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Month: June 2020

Commission Procures Vehicles for Water, Sanitation Programme

Posted on by Web Master

newly established Water Development Commission has procured 53 Toyota Land Cruiser double-cabin pickup trucks to distribute to the regional states for 1.6 million dollars.

The pickups, which will be allotted to 22 cities in the regional states, were procured from the Motor & Engineering Company of Ethiopia Limited S.C. (MOENCO), which secured the deal after winning a bid.

Of the cities that will receive the trucks, six of them are located in Oromia, four in Amhara, three in Southern Nations, Nationalities, & People’s Region and two in Tigray and Somali each. Cities in Afar, Benishangul, Gambella, Harari and Dire Dawa also received trucks.

The vehicles will be used for staff transportation and related services, according to Beide Melak, communications director at the Commission, which was established in December 2018 to ensure the supply of potable water, sanitation and hygiene.

The vehicles are procured under the Second Ethiopia Urban Water Supply & Sanitation Project, a six-year project that was launched with a 505-million-dollar loan from the World Bank. With the objective of improving operational efficiency and increasing access to water and sanitation services, the project was launched in August 2017.

The project has three components – sanitation and water supply service improvements in Addis Abeba; sanitation and water supply service improvements in secondary cities; and project management and institutional strengthening. For the three components, the World Bank committed 260 million dollars, 241 million dollars and four million dollars, respectively.

The project intends to provide 623,000 urbanites with access to improved water sources with the aim of managing the waste of 2.7 million urban residents. As of May 2019, 150,822 people in the 23 cities received access to improved water, and the waste of 357,500 urbanites was successfully managed, according to the World Bank.

“The criteria to distribute these vehicles is the number of project sites or beneficiary cities in each regional state,” said Beide.

The Addis Abeba Water & Sewerage Authority is also on its way to importing vehicles as part of the Second Ethiopia Urban Water Supply & Sanitation Project, according to Seyum Tola, water and sanitation infrastructure manager at the Authority.

“We’ve signed an agreement with MOENCO to procure 22 pickups,” Seyum told Fortune.

The Oromia Water & Sewerage Bureau also established a new independent office last week for the execution of the second urban water supply and sanitation project, according to Ayana Kelbessa, coordination manager at the Bureau, which rented an office for the project.

Redundancy of responsibilities and lack of human and material resources compelled the Bureau to establish an entity that will be responsible for executing the project in Adama, Assela, Bishoftu, Jimma, Neqemte and Shashemene towns, according to Ayana.

“We need the vehicles since we’re organising an independent office,” said Ayana.

Rather than the pickups, the Commission should procure sewage tanker trucks since there is no central sewage system across the cities, according to Abebe Dinku (PhD), an associate professor of civil engineering at Addis Abeba University who has conducted research on sanitation systems.

“The country’s sanitation and sewage system is very poor since there aren’t integrated municipal sewage canals, but each household stores its own sewage, which pollutes the environment,” said Abebe. “Many sewage trucks are needed for door-to-door sewage collection and disposal.”

The sector, which is in a rudimentary stage, is challenged by the fact that water per capita consumption is low even compared to other third world countries, and central sewerage systems account for just six to 10pc of the need. The sector needs to receive huge amounts of public spending since it is a raison d’etre, a basic necessity, for urban centres and the people that live there, according to Abebe.

“Sanitation, particularly clean water supply, road and waste management are related to health and development,” he said.

The country has very outdated drainage systems, and the sewage pipes are very narrow – around 30cm, according to Abebe.

The Commission should focus on reconstructing central sewage and stormwater drainage systems that connect households with the municipal sewage canals, the expert recommended.

“Such a system is indispensable to preventing pollution since it allows sewage recycling,” Abebe said. “The country needs at least 10 years to create a central sewage system.”

Crime, the Crime of Society

Posted on by Web Master

It is rare to find a meaningful debate over issues on Tv considering the competition for securing short attention spans with sentimental, political or flashy topics. But some have a way of surprising us.

Over the weekend, EBS, one of the first satellite Tv channels in Ethiopia, invited people on their “Sunday with EBS” show, including a psychologist, to discuss children that have been sexually abused by people close to them.

The discussion then took an unexpected turn. It looked at an issue that is barely brought up when the issue of crime is discussed in Ethiopia. Typically, the criminals are automatically assumed to be terrible people that have strayed from what society finds acceptable. They are bad despite how society operates, not because of it.

