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Month: July 2019

Queens Supermarket Branches out to Keranio

Posted on by Web Master

The eighth branch of Queens Supermarket, a business under MIDROC Technology Group, has opened its doors in Kolfe Keranio District.

MIDROC Technology Group, a business founded by the Ethio-Saudi business tycoon Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi (Sheik), has invested 59.3 million Br to open the supermarket.

Located at Keranio Plaza, Queens Supermarket was inaugurated last Tuesday, July 23, 2019, attended by Arega Yirdaw (PhD), CEO of MIDROC Technology Group and Al-Amoudi’s brother, Hassen Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi (Sheik). The investment includes pre-operating project implementation expenditures, working capital and the purchase and installation of equipment.

Queens, a member of the MIDROC Technology Group, is engaged in the wholesale and retail trade of consumable products. Established on July 2, 2010, with 51 employees, it started by retailing agro-industry products, agricultural products,  seafood, personal care products, detergents, canned foods, beverages and other manufactured merchandise.

Expected to generate 75 million Br a year, the new supermarket will hire 50 people. It is equipped with dry shelves, dry display cases, cold display cases and ventilation fans.

“We expect the supermarket will generate almost 50pc of the company’s revenue,” said Arega.

Queens, which has a capital of 23.8 million Br and operates with 142 employees, has annual sales of 157 million Br, which has increased dramatically from its initial year of 12.2 million Br.

Queens is one of 25 companies under MIDROC Technology Group, which was established in 2000 to provide management services for multi-sectoral companies under the leadership of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer.

Shelves, equipment and refrigerators of the supermarket were supplied by the United States-based company XSyn Corporation and ADAGO MIDROC Trading Plc, a member of the Technology Group engaged in the import and wholesale distribution of merchandise.

Huda Real Estate Plc, another member of the Technology Group engaged in real estate development activities, constructed the supermarket. Guba Lafto Consulting Architects & Engineers, another firm under the Group, supervised the contractor.

The supermarket has cold rooms with complete accessories for meat, poultry, fruits and vegetables, offices and an employees’ canteen with a total floor area of 2,084Sqm. It also has a parking lot area of 3,668Sqm that can accommodate 137 vehicles. The new facility has a standby generator and telephone and data systems.

The supermarket resides inside ELFORA Agro-Industries, a company established in 1997 as a subsidiary of MIDROC Ethiopia Investment Group. Resting on 18,000Sqm, the compound is home to Unity School, a primary and secondary school, and a gas station, National Oil Company MIDROC.

ELFORA spent 37.7 million Br in developing the compound, and Dashen Bank and coffee shops are expected to be opened by the end of October this year with a combined investment estimated at 14 million Br.

Alazar Ahmed, a marketing consultant, suggests Queens conduct a prior assessment to understand demand in the market.

Consumers want quality products for a reasonable price, according to Alazar, who adds that most of the supermarkets stock only high-end products.

“Queens and other new supermarkets should consider filling this gap,” Alazar said.

The latest data from the Addis Abeba Trade & Industry Bureau shows that over 843 supermarkets and 50 hypermarkets were registered across the country, despite the absence of standards to certify the businesses.

How Africa Measures Up on Governance

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Data on governance, like any other official statistics, are a public good and should be accessible to all. Otherwise, the true scale of violence, exclusion and discrimination will remain hidden, and the potential of carefully collected information to improve life for ordinary citizens will not be fully realised.

Government ministers are attending the United Nations high-level political forum this week to review progress toward several of UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These include the governance-focused SDG 16, which aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all, and accountable institutions at every level. This goal includes 12 targets to be achieved by 2030, with progress toward them to be measured against 23 indicators.

Of the 51 countries that have volunteered to report on their performance at this forum, more than one-third (18) are from Africa – the largest-ever contingent from the region. According to a new study by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), African countries are among the most innovative and committed to measuring and reporting on governance goal. Their efforts could serve as a model for others to follow.

This finding may seem counterintuitive, given Africa’s reputation as a region beset by significant governance challenges, often exacerbated by crises. Yet it will come as no surprise to those who recall the early stages of drafting the SDGs back in 2014. African governments played a pivotal role in advocating the adoption of a standalone SDG 16 with dedicated targets and indicators, in contrast to powerful UN member states that wanted to relegate issues of governance and peace to the preamble of the new global development agenda.

The SAIIA/UNDP study, which surveyed government officials and non-government actors in 38 African countries, highlights three main ways in which the continent is becoming a world leader in measuring progress on governance.

First, Africa is demonstrating that the 12 targets comprising SDG 16 are measurable and that national statistical offices (NSOs) can produce good data on access to justice, representation in public institutions, and political participation, for example. Since 2012, in fact, African statisticians have been testing a pilot approach to institutionalising the production of official national survey data on governance, peace and security. Today, nearly one-half of African NSOs use a survey module that enables countries to report – in one go and at minimal cost – on 11 of the 23 indicators under SDG 16.

The success of this initiative reflects African policymakers’ strong preference for national statistics based on citizens’ experiences rather than international governance indicators that reflect “expert” views. Reinforcing countries’ “data sovereignty” in the new domains of governance and peace statistics will require governments to spend more on generating such data and NSOs to establish dedicated teams with relevant expertise. Yet only 16pc of government respondents to the SAIIA/UNDP survey said that their country had allocated funding specifically for the production of SDG 16 statistics.

Second, African governments are increasingly trying to “localize” SDG 16, as the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls on countries everywhere to do. Some 60pc of survey respondents indicated that their country had tailored the goal’s global targets and indicators to the national context in consultation with civil-society leaders, researchers and government actors. Cameroon’s government, for example, has invited civil society groups to “translate” SDG 16’s global indicators into simplified local statistics in close cooperation with the NSO. The grassroots assessment of progress against these indicators is intended to complement the government-led reporting mechanism.

