Many bakeries in Addis who get their wheat flour subsidized from the government are illegally selling it in order to increase their profit margins, instead of using the flour to bake bread.
Sources at the Addis Ababa Trade Bureau told Capital that bakeries that buy flour from wheat companies for 796 birr per 100 kilograms are re-selling it for up to 1,800 birr.
The bakeries then turn around and reduce the weight of bread. For example, a 100 gram piece of bread, normally sold for 1.30 birr, is lowered by 40 grams, thus becoming a 60 gram loaf. Similarly, 200 and 300 gram pieces are also reduced by 80 grams, during the baking process. Currently, 1,650 bakeries get a flour subsidized by the government from the 44 wheat flour factories that work along the outskirts of Addis Ababa.
Solomon Bekele, Basic Commodity Distribution Head at the Bureau told Capital they are working hard to stop the black market.
“These bakeries receive the subsidized flour to bake bread not to sell. Yet, more people are doing this. They are getting money through the flour subsidy which makes it harder for people to get bread at a fair price” Solomon said.
“It is shameful to see subsidized flour being sold on the black market. We are trying our best to stop it through inspection and we have prosecuted offenders” he added.
Capital asked Solomon if the government might stop subsidizing wheat.
“Absolutely not, we still are importing wheat. The local market is not enough to meet the country’s demand. When the country produces enough wheat we will think about cutting the subsidy.’’
Solomon also commented on the recent withdrawal of Shoa Bakery from the flour subsidy chain.
“It is up to them to choose what they want, getting subsidized wheat is not an obligation it is an option. We are not increasing the wheat we supply to the bakeries and we can’t allow anyone to add any price to the bread when the wheat comes from us.’’
Solomon said the government is conducting a study of the bread market.
Recently Shoa Bakery and Flour Factory PLC increased the price of bread because they said labor and other costs had risen. After the adjustment, 100 grams of bread jumped from 1.30 birr to 2.50 birr. A 200 gram of bread rose from 2.60 birr to five birr and 300 grams of bread went from 3.80 birr to 7 birr. Shoa Bakery has 16 branches and employs 1,150 people.
Recently Capital reported that Addis Ababa Trade Bureau had been fielding complaints from the bakeries. So they conducted a study with the goal of showing the Ministry of Trade Industry that they could slightly increase the price of bread.
The study took into account inflation, the recent devaluation of the birr, the price of input materials and the increasing cost of labor and transportation. They planed to increase the price between 20 and 80 cents.
If the proposal is accepted by the Ministry, 100 grams of bread currently sold for 1.30 birr will be sold for 1.50 birr while 200 grams which was sold for 2.50 birr and 300 grams for 3.80 birr will be sold for 3 and 4 birr, respectively.
Cheating bakeries rip-off customers
Suluta Eco-City project begins
The implementation of Sululta town and the sounding eco-city project studied through an initiative of Nestle Waters Ethiopia and the Water and Land Resource Center (WLRC) of Addis Ababa University will cost USD 70 million.
The study involved over 20 high profile experts. Nestle provided USD 170,000 and about USD 50,000 came from WLRC. The project will be finished within two years.
Gete Zeleke (PhD), Director General of WLRC and coordinator of the integrated landscape management and protection for upper Sululta watershed project, said that integrated water management projects usually are done in rural areas. This one, however is being integrated in the town of Sululta, 28 km north of Addis Ababa.
He told Capital that the project’s main objectives include changing the livelihood of peasants in the target market of the capital, ensuring the sustainability of production in the area, building an eco-city, establishing a solid and liquid waste management system, and improving social services. 
“The city would be a model eco city which would facilitate a solid and liquid waste management system, create green infrastructure, affordable road networks and other basic infrastructure, not only for Ethiopia but for the continent,” he added.
According to Gete, this type of project is the first public private partnership project of its kind. “Several business people have been socially responsible but there is have not been organized, significant projects undertaken jointly by the government in collaboration with the private sector,” he added. This is a big initiative taken by Nestle. Now some big companies like Habesha Beer and Heineken are interested in following Nestle’s approach. He said that they are interested in supporting the Sululta project and similar initiatives in their investment areas at Gelan and Debre Birhan.
The current situation at Sululta, which is the major center for bottled water industries and other factories and agricultural investment, is facing an alarming situation, which should be immediately corrected.
The project study recommended that the wetland should be protected properly, expanding green recreation areas, improve forestation, developing organic horticultural and diary production, and protecting the grassland.
The project coordinator stated that political commitment is crucial to implement the project and the regional government and city administration are committed at the current level. “In the future political commitment is needed besides mobilizing the huge investment amount,” he stated.
The project will take three five year periods and the finance is expected to be mobilized as of this year. A consortium is expected to be formed to manage the financial mobilization process. “Potential financers have given the green light to fund the project but we have to work aggressively to undertake the designed project as per the projection period,” he said.
On the project launching event that was held on Wednesday April 16 at Sheraton Addis, Rosa Umer, Mayor of Sululta, stated that the city administration and Oromia region has taken project as priority and expressed that the regional government apparatus is committed to realize the project.
Sululta is the major training centre for well known athletes. Most of Ethiopian prominent athletes spent their morning training time at the hill of the town, while some popular athletes are using some of the facilities there. Rosa said that the city administration want to make Sululta the global training destination for athletes.
The Sululta landscape covers 14,400 hectare and the project would have several social and economic benefits including expanding production and create more jobs at the developed areas, according to the study.
Nestle became a major shareholder of Abyssinia Springs in May 2016 and is conducting this activity to promote corporate responsibility. It has 51 percent shares in the Abyssinia Springs Water.
