NBE
gold scam unfolds
By Groum Abate
A staggering 60 million birr worth of notes in different currencies
has been found in the house of one of the suspects in the recently
uncovered national bank and gold scam following a police search,
sources told Capital.
The suspect is said to have fled the country and his spouse was
taken into custody.
The scandal hit the country’s financial institutions governing
body after traders cheated the National Bank of Ethiopia out of
over 250 million birr with fake gold bricks.
City bus fares soar
By Tewodros Kebkab
The management of Anbessa City Bus Enterprise has announced that
it has implemented a tariff adjustment as of this month that enables
it to raise the current fare on buses.
Public relations department head, Shewarega Sahele, told Capital
that the Enterprise has raised the tariff for long distances by
0.03 birr per km while the fares for rides under 12.4 km will remain
as is.
FIRA underscores taxable income
By Groum Abate
The Federal Inland Revenue Authority has announced that employers,
governmental and non governmental, should ensure that whatever allowances
they pay to their employees, including bonus and house rent allowance,
is added to their salaries while computing the income tax.
The authority has notified employers to implement the regulation
as of February 9 in the Amharic daily Addis Zemen.
UNMEE starts troop withdrawal from Eritrean
border
By Our Staff Reporter
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has
begun temporary relocating personnel and equipment from Eritrea
to sites on the Ethiopian side of the border because of fuel restrictions
imposed by the Government in Asmara, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
announced on Thursday February 14.
Mr. Ban said in a statement that he “regrets that the relocation
has become necessary despite the letter he addressed to President
Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea on 21 January seeking his urgent intervention
to resolve the situation.”
 MORE
EEPCo to fully replace postpaid electric meters
in March
By Groum Abate
The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has struck a
deal with an Egyptian company to replace the existing postpaid meters
with pre paid meters in Addis Ababa and major towns across the country,
with an outlay of 88.2 million birr.
The corporation signed the deal on Thursday February 14, with El
Sewedy, an Egyptian electronic meters manufacturer.
Moges Belachew, Distribution and Customer Service head with EEPCo
told Capital that the Egyptian company has won over two other competitors
from China and South Africa for the supply.
Lay offs by MoTC still unresolved
By Muluken Yewondwossen
Hundreds of laid off employees in state transport and communication
have still not been re-instated to their former jobs, even after
a letter to that effect written to the Ministry of Transport and
Communications by the Office of the Prime Minister. The 541 workers
were laid off eight months ago after the results of a Business Process
Reengineering (BPR) conducted on the Ethiopian Postal Agency, Civil
Aviation, Tele Agency, Transport Authority and the Transport and
Communications Ministry.
39 trade centers for Addis
By Muluken Yewondwossen
The Addis Ababa City Administration, Trade and Industry Development
Bureau, has prepared 39 sites for trade centers to be built in each
of the ten sub-cities.
The construction work on the trade centers is scheduled to start
within this fiscal year.
According to Tsegaye Akalu, Marketing Study Manager of the Bureau,
his office is to build the trade centers in collaboration with Addis
Ababa City Work and City Development Bureau.
National Palace calls original architect
for remodeling
By Kirubel Tadesse
Francesco Saverio Antilici, Italian Architectural and Interior
Designer, who created the Palace's interior and supervised the construction
of the Jubilee Palace in 1972, is in Addis Ababa for a renovation
project. The whereabouts of Francesco Saverio Antilici was traced
by chance by the Palace Administration through the Internet and
he was invited to come to Addis Ababa to help in the study for the
renovation and the interior designs of his thirty-five year old
work as well as the original wing of the palace which was built
in 1955.
India to announce duty free import
By Groum Abate
India is likely to announce duty free import of selected items
from African countries at its first-ever summit with 14 African
countries in April. The April 8 summit will come out with an action
plan for reinvigorating India-Africa ties and a political declaration
that will encapsulate broad directions of this partnership in the
21st century. The action plan will include a broad spectrum of areas,
including trade, investment, education, agriculture, mining, infrastructure
and culture. It is said that the Indian government is working on
a package of duty concessions that may cover some agricultural items
for least developed countries of Africa.
MORE
EPRDF presents majority candidates from outside
party
‘Addis Ababa city council election is uncertain’
For next month’s bi-election and local elections, the ruling
party Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Party (EPRDF)
has presented 32,000 candidates in Addis Ababa to contest in the
election. EPRDF officials announced that more than 50% of its Addis
Ababa candidates are not members of the party.
Ethiopia launches Sustainable Land Management
Platform
By Kirubel Tadesse
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) together
with a number of partner organizations, has launched a Sustainable
Land Management (SLM) platform that targets to alleviate land degradation
and food insecurity problems of the nation.
Stating land as a critical resource in Ethiopia with agriculture
production accounting for about 50% of the GDP, 90% of export revenues
and 80% employment, Ahmed Nasir, State Minister of MoARD, said that
the resource faces critical environmental problems such as soil
erosion, deforestation and land degradation.
MORE
First exclusive life insurance company founded
By Muluken Yewondwossen
The first exclusive life insurance company, Ethio-Life Insurance
was founded on February 9, 2008 with a paid up capital of over Br
6 million. It has 130 shareholders.
The legal capital requirement to establish an insurance company
is Br 4 million and the company is due to start operations with
a capital exceeding the minimum requirement.
