Murder of Amhara City Mayor & more –6th July 2023

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 6th of July twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Abdu Hussein, the security sector head of Shewa Robit, was murdered on Tuesday the 4th of July. Those responsible have not been identified yet. The city's provisional command post has introduced a 6 pm curfew and has completely suspended any kind of transportation. The command post has called on all residents to help the law enforcement system by reporting suspicious activity.

In lighter news, about two weeks ago, we told you about the referendum that was held in the Wolayta zone of the Southern region to decide whether it should stay in the region or be part of a new twelfth region. Residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of the latter. The House of Federation, the parliament of the upper house, convened on Wednesday the 5th to vote on the creation of the twelfth regional state. All members of the house voted for the creation of the new regional state meaning that six zones and five special districts including the Wolayta zone will together become the twelfth region of the federal republic of Ethiopia. The name of the region will be Southern Ethiopia.

After Professor Berhanu Nega, who's been active in Ethiopian politics for many years, became the Minister of Education, there have been many changes. One of them is the reform in the national university entrance exam. Previously, the exam questions were arranged in four different orders to avoid cheating. For the first time ever, last year's university entrance exam saw the arrangement of questions in six orders. Even though the reform was successful in stopping widespread cheating, it exposed the dire situation that Ethiopian education is in. Shockingly, only three percent of students passed the exam.

This small percentage of students that passed could only fill about fifteen of the forty-two universities in the country. So the Ministry of Education came up with an idea on what to do with the students that didn’t pass. This is how the remedial program was born. The Ministry would allow numerous students to enter universities, but these students would have to take the subjects they didn’t pass twice— they would have to stay an extra semester on the subjects they flunked in the entrance exam. The first-ever remedial exams were held on Monday the 3rd of July. But the Ministry announced the next day that the exams taken on Monday the 3rd won't be taken into account because there were problems during the administration of the exam, which the Ministry didn't specify. The Ministry also said that private colleges would have to postpone the remedial exams to September this year while government universities would keep on with the regular schedule. This caused outrage among students and parents saying they're enduring psychological pressure as they have spent their time and money in preparation for this exam.

Speaking of exams, the 8th grade regional and city exams were also held this past Monday and Tuesday with the only region excluded from this schedule being the warstruck Tigray region. For about two years, the exam wasn't conducted in the region due to the war. Even though more than a hundred and twenty thousand students were expected to sit this time around only about half will be taking the exam, which began on Wednesday the 5th and will continue until Friday the 7th.

Ethiopia is a diverse multicultural country and although this trait is positive, it has also contributed to strife between ethnic groups on various issues. One of them is religion. If you've been following Ethiopian news, you'd remember that there was recently a schism between the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (or EOTC) and her bishops who wanted to break away and create a standalone church on ethnic grounds. The issue brought about rage but was eventually resolved with the demands of the EOTC met and plans to establish the new church scrapped. A similar situation has prevailed between the Church and bishops in the Tigray region, who were separated because of the war and consequently disgruntled.

The EOTC has been trying to make amends and the most important and recent effort will be a delegation's trip to the region led by the Church's Patriarch His Holiness Father Mathias. The Patriarch and the other twelve members of the delegation will be heading for the northernmost region's capital on Monday the 10th. The delegate plans to donate humanitarian aid to the war struck region and hold talks with bishops of the area. The Church's PR section also said that it has sent a letter to the president's office of Tigray's interim administration to make all necessary preparations for the delegation's arrival.

Moving on, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation inaugurated its new headquarters on Wednesday the 5th.

Recall that the corporation used to be the Ethiopian Television and Radio agency, established back in nineteen sixty-five during Emperor Haile Selassie's reign. However, a decade ago, the agency was rebranded as The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation. They had been building its new headquarters, in the northern part of the capital in a quiet and serene area. Before they were located in the heart of the capital in the bustling downtown of Addis. The new 'media complex' is reportedly equipped with advanced tech.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was present at the inauguration and gave a speech. He said that the Corporation shouldn't be the government's mouthpiece and microphone, adding that he hopes the Corporation will become an entity that promotes the good name of Ethiopia, growing past local strifes and inane matters. Onlookers frequently criticize the agency because they say that it only serves and promotes the agenda of the incumbent party.

On that note about the PM, on Thursday the 6th, he sat before the House of People's Representatives for the twenty twenty-two twenty twenty-three fiscal year executive report. One of the highlights of the assembly was when Amhara Dr. Desalegn Chane, a member of parliament and the opposition party National Movement, called on the Prime Minister and members of parliament to clear office and give way to a transitional civil government. He listed all the challenges the Ethiopian people have been facing since Abiy came to power more than five years ago. Desalegn blamed the incumbent Prosperity party and the Prime Minister's failed leadership for all that's gone wrong, adding the seemingly pointless war between the government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front. The PM briefly addressed the war issue by posing a question to Dr. Desalegn. The PM asked why his party didn't mediate between the two sides if the war was really a power struggle between two parties. He didn't say much more on that topic but he provided a somewhat detailed answer regarding the call for him to leave office.

The PM said such calls are not beneficial to the public but to social media views. He added that issues raised are important and problems are being worked on, but that meanwhile Ethiopia's economy has become the third largest in sub-Saharan Africa and the biggest in East Africa. He also said that he'll leave office as soon as his current term ends and he isn't voted again in the next election which will be conducted in three years.

This isn't the first time that PM Abiy has been asked to leave office. A few months back, Christian Tadele, another member of parliament of the same opposition party National Amhara Movement asked the PM similar questions, which the PM responded to in a similar manner.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

This Ethiopia Rorshok Update is one of the country-specific podcasts we do.

But we've always wanted to try some on other topics less tangible than countries. And we finally have!

Last week we have launched the Rorshok Ocean Update, about the 70% Earth's surface covered in salt water as well as The Rorshok Multilateral Update, covering the world's major multilateral institutions. And coming soon, the Rorshok Arctic Update. You can look for them in your podcast listening app of choice or follow the links in the show notes! Tell your friends!

Ciao!