች ይፋ አደረጉ

-    የቦርዱ የሕዝብ ግንኙነት ዳይሬክተር የኢሕአዴግ ዕጩ ሆነው የተወዳደሩበትን ሰነድ አቀረቡ
-    የምርጫ አስፈጻሚዎች ለኢሕአዴግ የአባልነት መዋጮ የከፈሉበት ሰነድ አለን ይላሉ
-    አንድ ለአምስት አደረጃጀት ለምርጫ ቅስቀሳ እየዋለ ነው በማለት ኮነኑ

መድረክንና መኢአድን ጨምሮ ዋነኛ ተቃዋሚዎች የተሰባሰቡበት 33 የፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎች ያቋቋሙት ጊዜያዊ ኮሚቴ ብሔራዊ ምርጫ ቦርድን ለፓርላማው አፈ ጉባዔ ክስ እንደመሠረቱበት ገልጸው፣ አገኘናቸው ያሉዋቸውን አንዳንድ ሚስጥራዊ ሰነዶች ይፋ አደረጉ፡፡

በኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ አንድነት መድረክ ግንባር (መድረክ) ጽሕፈት ቤት የፓርቲዎቹ ጊዜያዊ ኮሚቴ ባለፈው ሐሙስ ለአገር ውስጥና ለውጭ ጋዜጠኞች በሰጠው ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ፣ አንዳንድ ሚስጥራዊ ያላቸውን ሾልከው የወጡ ሰነዶችን ይፋ በማድረግ፣ ብሔራዊ ምርጫ ቦርድ ባለፈው ሳምንት ለቅሬታቸው ማስረጃ የላቸውም ማለቱን አስተባብለዋል፡፡

“የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ ምርጫ ቦርድ ላቀረብናቸው 18 ጥያቄዎች የሰጠው ምላሽ ቦርዱ የገዥው ፓርቲ ወገንተኛና ጉዳይ አስፈጻሚ ለመሆኑ ማረጋገጫ ነው፤” በሚል ርዕሰ ጊዜያዊ ኮሚቴው ባወጣው ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ፣ ቀጣዩ ምርጫ ፍትሐዊ እንዲሆን እንነጋገርበት በሚል ለቦርዱ 18 የቅሬታ ጥያቄዎችን ቢያቀርብም፣ “አንዳቸውም በማስረጃ የተደገፉ አይደለም” በሚል በተሰጣቸው ምላሽ ውድቅ ማድረጉን ገልጸዋል፡፡

ምርጫ ቦርድ በተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች የቀረበለትን ቅሬታ ለአንድ ወር ያህል ከገመገምኩ በኋላ በሚል የሰጠው ምላሽ አሳፋሪና ነገ በሕዝብ የሚያስጠይቅ ነው ያሉ ሲሆን፣ ማስረጃ እንዲያቀርቡ ሳይጠይቃቸውና ተወካዮቻቸውን ሳያነጋግር ውሳኔውን ያሳወቃቸው ለመንግሥት መገናኛ ብዙኃን መግለጫ በሰጠበት ወቅት መሆኑን አስረድተዋል፡፡

በምርጫ ቦርድ ምላሽና በምላሽ አሰጣጡ አግባብነት የተበሳጨው የ33 ፓርቲዎች ጊዜያዊ ኮሚቴ፣ ቦርዱን በታሪኩ ለመጀመሪያ ጊዜ በፓርላማ አፈ ጉባዔው ላይ ክስ እንደመሠረተበት አስታውቋል፡፡ በሌላ በኩል ማስረጃ ያላቸውን ለጋዜጠኞች ይፋ አድርጓል፡፡ “በታሪክም በኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ፊትም የሚያስተዛዝብና የሚያስጠይቅ ነው፤” ባለበት በዚሁ መግለጫ፣ “ለመሆኑ መቼ መድረኩ ተከፍቶ ተወያይተን? ማስረጃ ለማቅረብ ተጠይቀን ማቅረብ አለመቻላችን ታየና ነው እንዲህ ሊባል የተቻለው?” በማለት በጥያቄ ለተነሳው ጉዳይ የኮሚቴው አባላት ምላሽ የሰጡት ማስረጃ ያሉትን በማቅረብ ነበር፡፡