Finally, some African “SDG 16 champions” are making the goal central to national planning, budgeting and reporting. In Kenya, all public-sector officials in SDG 16-related ministries, departments and agencies are obliged to sign performance contracts with the central government, in which they identify SDG 16 targets and indicators relevant to their mandate and explain how these are being integrated in policy and development plans. Ghana and Benin, meanwhile, emphasise budget spending that has a high SDG 16 impact, and Ghana’s government also publicly discloses how closely its financial priorities are aligned with its stated commitments under this goal.

Moreover, several countries have found innovative ways to ensure that governments use new national SDG 16 data in their day-to-day decision-making. The Liberia Peacebuilding Office trains potential users of governance statistics to analyse and apply such information in their work, while Uganda employs statisticians in its justice and law enforcement agencies to help create a “data culture” among planners and policymakers.

Yet African countries still need to improve public access to SDG 16 data and indicators, so that citizens can better hold their governments to account. Only one-quarter of survey respondents said that these statistics were easily accessible to the public, and less than one-third (32pc) of non-government respondents felt that their government is committed to making SDG 16 data readily available.

Data on governance, like any other official statistics, are a public good and should be accessible to all. Otherwise, the true scale of violence, exclusion and discrimination will remain hidden, and the potential of carefully collected information to improve life for ordinary citizens – in Africa and elsewhere – will not be fully realised.

 

Quality of Foreign Investment Matters

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One of the notable features of this globalised world is the proliferation of foreign investment. Foreign investment, both direct and portfolio, has long found its way into the economies of developing and developed countries, albeit predominantly carried out among developed countries. The expansion of foreign investment can be justified for several reasons.

Among these explanations is the role international financial institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) play in guiding, supporting and compelling developing countries to adopt and implement policies and regulations that promote foreign investment, including using such measures as loan conditionality.

Thus, states have been taking several investment-friendly policy measures, principally over the last forty years. Ethiopia is no exception.

Following its farewell to socialism in 1991, Ethiopia has been undertaking various economic reforms that aim at scaling up the role of the private sector in the economy. The Ethiopian government has been privatising the majority of the enterprises it wholly-owns. This reveals the government’s policy direction toward building a private sector-dominated economy. Other measures have also been taken for liberalising the economy and improving the investment climate, such as periodically revising the investment laws and providing numerous incentives to investors.

The chief objective of the current Ethiopian investment policy, as stated in the Investment Proclamation, is “to improve the living standards of the peoples of Ethiopia through the realisation of sustainable economic and social development.” The ultimate goal is intended to be attained through the achievement of different specific investment objectives that mainly include the creation of job opportunities, transfer of knowledge and technology to Ethiopians, generation of foreign currency, development of the productivity of the domestic market and bringing about balanced development among Ethiopian regions.

These efforts of the government have resulted in the surge in foreign investment and economic growth. According to UNCTAD’s 2019 Country fact sheet for Ethiopia, inward foreign investment has been increasing over the years, except for the year 2018 (perhaps due to the political instability experienced that year). As a result of these and other policy measures, Ethiopia has registered continuous economic growth, an achievement recognised by many, including international financial institutions.

It is incontrovertible that economic growth, which denotes an increase in GDP, can lead to economic development, which goes beyond mere GDP increases to focus on the economy’s positive effect on human beings, such as amelioration of standards of living and environmental protection. Yet it may not necessarily be so. As Tatyana P. Soubbotina rightly observed, “economic growth, by increasing a nation’s total wealth, also enhances its potential for reducing poverty and solving other social problems”, yet “history offers a number of examples where economic growth was not followed by similar progress in human development.”

It follows that foreign investment can help bring about economic growth, but, if it is not adequately regulated, may fail to help achieve economic development.

In Ethiopia, there are some confusion in media and government reports on the nexus between economic growth, economic development and foreign investment. It is common for many media reports on this matter to confuse economic growth with economic development. Concerning foreign investment, they also focus on the number of foreign investors that come to Ethiopia as the sole test of the advantages that foreign investment can beget to Ethiopia.

In other words, they concentrate on the quantity of foreign investment, not on its quality. A case in point is the typical emphasis of many Ethiopian media on the number of jobs created by a specific foreign investment.

While admittedly this approach of focusing merely on the quantity of foreign investment has some merits, since it is generally believed that a large number of foreign investments can bring about more benefits to the country than a few foreign investments, it is not entirely correct and reliable for measuring the actual impact of foreign investment. It is imperative to focus on both increasing the flow (quantity) of foreign investment into Ethiopia and its positive impact on the Ethiopian economy (quality).

The impact of foreign investment on labour and the environment are chosen to briefly demonstrate the indispensability of the need to focus on the quality of foreign investment in addition to its quantity.

To ensure that foreign investment brings about its full benefits to a country, thereby ultimately leading to sustainable economic development, there should be proper regulations and regulatory bodies that enforce them. Concerning investors’ obligation to comply with applicable regulations, the Investment Proclamation prescribes that “[a]ny investor shall have the obligation to observe the laws of the country in carrying out his investment activities.” It further states that “[i]n particular, he shall give due regard to environmental protection.” Accordingly, the Investment Proclamation declares that the promotion of investment should be balanced with other social interests in Ethiopia, such as the protection of the environment and labour welfare.

The regulations that apply to foreign investment envisioned under the Investment Proclamation, such as the environmental and labour laws, should be enforced by the respective sectoral government bodies. These sectoral regulatory bodies are in addition to the Ethiopian Investment Commission, the main investment promotion and regulatory body in Ethiopia, which has the power to undertake “post-investment support and monitoring services in collaboration with organs established for such purpose”, as stipulated in the Proclamation.

In reality, however, there are deviations from this declared intention to balance the need to attract and retain foreign investment with other public interests. Lately, many studies and media reports show that many Ethiopian workers are subjected to poor working conditions by many investors, including foreign investors.

For instance, the recent study by New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, “Made in Ethiopia: Challenges in the Garment Industry’s New Frontier”, revealed the meagre amount of monthly wages, the inadequate training employees receive and the absence of trade unions that could have contributed to the improvement of working conditions at the Hawassa Industry Park.

