ETHIOPIA: Healthcare Workers’ Strike & more – 15th May 2025

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 15th of May twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

To kick off this week’s episode, let’s fill you in with an update to a story from our previous show. Last week, health professionals increased calls for better pay and benefits but didn’t plan on calling a strike. However, that didn’t age well because they went on a strike across the country for half of Tuesday the 13th after months-long calls on the government to increase pay and benefits fell on deaf ears. They had been protesting about their low wages and the benefits they were receiving in the face of inflation and increased costs of living.

It seems the government is not only unwilling to solve the situation but has allegedly put pressure on healthcare workers organizing these strikes, saying not to go forward with the protests. Strikes are legal in Ethiopia so to be punished or arrested, protesters should have been out of line, and nothing of the sort has been reported.

Three doctors from the Southern Ethiopia region and the president of the Ethiopian Health Professionals Association have been arrested. Amnesty East Africa urged the government to release detainees in a social media post on Monday the 12th.

Another strike took place recently, but this one was not against the government, but against the multinational logistics company DHL. Employees of the German giant in Ethiopia went on strike late last week, saying the company did not give them the usual annual salary increase, but it did grant it to the managers.

The workers initially asked for a hundred and twenty percent increase, which they later dragged down to fifty percent after the company said it would only increase up to twenty-four percent. They also want their salaries to be computed in foreign currency, such as the US dollar or the Euro, so that their salaries won’t decline in value, as the birr’s value continues to drop in relation to strong foreign currencies.

The strike went on for five days and on Tuesday the 13th, the employees’ union revealed they had struck a deal at a thirty-five percent increase. Even though well below what they were hoping for, the employees said they’re going to get back to work. They mentioned that during the strike, DHL brought in foreign workers to make sure operations continued.

In other news, about a year from now, Ethiopia is set to hold an election for the seventh time in the republic’s history. But some opposition parties are concerned it won’t be free and fair. And that’s why four of them issued a joint statement on Monday the 12th expressing their concern over the government’s and the National Election Board’s lack of preparation.

The four parties are Enat, Ethiopia Unity, Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party and Amhara Ghionians Movement. They explained that, as it stands, various parts of the country, mainly in Tigray in the north, Amhara in the central-north, and Oromia in the central and southwest of Ethiopia, violence rages on, and there’s no enabling environment to hold elections. Besides the parties, many citizens consider elections a luxury in the face of security risks and economic pressure.

More news on the country’s complex political situation as Getachew Reda, former interim president of the Tigray region and current advisor on East African affairs to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said in an interview with state-owned media outlet, Fana, that three prominent Tigray generals have been engaged in illegal gold-mining and trade, human trafficking and stealing government funds.

In the interview, televised on Monday the 12th, Getachew named the three generals who have been allegedly involved in these illegal activities. He also accused them of warmongering, explaining that conflicts create an environment that allows them to be corrupt without being held accountable.

Just two days after this interview, the National Election Board of Ethiopia officially revoked the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (or TPLF’s) status as a political party for failing to hold its general assembly and implement other orders the Board passed. This isn’t the first time this has happened; back in twenty twenty-one the Board revoked the party’s status, citing involvement in armed conflict.

The TPLF has been a very influential political party that has ruled the country for over twenty years.

Meanwhile, on Thursday the 8th, the state-owned telecommunication company Ethio Telecom announced its very own e-commerce platform, accessible through Telebirr, its superapp.

On Friday the 9th, the company’s public relations head said the platform, named Zemen, saw three hundred and sixty thousand visits, with around a thousand products listed. The company’s CEO said the day before that the platform connects buyers, sellers and transport service providers.

She said the platform will help merchants, entrepreneurs and companies save money and promote their products. Ethio Telecom said that about forty-five household brand names had been early adopters of the platform.

According to the company, Telebirr already has over fifty million users and has processed about four trillion birr, which is almost thirty million US dollars, in payments.

Ethio Telecom’s only important competitor is privately owned Safaricom. Even though it didn’t announce a new product, the company revealed its performance report this past week.

It said in the past three months alone, it has managed to enlist over seven million active users of its internet service.

M-Pesa, its digital payment platform, a competitor of Ethio Telecom’s Telebirr, has reportedly gained almost two and a half million new active users and has processed almost sixteen billion birr, which is over a hundred million US dollars.

However, despite increasing the number of subscribers, Safaricom Ethiopia said its operational expenses exceed its revenue by forty-seven billion birr, which is well over three hundred million US dollars.

Another foreign company was in the news. The brewery company BGI Ethiopia announced late last week that it had appointed a new CEO, Pierre-Emanuel Medard, who has over twenty-five years of experience in the industry.

Medard replaces Herve Milhade, who was BGI’s CEO for the past three and a half years, before retiring recently. Medard was working as the CEO of BGI’s Castel’s operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Castel is BGI’s parent company.

BGI is one of the largest breweries in Ethiopia, in terms of both market share and production volume.

More in business news, as government officials said in an investment forum held on Monday the 12th and Tuesday the 13th that they prefer investors with plans to invest in the long term.

Officials also said the executive has solved longstanding issues that prevented investors from investing in Ethiopia, with the National Bank’s governor explaining that the country’s foreign currency reserve has grown threefold since the macroeconomic reform measures taken in July last year.

Speaking of measures, The Addis Ababa City Transport Bureau issued a regulation recently to fine transport enterprises whose employees consume chat, a stimulating plant, alcohol, or smoke cigarettes, in public transport terminals.

The enterprises will be fined ten thousand birr, which is around seventy US dollars, while repeat offenders risk losing their contract with the government. Members of transport enterprises risk similar measures if they don’t wear their uniform or carry identification.

The new regulation also requires enterprises to operate only in the terminals they’re licensed to work in. Additionally, an employee is not allowed to be a part of more than one enterprise.

On another note, The Civil Aviation Authority said in a report presented to a House committee that it has brought in its highest amount in revenue this year, raking in more than two billion birr, which is fifteen million US dollars.

Representatives also said the Ministry of Transport is investigating aircraft near-miss incidents.

The main source of revenue for the Authority is Ethiopian Airlines, which signed an agreement this past week with Panasonic Avionics to install the Astrova in-flight entertainment system in the Airline’s Boeing 777-9 aircraft.

Panasonic will install 4K OLED screens and a USB-C outlet with up to a hundred watts of power.

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

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Ciao!