Addis Ababa, 5 January 2015 (WIC) – Ethiopia earned 1.16 billion US dollars in revenue from the export sector in the first five months of this Ethiopian fiscal year, according to the Ministry of Trade (MoT).

Ministry Public Relations Head, Amakele Yimam, told WIC that the revenue was secured from the export of agricultural, manufacturing and mining products.

The revenue earned during the reported period has shown a 10.67 per cent increase compared to the same period the previous year, he said, attributing the increase to a rise in the price of agricultural products at the global market.

According to Amakele, the export of agricultural products generated over 861.8 million US dollars from the total revenue, showing 20 per cent increase compared to the same period last fiscal year.

Pulses and oilseeds have made significant contribution for the raise in revenue, showing 31 and 23.62 per cent increase respectively compared to the same period the previous year, he said.

Ethiopia envisaged earning 5 billion US dollars from export trade this budget year.

Addis Ababa, 2 January 2015 (WIC) – Opposition political parties that are going to contest in the upcoming May elections said they are preparing to be strong competitor.

Opposition parties that ENA has interviewed with said they have already started activities that will help them become strong contestants in the election.

President of Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum (Medrek) Beyene Petros (Prof) told ENA that his party is being prepared to be strong contestant at the elections.

The preparation of election manifesto and registration of candidates are among the preparation being carried out.

President of the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP), Dr. Chala Kebede said apart from contesting in the elections, the party is working to make it peaceful and democratic.

The Party, one of the signatories to the joint political parties’ council, is striving to actively participate in the council, which he said helps to resolve disputes.

The other Party, United Ethiopian Democratic Forces disclosed that it has already finalized registration of candidates.

President of the Party, Guish Gebre-Silase said the party is going to contest in the nine states. “As the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces is a national party, we are willing and preparing to compete in the nine states. Although we have limited resources we are trying to assign candidates to all regions.”

He lauded the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia for supporting parties regarding finance and provision of trainings on crisis management.

The President urged the Board for the continuation of the support during the election process also, saying his party didn’t encounter any challenge so far.

President of the United Ethiopian Democratic Party, Admasu Hailu for his part said that his party is on the right track to compete in the elections.

“We are in good shape to cast candidates in every part of the country.” he said.

According to him, the Board should work hard to widen the playing fields in order to make the election free and democratic.

Chairperson of the Board Merga Bekana (Prof.) asserted that the political space in Ethiopia has never been wider than now.

“We in the Electoral Board say the political space is wide. When we say it is wide we mean that the service we are providing is satisfying. First we are providing training for the parties using the best people in the area. Second we have a close relation with the parties. We are solving challenges by consulting with regional administrations.”

According to Prof. Merga, the Board has been striving to make the 5th election more successful than the previous ones. (ENA)

The Addis Ababa’s light rail way project worth $475m would be completed by the end of January, the project manager told reporters. The project manager, Behailu Sintayehu,said that 80% of the track has been laid and the rail way would be completed at the end of January, 2015. The commissioning period is going to take another three months for the first passengers to be on board, he stated. The light rail way consists of two lines running for a total distance of 32km. It will have underground and over ground sections, 39 stations, and two operators that are the Ethiopian Railways Corporation and Shenzhen Metro.The $475m cost of the scheme is mostly being met by a loan from China’s Exim Bank, and the construction work has been undertaken by the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC). The light rail way of Ethiopia will be the first urban metro light rail scheme to be built in a sub-Saharan country outside of South Africa.

Addis Ababa, 29 December 2014 (WIC) – Some 33 million voters are expected to be registered for the upcoming general elections to be held in May, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said.

Board Public Relations Director, Demisew Benti, told WIC the stated number of voters is expected to be registered during the voters’ registration to be conducted from January 9-February 19/20015.

He said all the necessary preparations have been made for the registration, including distribution of registration records and other related election materials.

According to Demisew, polling stations will officially resume works beginning from January 8, 2015.

He said NEBE is providing awareness raising training to youth, women, teachers, heads of civic society, journalists and other stakeholders so that they would contribute their share for the elections.

According to a report released by International Democratic Election Agent (IDEA) recently, over 29 million out of the 31 million people registered to vote in the 2010 Ethiopia’s general had cast their votes, he said.

The data proves that 93.4 per cent of the voters had cast their ballot, showing a high turnout compared to Africa’s average turnout at 67.3 per cent, he said.

Addis Ababa, 29 December 2014 (WIC) – Economic scholars said Ethiopia’s debut exercise at the capital market by issuing a 1 billion USD sovereign bond will help it to sustain the economic growth.