የኮሚቴው ዋና ጸሐፊ አቶ ግርማ በቀለ መግለጫውን አንብበው ከጨረሱ በኋላ፣ “ማስረጃችሁ ምንድን ነው? ምን አዲስ ነገር ይዛችኋል?” በሚል ከሪፖርተር ለቀረበላቸው ጥያቄ ቀድመው ምላሽ የሰጡት የኮሚቴው ሰብሳቢ አቶ አስራት ጣሴ፣ “አንድም ማስረጃ የሌለው ቅሬታ አላቀረብንም፡፡ ቦርዱ ግን የኢሕአዴግ ጉዳይ አስፈጻሚ ሆኗል፡፡ ፈጽሞ አላነጋገረንም፤ ማስረጃ እንድናቀርብም አልጠየቀንም፤” ብለዋል፡፡

የኮሚቴው አባልና የመድረክ አመራር አባል አቶ ገብሩ ገብረማርያም በበኩላቸው፣ ለእያንዳንዱ ቅሬታ ማስረጃ መያዛቸውን ያረጋገጡት፣ የቦርዱ የሕዝብ ግንኙነትና ኮሙዩኒኬሽን ዳይሬክቶሬት ዳይሬክተር ወይዘሮ የሺ ፈቃደ በተለያዩ ሚዲያዎች እንደ ኢሕአዴግ ሆነው ሲከራከሩዋቸው ቆይተው አሁን የኢሕአዴግ አባል የሆኑበት ማስረጃ መገኘቱን በማሳወቅ ነበር፡፡

“በወይዘሮ የሺ ላይ ግላዊ ጥላቻ ኖሮን አይደለም፡፡ ነገር ግን የኢሕአዴግ አባላት ሥራ አስፈጻሚ የሆኑበት ምርጫ ቦርድ ገለልተኛ ሆኖ ምርጫ ማከናወን አይችልም፤” ብለዋል፡፡ በኃላፊዋ ላይ ለምን እንዳተኮሩ ከኢትዮጵያ ሬዲዮና ቴሌቪዥን ድርጅት ለቀረበላቸው ጥያቄ ምላሽ ሲሰጡ፣ ማስረጃውን ይዘዋል የተባሉት የኮሚቴው ምክትል ሰብሳቢ አቶ ወንድማገኝ ደነቀ ንግግራቸውን የጀመሩት በእጃቸው አንድ ሰነድ ከፍ አድርገው በማመልከት ነበር፡፡ በ1997 ዓ.ም. በተካሄደው አገራዊ ምርጫ “የክልል ምክር ቤት አባላት የምርጫ ጣቢያ የድምፅ ቆጠራ ውጤት መተማመኛ” በሚል የምርጫ ቦርድ ዓርማ ያለበት ሰነድ የዕጩ ተወዳዳሪዋ የወይዘሮዋ የሺ ፈቃደ ስም የሚገኝበት፣ በብአዴን ፓርቲ በንብ ምልክት ያገኙት የድምፅ ብዛትና ደረጃቸው የሰፈረበትና ለአማራ ክልል ምክር ቤት የደብረ ብርሃን ዕጩ ተወዳዳሪ ሆነው መቅረባቸውን የሚያሳይ ነው፡፡

ወይዘሮ የሺ በቀረበው ማስረጃ ላይ አስተያየት እንዲሰጡን ጠይቀናቸው፣ “ይህ ማስረጃ ለምርጫ ቦርድ አልቀረበም፡፡ የምሠራው ለቦርዱ ነው፡፡ ቦርዱ ይህ ማስረጃ ቀርቦለት ጥያቄ ሲያቀርብልኝ ብቻ ምላሽ የምሰጥበት ይሆናል፤” በማለት የቀረበው ማስረጃ እውነተኛ ነው አይደለም ሳይሉ ለጥያቄው ምላሽ ለመስጠት ፈቃደኛ ሳይሆኑ ቀርተዋል፡፡