Bank set date for salary adjustment
By Tewodros Kebkab
The Trade Union of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has given
fifteen days prior notice for the management and board of CBE and
to the Financial Institution Agency, for their salary to be revised
in accordance to the recent salary provision.
Officials of the CBE Trade Union in a meeting held on Tuesday February
12 said that they would call the general assembly if the management
could not reply within the next 15 days.
MORE
Ethiopia welcomes Russian oil, gas companies
By our staff reporter
Ethiopian Trade and Industry Minister Girma Birru said Wednesday
that the Ethiopian government welcomed Russian oil and gas companies’
plans to develop deposits in Ethiopia.
The visiting minister was speaking following a meeting of a Russian-Ethiopian
government commission.
Credit risk management for Ethiopian banks
By Groum Abate
Zemen Bank S.C. has entered into a partnership agreement with
eVentive which will provide the bank’s IT system, and Harland
Financial Solutions which is to provide Credit and Risk Management
System software.
This was disclosed at a one-day seminar on Credit and Risk Management,
held on Thursday, February 14 at the Sheraton Addis and organized
by Zemen Bank in collaboration with eVentive and Harland Financial
Solutions.
MORE
‘Entertainment: not a luxury but an
essential part of living’-GTV
By Muluken Yewondwossen
The media launch of the pan African GTV service in Ethiopia was
held on February 11, 2008 at the Sheraton Addis in the presence
of Julian Mclntyre, Gateway Communications co-founder and GTV (Gateway
Community Television) managing director.
Mesqan epicenter: center for mobilizing
rural communities
By Groum Abate
The Hunger Project’s work in Ethiopia began in April 2004
following the underwriters’ agreement to fund the work for
its first three years. Since then, all actions have been forwarding
the integrated epicenter strategy, which is The Hunger Project’s
hallmark in Africa.
MORE
Housten to host Ethiopian Millennium Festival
By Groum Abate
Ethio-American Trade & Investment Council has organized an
image building festival in Houston, Texas, which is an outdoor events
celebration.
This annual Houston International Festival [Ifest] stretches across
16 acres of Houston downtown parks and streets.
MORE
|
NBE
gold scam unfolds
By Groum Abate
A staggering 60 million birr worth of notes in different currencies
has been found in the house of one of the suspects in the recently
uncovered national bank and gold scam following a police search,
sources told Capital.
The suspect is said to have fled the country and his spouse was
taken into custody.
The scandal hit the country’s financial institutions governing
body after traders cheated the National Bank of Ethiopia out of
over 250 million birr with fake gold bricks.
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court granted the Federal Ethics and
Anti-corruption Commission another 14 days for further investigation
on the suspects that appeared before court on Thursday February
14, for alleged involvement in the gold scandal.
25 suspects appeared before the Lideta Federal High Court, where
the judge granted another 14 days for further investigation and
cautioned the prosecutor to speed up the investigation.
The court has also turned down the suspects’ request to be
released on bail on the grounds that the crime they are charged
with does not entitle them to rights of bail.
About 8 of the suspects are from the National Bank of Ethiopia and
Ministry of Mines and Energy while the rest are traders and alleged
accomplices.
Recently many of the suspects have been caught trying to flee the
country but the major trader is said to be still at large abroad.
The Police announced some weeks back that they will do everything
possible to capture suspects in other countries in collaboration
with Interpol.
Two weeks ago police apprehended the principal trader’s brother
at Bole International Airport.
The Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission last month took
on NBE’s fraudulent gold purchase case from the Federal Police
as the crime is considered as high treason to the country.
Five senior executives from NBE and three chemists from the Ethiopian
Geological Survey were also arrested for their alleged involvement
in the fraud.
At the third appearance of the suspects before the Federal First
Instance Court, Arada First Criminal Bench on 1st January 2008,
the court ruled that the case be handled by the anti-corruption
commission as it involved corruption.
The NBE reportedly bought 595 kilograms of phony gold from traders
only to find out that it was iron bars.
Until 2005, only the NBE had the right to export gold. In 2005,
the Bank issued a directive that gives gold export rights to licensed
investors. The bureaucracy involved in issuing a license, however,
has made it difficult for much investors to be involved.
Under the current procedure, gold procured by the central bank is
inspected and sealed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and stored
at the NBE without double checking, which has made it possible,
it is said, for the traders to con the bank with phony gold bricks.
City bus fares soar
By Tewodros Kebkab
The management of Anbessa City Bus Enterprise has announced that
it has implemented a tariff adjustment as of this month that enables
it to raise the current fare on buses.
Public relations department head, Shewarega Sahele, told Capital
that the Enterprise has raised the tariff for long distances by
0.03 birr per km while the fares for rides under 12.4 km will remain
as is.
According to Shewarega, the need to increase the bus fares was prompted
by the current oil price increase, which has put extra financial
pressure of 7 million birr on the Enterprise during this fiscal
year ending June 2008. In addition the City government has recently
cut subsidies to the bus line to 18.9 million birr, which is inadequate
to run the company.
Anbessa City Bus Enterprise, a public entity administered by the
city government, has been subsidized 0.10 birr per kilometer for
every passenger. The seating capacity of the Anbessa city bus is
not more than 30 persons, although the bus is often seen jam-packed,
its doors barely able to close.
The fare has increased in different categories. The trip covered
between 6 km to 12.4 km remains at 0.50 birr. A fare that was set
some two years ago.