The scholars whom ENA has interviewed asserted that it will have positive influence on the economy by strengthening the financial system, attract more foreign direct investment, increase role of the private sector and get additional hard currency.Dr Tasew woldeHana, an economic lecturer at Addis Ababa University, a state-owned institution, told ENA that the economic growth witnessed over the past 10 years has resulted in huge demand for capital, energy, communication facilities and other infrastructures among the public.

Underlining the fact that meeting this growth driven demand requires huge sum of money, the capital market could be an alternative source of finance.“Failing to meet this demand will create a difficulty in keeping the momentum of the economic growth” Dr Tasew said.According to him, injecting huge amount of money to the infrastructure development will have good returns, since infrastructure is a backbone to the whole economic activity.

As the government decided to utilize the money on infrastructural programs, he pointed the importance of the decision by indicating that the county needs to improve its infrastructure facilities as it is at the initial stage in this regard and doing that will better off the economic performance.

According to Dr. Demelash Habte, an economics lecturer at Unity University, a private institution, capital market provides good opportunity to create efficient, effective and organized financial system and sustain economic growth.

In the long run, the capital market will create an opportunity to the private sector to secure funds for their projects thereby become an impetus for the growth.

The finance secured from the capital market will add energy to the consecutive economic growth of the country, noting that growth came so far using limited resources.

Noting that lack of resources were the major reasons for development projects to lag behind the plans, Dr Demelash said this new financial resource will help the government address challenges related to finance.

Joining the capital market, the government can now enhance the economic growth by establishing an investment bank and introduce an organized stock market, he suggested.

For his part, Senior Macroeconomic Expert Dr Eyob Tesfaye said the capital market will help to change the country’s economic dependence on import-export trade, bilateral and multilateral grant or loan.

He said it will also provide a good opportunity for Ethiopia to attract more foreign direct investment, in which the country is working at to strengthen its economy.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister HaileMariam Dessalegn has disclosed last week that the finance secured from the capital market will be used to fund construction of new sugar factories and industrial zone.

Addis Ababa, 23 December 2014 (WIC) – The second National Coffee Day was celebrated in Bonga town, Kaffa zone, SNNP Regional State today.

During the celebration, some 145 coffee grower farmers and stakeholders represented from various regional states received an award and medal.

In Ethiopia, 1.3 million small farmers are directly dependent on coffee for their livelihoods, while 15 million people utilize coffee indirectly for their income, Agriculture Minister, Tefera Deribew, said on the occasion.

Though coffee accounts 10 per cent of the total agricultural GDP, a lot need to be done to increase productivity and become competitive at the global market, he said.

Chief Administrator of SNNP Regional State, Dese Dalke, on his part said following the efforts made to increase productivity, farmers managed to reap 14-30 quintals of coffee per hectare.

Dese finally called upon all stakeholders to increase productivity through effectively utilizing the untapped resources of the region and implementing modern farming system.

High-ranking federal government officials as well as invited guests attended the event, it was learnt.

Hailemariam Desalegn said the response to the epidemic in west Africa should not be “only for the non-Africans”, urging African states to respond to an African Union appeal to send medical staff to affected areas.

“We should show that there is a solidarity within the African countries,” he told reporters.

“Usually the notion is that whenever this kind of epidemic happens, it is the Western countries and other big countries that have to be involved,” he said.

But he added: “We have to break this and show that Africans also are there for Africans. We should try our best to bring African solutions to African problems.”

Last week Ethiopia sent 187 health volunteers to Sierra Leone and Liberia, the largest contingent of medical professionals from any African country since the Ebola crisis began. Desalegn said a further 1,000 volunteers were ready to go.

A number of African states, however, are reluctant to send volunteers, due to either a lack of means or fears they are not equipped to deal with any who return infected with the virus.

Ethiopia’s health minister, Kesete Birhan Admasu, said the Ethiopian volunteers returning home would be placed under medical surveillance for three weeks.

But he has also called on African nations to accelerate efforts to establish a continental centre along the lines of the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Had we have established this centre last year, Africa might have responded early and could have contained the virus,” he said.

Source : AFP
Image: Florian Paucher/ AFP File

Addis Ababa, December 22, 2014 (WIC) – Ethiopia has been undertaking various efforts to bring lastin peace and stability in the region; thereby, to pursue regional economic integration based on mutual benefit, PM Hailemariam Desalegn stated.While briefing journalists at his office today, the Premier said that Ethiopia is exerting efforts to strengthen people to people and government to government relations of countries in the region.