Allowing investors to operate under poor labour conditions will lead to employees’ low standards of living and extreme poverty, thereby hindering the attainment of sustainable development as the ultimate goal of the Ethiopian investment regime. This is because proper working conditions are crucial for sustainable development.

The Ethiopian government has recently adopted a new Labour Proclamation. One of the most important changes introduced in the draft version is the fact that the Proclamation mandated the Council of Ministers issue a regulation on the Wage Board that will be responsible for periodically fixing and revising minimum wages. Even though this measure is commendable, it should be borne in mind that the rights and interests of workers are not limited to wages.

The labour laws should be strictly enforced to ensure that employees have decent working conditions. This requires regular inspections of the working conditions to ensure that employers (including foreign investors) comply with the laws. Equally essential is addressing the challenges employers face with the labour market, such as supplying them with a skilled workforce. These actions demand the coordination of the relevant regulatory bodies, notably the Ethiopian Investment Commission, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs as well as their regional and City Administration counterparts.

Likewise, regarding environmental protection, there are studies that show Ethiopian environmental laws are not strictly enforced on many foreign investments. This causes serious environmental damage to the detriment of the people living around the locations of the investments and the economy in general. As reported in different media, the case of some tanneries that pollute the environment around Modjo is illustrative of the lack of stringent implementation of the environmental laws. It is crucial to productively use our natural resources for our sustainable development, and that the environment should not be polluted, as economic growth attained through damaging the environment is unsustainable and detrimental.

Therefore, Ethiopia should continuously work for increasing the flow of foreign investment, but it should also focus on the substance of the investment. In other words, apart from solely using the quantity of foreign investment for measuring its impact on the Ethiopian economy, the quality of foreign investment in terms of its actual positive effect on the economy, principally in helping create decent working conditions, environmental protection and increasing people’s standards of living, must be appropriately appraised and taken into consideration.

For this purpose, the regulatory bodies in Ethiopia should build their expertise such as by training their staff to balance the need for promoting foreign investment with other public interests supported by the various regulations, such as environmental and workers’ protection.

Researchers, the media, non-governmental organisations and international organisations also must evaluate the quality of foreign investment. Only then can Ethiopia attain a truly sustainable economic development.

THE LION KING, OR HOW I CAME TO HATE MOVIES

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On a rainy Friday afternoon, inside one of the shiny cinema halls of Century Mall, Disney gave the finger to one of the most precious childhood memories of mine. The studio did this by producing a remake of – as far as I am concerned – the greatest animated film of all time.

The original version of The Lion King is almost perfect. Few movies in cinema history are able to boast as many scenes as unforgettable as the 1994 Disney movie. Take the opening scene, with its breathtaking song “Circle of Life” playing over a gorgeous African sunset. Recall that devastating scene where Mufasa falls to his death and that even sadder moment when Simba is led into believing that he was responsible for his father’s death.

And who can forget Hakuna Matata, the song as well as its message, and Simba growing into adulthood on that metaphorical tree trunk (I always thought it symbolized how linear and unidirectional time is.)

The Lion King was one of those movies where every cast and crew member suddenly found themselves in a creative binge. From its plot, to the dialogue to the music, there was one in a million chances that the animal-kingdom-version-of-Hamlet would be successful. But it was … we were that lucky.

The remake of The Lion King speaks to the creative bankruptcy and the greed that has come to dominate Disney. As much as I liked the original Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, I could still find it in myself to swallow the pieces of rubbish that were rammed down our throats as remakes. But this is unforgivable.

Yes, this movie will probably make over a billion dollars. But even for a conglomerate such as Disney, there should have been some movies whose artistic merit, and the place they hold in the hearts of children should have been enough protection from being remade.

There is no point to giving a story synopsis. The film is almost exactly the same as the original, but in photorealistic computer animation and somehow without all of the magic that made the original great.

“Despite what the trailers suggest, this film is not just the same movie over again,” Jon Favreau, the director, had said after allegations that the film is a shot-for-shot remake of the original.

He was lying. The film contains almost entirely the same dialogue, jokes, framing, scene transitions and score. The few additions and omissions to the remake, which the average audience would not notice, only manage to make the movie worse.

Ironically, the film has a scriptwriter. Given that the remake is an ever so slightly modified version of the original, this must have been the easiest buck anyone ever made right next to a lottery win. But then again, the scriptwriter is Jeff Nathanson, who has to his name writing credits for awful movies such as Speed 2: Cruise Control and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. If we agree to call what he did for this movie “work”, then indeed this is one of his biggest achievements.

Just as absurdly, a new set of actors were called in to voice characters in the movie when the recorded material from the previous film could have merely been dubbed over the visuals of this one. This could have saved money – it is so unlike Disney not to have thought of this.

Most of the voice roles have gone to African-American actors. Donald Glover and Beyonce voice Simba and Nala, respectively. But James Earl Jones gets to reprise his role as Mufasa – they apparently dragged that poor old man (now 88 years old) out of his home to say 90pc of the same lines he already did in 1994.

Worse, Scar is voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a very good actor who nonetheless is not Jeremy Irons. Irons’ acidic voice performance of the memorable villain is replaced by Ejiofor’s dry delivery of those very same lines.

One element about this movie that deserves some level of praise is the special effects. Undeniably, this almost entirely computer-animated movie seems like the real thing. I would not be able to tell the computer-rendered Simba from a photo of an actual lion if they were placed side-by-side.

And yet, this extreme realism was to the disadvantage of the film. Unlike in the original, the facial expressions of the animals in this movie when they are sad, happy, depressed or angry are way too expressionless for comfort.

Given that the animals had to look like animals, adding facial expressions would have not made any sense, and probably would have made the characters look creepy. But this is also an indictment of the fact that some movies belong in the warm, colourful and child-hearted world of traditional 2D animation.