Long distances trips ranging between 9 and 13 km distance are now
increased to 0.75 birr from the previous 0.50 birr, while 13 - 15km
distance trips’ fare has doubled from 0.50 birr to one birr.
The public relations head said the tariff adjustment was a necessity,
and is not unbearable for the passengers considering the increment
for taxi fares, which may be somewhat of a burden on middle class
citizens.
Passengers are resigned to accept the increment but are still not
happy with the service given by the Enterprise. This is an additional
blow to the lower middle class, who have not yet adjusted to the
inflationary spiral of price prompted by the increase in petrol,
said observers.
Transport ranks first in national development expenditure in Ethiopia,
absorbing at least 30% of national resources.
Established in 1943, Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise is a non-profit
making organization, currently serving 650,000 – 700,000 people
daily on its 466 DAF buses.
Anbessa gives bus transport service for the city of Addis Ababa
and the surrounding areas from 6:15 a.m up to 10:00 p.m on about
93 routes.
FIRA underscores taxable
income
By Groum Abate
The Federal Inland Revenue Authority has announced that employers,
governmental and non governmental, should ensure that whatever allowances
they pay to their employees, including bonus and house rent allowance,
is added to their salaries while computing the income tax.
The authority has notified employers to implement the regulation
as of February 9 in the Amharic daily Addis Zemen.
This is in line with the Council of Ministers Regulation No. 78/2002
issued pursuant to the Income Tax Proclamation No. 286/2002 that
states that taxable income from sources chargeable shall be calculated
as gross income. The proclamation states that gross income includes
all payments in cash and all benefits in kind received by the employee.
Though the regulation has been proclaimed for some time, there have
been on enforcement, as to what benefits are to be considered part
of the taxable income and which ones are not included. The notification
in the Herald seems to clarify this issue.
Tax paying institutions, company or others mostly feel that income
tax is actually calculated on the basic salaries of their employees,
while it should include all type of allowance and other benefits
the employees get from the employer, explained a tax auditor.
The proclamation has excluded payments in cash or benefits in kind
for amounts paid by employers to cover the actual cost of medical
treatment of employees; allowances in lieu of means of transportation
granted to employees under contract of employment; hardship allowance;
amounts paid to employees in reimbursement of traveling expenses
incurred on duty; and amounts of traveling expense paid to employees
recruited from elsewhere than the place of employment on joining
and completion of employment or in case of foreigners traveling
expenses from or to their country, provided that such payment are
made pursuant to specific provisions of the contract.
Furthermore, allowances paid to members and secretaries of boards
of public enterprises and public bodies as well as to members are
all exempted.
The Tax Authority under the proclamation is also empowered to determine
the amount of payments for transport allowances.
If the Income Tax Authority has reason to consider that the total
amount of salaries and other personal emoluments payable to the
manager or managers of a private limited company are exaggerated,
it may reduce said amount for taxation purposes to the limit which,
in view of operations of the company, appears justifiable, either
by disallowing the payments made to more than one manager or in
any other way which may be just and appropriate.
UNMEE starts troop withdrawal
from Eritrean border
By Our Staff Reporter
The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has
begun temporary relocating personnel and equipment from Eritrea
to sites on the Ethiopian side of the border because of fuel restrictions
imposed by the Government in Asmara, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
announced on Thursday February 14.
Mr. Ban said in a statement that he “regrets that the relocation
has become necessary despite the letter he addressed to President
Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea on 21 January seeking his urgent intervention
to resolve the situation.”
Asmara cut off diesel fuel supplies to UNMEE last December, paralyzing
the mission. Its advance units started moving by road on 11 February,
while UNMEE’s main body began its relocation earlier today.
“The Secretary-General stresses the important conflict prevention
role UNMEE plays in promoting regional stability,” the statement
noted. “However, without the fuel needed to conduct its operations,
the mission has been effectively immobilized and rendered unable
to carry out its critical functions.”
Thus far, According to the statement, some of the mission’s
convoys have been able to cross into Ethiopia without difficulty,
while others have been stopped.
Yesterday, the UN Secretariat held talks with Eritrea’s Permanent
Representative regarding the relocation process.
UNMEE is also conferring with the country’s authorities so
that appropriate instructions are issued to Eritrean troops in the
Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) and officials at crossing points to
ensure the smooth movement of UN personnel and equipment.
EEPCo to fully replace postpaid
electric meters in March
By Groum Abate
The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has struck a
deal with an Egyptian company to replace the existing postpaid meters
with pre paid meters in Addis Ababa and major towns across the country,
with an outlay of 88.2 million birr.
The corporation signed the deal on Thursday February 14, with El
Sewedy, an Egyptian electronic meters manufacturer.
Moges Belachew, Distribution and Customer Service head with EEPCo
told Capital that the Egyptian company has won over two other competitors
from China and South Africa for the supply.
According to him the replacement work is to be started by next month
and it is planned to replace 120,000 postpaid electricity meters.
EEPCo has at present over 1.3 million customers.
Founded in Egypt more than 60 years ago, El Sewedy Group has also
plans to open a manufacturing plant in the electricity field here
in Ethiopia.
El Sewedy will manufacture electricity meters and other electric
products in the country.
The Egyptian company will supply EEPCo new generation of electronic
meters with the latest technologies of prepaid meters.
The corporation some time ago started a pilot project to test the
meters and has installed them around Gerji area for the first time.
According to Moges the pilot project has been successfully completed
and it has already started to give out prepaid meters to its new
customers.