WIKILEAKS & JULIAN ASSANGE
The founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London and was taken to jail by the London metropolitan police. Since its founding, WikiLeaks has exposed the callous manipulation, stupefying indoctrination, intensive surveillance and many other evils of the leading operators of the modern world system to the general global sheeple (human mass). Of course, these revelations were not what the ‘deep state’ wanted exposed. Therefore, all kinds of pretexts were concocted to undermine WikiLeaks as well as arrest Julian Assange. The ‘deep state’ doesn’t want such attitude/behavior to take root and is willing to do anything to stop it!
One of WikiLeaks major releases (2008) was on the institutions of global economic governance, namely the World Bank, IMF, etc. The document brought out the following; ‘…the US government admits to “a long history of conducting economic warfare” and using “financial weapons” against governments that do not bend to its will. The “participation” of international financial organizations like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) offers the US “diplomatic-financial venues to accomplish” these goals. Julian Assange was arrested on 11 April 2019 and IMF approved a loan of USD 4.2 to Ecuador on 13 April 2019. Since the new Ecuadorian government came to power, it was clear that Assange’s days in the London embassy were numbered. The present Ecuadorian government rescinded Assange’s asylum status by stating; ‘Assange was trying to use the embassy as a ‘center of spying’! Assange was without a computer, newspaper, books, etc. for over a year. In fact, one can say he was held incommunicado in the embassy for months.
The objective of the ‘deep state’ is to make sure the global sheeple remains docile and just follows the order or directions of the power that be. However, in this day of informatics and general awareness, the global sheeple is bound to bring up serious questions with a view to getting honest and convincing answers, in regards to the whole unsustainable mode of existence pursued by global order. But again, this is something the ‘deep states’ of empire are unwilling to do. Hence, the emergence of: WikiLeaks, Antimedia, Anonymous, Extinction Rebellion, Yellow Vests, etc., etc. In fact, these are still operating, willy-nilly, within the established protocol of the status quo. But there are now other non-state players emerging across the globe committed to violently dismantle the existing global order. Instabilities in places like MENA (Middle East & North Africa), Africa and increasingly South America, are all symptoms of what is to come. What is to be done?
Many of the Wiki+ are already infiltrated by empire’s deep state. For example when Wikipedia came around, it was, by and large, kosher, i.e., it was trying to impart knowledge to the world without much built-in bias. Today that has changed drastically. The deep state has taken over the task of introducing various new entries as well as the job of vigorously editing inputs forwarded by others. The manipulation of undesired facts has become one of the permanent undertakings of the deep state’s cyber soldiers. Hundreds of cyber soldiers continue to add, edit and eliminate entries as desired by the deep state. One might still look for certain things in Wikipedia, without much cynicism. For example, trying to find the distance from earth to the sun on Wikipedia might still be ok. But when it comes to historical, sociological, cultural, racial, etc. issues, one has to be very careful. Entries are edited to reflect the ideology and culture of empire, past and present. We can give plenty of entries that were changed to undermine certain aspects of African, Asian and South American history!
New ways of organizing society is needed, given the proliferation of extreme surveillance by the ‘deep state’. First and foremost, the global sheeple has to accept the fact that we live in an Orwellian order par excellence! Without acknowledging this fact, many of the potential strategies that are being entertained will not go very far. Secondly, the alternatives must anticipate serious and continuous confrontations from the power that be. Wars, genocide, etc., have all been used to subjugate or eliminate dissenters of the system. Thirdly, the world has to agree on the fundamental notion of resilience or what is gullibly called sustainability. By sustainability we mean not only the human activities that are in sync with nature, but also human organizations that are less prone to conflicts. As it stands, the current logic of capital is not in tune with such sentiments. Subjugation, domination, exploitation, etc. (of all and sundry) are its creed!
The deep state wants to stop investigative journalism, particularly if it is targeting its interests. As far as the deep state is concerned, whistleblowers must be punished and the case of Assange is to demonstrate just that. But the sheeple will not be silenced anymore, because it now knows what is going on behind the scene. The MSM (main stream media) is thoroughly discredited and many have stopped listening to it. In fact, MSM is a member of the deep state itself! See the articles next column and on page 44. ‘Journalism is printing what someone else doesn’t want printed. Everything else is public relation.’ George Orwell. “You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can’t lead to a good conclusion.” Julian Assange. Good Day!
Cabinet reshuffle third in a year
Parliament approved the appointment of new foreign affairs, defense and construction ministers. It was the third cabinet reshuffle since the Prime Minister came to power a year ago.
Through last Thursday’s appointments, PM Abiy Ahmed has placed close allies in key positions. They are former administrators of Oromia and Amhara regional states.
President of Oromia Regional State, Lemma Megersa, is the new minister of defense. He replaces Ayisha Mohammed, who had the job for six months. She was the first women to hold the position. Gedu Andargachew, the former President of Amhara Region has become the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, filling the vacant position after Workeneh Gebeyehu left to work with the United Nations office in Nairobi.
Similarly, Ayisha Mohammed who became the first female Defense Minister in October 2018, has moved to Urban Development and Construction Ministry, a position she once held before becoming the Minister of Tourism and Culture.
Kassa Gugsa, a lawmaker from the Tigrian People Liberation Front (TPLF) raised his concern about the frequent change of ministers with no or little clarification by the parliament. His concern was echoed by another lawmaker saying that ministers should at least stay for a year. While Lemma and Ayisha have appeared to the Parliament to be sworn in, Gedu Andargachew has not shows up for an undisclosed reason. Both Lemma and Gedu often nicknamed, team Lemma, reportedly played a critical role in the reform that ended the 27 years plus domination of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) within the ruling coalition the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The parliament has approved the appointment of the ministers with the majority voting in support of the reshuffle. There was one no vote and five abstentions.