Would a mere 3D rendering of the Mona Lisa make it a better portrait?

I doubt it. It will only show that whoever makes it never understood why the original was great in the first place.

Don’t Add Salt to Ethiopia’s Wounds

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There may be as many toxic people as we can imagine anywhere in the world, but recently, it seems like we have more of those individuals in Ethiopia. We are learning that the Ethiopian identity, which prizes respectfulness and always being there for each others, is fragile and bogus. We saw how most believe that other people should always be responsible for their own difficulties, feeling entitled to abuse and even end others’ lives. This is one of the reasons our national snags still eerily resemble the problems we have had for generations.

This past week, I have been hearing about homicide, theft and violence that is taking place in Hawassa. It is frightening to listen to the horror stories from individuals who fled from the town to the capital city to seek refuge with their relatives. The crimes are so heinous I do not choose to write about them, as I do not want to give publicity to evil deeds. We need to leave terror to the terrorisers themselves. Among the things I have noted from the interviews, is that Sunday is always peaceful in stunning Hawassa. Not because the brutal gangs have a change of heart, but because they go to church to pray. I was staggered to learn this fact.

It made me wonder how that does not stop them from going out and committing unthinkable crimes against the vulnerable. Sadly, even religious institutions are breeding unhealthy individuals who are dangerous to themselves and others. This is not particular to Hawassa. As a person who has always been closer to religious institutions since childhood, nothing makes me more traumatised than seeing injustice, corruption and immorality coming from them.

Unfortunately, we have abundant teachers and followers who lead a double life. Pretending to be nice on Sundays is not helping anyone. Both leaders and followers alike are blaming everyone out there for the struggles they face in life. Victim mentality is common in Ethiopia, shockingly in all ladders of life.

For such kinds of people, the hardest thing to do in the world is to hold themselves accountable for their problems. Evil identity is kicking in many minds who believe they can do whatever they want and even get away with it. Imposing fear and intimidation are considered being powerful, while it just shows small-mindedness and uncivilised character. A dangerous mindset is growing in all corners of the country where people believe that others must be sacrificed for them to have what they are looking for.

This terrifying thinking is the first step of wickedness, where people are convinced of my way or no way. People with distorted attitudes throw temper tantrums and endless violence.

Without having dependable institutions and compassionate individuals, there can be no good country. We need the necessary collaborative mentality that can cement us all together to build each other up and become a better society. I think Ethiopia is mostly suffering because of this deficiency.

These difficult times are showing us the true identity of the majority, the arrogant character that does not hesitate to wound, kill and force people to flee from their homes.

We all need to learn to differentiate between personal battles and political battles — no exception for political, spiritual, social and family leaders. Although most do not believe so, even the negative experiences help us become better people. We need the problems, the diverse opinions and disagreements to grow. That is how we will develop thoughtful minds for the creation of a refined and tolerant nation.

Because our culture is not strong when it comes to how to hash out differences directly, openly and honestly, lethal personalities are flourishing. Some good can come out of the fact that never-before-seen terrorist characters are coming out into the open. The horrible brutality must become a topic of public discussion only because it allows us to genuinely work to eradicate the source of the problem.

Respect is the most critical component for any society, for the simple reason that without respect, everything loses its meaning. Understandably, the trauma of poverty, severe inequality and a dawdling economy frustrates anyone beyond measure. It can even lead to mental illness as psychiatrists point out. We cannot deny this reality, but we should come to terms with it as best we can. Being evil is not beneficial even for the doer.

Society should not be desensitised to brutality. The underlying evil character motivating those who have ambitions to commit crimes must be stopped before it completely wipes out the little goodness left in the country. Aside from the politicians, let the religious institutions activate the good deeds they are intended to do, instead of losing focus and adding salt to the wounds of Ethiopia.

Tree Planting Campaign: Audacity or a Pipe Dream?

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On the morning of July 24, 2019, Tamiru Getaneh, a young driver who has been working for the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA), was in Gurara Wereda, Yeka District.

Working for the Authority for the last four years, Tamiru was one of 600 employees of the Authority who have been recruited and marched to Gurara to plant 6,000 saplings as part of a national tree-planting campaign launched by the government.

This round of planting is the second by the Authority employees, when on July 3, 2019, they installed 2,000 plants of different species on the premises of the Authority’s research centre in Qality.

For the two rounds, the Authority had spent 1.5 million Br to purchase the seedlings from various environmental bureaus and weredasand for ground preparations.

Tamiru, who is in his 20s, is participating in the tree-planting campaign for the second time. A couple of years ago, he planted trees at the Alemgena branch of the Authority located on the outskirts of the city on the road to Jimma, Oromia Regional State.

He recalls planting 30 tree saplings including the non-native Yeferenj Tsid[Cupressus lusitanica] and the native Koshim[Dovialis abyssinia]. Tamiru is hoping that the Authority will arrange a follow-up programme to maintain the trees.

Inspired by the latest campaign and responding to the latest call from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Authority plans to plant two million trees.

As most of the road projects harm the environment, the Authority took the initiative to mitigate this damage by allocating a budget to restore the landscape with every project it carries out, according to Habtamu Tegegne, head of the Authority.

For instance, under the Modjo-Hawassa Expressway, the Authority plans to plant one million seedlings on both sides of the road, according to him.

The latest campaign by the Office of the Prime Minister to plant the trees was an opportunity for the Authority, which commits to planting trees whenever it kicks- off new projects.

Recently, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) launched a national reforestation campaign aiming to plant four billion trees with every participant committing to plant 40 trees on 1.9 million square metres of land. The campaign will culminate on July 29, 2019, with the planting of 200 million trees in a 12-hour period.

To facilitate the campaign, the Prime Minister has formed a national steering committee of four that includes four ministers and a commissioner: Umer Hassan, minister of Agriculture; Tilaye Gete (PhD), minister of Education; Sileshi Bekele (PhD), minister of Water & Electricity; Ayisha Mohammed, minister of Urban Development & Construction; and Fekadu Beyene (Prof.), commissioner for Forestry, Environment & Climate Change.

