The war Ethiopia is forced into to protect its sovereignty and stability has caused great damages against infrastructure and service delivery institutions. Above all, it consumed the most precious life of many citizens not only combatants, but also civilians. Its trauma could last for long as the destruction caused severe economic, social and cultural harm against the country and its citizens, Kebour Ghenna, General Secretary of African Chamber of Commerce said.
While having a stay with a local media, Kebour said that since the war undergoing in Ethiopia has not lasted for long, it may not be difficult as such to reconstruct most of the sectors destructed by the terrorist TPLF. However, because of the magnitude of the destruction is very immense, extra support is essential as it is beyond the capacity of internal resource.
The basic action to be taken at the moment as to Kebour is bringing the war to end in no longer time and then it would be likely to go through the reconstruction. Taking this incident as a good opportunity, value added reconstruction of the institutions via investing creativity can be applied. In order to carryout planned reconstruction, it is essential to conduct a study on the damaged infrastructure and institutions to get the real magnitude of the destruction. Budget allocation will come following the understanding of kinds and amount of the destruction.
Since the country’s budget is allocated to necessary sectors earlier, there is no extra budget to be allocated to the reconstruction. Thus, one of the solutions in this regard, though it is not enough, may be diverting or subtracting budget from less necessary projects.
“In my opinion, extra institution must be established to run the rehabilitation and the reconstruction process. Besides, there must be swift action to come up with better results that cannot be attained in business as usual or the process government offices used to apply in different procedures like bidding for instance that takes longer time,” he suggested.
As to Kebour, setting a plan that prioritizes most urgent cases has to be preliminary duty when thinking about the rehabilitation and reconstruction. Next, as the incidence Ethiopia encountered is unique by its nature, it requires special handling for example in finance allocation. Understandably, budget allocation is governed by its own principle and the budgeted sectors are well identified. Once the budget is allocated whether capital or regular, the concerned organs consume their budget fully even in some cases there is a request for additional budget. The unique character of Ethiopia’s current situation makes it require billions of Birr for the rehabilitation and reconstruction program. But the problem is there is not extra budget for such unexpected traumatic events.
To come up with viable solution globally, in most cases, when such kind of problem arises, setting up fund is normal and in the case of Ethiopia it can be a rehabilitation and reconstruction fund that is run by responsible institution to address the victims in time with what they need the most and urgent reconstruction of most necessary infrastructures and facilities. Fund raising underway here and there must be managed in a proper way to utilize wisely in which saving is the leading principle. The finance raised by the people for different purposes has to be managed properly via gathering in the fund raising set and governed by legally formed institution for the rehabilitation and reconstruction purpose. Unless, it would be difficult to provide daily assistance let alone rehabilitating the displaced people and going forward. Thus, coordination is essential to use the fund raised from individuals and organizations for lasting and all inclusive purpose.
In line with this, working on inflation must be considered for there might be shortage of basic goods as a result of the terrorist group’s destruction that targeted what the peoples need most. Besides, the current increment on petroleum price along with the inflated exchange rate of Birr to Dollar may aggravate the inflation of prices of basic goods. In this regard, the government may have no better option than adding petroleum price and it is advisable to everyone to expect situations in Ethiopia for the coming two to three years may continue being challenging.
Understanding the situation thus, the citizens must be getting prepared to pay sacrifice in the economic battle in order to relieve this problem considering that soldiers are paying life sacrifice in the war fronts. Since the destruction is very wide especially targeting the basic assets of the community, it will take longer time to bring the situation into normalcy, the economist opined.
Regarding the adverse impact of Ethiopia’s expulsion from African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), Kebour said that Ethiopia had trade relations with America earlier to AGOA and the trend will continue after that. However, the opportunity has its own benefits for the country in attracting investors those seek tariff free market to relocate their business from other countries to Ethiopia. Moreover, it provides job for vast number of the youth encouraging expansion of industrial parks.
The expulsion risks more the industries that engaged in textile, garment and leather products and benefited from the tariff free business since the tariff of these products is relatively high. As a result, some investors may cease production and others may not be encouraged to come to invest in Ethiopia in fear of this measure though there are others who decide to continue countering the challenge. One thing should be noticed regarding AGOA; Ethiopia is not the only beneficiary but is also America. American people purchase the products because it is tax free and can be found in fair price. In this sense, Ethiopia and America share the benefit.
On the other hand depending on AGOA is not lasting solution as the program is time bound which lasts only up to 2025. Other countries are also revisiting the advantages and disadvantages of depending on one market agreement that can be terminated with a single letter when the United States is not interested in the countries’ administration and capable to risk their entire economy to collapse. This kind of non reliable process is not beneficial for investors who plan to invest on long-lasting industries. African countries also seek reliable agreement that can survive dynamic situations. So, it is better to stop worrying about AGOA and focusing on inter African trade, he suggested.
Inter African trade must be cascaded from the politicians table to the business actors as they are the frontline players in the economic arena. Previously, the trade relations were arranged to serve the interest of the colonizers and the interconnection facilities like roads, rail ways and shipping lines were stretched in favor of their benefit. But now, African countries are coming together to rearrange the system that serves their peoples’ interest. Of course, it needs thorough discussion to make the agreement that benefits all as Africa is a continent of 54 independent countries which makes intercontinental trade difficult in terms of economic potential, currency and other issues.
No matter how the issue is difficult, it is the best option to be employed and the young generation is capable of handling in a sense of realizing mutual benefit. Working system is getting set that gives freedom investors to freely invest in the country of their choice. For Ethiopia to benefit from African market, it needs to invigorate its manufacturing capacity. The course of developing its power supply puts it at the advantageous position in this regard.
In the case of Ethiopia and America, there is no need of total separation of the relation between the two countries and the situation does not indicate it can be. It is advisable for Ethiopia to work more on reviving the situation to normalcy; it should win also in this battle as it did internally though this is diplomatic affair, he said.
Apart from economic support, the Diasporas’ contribution can be extended to easing the situation of the two countries. Ethiopia should make smooth relation with America and the rest of the westerns without compromising its sovereignty since the pressure they impose cannot be minimized as they are more powerful. Side by side with this, it is better and likely to invest on internal natural and human potential to the reconstruction and speeding up the journey to prosperity. Utilizing the amazing creativity of Ethiopians is the timeliest question for Ethiopia to get out of the crises swiftly and going forward in its wholesome development, he opined.
BY BACHA ZEWDIE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 6 JANUARY 2022
