While Ethiopia is undertaking a reform which attracted the attention of the world, a number of positive and undesirable incidents have happened in the just-ended year of the Ethiopian Calendar.
It was in the just ended 2011 EC that Ethiopia wrote history as it successfully accomplished its Green Legacy Campaign by planting 353,633,660 tree seedlings in a single day.
It as well smashed world record that was held by India in a half-day transplanting over 72 million tree saplings.
On the other hand, one of the striking changes brought about in this country since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office nearly a year ago is his quick and unprecedented move to ensure gender parity in his government leadership.
Sooner than later, the Premier has made 50 percent of his cabinet to be represented by a female, setting an exemplary step to be replicated at all levels across the nation.
The election of Sahle-Work Zewde as Ethiopia’s first female president has been enthusiastically greeted in Ethiopia and beyond.
The appointments of Birtukan Mideksa a former judge and leading opposition figure as the head of Ethiopia’s electoral board and Meaza Ashenafi as the President of the Federal Supreme Court were also notable incidents.
Further, the appointments of Gedu Andargachew and Lemma Megersa, who were the major players in initiating the reform, as Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense were also the headlines of the year.
Following the policy directions announced by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed to fully or partially privatize stated-owned companies, the government, as promised, has directed a new order to begin the privatization process.
Ethio Telecom, Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Shipping, and Logistics Services, and power generating projects have been also selected for the partial privatization.
The Government also eyes on privatizing sugar projects, industrial parks, Railway and other state-owned companies based on research.
For the successful implementation of the privatization process, technical and streaming committees have been established by the Ministry of Finance. Experienced experts of the sector, experts from the Ministry of Innovation and Technology are also included in the committees and other advisory experts are also engaged in the process.
According to Public Enterprises Holding and Administration Agency, Ethiopia has successfully privatized 371 public enterprises/projects during the past two decades from small retailer shops up to huge manufacturing industries.
According to the Agency, the total price of the privatized enterprises and companies so far was 49.1 billion Birr and 86 percent of the enterprises/projects were transferred for local investors.
The country has had a successful year in terms of diplomacy and foreign relations. Opening the annual meeting of Ethiopian diplomats assigned to foreign State Minister of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hirut Zemene said that during last fiscal year, Ethiopia had been fruitful in its overall diplomatic engagements via attracting the attention of the whole world in many ways.
She said a lot of works focusing on bringing peace and security of the Horn region were carried out and, as a result, the country has been able to build trust and solid cooperation among its neighboring countries.
“A wide variety of activities were successfully executed to support the ongoing economic and political development, democratization and protection of human rights in the country by strengthening strategic partnerships” she indicated.
Ethiopian and The African Union played a significant role in the success of peace agreement between the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the opposition – Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) of Sudan.
The two sides reached an agreement in July 2019. “The constitutional and political agreements lay the foundation for durable democracy and development,” the opposition groups are cited as saying.
As well, the opposition groups commended Ethiopia for the role it played for the success of the agreement in Sudan.
Women participation in governance is another area on which Abiy Ahmed remarked.
He encouraged the change in Sudan to be inclusive of women and shared his government’s experience of gender parity cabinet.
The Sudan Tribune reported, “Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who helped broker the deal was warmly applauded by the Sudanese when he took the floor to speak.”
Abiy Ahmed seized the opportunity of his trip to Sudan to secure the release of over 100, according to an update from the office of the prime minister, Ethiopian prisoners, mostly women and brought them home.
On the other hand, the major undesirable occurrence was the twin incidents in Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar on June 22, 2019, where top government and military officials were murdered in a failed regional coup attempt.
The Ethiopian Herald Sept 12/2019
BY TSEGAYE TILAHUN