Under the steering committee, a technical committee has been established to follow up on the day to day performance of the campaign and report back to the steering committee.

One-fourth of the seedlings are indigenous types, according to the plan. The other plants are selected under four use categories: farmland, soil erosion prevention, cattle fodder and ornamental species.

The typical cost of a sapling is estimated to cost between  40 Br and 100 Br, with the total cost of procurement for four billion seedlings reaching 280 billion Br, a staggering figure that is equivalent to over two-thirds of the current fiscal year budget.

The Ministry of Innovation & Technology and the Ethiopian Space Science & Technology Institute are delegated to ensure the sustainability of the planted trees using a digital system.

The two institutions are in charge of identifying locations with GPS coordinates, according to Solomon Belay (PhD), director-general of the Institute.

“The data from the GPS will help to map the planting sites,” Solomon said.

The latest initiative can play a significant role in increasing the national forest coverage from the current 15.5pc to 20pc next year, according to Fekadu.

The organisers of the campaign have also aspired to get a certification from Guinness World Records, breaking a record held by India, which planted 49.3 million tree saplings in one day using 800,000 volunteers. In 2016 India took the record from Pakistan, which succeeded in planting 847,275 trees a day in 2013.

Oromia Regional State has planned to plant the largest number of trees, 1.9 billion, followed by the Southern Nations, Nationalities & Peoples’ Regional State, which is expected to plant 1.4 billion seedlings, while Amhara Regional State will plant 1.3 billion trees.

This is not the first time the government kicked off a mass tree planting campaign. During Ethiopian Millennium, an initiative was launched to plant two billion trees and two seedlings per head.

The project essentially failed, since no post-planting maintenance was implemented, according to Tefera Tadesse, a technical committee member from the Ministry of Agriculture.

“In this round, we will be conducting post-plantation follow up,” says Tefera.

All of the institutions, which received land from districts for the planting of the trees, will sign a contract with the district administration to conduct a follow up on the condition of the planted trees for at least two years.

Three billion seedlings were collected from nurseries all over the country, while the remaining will be sourced from the private sector and civil societies, according to Tefera Mengistu (PhD), forestry expert and technical committee member.

Seventeen towns have been selected for a greening project using 760 million saplings on locations that include farmland, religious and private institutions, government compounds and along river banks, according to Ayisha.

The country has 18 million hectares of degraded land potentially suitable for afforestation and reforestation, according to the National Greening Action Program. Afforestation refers to planting forests on land without previous forests, while reforestation refers to replanting them on land where forests have been removed or destroyed.

The country is importing nearly half of its current industrial wood demand, spending approximately 124 million dollars a year, according to the National Forest Sector Development Program.

To meet this demand, Ethiopia should undertake large-scale plantations in addition to protecting the existing 17.4 million hectares of forest.

There are two categories of forests, non-native and native forests. Non-native forests constitute trees of foreign origin such as eucalyptus or cypress trees, which are biodiversity-deprived. Native forests are indigenous to a specific geographic region, according to Legesse Negash (Prof), a lecturer in the Department of Plant Biology & Biodiversity Management at the College of Natural & Computational Sciences of Addis Abeba University.

Legesse said it would have been good if the campaign considered planting only native trees to restore the degraded landscape.

While Legesse, the founder of the Center for Native Trees Propagation and Biodiversity Development, is generally supportive and enthusiastic about the tree planting initiative, he worries about the eventual success of the programme.

“I think we should stop fooling ourselves with quantity and begin to focus on quality, such that a reasonably larger proportion of seedlings will flourish,” Legesse suggested.

Feleke Woldeyes (PhD), deputy director of the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, agrees with Legesse. But with the country experiencing rapid degradation of its forestry resources, exotic species can be taken as a first option.

“The survival rate of the seedlings is high, and the growth rate of the trees is faster compared to native ones,” said Feleke. “They cover the degraded areas faster and can be used as ornamental trees for city beautification.”

The Institute has germinated and distributed 1.1 million indigenous seedlings, according to him.

Forestry expert Alemayehu Wassie (PhD), who serves as a board member and an adjunct professor at Bahir Dar University and board member at Debre Tabor University, appreciates the tree planting campaigns and argues that with uncontrolled grazing by cattle, the survival rate of the plantings will be reduced.

Alemayehu says that the experience of previous years exhibited that no more than 30pc to 40pc of the planted trees survive.

Other experts like Mulugeta Lemeneh (PhD), former head of Ethiopia programmes at Farm Africa, thinks the figures do not seem realistic and accurate, stating that none of the seed enterprises in the country has a capacity of supplying four billion seedlings.

“The Amhara and Oromia Seed Enterprises, which are active nurseries, do not even supply one million seedlings a year,” says Mulugeta. “Unless the seedlings are fodder species, it is very hard to believe the figures.”

Planting Trees by the Number

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Over the last few decades, Ethiopia had launched several tree planting schemes including one led by an august sounding institution, the Ethiopian Millennium Secretariat, that envisioned planting nearly two billion trees in 2007, but none surpass the ambition of planting four billion tree seedlings announced by this government.

The sweeping project leaves many questions unanswered. Are there even any nurseries, both government-owned and private, that can propagate and supply that many seedlings in the country? What are the plant species selected for planting? How do they get transported from the nurseries where they are grown to where they will be planted? How will they be maintained once planted? How is the government financing the project?

The Ethiopian News Agency reported that “4.5 billion tree seedlings [were] planted during rainy seasons [between 2000 and 2015, but only 20pc to 30pc of the seedlings survived and grew.” The very fact that that only a few seedlings survived is worrisome and raises questions about the viability of the current effort.

