Universities Call Back Teachers & more –22nd June 2023

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 22nd June twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Every week, the situation in Tigray seems to be improving. Last week, we told you that the Ministry of Education announced that all four universities in the region will open their doors for the next academic year. This week, on Tuesday the 20th, the Ministry also said that it is calling back all teachers relocated to other universities during the war, because the situation in Tigray is getting better.

These four universities have received a donation worth about twelve million birr or more than two hundred thousand US dollars from the Addis Ababa University. This university said that most of this donation was made in cash and the remaining was made in material support like computers, medical equipment, worth up to a million birr or 18,000 dollars. The University added that it is committed to continue providing similar donations and support including but not limited to tech, research and rehabilitation.

Speaking of Tigray, the Chinese ambassador in Ethiopia and his delegation went to the region on a work trip. The delegate sat down with Getachew Reda, the president of the interim administration, who asked the Chinese government to provide humanitarian aid and help to rebuild Tigray.

Let’s go back to the capital for a minute.

The Addis Ababa City Administration has warned landlords to refrain from raising rent prices. The Administration had already decided that landlords cannot increase rent because residents have become unable to cope with inflation. Recently, the government has also introduced the roof and wall tax, and landlords have cited this as a reason to increase rent, but the administration said that this cannot be taken as an excuse for raising rent prices. The warning comes after reports that certain landlords have increased rent prices by up to sixty percent. The current increase ban holds until the 7th of July this year.

The rent price increase in Addis isn’t the only increase that has caused uproar. Private schools are also known for pushing up prices. The city’s education and training regulation authority revealed that it has banned two private schools from operating, after the schools refused to accept a price increase rate mediated by the authority.

In Ethiopia, there are currently eleven regions. Zones and districts already under regions have plans to create a new region. Months ago, the National Election Board conducted a referendum, on whether or not a new region should be established, in various zones and districts in what is currently the Southern region. One of these zones was Wolayta, but the board found that there were irregularities during the referendum and decided to redo it. On Monday the 19th they conducted the referendum again. That night, the board said the results would be revealed the next day. However, the board hasn’t revealed them yet.

Maybe donations will come earlier than results…

Last week, we told you that the US Agency for International Development and the World Food Programme (or WFP) decided to halt donating food to Ethiopia after widespread allegations that officials have been diverting the aid. An investigation has begun. The WFP said that it needs more control and oversight over who ultimately gets the food donated. The Programme also said that it plans to resume donations by next month.

In relation to this suspension, representatives of the Evangelical Church have denounced the decision of donors saying that it is morally and ethically unacceptable.

Let’s fly away now…

Early this week the annual Skytrax awards, which recognizes the best in the aviation industry, were held in Paris. Ethiopian Airlines took home prizes in five categories. The company won the best airline in Africa award for the sixth year running, was voted cleanest African airline and also won best catering in Africa, back to back. Recall that just last week, the company announced the resignation of the board chairman and the appointment of his successor.

The aviation industry giant was in the news again as its Chief Executive Officer Mesfin Tassew said that the Nigerian Airline, in which Ethiopian Airlines owns the majority of shares, will begin operations in October this year. He added that currently, talks are underway with the Nigerian government and other stakeholders. The company has begun its application to obtain an air operator certificate from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Ethiopian Airlines also said that it is currently working with airlines of other African countries including Malawi, Togo and Zambia with plans to include Congo on the list.

In Ethiopia, the National Bank is the single entity that regulates the insurance and banking industries. Five years ago, however, plans were introduced to create a separate regulating body for the insurance industry. Currently, the National Bank, in collaboration with the World Bank, is conducting a study on the matter. The National Bank’s deputy governor Solomon Desta said that after a separate regulating institution is established, the government will begin working on opening the insurance industry to foreign firms.

The UN had appointed former vice president of Ethiopia’s Federal Supreme Court Solomon Areda as a half-time judge of the UN’s Dispute Tribunal back in November last year when he was still vice president of the Supreme Court. On Tuesday the 20th, Solomon took an oath and officially assumed office in New York..

Speaking of appointments and resignations, Ethiopia’s first and only private telecom services provider Safaricom announced that its Chief Executive Officer Anwar Soussa will be leaving the company after serving there for two years. The company said that his resignation will become effective as of the end of July. During Anwar’s tenure, the company had amassed about four million subscribers and began operation in fifty cities making its services accessible to twenty five percent of the total market.

More news from companies in Ethiopia as Oromia Bank, a private bank, donated a million birr or about twenty thousand US dollars to the Hachalu Hundessa Foundation. The Bank’s CEO said that the donation is part of discharging its obligations of corporate social responsibility. The foundation was established in honor of Hachalu Hundessa who was a famous singer and activist assassinated three years ago. The foundation has so far worked on bringing clean drinking water to the rural areas of Oromia.

Electric vehicles (or EVs) are becoming increasingly popular in Ethiopia, especially in the capital. One of the EVs you'll see on a stroll in Addis is Volkswagen's ID EV series. However, the Ministry revealed last week on Thursday the 15th that it banned the import of these vehicles until further notice.

The German company Volkswagen told the Amharic service of the BBC that it called for the Ministry to ban imports of these cars for two reasons. The company explained that the models were produced for China's market and that cars in Ethiopia from China won’t come with warranties. The Ethiopian government on its part cited a different reason, that the cars aren't safe to be driven around. An official from the Ministry said that there's an appointment with the German Embassy to talk about how to deal with vehicles already imported but not sold.

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

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Ciao!