ETHIOPIA: Abiy Addresses the Parliament & more – 31st Oct 2024

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 31st of October twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

On Thursday the 31st, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sat before the House of People’s Representatives and said the macro-economic reform has been a success so far and has saved the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia from failing, affording it a significant amount in credit obtained from international organizations. He also said that embassies of certain countries engaged in the black market and warned them that his government would take action if they didn’t stop engaging in these acts.

Regarding the violence in Amhara, he said that his government is committed to peace and doesn’t want the violence to continue. The PM also firmly said Ethiopia has national interests in the Red Sea and that the country requires and deserves an outlet. He added that Ethiopia won’t go to war to acquire an outlet but that it will defend itself from attacks if there’s an invasion.

The PM also said that Ethiopia is currently the most attractive destination for foreign direct investment, but Ethiopia Check, a fact-checking site, pointed out that the PM’s statement was wrong because ranking firms say Seychelles and Mauritius are the most attractive destinations. Ethiopia didn’t even crack the top five in Africa.

Shifting gears, last week, we told you that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that he was shuffling up his cabinet .appointing new Ministers of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Trade, Culture and Tourism. Well, the appointments were pending the vote of the House of People’s Representatives. The House then convened on Tuesday the 29th and voted to confirm the ministers’ appointment with only one member voting against their appointment and two members abstaining. The same day, the President of the Federal Supreme Court swore in the newly appointed ministers before parliament. Three of the new five ministers are women taking charge of important offices in the Ministry of Justice, Culture and Sports, and Tourism.

On the same day, the government presented two important bills on urban land and mass media to the parliament. The government representative explained to parliament that the previous bill on urban land mandated the registration of rights and duties over urban land. The new draft bill will feature a framework allowing the registration of rights and duties over the property situated on the land as well as the urban land. This legislation also includes more technical details surrounding the registration of urban land rights. The House referred the draft to the House’s Urban, Infrastructure, Transportation Affairs standing committee.

Regarding the new draft bill set to re-establish the Mass Media Authority, it will take away the broad mandates of the Mass Media Board in recruiting the director of the Authority and instead give this right to the Prime Minister. The board will also not be able to warn or levy punishments on media organizations because this will be the power of the Mass Media Authority. Another modification that raised eyebrows is that the new legislation removed the provision in the previous bill that barred members of political parties from serving on the board.

Members of parliament asked for the provision to be brought back because it will put concerns of conflict of interest to rest. The House of People's Representatives referred the to the House Democratic Affairs standing committee.

Speaking of the MPs, they might convene again soon because the Institution of the Ombudsman announced that if the Addis Ababa City Administration doesn’t resolve the controversy surrounding people who saved for the shared housing units program, which started twenty years ago, it will take the matter to Parliament in two weeks.

The Ombudsman said that it had received complaints from almost seventy individuals who have been saving money in a blocked account to pay for the city government’s housing program. The complainants said that they had been saving for decades for the units but the government allocated them to political appointees and farmers’ children instead.

In other news, The Ministry of Mines recently announced that it plans to begin natural gas production by mid-twenty twenty-five and export by mid-twenty twenty-six. Over a decade ago, the Ministry contracted Poly-GCL, a Chinese firm, to explore and produce natural gas, but the deal fell apart in twenty twenty-two because the Ministry thought the company had run late on the date it agreed to start production. However, a few months ago, the government decided to resume working with the company and expects it to produce a hundred and eighty thousand cubic meters of natural gas daily by July twenty twenty-five. The executive also hopes to use the natural gas produced to make chemical fertilizers locally.

More in business news as steel manufacturing company Abyssinia hopes to secure millions in funding to expand its operations in East Africa. The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, is in talks with the company and wants to give it a loan of around twenty million US dollars. The Corporation announced that its board of directors will vote on the loan package a month from now, on the 30th of November.

The Abyssinia group is currently the largest steel producer in Ethiopia and the second largest in the neighboring country Kenya, producing over six hundred thousand tons every year. Recall that the International Finance Corporation has been lending money for projects in Ethiopia, its most recent was the funding of the operation of Safaricom, the country’s first and only private telecom services provider.

On another note, PM Abiy’s wife Zenash Tayahew has opened schools and other facilities to help underserved communities. One of these projects was a flour and bread mill built in the city of Wolayta Sodo, in the Southern Ethiopia region, almost two years ago. However, residents told media outlets that it had been a while since the mill had stopped working and selling bread. They also recalled that even when it was operational, supply wasn’t consistent.

Media outlets contacted the city government’s representatives, who said the mill stopped working two months ago due to management issues but will reopen soon.

In some travel news, on Tuesday the 29th, Ethiopian Airlines and the National ID Program signed an agreement that will allow Ethiopians to use their national ID as a valid travel document for domestic flights. The heads of the airline and the National ID Program said that this aims to transform the domestic flight experience and allow for a digitized approach to passenger identification. The government announced the National ID program a little over a year ago to create a biometric-based ID system.

The Federal Advocates Administration Board approved a directive last week that will regulate how suits will be brought against federal advocates for disciplinary violations. The directive explains how advocates will be sued, how they’ll present their defense and the investigative procedures that must be followed. It also features provisions on judgments and punishments if an advocate is found liable.

An advocate told media outlets that this directive was issued in accordance with the Federal Advocates Licensing Administration Proclamation, which mandated the board to come up with rules regulating disciplinary hearings of advocates.

And to close this episode, an exciting event happening this Saturday the 2nd of November. Singer, songwriter and producer Rophnan will give a concert in Addis at the Millenium Hall and will present songs from his new album IX. His homecoming event comes at the back of his tour in the US and two cities in Ethiopia.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Ciao!