According to the Prime minister, a meticulous attention has given to ensure an enduring peace and stability to speed up regional economic integration.The necessary road infrastructure that could help to economically integrate Ethiopia with Djibouti, Sudan, Kenya and South Sudan has already built, he added.Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn also said that the Ethiopia Public Diplomacy recently visited Egypt had discussions with the people of Egypt and public officials.“That visit could help in strengthening people to people relationships and avoid misunderstandings between the two nations,” he said.The Egyptian President will visit Ethiopia in the coming weeks for further discussion with Ethiopia that is believed to firm the relations of the two countries, Prime Minister Hailemariam added.

In ensuring peace and stability in Somalia, Ethiopian defense forces have liberated 65 per cent of Somalia from Al-Shebab, according to Hailemariam.He also disclosed that Ethiopia has been offering trainings that enable Somalis secure their country from extremists.In connection to the economic development in the country, Premier Hailemariam Dessalegn said that despite encouraging achievements in agriculture, micro and small enterprises and industrial developments, the Sugar development Projects have delayed from the time scheduled in the GTP.

The major setback the country faced in Sugar Development Projects is lack of domestic implementation capacity, the premier emphasized.Besides, the projects need to develop about 25 thousand square hectares of Sugared Cane plantation farm.The first phase of Tndaho Sugar Factory has already begun production while the Kesem Sugar Factory is expected to render its produces in the next four months.“Ethiopian metal Engineering Corporation has now taken the construction of Kuraz I, Beles I and and Beles II Sugar Factories, which relay indicated the experience we have been developing from time to time, the premier added”.

Addis Ababa, 22 December 2014 (WIC) – The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said 250,000 public observers were elected yesterday across the country for the upcoming 5th general elections.

NEBE Public Relations Coordination Directorate Director, Demissew Benti, told WIC that the public observers have the responsibility to supervise and observe the election process.

Each polling station will have five public observers, while each constituency election office will have three mobile public observers, he said. The public observers’ election process held yesterday was successful.

Distribution of election materials, which was launched last week on 16, December 2014, will be concluded after two days, he said.

Casting ballot will be held on May 24 and the final result will be announced on June 22, 2015, according to the information obtained from the NEBE.

Ethiopia’s fifth National Elections are scheduled to be held on May 24, 2015. Ethiopians who are eligible to vote will be going to the polls to elect representatives both for the House of People’s Representatives and for the Regional States and the two City Administration Councils of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. In the run-up to the election, the Ethiopian National Electoral Board (NEBE) is undertaking a number of pre-election preparations and activities. Successive briefings by the Board indicates that the NEBE is on schedule in carrying out all the major activities that have to be undertaken before the announcement of the election results which will be made on June 22, 2015. These 30 activities, which are now being carried out, were agreed on with the majority of the political parties operating in the country. The NEBE recently announced that out of the 75 registered political parties, 58 political parties had submitted their election symbols in accordance with the required timetable. Similarly, the dispatch of electoral materials to a total of 547 constituencies and 44,454 election posts is already taking place ahead of voter registration. Registration of candidates started last week (on December 10) and will be taking place between December 10, 2014 and January 6, 2015. Voter registration is being held between January 9 and February 19, 2015.

In a recent interview with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, Professor Merga Beqana, the Chairperson of the NEBE, highlighted the major activities undertaken by the Board over the previous four years since the 2010 national election. The Chairperson pointed out that the Board has undertaken a thorough analysis and evaluation of the weaknesses and strengths shown by the NEBE’s performance in the discharge of its constitutional duties when conducting the 2010 elections. It had subsequently undertaken a number of measures to improve its capacity and ensure the primary goal of the elections to broaden and deepen the democratic rights of citizens. Among these activities was the issuance of the laws governing the conduct of the parties, media personnel, election candidates and other related matters. The NEBE has issued a Code Of Conduct for the Mass Media and Journalists on the Manner of Reporting about Elections. It has amended its Directive on the Code of Conduct of Election Officials’ Recruitment at Various Levels, its Directive on the Registration of Candidates, the Directive for the Registration of Electors, and the Directive Concerning the Procedure for the Activities of Public Observers and Representatives of Political Parties and Private Candidates. It has also issued the Regulations Concerning the Procedure for Determining the Apportionment of Government Financial Support to Political Parties and the Regulation on Organization and Procedure of Grievance Hearing Committees established by the Board at every level for elections. In addition, to increase the public accessibility to the laws and regulations, the Board is organizing translations into a number of different local languages. It has also signed contracts with a number of different media outlets to conduct voter education and introduce election laws to the general public.