ሌላ የኮሚቴው አባል አቶ ለገሠ ላንቃም የሲዳማ ዓርነት ዴሞክራሲያዊ ንቅናቄ ተወካይ ሲሆኑ፣ በርካታ ማስረጃዎችን ማቅረባቸውን ተናግረዋል፡፡ ከእነዚህም መካከል በደቡብ ክልል የቦርባ ምርጫ ክልል ምርጫ ቦርድ ሰብሳቢ ሆነው ሲሠሩ የቆዩት አቶ ዮሐንስ አብርሃም የተባሉ ግለሰብ፣ የደኢሕዴን (ኢሕአዴግ) አባልነት መዋጮ የከፈሉበት ሰነድ ይገኝበታል፡፡ ብዙዎቹ ምርጫ አስፈጻሚዎች የፓርቲ አባላት መሆናቸውን ማሳያ ነው በማለት ነበር ያቀረቡት፡፡ ሌሎች ማስረጃዎች እንዳሏቸው በመጠቆም ጭምር፡፡ በምርጫ 2002 የነበረው ሁኔታ ምንም አለመቀየሩንና በተመሳሳይ መንገድ እየተካሄደ መሆኑን የገለጹት አቶ ለገሠ፣ በተለይ “በወቅቱ የአርቤጎና ወረዳ ምርጫ ሥራን ለማሳካት የወጣ አጭር ማስፈጸሚያ ቼክ ሊስት” በሚለው ሰነድ፣ የክልሉ ገዥው ፓርቲ ከወረዳ ማዕከል እስከ ቀበሌ የሚሠሩ ተግባራትን ያካተተ ነው፡፡ “ለልማት የፈጠርነውን የልማት ሠራዊት ወደ ምርጫ ተግባር አንድ ለአምስት በማዟዟር” በሚል የአንድ ሳምንት አደረጃጀት እንዴት ለቅስቀሳና ለምርጫ እንደሚውል፣ የሴቶችና የወጣቶችን የቀበሌ አደረጃጀቶች እንዴት መጠቀም እንደሚቻል፣ ትምህርት ቤቶችንና የሃይማኖት ተቋማት እንዴት ማንቀሳቀስ እንደሚቻል የሚያብራራ ጽሑፍም አሳይተዋል፡፡ ይኼው ሰነድ ፓርቲውን ሳያወላውል የሚመርጠውን “A” አቋሙ ተለይቶ ያልታወቀውን “B” በማለት፣ ፈጽሞ የለየለትን ተቃዋሚ ደግሞ “C” እንደሰጠ ገልጸው፣ ወደ “A” ለማምጣት ጠንካራ ሥራ መሥራት እንደሚያስፈልግ ያመለክታል ካሉ በኋላ፣ የማይመርጡትን ምን እንደሚሠሩ “በዓይነ ቁራኛ” የቅርብ ክትትል ማድረግ ይጠይቃል በማለት አስረድተዋል፡፡

ሌሎች አባላትም ባለፈው ምርጫ ቤታቸው የተቃጠለባቸውን፣ ተገደሉ ያሉዋቸውን ሰዎችና ለእስር የተዳረጉትን ስም እየጠቀሱ ያቀረቡ ሲሆን፣ ይኼም እስካሁን በግልጽ  እየተሠራበት መሆኑን አስረድተዋል፡፡

“መንግሥት አንድ ፓርቲ አንድ አገር ብሎ ያውጅና ቁርጣችንን እንወቅ፤” ያሉት አቶ ገብሩ ገብረማርያም፣ “ጥያቄያችን ከ80 ሚሊዮን ሕዝብ ውስጥ ኢሕአዴጋዊያን ያልሆኑ ለምርጫ ቦርድ ይሥሩ የሚል ነው፤” በማለት፣ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብና ዓለም አቀፉ ማኅበረሰብ ይኼንን የተበላሸ የምርጫ ሥርዓትና አምባገነንነት በመቃወም ከጐናቸው እንዲቆም ጠይቀዋል፡፡

ምርጫ ቦርድ ፓርቲዎቹ ያቀረቧቸው አቤቱታዎችም ሆኑ ቅሬታዎች በማስረጃ ያልተደገፉና ብዙዎችም በ2002 ምርጫ ማግስት በፍርድ ቤት ሳይቀር መልስ የተሰጠባቸው ናቸው ይላል፡፡ ቦርዱ አሁንም የቀረቡለትን ቅሬታዎች በዝርዝር ካየ በኋላ ማጣራቱን ገልጾ፣ ፓርቲዎቹ አላነጋገረንም የሚሉት ተቀባይነት የሌለው ነው ብሏል፡፡