But the program proceeded to discuss how the abusers themselves might need help, and if there is a way that a free hotline can be established to help them with the deep psychological trauma that leads them to commit such acts. Even if the prevailing assumption is that these people are bad in and of themselves, it is to society’s benefit to support them before they can do any harm.

Are they criminals in the end?

Indeed. Confinement, in prisons, is the most practical means we have found as a society of dealing with people that have committed a crime and may do it again. There is a lot to be said of the treatment within prisons, of criminal justice systems across the world, but no alternative means of dealing with them has been developed.

But there may be means of preventing these things from happening, and that is sympathy, not for the crimes they have committed, but for the psychological trauma they may have been exposed to that led them to it. It should be clear by now that if punishing criminals was an effective tool in and of itself, there would not be criminals anymore.

There is a missing ingredient, and I am not the first person to say this. Far from it. There is a consensus within the sciences that behind the actions of human beings, good or bad, are cultural, economic and psychological circumstances that push them in that direction. We have known this for decades, though criminal justice systems have been slow to respond, as this study, as reported by The New York Times, testifies:

“A 1985 study of all 15 adolescents in the United States who were condemned murderers found that 13 had been victims of extreme physical or sexual abuse. In nine cases the abuse was so severe – characterised as ”murderous” by the researchers – that it led to neurological damage. Similarly, a study of nine women imprisoned for fatal child abuse found that all of them had experienced severe maltreatment themselves.”

Also striking among what was discussed on the program was the role of parenting in all of this. It is parents that must teach their male children to respect women, to protect them from harm and speak against any kind of injustice, provide for their family, and be caring and loving. We can do this best by being role models. Little boys need to see their fathers treat their mothers with respect, when they show her love and when they provide for their families.

The mind of a child is a blank slate and they are very quick to pick up on things and imitate what their family members do. If a boy at a young age sees his dad beat his mother, he is going to grow up thinking that is how women and wives should be treated. If he sees his dad being affectionate to his mother, he will grow up to become a loving man and father. Some children, regardless of their upbringing, because of factors outside the home environment, might commit crimes, but this should not downplay the role families play in bringing up a responsible and good citizen.

Crime is not the work of a single person. It is a collective failure of society.

Dereliction of Duty of the Educated Elite in Public Service

Posted on by Web Master

One of the factors crippling progress in Ethiopia is the lack of involvement from the educated elite in public service. Most citizens live their lives in relative seclusion from active public discourse in general and politics in particular. Matters of the political and public service are left to a few educated or self-proclaimed elites, and the public tends to be swayed by attitudes and behaviours of a select few. The assumption is that they know what they are doing.

A closer look at these groups of individuals who are trusted with the responsibility of governing the routine, mundane and monotonous aspects of public life indicates that most public services are governed by people who lack competence, experience or credentials that are befitting of the offices they run. Even though there have been recent attempts to right this wrong, incompetence remains one of the most important challenges of governing public services in Ethiopia.

Despite having competent individuals in the country, why is there such a lack of involvement from such professionals in taking up public service positions?

The most significant reason is the over-politicisation of public service. However, professionals themselves are not exempted from accountability by shying away from taking up such responsibilities and leaving the space open for well-meaning but mostly self-interested individuals.

Inaction, indifference and silence by professionals have contributed to the lack of depth and ownership in public service and for the overwhelming manifestation of incompetence and disorganisation we see in most of our institutions.

In the face of the system’s paralysis, citing all sorts of excuses, albeit misguidedly, we have assumed that it will not affect us. By staying inactive, we forget that we are permitting an epidemic of incompetence to invade our institutions. Now we are left to lament daily challenges that affect everybody.

Some of us have opted to be indifferent. This is probably the most difficult one to understand. Most highly educated Ethiopians are supposed to be grateful for the opportunity given to them to make it to the top in their respective disciplines, as many, almost all, are products of good public service in every possible way. It is hard to understand how such individuals opted to turn a blind eye to the problems when the very same institutions that made them have slowly disappeared into non-recognition. It is one thing to act and fail or to make a mistake, but it is a sin beyond redemption to completely remain indifferent when the very existence of our public service institutions is threatened.