Installation of the pre-paid meters would mean that consumers use
the exact amount of electricity they paid for. It would also be
the answer to customers’ billing problems.
The project that would evaluate the viability of replacing the post-paid
meters with pre-paid ones has been completed and the corporation
awarded the project of replacing the post paid meters.
Although EEPCo has about 1.3 million clients, almost all of them
have been receiving monthly estimated bills, an issue which has
caused considerable public outcry.
Prepaid metering in its simplest form refers to paying for electricity
before it is used. The consumer purchases credit and then uses the
resource until the credit expires.
Studies show that there are a number of reasons why a utility could
consider installing a prepaid metering system. They include improved
cash flow, no need for account posting or additional billing systems
(1-2% savings), elimination of bad debts (5-12% average, with up
to 40% in some developing countries), elimination of disconnection
and reconnection fees, ease of installation, no need to access consumers’
property (particularly for split meter installations) and elimination
of inaccurate meter readings.
There are also advantages to the customer, including budget management,
control of energy usage, no cost for disconnection/reconnection
and no waiting for reconnection, no deposits.
A prepaid metering system replaces the billing system, the reading
of meters and the administration of revenue collection. Implementing
such a system means a change of mindset, a change in the way the
revenue collection is managed, a change in IT procedures, a change
in customer service, a change in metering and a change in consumer
behavior.
Lay offs by MoTC still unresolved
By Muluken Yewondwossen
Hundreds of laid off employees in state transport and communication
have still not been re-instated to their former jobs, even after
a letter to that effect written to the Ministry of Transport and
Communications by the Office of the Prime Minister. The 541 workers
were laid off eight months ago after the results of a Business Process
Reengineering (BPR) conducted on the Ethiopian Postal Agency, Civil
Aviation, Tele Agency, Transport Authority and the Transport and
Communications Ministry.
The letter, signed by Berhanu Adelo, director of the Prime Minister’s
Office, Cabinet Affairs Minister and dated December 5, 2007, to
the Transport and Communication Ministry, states that the Ministry
should return the workers from the five departments of the Ministry
to their posts.
Some of the laid off workers told Capital that all of them met with
Junedi Sado, Minister Transport and Communication on February 13,
2008 and asked to be told the exact time when they can return to
work. However the meeting was dismissed without an agreement being
reached.
The laid of workers, they are receiving their salaries until the
Ministry comes up with a solution to the issue.
The Ministry has proposed for the laid off workers to be given parking
lot and staff canteen concessions and for them to participate in
safety networks to generate income. However, the workers protested
the proposals and demanded to be reinstated to their positions in
the respective government offices, as they have unfairly been laid
off.
It is to be recalled that a meeting called by Junedi, on December
22, 2007 to confer with the 541 employees had also been unfruitful
after an hour of discussion.
39 trade centers for Addis
By Muluken Yewondwossen
The Addis Ababa City Administration, Trade and Industry Development
Bureau, has prepared 39 sites for trade centers to be built in each
of the ten sub-cities.
The construction work on the trade centers is scheduled to start
within this fiscal year.
According to Tsegaye Akalu, Marketing Study Manager of the Bureau,
his office is to build the trade centers in collaboration with Addis
Ababa City Work and City Development Bureau.
Tsegaye told Capital that the four storey buildings will be completed
this year and confirmed that currently the land selection and design
work is completed. He added that the design work has been approved
by the City Housing Development Agency.
The trade centers and show rooms will be allotted to private associations
and union and trade associations organized in the city.
“These trade centers include parking areas and other modern
market facilities,” Tsegaye said.
According to Tsegaye, a budget of more than 175.5 mln Birr is secured
from the Ethiopian government. He stated that the buildings will
be constructed on 333 to 2000 sq. meter plots.
“When these trade centers are ready, the associations can
access their clients and customers easily,” Tsegaye said,
adding that they will host more than 1500 associations.
National Palace calls original
architect for remodeling
By Kirubel Tadesse
Francesco Saverio Antilici, Italian Architectural and Interior
Designer, who created the Palace's interior and supervised the construction
of the Jubilee Palace in 1972, is in Addis Ababa for a renovation
project. The whereabouts of Francesco Saverio Antilici was traced
by chance by the Palace Administration through the Internet and
he was invited to come to Addis Ababa to help in the study for the
renovation and the interior designs of his thirty-five year old
work as well as the original wing of the palace which was built
in 1955.
Antilici told Capital that he has spent months preparing the survey
of both the two wings of the Palace starting from the end of October
2007. "We looked everywhere for the designs of the Palace,"
explained Antilici," finally, I found some of the designs in
my archive and those are what we are referring to now. For the 1955
wing, which was designed by another person, no plans were found
so I had to draw and study it thoroughly for months."
He has now submitted the results of the survey and a renovation
program to the Palace Administration and is optimistic about the
approval of a budget for the projects, which is estimated to last
two years. "I was told that the news of an approval of a budget
should come in quite a short time," Antilici told Capital.
"We will first start to renovate one of the wings, leaving
the other to resume service and move to the other wing," Antilici
added.
Going back to the first time when he was called in for the job,
Antilici said "I can say it was by chance I got the job. Back
in 1969, I was talking to my uncle, an engineer, and acquainted
with the people who were looking for an architect. That's how I
came to spend three years working on the Palace. I was 27 at that
time and it was a great experience for any young architect."