Information is hard to come by in Ethiopia and this project is no exception. But the state-owned and even the private media have joined the cacophony of noise cheering the campaign to plant trees. With the usual bluster, the government is leading the clamour and has announced a plan to plant 200 million saplings in 12 hours, on Monday, July 29, 2019, to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

The noble purpose of planting trees to fight climate change and restoration of degraded landscapes of Ethiopia has suddenly been overtaken by a frivolous ambition that contributes nothing to the final outcome of the project. It is a typical response of a government that has led the nation to flounder repeatedly into distress by setting unachievable and grandiose goals. This may be another occasion for another possible disappointment.

A website designated to provide public information does not list the names of plant species or the locations of the nurseries. There is no information as to where the trees are planted and by whom. The website claims that nearly 2.6 billion seedlings are planted to date of the close to 4.8 billion seedlings grown. There are four categories of seedlings listed: agroforestry, tree species, bamboo and others, but nothing else.

Most popular ‘agroforestry’ plants are species of pines, spruces, larch and poplar; and are mostly imports rather than native trees. Apparently, this category includes fruit trees such as mangoes, avocados and peach trees, along with leguminous plants that are coupled in farmlands. It also includes plants selected for riparian corridors and as erosion control material. And then there is the bamboo category. The ‘tree’ categories can be any number of trees from exotic species to indigenous trees, ranging from eucalyptus to acacia species that are growing in the nurseries. The ‘other’ category includes grasses that are primarily used for cattle fodder, rather than reforestation purpose.

How these different planting parameters will be implemented under this project is not very clear. Just the planning and logistics involved in sorting out the deliveries of plants to specific locations, planting area preparations, the proper installation of seedlings in planting holes and the necessary maintenance and monitoring in caring for the plantings are not addressed.

Who in the local community is tasked with implementing this project? Has there been any training conducted to raise the skill levels of those who are participating in the endeavor? Have maps been developed as to where the tree planting project is to be carried out? These and many other pertinent questions have been left unanswered.

Planting trees for the sake of putting so many samplings in the ground a day without regard to habitat conditions, or for the purpose of breaking a world record is foolish at best, and costly in terms of establishing trust between policymakers and citizens. Developing a serious and considered evaluation of proposed projects is paramount in establishing trust between the governed and the rulers.

Lurching from one unfinished project to the other and setting unrealistic goals is a recipe for disaster and erodes the confidence that people have in their government. Just in the last year or so, we have witnessed the initiation of so many megaprojects that can potentially put the nation on a trajectory of failure purely from the economic stand point.

Billions of Birr is pledged for projects that add very little to the improvement of the quality of life of citizens, but on the other hand, the nation gets saddled with defective assets that deprive them of reaping the benefits of public treasures that are squandered on ‘white elephant’ projects.  While planting 4 billion trees is laudable, the rushed and amateurish way it is being implemented diminishes its usefulness and almost guarantees a substandard outcome.

Despite the lofty ambitions and promises, development projects in Ethiopia have faced insurmountable technical and financial problems exposing the danger of hurrying along without planning. Just examining the often touted 4.5 billion dollar Djibouti-Addis railway system suffices to drive the point home. Amid perennial delays, power outages and other technical issues that continually plague it, a major derailment recently shut down the entire system for three weeks and it took nearly three months to resume transport service.

It now operates with limited capacity and schedules as to put into question the usefulness of the system to the nation’s development. To make matters worse, the railway design was not planned with efficient alignment to the industrial zones.

The same problem of grandiose goal setting and blind ambition that has plagued policymakers lies in full public view from one end of the country to the other. It is much hoped that our leaders can capitalize on this very worthwhile initiative of tree planting and mobilize their resources to implement it properly.

Identity Politics, a Drag on the World

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Whether spoken in London, Washington DC or Addis Abeba, the speeches of populist nationalists have the same theme. It starts with a bleak and depressing account of the current state of affairs, a kind of victimhood Olympics is expressed, and concludes with how everything is just hopelessly screwed up. After working the audience into boiling rage, out comes the list of enemies responsible for this carnage. Now, just before the frenzied gathering goes out of control and to bring the temperature down, a nostalgic remembrance of the good old days when life used to be great commences.

A glorious and a heroic past is trumpeted with poetic flourish, and what this special group of people gifted to the world is spoken of with deep relish. Then the need to bring those glorious days back is preached. Of course, the only person or party endowed to make that happen, the Moses that deliver the people to the promised land is the speaker. With a call to action, with jeering the supposed enemy and roaming the streets, the meeting disbands.

An enraged and emotionally charged mob is discharged into the community, a group given to drama and theatrics and without intellectual discourse rampage the roads and alleyways to commit crimes against peaceful citizens.

The problem with these speeches is the fact that they are usually totally disconnected from reality. Most of the claims are demonstrably false. Let’s start from the fact that there is hardly any group, in totality, that is singularly disadvantaged or worse off than any time in the past.

The advancement in human knowledge and technology has made life in this century much better than previous times. The number of people living in extreme poverty has been cut in half in the last twenty years. Infant mortality has come down to 4 million from 8 million in 1990. Legal slavery is a thing of the past, and human life expectancy is 20 years longer since 1960.

There may be exceptions, but for the most part the reality is that most groups in the world are doing much better than their ancestors. Not less.

It is also good to remember when these false prophets try to picture a bygone era as the golden age for certain groups of people, it may not have been so for others. When white nationalists harp on about the good old days of American greatness, for example, they forget that was the time before the civil rights movement. Life was not that great for Black Americans. When British nationalists talk nostalgically about empire, they forget the sufferings of people under their colonies.

When Ethiopian nationalists hark on about past civilizations, they are not thinking about the fact that slavery was practiced in this country until the 1930s. The point is what is preached by politicians as some idealist time in the past is most likely fictional. And even if it was great to a certain group, it sure was not for others. For both reasons, there is no going back. Fighting to recreate the past is not smart.