Some of us continue to opt to be silent. We live in the land of “silent wise men [and women],” a reference to our forbearers who walked and worked the land with the wisdom to know when silence is required. However, keeping silent when a voice is needed to correct a wrong is the height of self-deception. Most of us opted for silence when a below-mediocre polity hijacked our public service institutions. Whatever their motives, they saw an opportunity and took it.

We hear most privileged individuals complaining about the quality and standard of services provided to them, expecting a level of treatment they believe they are entitled to. But if one wants such treatment, the only way to get it is by getting involved, by taking up the responsibilities that they shy away from through inaction, indifference and silence.

An established piece of gambler’s wisdom is that one does not count their gains or losses in the middle of the game but waits until the end. Unfortunately, this does not work when the stakes are high, and the fate of a nation is hanging in the balance.

Most of us are hung up on political discourse as the most critical factor that determines where a nation goes, and there is truth to that. We should worry about our politics and engage with the process as much as it is relevant to us as individuals and members of various communities. The problem with this approach is that, almost always, our engagement with political discourse seems to be suspended from the realities of daily life.

The educated elite of our country has to accept that we need to take on multiple burdens of responsibility. Thus far, we seem to have settled for one of three positions: innocent bystanders, revolutionaries and victims of circumstances.

The innocent bystanders are those who claim that their role is unique and defined, and they cannot do anything else. Excessive and endless needs characterise them. If they had this and that, and if somebody, most of the time the government, had done this and that, they could have contributed. Otherwise, they believe, all they can do is stand by. They do not see themselves as part of a whole but an important component of it if only they were recognised as such and their needs were fulfilled.

A lot is said about the revolutionaries. The thousands of educated Ethiopian revolutionaries from all sides of the political aisle deserve our respect. Still, there is a segment of them whose whole idea of change is defined by passive aggression. These are people who either are not engaged in a formal struggle for change or do not believe they are in a place that needs changing. That change starts at home by doing what is expected of us. They stay in the fantasy world that will come one day as long as they stay alive waiting for it.

Self-declared victims of circumstances are the most interesting batch, both psychologically and gossip-wise. These are people who play their role very carefully; most have left the country because of supposedly difficult circumstances. They feel they can dictate how the rest of us live from the comfort of their homes by remote control.

They claim ownership to knowledge as to how a country runs with no recognition that they are only projecting their guilt. They are characterised by a willful refusal to know that the reality is different here. They have developed quite a following locally by misrepresenting reality for the restless youth. Symbolically and literally they are far away from here.

This is not a critique of any individual as pointed out above, but educated Ethiopians need to understand that we cannot keep on shying away from what is relevant and expect progress in any form or shape. Our future and the future of our children lies in how much we accept the challenges of our time and make the necessary sacrifice for a better tomorrow.

Public service is where we are needed; in every public institution, there is a space crying out for quality. All it needs is our willingness to take up one more responsibility to make things better so that we win the bet! There is so much good to be gained from committed public service, even if the job sounds less professional. Where we help our nation is by saving its public service. The rest is a mirage!

When Caller Ringtones become the Issue of Privacy

Posted on by Web Master

Shortly after the first case of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was confirmed in Ethiopia, the local caller ringtone were replaced by an automated voice message intended to create awareness about the virus. For a brief period beginning on June 5, 2020, this was changed to another voice message, this time from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) encouraging people to realise the Green Legacy challenge and contribute to planting five billion trees for 2020.

No doubt, these are important messages to pass on to citizens. But it is equally important to understand the legal basis for the method that was used to communicate.

Does this infringe on our right to privacy? If it is made based on public interest, what does that constitute? Is there a legal exception for the right to privacy for the public interest? Can Ethio telecom unilaterally allow this? Should users provide written consent? What are the agreed terms and conditions for Ethio telecom users?

There is an article that refers to the right to privacy in the Constitution. It includes the rights to not be subjected to searches and seizures of property and the inviolability of communications made through letters, electronic devices and telecommunications.

However, considering the technological advances that allow governments to interfere in our personal lives, we should reconsider privacy rights. To do this, we would need to redefine the concept itself.

Despite the recognition of the need for privacy in the abstract, providing a concrete definition of the notion has eluded social scientists, jurists and philosophers seeking singular clarity on the subject, as Alexandra Rengel explains in her book, ‘Privacy in the 21st Century.’ Cognizant of the lack of a universally agreed-upon definition, privacy has been broadly related to individual autonomy and self-determination by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy.