According to Antilici's recollection the interior designs and finish
of Jubilee Palace cost USD 5 million, a budget made available by
an export credit by the Italian government. He added he was put
in charge of the project after the foundation and basement were
completed. Most of the materials were imported from Italy but now
Antilici believes that many of them should be available locally.
"The condition of the palace is really amazing; the Palace
Administration accomplished a miracle in preserving it. The 1955
palace is also in fair good condition. However, every house needs
maintenance after thirty five years of service, particularly in
what concerns the technical installations, i.e. electrical, plumbing
and ventilation systems, the restoration of wooden floors and the
general interior decoration" explained Antilici. Even if the
current state of the palace is quite satisfactory, Antilici comments
that for unknown reasons, the exterior of the Jubilee Palace has
been repainted and has a different look and color." Now we
have to undo that and correct it. I don't know why it was made to
look like limestone but it was redecorated and now we will change
it back to its original look," Antilici added.
Antilici told Capital that he has met some old friends who still
work at the palace. "I heard that Engineer Mekonnen Mulat has
passed, he was the one I was working with mostly," said Antilici
referring to the then Vice Minister of Public Works. "The Emperor
too was closely following the palace construction. We were working
like mad and eager for the completion day. At the end of the project,
the Emperor was satisfied."
Renowned architect, Francesco Saverio Antilici, was born in Rome,
Italy, in a family of Italian and German descent. He took the final
examinations both at the State Art School and at the Technical School
in Rome getting the architectural designer certificate. He also
studied architecture at the La Sapienza University in Rome.
He started practicing in Tunisia as assistant architect at the Ministry
of Public Works. He set up his own Architectural and Town planning
practice on authorization by the
Tunisian Government. He completed successfully a number of projects,
as designer and project manager in North Africa, Middle East and
Europe sometimes in collaboration with major Italian and foreign
offices, or on his own. His portfolio includes clients like Dr G.-R.
Flick, the heir of the Daimler-Benz fortune, two daughters of President
Bongo of Gabon, Prince Mansour b. Meteib b. Abdulaziz, a nephew
of former King Fahad of Saudi Arabia, Mr. C.-J. Tourres of Adidas
and many more important private clients and institutions. His experience
going from town planning to architecture, interior design, restoration
of antique buildings and garden and landscape design. "It is
a special moment for me; it isn't always that you are called to
do a project you did 35 years ago," said Antilici," the
budget required isn't that high since the Palace is just old and
not an antique which usually costs a huge amount of money."
India to announce duty free
import
By Groum Abate
India is likely to announce duty free import of selected items
from African countries at its first-ever summit with 14 African
countries in April. The April 8 summit will come out with an action
plan for reinvigorating India-Africa ties and a political declaration
that will encapsulate broad directions of this partnership in the
21st century. The action plan will include a broad spectrum of areas,
including trade, investment, education, agriculture, mining, infrastructure
and culture. It is said that the Indian government is working on
a package of duty concessions that may cover some agricultural items
for least developed countries of Africa.
Total trade with Africa for 2006-07 was estimated at around 20 billion
dollars with exports to Africa growing by more than 180%. The duty-free
and quota-free regime for certain African countries will be a big
step to energize trade ties between India and Africa. Algeria, Burkina
Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Libya,
Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia are among the
countries to attend the summit. The participating countries have
been chosen by the African Union. The summit has been structured
as a three-tier interaction between senior officials (April 4),
foreign ministers (April 7) and 17 heads of states/government of
the two sides (April 8) participating in this exercise. A gala multicultural
concert and a multimedia show will kick off the summit and will
provide a more contemporary character to their ties.
Although some see the move to have been inspired by a similar summit
China held with African states, Indian officials are keen to distinguish
their approach, of capacity building and empowerment towards Africa,
as different from the trade-driven Chinese approach.
India sees its partnership with Africa as one of empowerment and
meeting genuine African needs.
Nearly 15,000 African students study in India every year. “The
summit will showcase the brand image of India in Africa. The continent
has changed and so has India. The forum will be appropriate to give
a new direction to the partnership between the two sides,”
said an official. The summit will also be attended by heads of sub-regional
groupings like the Southern African Development Community (SADC),
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Economic
Community for West African States (ECOWAS).
India’s help in setting up the Pan-Africa e-network that will
electronically link 53 countries of Africa and bring them benefits
of tele-education and tele-medicine, highlights the new thrust of
Indian diplomacy in Africa. India has also given generous lines
of credit to assist the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) and written off the debt owed by the African countries under
the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) Paris Initiative. India
has spent more than $1 billion on providing training to more than
1,000 officials from sub-Saharan Africa, under the Indian Technical
and Economic Cooperation Program (ITEC).
EPRDF presents majority candidates
from outside party
‘Addis Ababa city council election is uncertain’
For next month’s bi-election and local elections, the ruling
party Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Party (EPRDF)
has presented 32,000 candidates in Addis Ababa to contest in the
election. EPRDF officials announced that more than 50% of its Addis
Ababa candidates are not members of the party.
Lidetu Ayalew (MP), Chairman of United Ethiopian Democratic Party
(UEDP –Medhin) on his part, told Capital that his party has
decided not to put up candidates for the Addis Ababa City Council.
“We asked the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia to clarify
some unclear points about the election for Addis Ababa City Council,
to no avail. It isn’t clear for instance, whether the election
will award the winners the remaining two years or a full five years
term,” explained Lidetu. “We even tried to discuss the
issue in parliament but it was turned down by majority vote from
being on the agenda.”