ቦርዱ ሁሉንም ፓርቲዎች እኩል እያገለገለ እንደሚገኝ አስረድቶ፣ የሚተዳደርባቸው ደንቦችና መመርያዎች በፓርቲዎች ተሳትፎ የወጡ በመሆናቸው ወገንተኛ አድርጎ ማቅረብ ትክክል አይደለም በማለት አስረድቷል፡፡ ምርጫ ቦርድ ከማንም ፓርቲ ጋር የመወገን ዓላማ እንደሌለውና ሕጉም እንደማይፈቅድለት እየተናገረ ነው፡፡

ይህ በዚህ እንዳለ ባለፈው ሳምንት “ምርጫ ለመድረክ ግንባርነት ዕውቅና ሰጠ” በሚል ርዕስ በወጣው ዜና “… መድረክን የፖለቲካ አጀንዳውንና የገንዘብ አቅሙን በመገምገም ብቁ ሆኖ በመገኘቱ ያቀረበው ጥያቄ በቦርዱ ተቀባይነት ማግኘቱን ወይዘሮ የሺ ገልጸዋል፤” የሚለው ዓረፍተ ነገር ከቦርዱ ሥልጣንና ኃላፊነት ውጪ በመሆኑ በዚህ መሠረት ተስተካክሎ እንዲነበብ እንጠይቃለን፡፡

ESLSE to Take Charge of Nine Vessels this Year

The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Enterprise is expecting to receive nine sea going vessels it had ordered with Chinese companies by the end of the current financial year. The enterprise is to acquire the vessels at a total cost of four billion birr, it was said.

The vessels are expected to enhance the ESLSE’s freight capacity significantly noted Ahmed Tussa, Chief Executive of the Enterprise.

It is to be remembered that there is currently a study underway to evaluate the possibility of outsourcing the management of the ESLSE to a foreign firm and Bolloré could be considered by the government should it be decided that this course of action is the most viable option according to Diriba Kuma, State Minister for transport.

International firms are showing interest in the possibility of a contract to take over the management of the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise according to sources.

Dubai based, DP World, is said to be one of the companies who have expressed interest in running the Ethiopian enterprise. French logistics company Bolloré Africa Logistics is also known to have held talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Diriba Kuma, State Minister for transport last week.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency 

Ethiopia Drafting Money Laundering Law

Ethiopia is to replace the Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Proclamation in effect for the last three years with a new draft legislation presented to the House of Representatives this week.

The new law is designed to enact mechanism more severe than the ones in place at this time to control financial institutions as well as non-financial businesses and professionals such as lawyers and accountants.

The draft law requires financial institutions as other non designated bodies to identify a clients potential connection to criminal activities as part of the effort to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.

The new law will oblige financial institutions to contact the government bodies when they encounter or reasonably suspect money laundering or financial terrorism including in attempted transactions. 

Financial organizations who fail to meet the obligations will be fined an amount of not less than 10 thousand birr or the disbarment from employment in the sector for individuals found guilty of gross violations.

Another element of the law is the stipulation that mandates financial institutions and other designated bodies to enact appropriate risk management systems to determine the source of funds managed by politically influential people and or any person with close family ties to such a person.

Source: The Reporter

Ezana Mining to Launch Gold Project in Ethiopia

Ezana Mining Development is set to launch a large scale gold mining project in Tigray Regional State, Northern Ethiopia. The mining development company signed an agreement with the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines late last week.

The agreement signed between Sinkenesh Ejigu, Minister for Mines and Ataklit Araya, General Manager of the mining company will enable Ezana to launch large scale gold mining activities. It was noted at the time that Ezana has already been operating gold prospecting activities in the area with significant results.

The mining company plans to invest 393.7 million birr to implement its project with plans to mine 2017 kilograms of gold in the next two years. The project is expected to open employment opportunities for more than 106 people it was said.

Ezana has become the second company to obtain a large scale gold mining license in Ethiopia after MIDROC Gold which has been operating the only large mining effort in the country.

Ezana is the second company to secure large-scale gold mining license in Ethiopia. So far MIDROC Gold is the only company engaged in large-scale gold mining activity in the country. It is to be remembered that the British company, Nyota Minerals, has submitted an application for a large- scale mining license to enable it to develop the Tulukapi gold mine in West Oromia.