The notion of privacy may also be defined differently based on one’s interpretation of what amounts to an individual’s sphere of autonomy. And for those who tried, the definitions are varied. Privacy has been defined in the context of personal autonomy or control over the intimacies of personal identity. It has also been defined as focusing on control over information about oneself.

More interestingly, privacy is “the condition of being protected from unwanted access by others – physical access, personal information, or attention,” according to Sessela Bok, a Swedish ethicist.

The variation in these definitions is evident. But the right to privacy needs defining terms such as personal autonomy, personal space and even the term privacy itself as it applies to Ethiopia’s current political, social and technological situation. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be much interest in this, mainly because, as many observers of Ethiopia have noted, the country’s past history had little, if any, sensitivity toward privacy.

But for an aspiring democracy, privacy is an integral part of the idea of being left alone, as much as possible, by the government. At its core, privacy is the rightful claim of individuals to determine the extent to which they wish to reveal themselves and to control the time, place and circumstances in which they communicate with others.

Individuals thus should have the right to not allow the government to invade their personal space, including the caller ringtone they hear on their cell phones, without their consent. We have the right to control what we hear when we make calls and not be subjected to invasion from others.

This may sound like a petty issue. Some may argue that this does not hurt anyone, but establishing the legal and philosophical foundation for what the government can and cannot do even on small matters is critical for setting precedent.

When can a government intrude on this right?

There are exceptions for the right to privacy under the Constitution when there are “compelling circumstances and in accordance with specific laws whose purposes shall be the safeguarding of national security or public peace, the prevention of crimes or the protection of health, public morality or the rights and freedoms of others.”

Which brings us to the question of how to define public peace or in general what we refer to as public interest?

The public interest, for which the concept of privacy is sacrificed, is a complex and tricky concept to navigate, because it is contextually determined in scope and purpose in a certain country or geographical area. It can be anything affecting the rights, health, or finances of the public at large. It is a common concern among citizens in the management and affairs of local, state and national government.

As a result, the recorded voice message that attempts to create awareness about the pandemic may be installed just because public health is threatened. It may also be argued that the Prime Minister’s message will help rebuild our natural environment and curb some of the effects of climate change. It can also be that, considering the resources of the government, including public media, it did not need to infringe on our right to privacy to create awareness.

Whichever way the argument will go, it is important to at least question what we consider to be the public interest. We need to debate the matter and reach a consensus on values and actions and enter into an agreement based on consent.

For this, we will not be able to find the answer in the Constitution, which forms the framework within which we can debate, but in the institution that provides services and enforces legal protections.

Did Ethio telecom get consent from people to give access to the government and other bodies to provide unsolicited messages?

When a person buys a SIM card from Ethio telecom, they are provided with terms and conditions that mainly focus on the obligation of the customer but do not mention privacy and personal information.

Ethio telecom, especially as it is in the process of selling shares, needs to make sure its users have received the terms and conditions when they sign up for a product or a service.

Fortunately, there have been efforts to take data and privacy protection into account. This includes a directive by the recently established Ethiopian Communications Authority on consumer rights and protection, which is undergoing consultation – a late but commendable start. This directive includes a provision that protects personal information from being given to third parties and the terms that should apply when these entities provide service.

This is a good beginning, but such questions on the right to privacy, public interest and data protection need further debate. Raising questions instead of mere compliance is how legal texts, courts, citizens and discourses are improved.

As technology is rapidly changing, and as more citizens start using different products and services, it is time for the country to address privacy and data protection rights comprehensively. At the very least, citizens must have an option on whether or not they want to listen to such messages and what they should be obliged to hear.

Ethiopia’s History: Reason to Question Political Violence

Posted on by Web Master

With every political epoch, it has been proven that the existence of strong opposition within the Ethiopian state is an unsustainable arrangement. The same goes for the post-2018 period, where violent clashes between government forces and opposition groups have increased and a worrying escalation of rhetoric with the government of the Tigray Regional State has taken centre stage.

It seems that Ethiopia’s social and cultural infrastructure is rejecting plurality once more. No surprises here. All we had to do was look at the history of our politics, and the behaviour of our political elite, the latter of which has rarely ever had a commitment to democracy, despite what they preach.

Thus, in a state that has perpetually failed to entertain competing ideas and identities, how should the opposition fight back? What are the choices when, at the very least, an informed middle class needs to develop before democracy can be made to work?