“These concerns and questions need to be addressed and before
those legality issues are dealt with, we couldn’t be part
of that specific election; especially after our candidates who won
seats in May 2005 are ready to take up their seats,” Lidetu
added. United Ethiopian Democratic Party is participating in the
remaining bi election and local elections in six regions.
In related election reports, The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces
(UEDF) said that it has been facing problems in registering its
candidates in Oromia and Southern Nation and Nationalities People
States. It was reported that UEDF Chairman Professor Beyene Petros
has said that his party could not get its candidates registered
for the upcoming elections in Yem Special Woreda and in all woredas
of Kembata Zone as well as Jeldu, Ambo and Tokekutare Siraro woredas.
Professor Beyene added that his party was not able to register candidates
in its full capacity because many of them have been jailed, harassed
and abused. The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia denounced Beyene’s
claim, stating the complaints as baseless and insincere.
Several political parties are participating in the bi election and
local election from which 27 million voters have been registered.
Ethiopia launches Sustainable
Land Management Platform
By Kirubel Tadesse
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) together
with a number of partner organizations, has launched a Sustainable
Land Management (SLM) platform that targets to alleviate land degradation
and food insecurity problems of the nation.
Stating land as a critical resource in Ethiopia with agriculture
production accounting for about 50% of the GDP, 90% of export revenues
and 80% employment, Ahmed Nasir, State Minister of MoARD, said that
the resource faces critical environmental problems such as soil
erosion, deforestation and land degradation.
“About 85% of our land surface is considered prone to moderate
to very severe soil degradation, about 28% severe or very severe,”
explained Ahmed, “it is estimated that about 30, 000 ha are
annually lost from water erosion with more than two million already
severely damaged, one billion ton of topsoil is lost each year from
soil erosion, and 62,000 ha of forest and woodland are cleared annually.”
According to the State Minister, past efforts have failed to comprehensively
address the problem and a more programmatic approach is a must.
“The government has formalized the decision to develop and
implement a National Programmatic Framework for sustainable land
management in a program-based approach,” added Ahmed, at the
press conference held at German House on February13, 2008 to launch
the platform.
The World Bank, German Development Cooperation, FAO, World Food
Program, USAID, and UNDP are some of the partner organizations behind
the platform. Dr. Andrea Bahm, GTZ Director of the Ethio-German
Program for Sustainable Utilization of Natural Resources for Improved
Food Security (SUN), stated that the national SLM framework is paving
the way to direct efforts and resources, the public, government
and donor organizations in an efficient and timely manner.
At the platform launching ceremony, Seleshi Getahun, MoARD head
of Forest, Land use, Soils Development and Conservation, explained
that the first step of the action plan will be the establishment
of regional platforms which will be responsible for the establishment
for Woreda watershed development technical committees. “The
Woreda technical committees will further establish Kebele watershed
development committees,” explains Seleshi, “at the initial
stage of program implementation, more attention will be given to
awareness raising campaigns on SLM.”
In connection with launching the SLM platform, a documentary film
entitled “The Lessons of the Loess Plateau, China” was
shown. The opening was marked with the presence of President Girma
Wolde-Giorgis and senior government officials.
First exclusive life insurance
company founded
By Muluken Yewondwossen
The first exclusive life insurance company, Ethio-Life Insurance
was founded on February 9, 2008 with a paid up capital of over Br
6 million. It has 130 shareholders.
The legal capital requirement to establish an insurance company
is Br 4 million and the company is due to start operations with
a capital exceeding the minimum requirement.
Ethio-Life Insurance Company will be a specialized long term insurance
company engaging in life insurance, health insurance and annuity
cover it was announced at the founding meeting held at the Ghion
Hotel.
One of the business motives for the promoters to establish an exclusive
life insurance company, after 34 years of hiatus, was noted as the
fact that the potential for long term insurance in Ethiopia is untapped.
Low penetration of long term insurance was explained more by low
intensity of business promotion and awareness creation than by cultural
barriers and low disposable income.
The promoters believe that there will be an increasing demand and,
hence, steady growth in returns. Currently, the contribution of
life insurance is a mere slice of the total insurance sales in the
country, which is 5 to 6 percent.
According to the company’s release document the new company
plans to change this state of affairs around and undertake long
term insurance as a self-sustaining and independent business entity.
Together with other actors in the industry, Ethio-Life will do its
best to promote long term insurance and hopes to upgrade the share
of long term insurance in the country to 15 percent in five years
time.
The company believes that life insurance appeals to all members
of the society irrespective of economic or social status. As the
experiences of other countries show, the demand for life insurance
is not fully correlated with the per capita income of citizens,
according to the company realized document.
The document said that in countries such as Costa Rica and India,
the per capita spending on long term insurance is Birr 63 and Birr
168 respectively as opposed to Birr 0.5 in Ethiopia. The penetration
of long term insurance in these countries is 126 and 336 time larger
than that in Ethiopia respectively. The shareholders, therefore,
rallied around the strong theme that long term insurance will have
a niche in the shipping basket of the families and would gradually
be introduced to the homes of millions.
Essentially, Ethio-life commits itself to tailoring life insurance
products to society’s need by introducing suitable insurance
products.
