Appearing at the 28th Regular Session of the House of Peoples’ Representatives yesterday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed presented the 2022/23 Ethiopian fiscal year federal government’s performance report and responded to queries raised by members of the parliament.
Amongst the issues raised during the session and the Premier has given explanations, peace and security challenges, good governance, rising cost of living and inflation, development of agriculture and service sectors, challenges of illegal trading as well as activities carried out in this Ethiopian fiscal year, were some.
While speaking with regard to activities undertaken to improve the lives of people and lessen their social and economic burden, Prime Minister Abiy said that following the Green Legacy Initiative, it has been possible to plant various indigenous tree seedlings that are edible and have medicinal values.
In the same way, the school feeding program has contributed a lot in reducing the burden of parents and their school children. Currently, seven hundred thousand children in the capital Addis Ababa are getting their meals twice a day; and thirty thousand people in Addis Ababa are fed once in a day in the 11 feeding centers set up in various areas of the city. This has been possible due to the generous hands of Ethiopians; and if it is said through the government’s budget, it was impossible.
The other people-centered activity that the Premier mentioned is the renovation of houses. As to him, in the past three, four years, the activity of renovating 160thousand houses was carried out nationwide. Merely in this Ethiopian budget year, 60 thousand houses of elderly and vulnerable segments of the society will be restored; and 20 thousand houses have been built for the needy in Addis Ababa.
“This will be an activity that we sustain it in more strengthened manner,” he underscored, What is more, in the past three and four years; 15 thousand kindergartens were built; and from the income gained from the sale of “Medemer” book, – a book written by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed- 30 secondary schools have been built across the country, he remarked.
He also mentioned about the school that is under construction in Sebeta Town for visually impaired people. As to him, the construction activity of the school ‘Sebeta School for Blind Children’ is well underway and it is expected to be completed in the upcoming Ethiopian budget year. The school, which is expected to accommodate about 300visually impaired students, will be one of the best educational centers in Africa at all standards, he pointed out.
In Ethiopia, visually impaired and disabled people are the most neglected members of society. For the reason it is challenging to resolve their problems solely depending on the government’s budget, numerous works are ongoing joining hands with kind-hearted individuals, he said citing items delivered to students such as eye glasses though it is not enough.
Mentioning that Addis Ababa, before the reform years, used to produce only 400 hundred thousand loaves of bread, the Premier said that, however, currently it is baking four million loaves of bread on daily basis; and a number of bread factories are also planted across all the states. A factory that has a capability to bake 280thousand injera per day was also constructed, he added.
While talking about the efforts exerted to renovate and build tourism destinations, the Premier said: “For projects that are constructed as a nation, we have not taken a single penny from the people, and we will not steal a single penny from the people. We did not spend a penny to build parks; it is the Chinese President who constructed it.”
Gorgora and Koisha Halala will also be completed through the contribution of local people. These days, the Gorgora Project alone costs over4 billion Birr.” According to the PM, “Medemer Generation” book is being sold for over three billion Birr and; states will sell the books and use the gain to restore their respective heritage sites. “Finalizing the construction activities of tourist destinations, we will hand them over to respective states. We will build Gorgora and hand it over to Amhara State; and in the same way, we will build Wonchi and hand it over to Oromia State. We will not take a single Birr from these projects,” the Premier underscored.
The other concern that the Premier briefed Members of the Parliament was the issue of unemployment and job creation. As to him, even though it is recent since the Ministry of Labor and Skills has been established at the ministerial level, it is one of the institutions that can bring about remarkable changes in a short period of time.
In the past 11 months alone, the Ministry has created job opportunities for 3.3 million people. Various efforts have also been carried out to digitize the system, and the Ministry has received about two million job requests from numerous countries to employ Ethiopian workers through legal employment contracts. To this end and respond to the demand, works are underway. Three million new job seekers also hunt for jobs per year.
While explaining about the ongoing humanitarian activities in Afar, Amhara, and Tigray states, Prime Minister Abiy said that over the past nine months, from October to the end of June alone, 370, 000 ton of food aid has been delivered to the people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Prime Minister Abiy has also given explanation regarding to internally displaced people. As he stated, so far, 3.5 million internally displaced peoples (IDPs) have returned to their homes with the support of the government. Recalling that 4.6 million citizens have been displaced due to various reasons, he said that of those, 3.5 million IDPs have returned to their homes as a result of the efforts exerted by the government in coordination with stakeholders, he added.
Since there is a tendency of developing dependency mentality among some IDPs, it is necessary for Ethiopians to tailor lasting solutions to the problem, according to the premier. As regards withstanding such problems, the Prime Minister for example stated that the drought experienced in Borena has been successfully tackled by the agricultural activities carried out by the government, especially in wheat production. “Therefore, we should always work on getting out of the problems we face by ourselves,” as ENA reported.
The Prime Minister was also asked about the peace and security and the efforts which have been underway to bring lasting peace through consultation and political bargaining that would help the nation to ensure its aspiration of development and prosperity. Underscoring that the national dialogue has become fully operational, he urged all Ethiopians to contribute their share so that to make the efforts a success.
BY STAFF REPORTER
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD 7 JULY 2023