Source: The Reporter
    

Ethiopian to launch flight service to Madrid

The national fleg carrier Ethiopian Airlines is planning to launch a new flight service to Madrid, Spain in the coming June. Reliable sources told The Reporter that the management of Ethiopian airlines is contemplating to commence a thrice weekly flight to Madrid as of June 15. Sources said officials of Ethiopian and the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority have dealt with the Spanish Civil Aviation Authority and the Madrid Airport Administration on issues related to the commencement of the flight.

The public relations department of Ethiopian, however, said that studies on the new route has been undertaken adding that it has not been arrived at a decision yet. Nevertheless sources have confirmed to The Reporter that the flight would be launched in the coming June. The flight service would be the first when Ethiopian flies to Spain, a major source of tourists to Africa.

Ethiopian plans to start new flight service to Sao Paulo, Brazil the coming March. The airline has postponed the launch flight to Sao Paulo from December 2012 to March next year due the inconvenient slot given to the airline. Ethiopian was intending to launch a thrice weekly flight to Sao Paulo via Lome Togo in December. However, executives of Ethiopian are not happy with the slot (landing and departure time) allotted to them by the Sao Paulo Airport Administration.

Ethiopian is expanding its network remarkably. It recently started operating flights to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, Toronto, Canada and Windhoek, Namibia. Ethiopian is conducting studies to open new routes to Moscow, Russian Federation (passenger and cargo), Istanbul, Turkey (cargo), Singapore City, Singapore, Seoul, South Korea and in the long term to Tokyo, Japan. Ethiopian says based on its Vision 2025 development strategy it will focus on the BRICS countries. Ethiopian international destinations have reached 70.

Made in Beijing, assembled in Ethiopia

The old industrial economies face tough competition from emerging ones in terms of trade and investment destined for Africa.  As the newest entrants to the game, emerging economies such as China and India have lower standards in choosing the destination of their FDI, thereby putting the industrialized countries at a greater disadvantage.

However, a recent case study about Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in Ethiopia showed that even with lower standards, the Chinese are having trouble functioning in the Ethiopian business environment, writes Asrat Seyoum.      

At the height of technological innovation and the digit age, one individual stood tall among its peers in using the latest advancements in his field to benefit consumers. He was the product of the computer revolution of the 80s in the U.S who started out by offering Macintosh computers to the world. He did not stop there however, over the years, his outside-the-box thinking brought technology closer to ordinary people more than ever. Yes, he was the computer whiz turned inventor and billionaire - Steve Jobs. Last year, the high-tech society and the world in general lost Jobs to cancer at the age of 57. 

As it is, Jobs and his rival Bill Gate are parts of the generation who opened a new frontier in the world of high-tech. Without exaggeration, this industry and the professional are sources of great pride to U.S. marking its leading position in the field. Perhaps among the most popular products that Jobs and his Apple Inc. gave the world was the iPhone. Currently, the latest version of this product, iPhone 5 is already in the market, it is fair to say that the product has become a household name. Like in all corners of the world, there is a considerable consumer base for the iPhone in Ethiopia. Hence, a number of local users in recent times have stumbled upon an interesting fact; even the most sophisticated products, like the iPhone is assembled in production lines in China. Made in California and assembled in China, inscribed on the back of every phone.

However, the fact that  Apple is moving production to the east, particularly to China is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, in the past three decades, a lot of U.S. and European multinationals disassembled their production lines and moved to new and attractive Asian countries like China, South Korea, Indonesia and others. With that, a number of high-paying jobs in the northern hemisphere disappeared, crossing oceans to their new destinations and beneficiaries. It is obvious that cost is the basic motivation for these moves. The Asians were on a fast track to industrialization at the time when the cost of labor and raw materials was extremely attractive to those up in the manufacturing ladder. But, things were also cheaper in other developing countries in Asia and Africa, so why did so few of these nations become the center of attention for manufacturers from north?

It was because these emerging economies were doing something. The Likes of China, Korea and India invested heavily on institutions, infrastructures, and education to claim the lion's share of FDI that was coming to the region and to the developing world as a whole. And what an investment it was! These economies used foreign capital and technologies to achieve miracles in their manufacturing and other sectors of their economies. Eventually, they dominated the world manufacturing products market, even in the case of high-tech items like the iPhone. Currently, of consumer products sold in the U.S. almost everything is made in China and a few other countries. Furthermore, China did not stop there; the process of technology transfer seems to be working out in these economies as well. Huge industries like the Hyundai and Samsung of South Korea, the telecom giants like ZTE and Huawei of China and one of the most renowned IT centers in the world, Bangalore are a few of the examples of successful technology transfers in these countries.