The human progress we are enjoying now is a result of the collective wisdom of the species. It is built block by block and passed from one generation to the other, one people to the other. This progress took a leap especially after the enlightenment, which brought the belief that science and reason will advance human life. Globalisation and the international order are the natural extensions of this evolution in human governance. The brotherhood of man, labour mobility and the universality of human rights are just as impressive achievements of the human mind as landing on the moon. They have given mankind the longest time without a world war. Despite what is broadcast on the daily breaking news, there is more peace in the world today than at any time before.

The next time that a populist-nationalist prophet of doom makes a fiery speech, a reasonable person should challenge the facts that are spoken. When they proclaim themselves as the Moses that wants to take us back to the glory days of the past, we should ask which past they are talking about. The days of segregation, colonization or slavery?

 

Robust Science Diplomacy for Africa

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I travel around the world as a freelance science writer and communicator to attend seminars and conferences that are, at times, very inspirational and enlightening.

I recently took part in a conference for science journalists held in Switzerland that was extraordinarily stimulating and educational. The key take-away message for me was the importance of a robust science diplomacy.

According to the Royal Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, science diplomacy refers to three key concepts – science in diplomacy, diplomacy for science and science for diplomacy.

Science in diplomacy is a notion where scientific know-how and evidence is used to inform and support foreign policy objectives. Diplomacy for science is related to diplomatic efforts and resources that are aimed at facilitating international scientific and technical cooperation. Science for diplomacy is about scientific collaboration that is used as a source of soft power to strengthen or foster foreign relations.

Science diplomacy could be defined as a diplomatic relation that involves research-based, scientific, academic and engineering exchanges among nations and societies.

Having realised its extraordinary significance, Switzerland has managed to maintain its vigorous science diplomacy activities for decades. Science diplomacy has boosted the competitiveness and innovation capacity of Switzerland.

In this regard, Vice President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga stated that Switzerland is firmly anchored in the European Research Area and has been attaching primary attention to science diplomacy for years. EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, also had his complements on the effectiveness of Swiss science diplomacy.

Switzerland is host to major international scientific projects and infrastructure such as the Human Brain Project at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is located here. It is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator that consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets. Coupled with hosting these vital institutions and being an active member of the European Framework Programs, Horizon 2020, and other initiatives of academic cooperation, the country is regarded as a hub of science diplomacy.

CERN’s establishment convention was ratified in 1954 by 12 countries in Western Europe. Currently, CERN has 23 member states. Thousands of scientists from over 600 institutes and universities around the world use CERN’s facilities, including the massive Large Hadron Collider  (LHC). The facilities have so far enabled top particle physicists to register eight discoveries that add critical knowledge to the enlightenment of humans.  CERN is one of the most prominent institutions that serve Switzerland and other member European countries as a significant science diplomacy instrument.

Science diplomacy is essential, because natural disasters like hurricanes, droughts and earthquakes and the catastrophes they inflict are not limited within borders. They transcend national boundaries. Therefore, countries collectively need to make deals such as the Paris Climate Agreement and the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Nations are engaged in forging international cooperation through various ventures to bring about positive changes in maintaining the natural balance and global ecology. Also included is denuclearisation, advancing trade relations, industrial and agricultural growth. To achieve these objectives, countries need to regulate emerging global technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence, population control mechanisms and digital currencies.

To this end, despite critical geopolitical differences, we see countries sign various collaboration frameworks and agreements and implement programs jointly.

For instance, the U.S. and China had signed an agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology. The cooperative activities and programs under this agreement have been sustained for decades. The two countries have also signed the Ten-Year Framework on Energy and Environment Cooperation. A memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Cuban Academy and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2013 for joint scientific endeavours and exchanges. On many occasions, scientific communities of the US and Iran have also clinched various cooperation deals to the benefit of the two countries.

The ownership and use of the International Space Station (ISS)  was also established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements among five participating space agencies – NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe) and CSA (Canada).

Recently, a group of students and their professor performed the first African-led experiment at CERN.  They used some of the most potent scientific equipment in existence to examine the sub-atomic matter and reflect on what happens when stars explode. This kind of fruitful scientific collaboration between states with different ideologies and from different parts of the world shows the potential for science diplomacy. It should be considered as a model for African countries for inter-African and international cooperation.

Making Sense of the Revolving Youth Fund

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Though the definition of youth varies from culture to culture, it seems that we can agree on the fact that the age is a period of transition from dependence to independence. It is a period marked by critical choices that affect the future of the individual and society.  As is evident in some countries, the successful transition of the dependent child to an independent adult contributes to societal prosperity in terms of economic and other positive indicators.

The smooth transition of the youth from childhood to adulthood is possible if we have a clear policy at the national level and the cultural commitment at community and family levels. The kind of support from the state and family to the concerned youth should be precise and encouraging for the youth to thrive.

Community and national level policy on youth development should be more of a priority to developing nations as the number of youths in these countries is substantial. Nearly one billion of the 1.2 billion youth between the ages of 15 and 24 reside in developing countries, and their numbers are growing far more rapidly than in higher-income countries according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development. In particular, the report mentioned that the growth of this population group is concentrated in the world’s poorest developing countries, especially those in Africa.

Ethiopia fits in this category of countries with a demographic youth bulge. These vast number of young people require jobs, services and several other needs to survive and thrive. The Ethiopian youth development policy seems to reflect this contemporary reality. However, the political implications are given high priority than the skills and behaviours of the youth in shaping their individual life and the role they could play in the economy of the nation.

The Ethiopian government seems a bit concerned about the rising share of unemployed youth in the country, especially since 2016. Compelled by disturbances and riots fueled by hopelessness and unemployment challenges, the government seems to work on this issue systematically. We have got a commission working in the area of employment and innovation. That is good news. We have heard from both the former and current prime minsters that the federal government and regional governments are allocating billions of Birr for youth employment programmes. However, after these announcements are made in the media, there is hardly any follow up of the performances of these funds. It is hard to come by figures that show how many youths got jobs or are self-employed because of these huge funds. Forget about finding out the detailed disaggregated data describing the impacts of these huge investments in the lives of the youth; we even hear nothing regarding how much of the budget get utilised.