Apart from all this, the NEBE has been conducting capacity building activities along with the restructuring of the organization of regional electoral offices. Following a study it conducted, the NEBE itself has been working on improving its own staffing and increasing its qualified personnel. Professor Merga said, “we are working with a vision of building a strong institution and laying the foundation for an institutional framework that can serve for the coming 30 or 40 years.” The NEBE has also conducted a series of consultative meetings with political parties in a bid to create awareness about the practical application of the electoral laws and regulations. According to Professor Merga, the Board has paid particular attention to raising the level of participation of women. To that end, it has conducted awareness creation training in coordination with women associations in all of the nine regional states and the two city administrations. Similar training has also been given in association with the youth associations.

Another area of emphasis has been on measures related to ensuring the integrity of the electoral process. Professor Merga said the NEBE “is working to make the playing field level to all parties. “ It has introduced public funding of political parties to help them play their role in the democratization process, organizing a public funding scheme based on the practical realties, including the financial constraints, faced by all political parties in Ethiopia. Professor Merga says the scheme has three categories of support. The first is the election-time support which was started for the 2010 national election when the NEBE allotted 55% of the fund to parties which had seats in the House of People’s Representatives and Regional Councils; 25% was divided among the parties on the basis of the number of candidates they fielded in the 2010 election; 10% of the fund was divided among all parties on the basis of mere participation in the election; and the final 10% was exclusively shared between women candidates in order to encourage participation of women in the election. This formula, Professor Merga says, is unique to Ethiopia: “no other country allots 10% of election funding to women candidates.” This, he said, showed the NEBE’s commitment to encourage women’s participation in public affairs. He noted this support was already having a good impact as the number of women in the Ethiopian Parliament had now reached 28%, a figure that was well above the majority of African countries. Professor Merga added that despite the international practice of making parliamentary seats the major criteria for funding, and criticism from the ruling party “we have not made seats as primary criteria to apportion the fund to make it equitable”.

The second form of support provided by the NEBE is to provide some support to finance the day-to-day activities of political parties. Here, however, the criteria are based solely on the number of seats held in the various legislatures. On this basis, the NEBE, for instance, provided 10 million birr in February 2011 to ten of the political parties. The NEBE’s third form of support relates to such services as the rental of conference rooms or town halls and the provision of office equipment.

In addition, the NEBE has introduced specific mechanisms to ensure the impartiality of election officers. Professor Merga said “we have introduced a vetting system of election officers by their immediate election supervisors to check that they are not members of any of the political parties.” Election officers will have to take an oath to discharge their duties without fear or favor and mechanisms have been set up to hold them accountable in cases where they are found in violation of the election code of conduct and election laws. Grievance handling procedures, with a strict timeline, have been put in place to review and respond to any complaints presented by political parties. Professor Merga noted the important role now being played by the Political Parties Joint Committee established under Proclamation 662/2009 which governs the electoral Code of Conduct as a supplementary mechanism to address grievances.

Apart from what has already been carried out, Ethiopian Government officials have also underlined the readiness of the Federal and Regional Government administrations to make sure that the importance of the election in the eyes of the electorate. In a session held on July 27, Prime Minister Hailemariam specifically noted that strong public participation was vital to ensure that the election should be free, fair and democratic. He called on all opposition parties to abide by the electoral law and the code of conduct which had been passed by the House of Representatives to make sure that the election would a held in peaceful manner. Minister Redwan Hussein, Head of Government Communications Affairs Office with the Rank of a Minister, recently met with 17 Ambassadors from European Union countries. He told the EU Ambassadors that sufficient airtime and news paper columns would be allocated in such a way as to make sure that each party running in the election would be able to disseminate its ideas and programs freely. He said that, as in the 2010 election, the EPRDF used 80% while the opposition used only 50% of the airtime and column space available in papers, there should be no complaint about shortage of broadcasting time. Minister Redwan noted the possibility of civic associations and public and private media outlets running programs and election debates. This, he said, would allow for additional opportunities for party members to communicate and build up their own constituencies. Mr. Redwan, however, cautioned that any move by any political party to take state power through unconstitutional means would not be tolerated. He said “the government will take action in accordance with the law”. The EU Ambassadors and the NEBE agreed on the importance of capacity building of media personnel as part of the electoral process.

The NEBE’s preparations are all under way to ensure the upcoming national election is free, fair and democratic. At the same time, successful elections will also rest on the commitment of stakeholders to abide by the electoral laws and respect the institutions entrusted with conducting the election by the Constitution. In this regard, the NEBE has shown remarkable progress in encouraging the creation of an institutional framework to encourage increased participation of youth, women and civic society in general and ensure the election will reflect the will of the people.

 

Source : MFA Ethiopia