The noticeable changes in the structure of our society such as ‘extended
family’ gradually becoming ‘less extended’ and
the force of the market increasingly putting pressure on families
to be economically independent and plan for the future are some
of the factors that the new company considers as opportunities in
the years ahead. The global and national business trend, expansion
of private employments and growing parental concern for children
are also equally propitious developments conducive to the business.
The founding meeting has elected a board of directors comprising
seven members including three body corporate: Teshome Beyene, Yoseph
Endeshaw, Zikre Negatu, Ayate S.C, Ethiopia Machinery Lease plc,
Abate Digafe and Ethiopian Air lines Employee’s Savings and
Credit Association. The members were praised to have a strong and
diversified business experience and credential.
The company plans to start operations in three months and would
soon apply to the regulatory authority for a license.
Bank set date for salary
adjustment
By Tewodros Kebkab
The Trade Union of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has given
fifteen days prior notice for the management and board of CBE and
to the Financial Institution Agency, for their salary to be revised
in accordance to the recent salary provision.
Officials of the CBE Trade Union in a meeting held on Tuesday February
12 said that they would call the general assembly if the management
could not reply within the next 15 days.
Mentesinot Tibebe, President of the labor association told Capital
that the association has set fifteen days for the salary adjustment
and would take the appropriate measures if their request should
not be responded positively and on time.
“We were waiting for the last seven months to get the salary
adjustments the government introduced based on the price hike”
said the president.
Abe Sano President of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia told Capital
that they will give statements by next week, but refrained to say
anything about the issue.
Mentesinot also said managements of the Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian
Telecommunication Corporation, and Mugger Cement Factory were revised,
but he added that they don’t know in what case their salary
was not revised.
Ethiopia welcomes Russian
oil, gas companies
By our staff reporter
Ethiopian Trade and Industry Minister Girma Birru said Wednesday
that the Ethiopian government welcomed Russian oil and gas companies’
plans to develop deposits in Ethiopia.
The visiting minister was speaking following a meeting of a Russian-Ethiopian
government commission.
Birru said that, in particular, Russian oil major Lukoil was seeking
to develop oil and gas fields in the country.
In the eighties the Soviet Petroleum Exploration Expedition (SPEE)
drilled nine deep gaz wells from 1982 to 1993 in the region of Calub.
The Calub gas reserves are estimated at 2.7 trillion cubic feet
(TCF) while the Hilala gas reserves are estimated at 1.3 TCF. Ethiopia
also plans to lay two pipelines - 80 km from Hilala to Calub and
700 km from Calub to Dire Dawa.
Different countries, China, India, Malaysia and the British White
Nile company showed interest in Ethiopia’s oil exploration
however the political instability particularly in Ogaden which is
believed to contain huge amounts of oil reserves hinder the economic
exploitation of oil resources.
Also, the Gambella basin is one of the five sedimentary basins found
in Ethiopia, which are expected to be oil prospective.
Credit risk management
for Ethiopian banks
By Groum Abate
Zemen Bank S.C. has entered into a partnership agreement with
eVentive which will provide the bank’s IT system, and Harland
Financial Solutions which is to provide Credit and Risk Management
System software.
This was disclosed at a one-day seminar on Credit and Risk Management,
held on Thursday, February 14 at the Sheraton Addis and organized
by Zemen Bank in collaboration with eVentive and Harland Financial
Solutions.
The Bank is also taking the lead in the country in implementing
the Basel II Framework.
The Basel II Framework describes a more comprehensive measure and
minimum standard for capital adequacy that national supervisory
authorities are now working to implement through domestic rule-making
and adoption procedures. It seeks to improve on the existing rules
by aligning regulatory capital requirements more closely to the
underlying risks that banks face.
Basel II requires banks to collect more data about customers and
consistently use best practices for credit risk management.
Participants at the seminar were credit officials from both private
and government banks and from the Ministry of Capacity Building.
The purpose of organizing the seminar was to create awareness among
other banks so that they too would benefit by using the software.
At the seminar, Harland Financial Solutions Worldwide and Kenya
Commercial Bank presented a Credit Risk Symposium for Ethiopian
banks.
Harland Financial Solutions Worldwide is a global software company
with over 7,000 financial institution customers and delivers CreditQuest
solutions for credit risk management for banks worldwide.
The full day symposium also covered the Evolution of Credit Risk
and Lending Systems, Regulatory Requirements for Lending and Credit
Risk Systems (Basel II), a demonstration of the CreditQuest product
and a Case Study of KCB’s implementation of CreditQuest.
‘Entertainment: not
a luxury but an essential part of living’-GTV
By Muluken Yewondwossen
The media launch of the pan African GTV service in Ethiopia was
held on February 11, 2008 at the Sheraton Addis in the presence
of Julian Mclntyre, Gateway Communications co-founder and GTV (Gateway
Community Television) managing director.
“We have a vision at GTV to pioneer a fresh and innovative
approach to television in Africa. We believe that entertainment
is not a luxury but an essential part of living a full and happy
life for all people. And television is a major form of that entertainment,
which stimulates all of our human emotions: passion, excitement,
joy, romance and awareness,” Julian said on his opening speech.
In Africa, of the forty million homes that have color television
set, only one percent have access to ‘pay television’.
That means that most people are watching just a few television channels,”
he added.
The managing director said that the service has already been legalized
by the country’s Broadcast Agency and would go functional
soon.