Our political elite lacks imagination, so this answer has been a violent overthrow of the status quo – it is the default option. The most revolutionary thing to do, after all, is getting rid of those deemed to be oppressive. The sooner, the better.

There is only one problem with citizens or the state taking the path of political violence – a great many lives have to be sacrificed. Even in the instance of victory, it comes at the expense of many young people that have to be roused into going against the instruments for the state’s monopoly of violence.

How many lives should be sacrificed to justify the freedom of the many, and how many lives are too many to secure certain democratic and political rights?

This is assuming victory.

How many martyrs before too many have died to justify a movement for representation, democracy or freedom? Or is there no end in sight? What if what is being fought for is the dignity of a people? Is any number of lives too many for the emancipation of, say, enslaved people and the securing of a better, freer future for their descendants?

The idea of sacrifice is such a highly valued concept, thanks to our religious and cultural traditions, that political violence is believed to be an appropriate response to perceived oppression.

Indeed, in hindsight, many of the most memorable instances of political violence seem to have been for the better. Take the American Revolution, which despite its shortcomings did prove to the world that democracy indeed is possible. Take World War II, fought to tear down a murderous totalitarian regime, Nazi Germany, or the Battle of Adwa, which was violence to secure independence against the yoke of colonialism.

The thousands of lives lost to win the war were a justifiable sacrifice for the sake of securing Ethiopia’s sovereignty, right? The alternative would have undoubtedly cost more lives, led to the loss of languages and widely practised cultures, right?

When the alternative seems to have worked to our advantage, it seems almost impossible to deny that political violence was justifiable.

But is this always the case? What about the October Revolution, which led to the abolition of Tsarist autocracy and ushered in one of the cruelest regimes the world has ever seen, the Soviet Union?

These are questions that were asked when it became possible to better document the ugliness of war and challenge the narratives of rosy and justifiable uses of political violence throughout the 20th century, although the idea of pacifism dates many centuries back. It has found greater currency as the costs of war and armed struggle became harder to swallow owing to the advancement of military weapons.

The response has been a relatively wider acceptance of non-violent resistance. Its early proponents have been the likes of Henry David Thoreau, whose articulation of civil disobedience is indispensable and has influenced Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. It rests on the argument that people participate in the perpetuation of the machine of the state, and could get its attention by, for instance, refusing to pay taxes or holding sit-ins.

No doubt, this is not a comprehensive enough answer to the dilemma at hand. It is one thing to use non-violent means of resistance against the state that may be restricting political and democratic rights. The Civil Rights Movement took a decade if we count from the protest that led to the US Supreme Court ruling that judged segregation of public institutions of education unconstitutional in 1954 to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination based on race, colour, sex or religion.

It is quite another thing when time is of the essence, and the state is actively trying to get rid of citizens it deems undesirable, as in Nazi Germany’s systemic murder of millions of Jews.

There is no universal way of governing when political violence is to be used. But a rule of thumb is to err on the side of caution. This goes for Ethiopia as well, whose diverse groups have had a propensity for resorting to violence. Its use in fighting off oppression may not always be a bad thing but only in extremely rare circumstances is it the best option.

With Cool Heads, Pragmatic Actions, COVID-19 Will be Overcome

Posted on by Web Master

The spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was attended by stark warnings and dire estimates from renowned epidemiologists and public health institutions.

Britain, France and the United States could have seen over three million deaths between them in the absence of drastic containment measures, Imperial College of London warned. These estimates were then extrapolated to other countries, including extremely alarming figures for Africa.  Almost every African country, panicked by these forecasts, has put in place drastic lockdown measures whose economic and social consequences will be severe.

Ethiopia, depicted as a country with weak health systems that will not be able to achieve prevention, has opted for measures that include enforcing social distancing rules, limiting public gatherings, closing institutions of higher education and initiating surveillance and screenings. Other interventions have included programmes to raise public awareness and promote frequent hand washing and disinfection of homes.

An article by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) underlined the extreme difficulty for a country such as Ethiopia, which has a large population that lives at a subsistence level, to opt for total lockdown. It was one of the public manifestations of pragmatism that we saw on the African continent with that of Patrice Talon, president of Benin.

Was it the right choice? What can be said four months after the first case of the virus was confirmed on African soil, which has now recorded around a quarter of a million cases and thousands of deaths?