An even more pertinent issue is the question of whether we have the relevant expertise to handles this huge investment in youth employment schemes.

Despite the commitment of the federal and regional governments, it is quite disturbing to learn that many of the projects in our country struggle to succeed. Many youth-focused projects seem to fail even at the design stage. The theoretical and practical information that the project design is based on is outdated and does not fit with current realities. Everyone seems to be implementing old project proposals that may have worked in the past. It looks like new learning does not happen in the area, and many new projects struggle from the start and fail too soon.

There are a lot of reasons for this. There is a lot to learn from the experiences of many local and international NGOs. Those with relevant experience in the area say that youth programs are costly. These projects, especially the training component, requires inputs such as machines, tools, workshops, land and a lot of other expensive materials. A project for just a few hundred youths may require millions. As a result, many projects are undercapitalised. This frustrates government officers, project staff, and the youth themselves, and they start to declare that particular project is a failure.

The second major issue that makes projects that focus on the youth a significant challenge is the variety of livelihood pathways the youth prefer to engage in. Some want to go for vocational skills courses, others to several other technical pieces of training and livelihood options. This makes the project not only expensive but requires a multitude of experts supporting a project.

Therefore, the youth unemployment crisis in Ethiopia has to be tackled from various comprehensive perspectives that include sociocultural and investment policy. A detailed strategy guided by revised policies that centres productivity, innovation, invention and commitment in the lives of the youth is needed to solve the already worrisome challenges of youth unemployment and dissatisfaction.

As the saying goes, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” The goal of reaching out to the youth with only financing without clear phase-based training and mentoring is a baseless commotion. There have been recent announcements in the media about billions of Birr being allocated to youth programs. It is essential to point out that these projects are going to be challenging and that it is important to design systems that guarantee that the funds are managed well in a transparent manner.

Though this is one of the ways we could encourage self-employment, separate management should be designed and specific strategies should be in place to mentor the young people. Lending hundreds of thousands of Birr to them without arranging coaches and mentors would be killing the spirit of the youth. If this project fails, they will be turned off from entrepreneurship. Before awarding these funds to those applicants, it is necessary to see if the youth really understand what the project is trying to accomplish for themselves and their community.

The creation of a decent work environment in the employment sector can also play a significant role in solving this huge challenge. Making sure that the minimum wage and other packages work seamlessly in the employment sector is essential.

Incentives should support the participation of the private sector in employment and youth development. For instance, recognising and awarding those private organisations that offer youth employment, coaching and mentorship are critical. The concerned government institution should design tax exemptions, land and other detailed award systems to give the private sector essential roles.

Rural and urban youth policies should also be differentiated and spelled out clearly. The fact that the rural environment is endowed with opportunities for the youth should be considered and clear support systems put in place for those interested to pursue these projects in rural areas. In the digital era, it is vital to make rural infrastructure conducive to those rural youth with the aspiration and interest to flourish as successful entrepreneurs. Ethiopia should wisely use both local and foreign investments to make sure the untapped potential of its youth is utilised for development.

Dancing Like Nobody Watches

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I became a bridesmaid for the first time in my life as this wedding season is winding down. The experience of a bridesmaid and the struggle of keeping a straight face after three sleepless nights is not at all the purpose of this article, for that topic could take ages to go through.

A bridesmaid, in addition to a whole lot of other things, is responsible for keeping the wedding as festive as possible. From telling the bride that she looks beautiful to giving her cues where to go and when. The job of a bridesmaid, of course, requires dancing and making everyone dance along. There I am in the middle of the dance floor trying to dance like nobody is watching, but pretty aware that almost everyone is.

That is when it hit me. Dancing like nobody is watching is an art and a skill that is a bit more complicated than what it might seem.

Of course there are exceptions to this. We have grown accustomed to the box, to the already set calculations in life, to dancing while being very aware of the fact that someone is most definitely watching. Being watched brings with it so many fears, one of which is being judged. Every move and every step is under scrutiny from complete and utter strangers, not to mention a permanent recording from the cameras and the phones.

I could not help but make a bridge between me dancing on a wedding dance floor and actually living. In a conversation I had with a fellow poet, I asked what he did for a living, and he said, “I breathe and live,” which is a combination so simple, yet so elegant. This response, along with letting go and dancing like no one is watching holds with it a level of freedom and liberty to live the way one pleases.

The same poet read a piece of poetry that emphasised the fact that we are all just pretenders. We are all just pretending to get through the day and swear that this is how we do our dance with or without people watching us.

This concept can always be used as a favorable reinforcement for the negative, borderline illegal, actions one might take. For instance, a child who has been taught never to steal and never to shoplift refrains from doing so because of the fear of getting caught, and because of the doubt that there is a possibility of someone out there watching.

For the most part, however, it is the chain that holds people from becoming their true selves in the very long run.

The idea that someone is always watching the very step one makes forces one to make moves that lack authenticity. Ultimately, everyone just ends up being a replica of past generations and their outlook in life. Society will devolve as it slowly sews limitations on every imitation it demands. As a society, we are so conditioned to care about what others think about us that it prevents us from taking simple risks like dancing.

Older people often tell us that from all the crazy and stupid things they had done in their younger days, what they regret the most are the things they shied away from — the things they did not do because of the fear that somebody was watching or judging them.

This is where dancing like nobody is watching comes in handy. It is the fire that allows anyone to be what they want to be. It is an act of liberation that returns one to their care free and innocent days.

 

DANCING FOR TREES

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Takele Uma, deputy mayor of Addis Abeba, joined the dancing with artists from Hager Fiker Theatre on July 25, 2019, at Menilik Square. The event was organised to dig holes for tree planting in preparation for the big planting campaign on Monday, July 29, 2019 when there is a countrywide effort to plant 200 million seedlings in 12 hours to break the world record. Takele was there to encourage the volunteer residents who were taking part in the effort.