In cold and wet conditions, Ethiopia’s Abdi Kebede registered his first international marathon title with a course record, while compatriot Tigist Teshome broke the women’s record at the Changsha International Marathon.
The 22-year-old Kebede, who debuted over the classic distance last year, stayed in the leading pack soon after the gun and won a last-kilometre three-man battle to cross the line in 2:10:23, cutting 50 seconds from the course record set last year by Ethiopia’s Fikadu Teferi.
A leading group of eight runners, including defending champion Teferi and local runner Peng Jianhua, paced the race to 15km in 46:16 and 20km in 1:01:29. Teferi gave up his title defense before 25km, while an unsuccessful attempt to break away from Paul Maina of Kenya at 33km further trimmed the leaders to five. The top three finishers all beat Teferi’s course record. David Kiprono of Kenya clocked a PB of 2:10:26 to finish second, improving his best by 44 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Workneh Tesfa finished third in 2:10:30.
The top three athletes in the women’s race also finished inside the course record of 2:32:56 set by Ethiopia’s Bekelu Beji, who pulled out of the race at the last minute.
32 years-old Tigest emerged victorious from a last 500-metre duel against Soud Kanbouchia of Morocco to finish in 2:31:43, which was more than two minutes shy of her PB of 2:29:17 set in Barcelona seven months ago.
The 37-year-old Kanbouchia finished, lagged five seconds behind Tigest to finish second while 24 year-old Ethiopian Ayantu Abera clocked 2:32.34 to finish third.
Abdi, Tigest set course records in Changsha
Customs cracks down contraband cars
The Ethiopian Customs Commission is seizing untaxed vehicles that have come into the country illegally via Somalia and Djibouti. So far over 450 different vehicles have been confiscated in the ongoing operation.
During the crackdown, close to 150 Toyota RAV 4, over 300 Toyota Corollas and other models of vehicles were repossessed from the streets of Addis.
Apparently, the vehicles first obtain fake documents and a plate number from Oromia Region. Almost all the confiscated vehicles had Oromia plates and documents before being transferred to Addis Ababa for sale.
Organized crime appears to be involved all the way from the Somalia and Djibouti border to the Oromia region and finally the capital where they are sold by car dealers.
For the Toyota RAV 4 model cars which have an estimated cost of 2.2 million birr, they offer a discount of up to 400,000 birr.
The confiscated cars are not limited to the two models, there are others but those models are the primary ones. The criminals work as a team and choose the cars with the highest re-sale value. 
Capital asked the custom commission to comment but they did not reply. The officer from the commission said that the vehicles will not be released unless they pay the required taxes.
In Ethiopia unless exempted by law, items imported in to the country are subject to a number of taxes. However, the illegal trade in smuggled cars deprives the government of tax revenue.
Vehicle affordability is further locked up by prohibitively high vehicle taxes in Ethiopia, sometimes more than 220 percent depending on engine size.
Furthermore, the stages involved in registering a Duty-free Vehicle in Ethiopia is not far different from importing a new private vehicle, the only difference is in the payment of government tax, in that the Duty-free vehicle is not required to pay government taxes whereas the private new vehicle owner pays taxes.
The Ministry of Revenue says both commercial and private vehicles imported into the country can be subjected to five different types of taxes. However, despite the heavy tax burden there is a rise in the numbers of car imports ever year up to 50 percent.
Public enterprises evaluated for privatization
Valuations and other preparations for the privatization process of major public enterprises is ongoing, Capital learned.
Brook Taye, an adviser at Ministry of Fianace, said that the relevant bodies in specific areas are working on the process of privatizing local enterprises.
He said that placing a value on sugar factories is expected to be finished in the near future. The sugar sector is expected to be the first sector to realize the initiative of privatizing mega public businesses.
Its request for proposal (RFP) has been concluded for some selected factories and about ten companies including local firms have been shortlisted for further steps.
“The valuation work of all 13 sugar factories will be finalized within 40 days. The technical assessment is being undertaken and in the second week of November the public consultation will be held in the specific sector,” Brook said.
“The government is also coming with the sugar policy and regulatory framework or proclamation to manage the sugar business, price and operation in the production process of managing the relationship of industries and out growers,” the advisor added.
Even though the country has a huge potential in the sugar sector it has been importing significant amounts of the sweet to fill the market gap, while new sugar factories are expected to surplus the business which hopes to export sugar eventually.
Brook also said that the initiative with the logistics work has been also finalized and sent for decision to the macroeconomic committee that is chaired by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The structure recommendation is the main area of focus anticipated from the committee on the logistics sector according to Brook. “We are waiting for the decision of the committee for further process,” the Advisor said.
One of the areas the government decided to open is the logistics sector. Last year the government has allowed foreign actors to invest up to 49 percent on the logistics business. Following the decision some local firms are making deals with foreign business partners.
The government has also working to sell shares in the state logistics and shipping giant, Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE), which is the only state owned shipping enterprise and sole cross continent shipping enterprises in Africa.
ESLSE is one of the oldest and profitable enterprises in the country, while the logistics sector is criticized by stakeholders by its poor operation, which is one of the challenges on doing business in the country.
The energy sector is also looking in two sides; the debt rearranging and reform of the sector, according to Brook.
“The roadmap will also look at the overall structure of the energy sector, which is mainly the electric sector,” he said.
According to the advisor the work on the industrial park is also ongoing.
PM emphasizes untiy in speech to parliament
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared at parliament on Tuesday October, 2019, responding to questions presented by both the House of People’s Representatives and the House of Federation.
The Prime Minster clarified his positions regarding the upcoming election, the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a unified country and government’s plan.
Questioned by lawmakers about the future of the fractious ruling coalition Abiy said that EPRDF intends to merge into a single party which was unanimously agreed during last year’s meeting in Hawasa, though, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), rejected the idea last week. The Prime Minister said it is useful to open a dialogue about a unified party.
“No force will stop Ethiopia from building the dam,” the PM said when asked about a dispute with Egypt. He stressed negotiations but said he could ready millions for war if the need arose.
The Prime Minister warned non-Ethiopian media owners engaged in inciting conflicts by spreading hate speech.
He stressed that some media institutions in Ethiopia have been abusing press freedom and explicitly said his administration will not tolerate any more of those media owners for the sake of defending the peace and stability of the country and well-being of citizens.
Though there have been concerns raised by advocates, and politicians, both from the ruling EPRDF and the opposition block, political analysts and observers of Ethiopian politics on holding the election, the Prime Minister firmly defended his government’s decision to conduct the election.
“The elections will not be free of challenges, holding that is useful in many ways as the past show how the Ethiopian people vote for the parties of their choice instead of resorting to post election violence,” Abiy said.
However, all stakeholders including the media, civil society organizations and competing political parties need to discharge their responsibilities to make the election a success.
“Democracy is an exercise and a culture and it is so when we exercise it, when we do it, we dont run away from it,” Abiy added.
PM Abiy also spoke about the complaints of over 70 opposition political parties against the recently revised electoral law which raised the number of signatures parties are required to collect to register as national political party to 10,000 up from 1,500 and requires regional parties to collect 4,000 signatures up from 750.
As a result of this, opposition parties planned to hold a hunger strike against the revised electoral law during the first week of November.
“The grievance is emanated from their own weakness not from the law,” said the PM.