“In East Africa alone we have invested in the tremendously
successful CECAFA tournament which we broadcast across the continent
in December, as well as sponsoring and broadcasting the football
leagues in Uganda and Tanzania. This is a sign of our real commitment
to the development of local interests in the region,” he added.
Julian Mclntyre, GTV managing director, has been a major contributor
to developing the telecommunications industry in Africa over the
last five years.
Gateway Broadcast Services, a subsidiary of UK-based Gateway Telecommunications,
has raised 40 mln USD to finance the roll-out in Africa of its new
pay television service, GTV. However, with over 46 million TV sets
and growing at well over 10% per annum, Africa represents a large
and rapidly growing market for subscription television, which Gateway’s
own independently commissioned research estimates will grow to over
$3bn by 2015.
GTV, which is competing with MultiChoice offers a range of channels
such as European football and exclusive live broadcasts of 80 percent
of the UK’s Barclays’ Premiership Football games to
48 sub-Saharan African countries. In less than 6 months, GTV now
delivers service in over 20 countries.
According to the document released on the launching ceremony, currently
there are in Ethiopia less than 10 thousand subscribers to a ‘pay
television’ service.
GTV will announce details of prices, channels and services offerings
through Metro plc, its official agent in Ethiopia.
Mesqan epicenter: center
for mobilizing rural communities
By Groum Abate
The Hunger Project’s work in Ethiopia began in April 2004
following the underwriters’ agreement to fund the work for
its first three years. Since then, all actions have been forwarding
the integrated epicenter strategy, which is The Hunger Project’s
hallmark in Africa. In less than two years, a National Council was
formed, a full staff was set up and is in action with various constituencies
from local government to grassroots levels, and the work on the
ground to create the first epicenter in partnership with the local
communities has begun. In 2006, the first actual epicenter building
was inaugurated at Jaldu, 150 kms West of Addis in the Oromia Regional
State. The area includes a population of around 20,000 people living
in five large kebeles. The second epicenter came to life last year
in Debre Damo 96 kilometers north of Addis Ababa.
Now it is the turn for Mesqan, seven kilometers north-west of Butajira
town, which is 133 kilometers from Addis Ababa. Another epicenter
in the Amhara National Regional State is under construction. The
Hunger Project Ethiopia (THPE) have undertaken projects worth over
nine million birr including the epicenters, water supply facilities,
construction of eight literacy centers and one animal health center
among the many other activities the project embarks.
The Hunger Project is an unconventional, strategic organization.
It does not provide ‘relief’, rather works in authentic
partnership with the people of developing countries to address the
root causes of hunger and to ensure that all people have the chance
to lead healthy and productive lives. Today, The Hunger Project
works in more than 10,000 villages across 13 developing countries
in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. It carries out proven strategies
that are empowering millions of people to achieve lasting progress
in health, education, nutrition and family income.
In addition to directly empowering hungry people, The Hunger Project
works strategically to change policies, catalyze society-wide transformation
of the conditions holding hunger in place, and strengthen the local
democratic structures through which people can meet their basic
needs on a sustainable basis. Development efforts in Africa have
too often failed to invest in the capacity of Africa’s rural
people. In much of rural Africa, there is no infrastructure. No
schools, no health centers, no all-weather roads. What is usually
not understood is that the lack of physical infrastructure reflects
a lack of human infrastructure - no village councils, no health
and education committees.
Since 1991, The Hunger Project has pioneered a strategy, based on
its strategic planning-in-action methodology, known as the epicenter
strategy. This strategy empowers rural Africans to meet all their
basic needs on a sustainable basis. It is a unified, people-centered
approach that has proven effective in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana,
Malawi, Senegal and Uganda. During 2004, this strategy was extended
into Ethiopia.
Housten to host Ethiopian
Millennium Festival
By Groum Abate
Ethio-American Trade & Investment Council has organized an
image building festival in Houston, Texas, which is an outdoor events
celebration.
This annual Houston International Festival [Ifest] stretches across
16 acres of Houston downtown parks and streets.
According to the press release sent by Ethio-American Trade &
Investment Council, projected attendance is estimated to be around
425,000 visits annually and over 7.9 million dollars is generated
in trade advertising and publicity. The Festival’s demographics
include high-ranking government dignitaries, business leaders and
general public from Texas and surrounding States.
The council with the support of Ethiopian Minister of Culture and
Tourism, of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Embassy
of Ethiopia in Washington, D.C., Ethiopian Airlines, Addis Ababa
Chamber of Commerce and the Houston International Festival, organized
“Ethiopian New Millennium Tourism, Culture and Trade Image
Building festival”, schedule to take place on April 19th,
20th, 26th and 27th, 2008.
This year’s Ifest 2008 “out of Africa Spotlighting Ethiopia”
will showcase dazzling variety of Ethiopian’s arts and crafts,
traditional textile and garment, Ethiopian fresh cut flower, Ethiopia
as the birth place of Coffee and Ethiopian designers fashion shows.
It will include also a creation of a living Museum featuring cultural
dance performance of Ethiopian National Theater throughout the festival
site. The festival is also properly structured and designs to create
opportunity to Ethiopian participants to introduce their products
and closely work to be competitive in the US market.
The Ethio-American Trade & Investment Council [EATIC] is a non-profit,
non-partisan, organization dedicated to strengthening and facilitating
trade and investment between Ethiopia and United States of America.
For the past fifteen years, EATIC has played an active role in getting
the word out to many American business communities to view the Ethiopian
investment and tourism opportunity first hand.
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