Change in the status quo

For almost three decades, some of the emerging economies mentioned above have been experiencing sustainable economic growth and structural transformation. Just about all narratives about the growth miracle that the Asians were able to pull off over the course of this period did not leave out the role played by FDI. These nations became centers of export-oriented industries, which gave them access to the limitless world market and the feel of this market rigor. Hence, these nations started to industrialize, and they did so fast.  Together with this, the level of savings and technological accumulation reached a point where these emerging economies needed investment outlets themselves. What it meant was that the developed economies now have competition in terms of economic dominance manifested in terms of trade and investment. More specifically, the FDI flow patterns in the world started to exhibit some shifts. The emerging economies began to claim their own share, eventually creating competition.

From a different angle, the emerging economic forces did not slowly start to contest the dominant position of the developed economies, but also ceased to be the cost effective investment destination for developed economies. The situation that led the industrialized economies to migrate from their own base and go to Asia finally caught-up with the Asians. Economic growth and structural transformation slowly rose the wage levels in emerging nations and once again, it was time to look for alternative, cheaper destinations in other parts of the world. However, this time around, the process was different from the ones in the seventies, where a wave of FDI began to pour into Asia. How?
For one, the possibly newest FDI destination for the capital and technology rich countries was Africa; and to some extent, few underdeveloped Asian nation. Given the history of this continent that is marred with conflict and poor institutional quality, it was quite difficult to make a bold move to invest here. On the other hand, the traditional investors now had fierce competition from the more aggressive and capital rich nations of Asia.

The resultant effect was quite interesting. The fight between the traditional investors and the new one started to take center stage after the turn of the century. And as of 2012, the FDI from the South to the South grew more important, especially for African countries. Why are the emerging economies gaining on the industrialized ones?

The subject inspired a few academic researches but the explanation seemed quite fascinating. Overall, the act of investing in foreign land entails a wide range of risks for investors. The first and most important one is the political stability of that country. Business and political violence do not go together, researches indicate. And above all, fragile security and sometimes simply the history of violence on the African continent served as the main deterrence to FDI. Next to that, the quality of the institutions that govern the economy also played their part in this regard.

But, it is known that most African economies still exhibit such institutional weaknesses. On the contrary though, African countries like Ethiopia are now getting acquainted with FDI and quite a few of them seem to be reaping the benefits. Now, the only difference here is in the nature of the investors. The emerging economies in fact have the capacity to stomach institutional failures and work their way through it; at least they have better tolerance to it than the industrialized economies. The basic reason for this is better proximity to the new investment destinations' objective conditions. These emerging nations were almost at a similar position with their current investment destinations decades earlier. Hence, professionals conclude that the Asian emerging economies are prevailing in this new frontier.

Unable to meet the low standards

Now, the relatively lower standards have indeed helped some of these African nations to be attractive investment destinations for at least Asian emerging economies. Here, it could also be noted that the move by the Asian emerging countries also awakened some of the traditional investors, inspiring them to get in on the race and scramble for investment stakes in the continent of the future. But, the momentum of this new move can only bring about a limited level of FDI to Africa. If FDI is to play a role equivalent or better than it did in the Asian development, the volume must increase significantly, pundits claim.

In this mindset, upon the request of the government, the World Bank country office in Ethiopia conducted a survey of the Chinese FDI in Ethiopia. The survey that is based on some 86 Chinese firms doing business in Ethiopia, pinpointed some critical areas of concern for foreign investment in Ethiopia. The survey, which is based on the pool of Chinese companies from the manufacturing, construction and service sectors invested in the country noted some six principal obstacles to doing business in Ethiopia. Around three of these obstacles appear to be playing an offsetting role to the basic attraction towards the country as a viable investment destination. The first and most constricting obstacle, according to the firms studied by the Bank, is the customs, trade and logistic system of the country. Almost all of these companies said yes to the customs and logistic obstacles undermining their competitive edge. On average, it takes some 47 days for an imported supply to reach the local market, as opposed to the time in China or Kenya, which takes half as long, reads the survey. Huajian, a reputable shoemaker in the world and currently a tenant in the East Industrial Zone, revealed that the average lead time of a pair of shoes destined for the U.S. market was 47-60 days in China, however, now this has increased to 100 days, owing primarily to time taking logistic processes. Now, the shoemaker is considering airfreight as a mode of transport, which costs four folds more, to reduce the lead-time. 

