ADDIS ABABA – The country’s football governing body, Ethiopian Football Federation, EFF, announced the purchase of an eight story building located at Bole sub city. The President of EFF Issayas Jira announced on Thursday at the Intercontinental Hotel that the federation bought the building for 95 million and 450 Birr. In his announcement the President didn’t disclose the name of the owner of the building.
But he made it clear that the federation bought the building with the huge support of the international football governing body, FIFA. The deputy President of EFF, Colonel Awol Abdurahim disclosed that they bought the G+8 building following the proper legal procedure. According to Awol the federation bought the building for 83 million Birr before VAT.
Asked about the inflated price of the building the President responded that the price is fair and under the current price assessment it can be said that it is worth paying the 95 million Birr for this G+8 building. The odd thing about the announcement was that it was done at the intercontinental Hotel instead of inside the newly bought building.
It was said that the building is located opposite to Ibex Hotel at Wollo sefer. Right after the press conference one journalist rose two interesting points regarding the purchase. One is if thebuilding is well done; it is unlikely to get such G+8 building with such price. The second point is if the building was done with improper material and demands additional cost for finishing, the cost is highly exaggerated.
It is difficult to dismiss the points raised by this experienced journalist. President Issayas Jira defended his committee’s clean hands in the process of buying the building. Most people appreciated the act of the federation which lack proper and internationally standard head office.
The headquarter of the Ethiopian Football Federation has been at the Addis Ababa stadium for years until they bought a new office at Kazanchis, close to the ECA headquarters during the Presidency of Sahilu Gebrewold. The Kazanchis office doesn’t look like the head office of the national football federation. It is composed of limited number of rooms at the ground and first floor in one of the condominiums at Kazanchis.
As the rooms were built for residence, they are not convenient for an offence that has close international ties. In terms of preference, it is good to have the head office close to the main stadium but this time the new office is a little bit apart from the main stadium in Addis. Very shortly, the country’s main stadium which is under construction is expected to be completed.
The new stadium is located at Gerji adjacent to the former Imperial Hotel. When that construction is completed it will have over 80-thousand capacity. Same day, the federation announced that it made a new deal with Umbro sportswear and football equipment supplier by cancelling the previous agreement. The Ethiopian Football Federation Executive Committee member Yosef Tesfaye is an agent of Umbro Company. It was argued at the spot that this was done to give special favour for the agent. Yosef responded that he did this with the principle of fair play.
Herald February 26/2019
BY SOLOMON BEKELE