On the other hand, foreign exchange risk is also another obstacle according to the respondents. Here, the steep devaluation seen in September 2010 was frequently cited as a forex risk these firms want to avoid. This is a particular concern for the Chinese FDI firms because they rely on imported supplies of raw materials for the bulk of their production. There is no working local input supply network in Ethiopia, the survey noted, and the kind of forex change seen in 2010 could mean heavy loss for manufacturing firms. Similarly, unpredictable and inconsistent tax proclamations and other business regulations is another one of the major headaches for the Chinese, WB's survey details. In this regard, respondents of the study expressed frustrations over tax proclamation, frequent revision and inconsistent interpretations of these laws. At times, being forced to pay tax arrears retroactively, some of these FDI companies have expressed concerns, the survey read.

Still, another most severe constraint, particularly for those in the manufacturing and the construction sector, is the skill level and the productivity of the labor that the local market offers. According to the survey, on average, the Ethiopian laborer employed in the manufacturing sector has 6-10 years of education, and so frequent skill upgrading trainings have to be given to augment productivity levels. Here, the most constricting part of this obstacle, as it was laid out in the survey, is cheap labor. So, the additional cost incurred due to training is making local labor expensive; perhaps more than what it was in China, the survey shows. This erodes the primary advantage that attracted the FDI to Ethiopia in the first place.     

More interestingly, the survey found that more than half of the Chinese investors surveyed have made commitments to stay in Ethiopia for 10 years or more  albeit these sever obstacles. The pundits, on one hand, question the country’s institutional quality and the policies governing the business environment as it seems unable to fulfill even the minimal conditions that FDI source countries require.        

Ethiopia AFCON warm-up vs Togo cancelled

Ethiopia are now most likely to take on Guinea in an AFCON warm-up after a match against Togo was cancelled. Media reports from Addis Ababa said that the Ethiopian Football Federation have cancelled the friendly due to operational reasons. 

  

Speculation is the Togo have decided not to travel to avoid another potential stand-off with their players over bonus payments from their previous away friendly against Morocco on November 14 that the Atlas Lions lost 1-0 in Casablanca. 

  

However, Ethiopia too are in a date poser over the Guinea friendly. 

  

Guniea want to the friendly played on January 7, the same date Ethiopia are due to face Tunisia away in another friendly in Qatar. 

  

Ethiopia are considering hosting Guinea on January 6 or shifting their away date in Doha against Tunisia to January 11. 

  

Ethiopia stage their first test ahead the AFCON on Sunday when they host Niger in Addis Ababa. 

  

The game against fellow 2013 Africa Cup finalists Niger will be Ethiopia's first pre-tournament friendly since the main team went into camp in Addis Ababa  three weeks ago. 

  

Coach Sewnet will be looking for a convincing result at home to get his sides’ three-match friendly match series on the road before facing Togo at home and Tunisia away on January 3 and 7 respectively. 

  

Moreover, a good result at the National Stadium will be key in keeping a strong public interest especially after a disappointing 2012 CECAFA Cup outing where Ethiopia reached the quarterfinals despite winning just one of their four games in Uganda. 

  

Sunday’s friendly will also be a big test for Ethiopia’s four foreign-based players. 

  

Striker Faud Ibrahim of North American League side Minnesota FC is expected to make his Ethiopia debut after earlier playing for the USA U20 and U17 teams. 

  

Winger Yusuf Saleh from Swedish club Syrianska,  who was part of the CECAFA team, is also in the team hoping to impress Sewnet. 

  

Left-back Mesfin Mulugeta of Germany side Hannover II and untested USA-based striker Abdul Aman of Washington State University are the other two foreign-based players set to play on Sunday. 

  

Meanwhile, Ethiopia's key striker Saladin said of Egyptian side Waldi Gelda will miss the friendly after the club indicated they will release him 10 days before the tournament in accordance with FIFA rules.