To respond to these concerns, we have to revisit the forecasts on which these emergency containment measures were based.

Mortality figures in countries such as France and the United Kingdom, and even Sweden, which did not adopt strict lockdown measures, do not seem to confirm earlier projections. Recent indications, where the outbreak is plateauing, and even subsiding, show that mortality will be several folds lower even in these most affected countries.

As for Africa, the continent has registered much lower mortality rates without taking measures used in the two European countries, even if we cannot be sure what the pandemic will be like in the near future. The number of lives that could be lost in Africa due to COVID-19 was expected to be between 300,000 and 3.3 million, according to the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) report back in April 2020.

It is expected practice to resort to the most pessimistic metrics in epidemiology to encourage governments to take precautionary measures. But certain policy options that governments can use to respond could be extremely costly for society. Total lockdown in this pandemic’s case would thus have been too economically costly to justify.

A brief look at the history of epidemic outbreaks reveals that their behaviour is multi-factorial. Their severity depends on the demographics of the population, the ecosystem and human intervention. Influenza, for instance, does not strike in temperate and warm countries as in colder places, while Ebola seems to behave differently in and outside of tropical zones.

It is, therefore, important to first observe the behaviour of the virus in each context and then make projections that reflect reality. Despite the flack Ethiopian authorities receive for a weak health system, there is a case to be made that they should carry out observations, draw out their predictive indicators and develop strategies for the fight against the epidemic. It would be a mistake on our part to attempt to apply similar preventive measures without considering clinical data developed locally.

The same goes for treatments to be used in new diseases such as COVID-19. This question has sparked heated debates in the developed world. On one side are those that demand that we wait for the results of clinical trials conducted with the highest standards. This is in contrast to those that advocate trying out the most promising treatments while waiting for better options, especially if the side effect of the treatments are known to be mild.

Curiously, countries that have best managed to contain the spread of the virus, specifically in South East Asia, have gone beyond a controversy of this kind. China had in February touted Chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, as an effective treatment with the addition of traditional treatments. South Korea has developed its own protocol, and Japan seems to be betting on another drug, Avigan, which is usually used against the flu.

It is vital to follow this example of pragmatism, and define a treatment plan which borrows from these countries, while monitoring advances in research toward more efficient treatment.

In this atmosphere of irrational panic, Ethiopia must also look into and use its strengths. Its first advantage is the proximity it enjoys with the big winner of this crisis: China. It is already reaping some benefits from it since it has positioned itself as an essential hub for the distribution of Chinese medical aid in Africa and even beyond in recent weeks. This relationship should also extend to learning from their experience with containing COVID-19.

The other strength that it can account for is the health extension programmes, which is a successful and a defining feature of the Ethiopian health system and gives the health authorities an important weapon to detect infectious cases and spread awareness. An army of health workers that can be deployed whenever cheaper testing kits are made available, and whenever a treatment option is developed, will complement the fight against the virus.

While Ethiopia has already undertaken door-to-door screening, these visits need to be frequent. It is an effort that needs to be sustained until the end of the pandemic if it is going to succeed.

Despite the recent and reasonably worrying spike in the number of cases, it is still possible to overcome this outbreak before it causes devastation. This requires keeping a cool head and acting within our means in a determined and pragmatic way.

The Distortions of COVID-19 on Facility Agreements

Posted on by Web Master

In addition to being a public health crisis, no sector, business or individual has been left unaffected by COVID-19. These are unprecedented times and huge uncertainty remains as to the course the pandemic will take, both in terms of how long it will last and its long-term impact.

Most businesses face challenges during this time. Cash flow is one of the immediate key considerations for borrowers and raises concerns as to their ability to comply with their obligations under their financing arrangements. The sustainability of their capital structure is a longer-term consideration.

This is why Ethiopia’s government is reaching deep within its coffers to provide the banks with the liquidity they need to give short-term and lower interest rate loans to businesses that are struggling to retain their employees or keep themselves afloat.

When a company is facing liquidity problems, depending on the context, there are various options available to enhance liquidity. The European loan market serves as a good case study. It could defer payments to creditors and suppliers or cut costs by reducing overhead such as staff. It can also sell assets to raise capital and carve out any costs associated with those assets, raise equity investments through existing shareholders or new ones and draw full amounts of all facilities and other credit lines or incur new debt. From the outset, it may seem that companies in distress have various options available, including government interventions. However, the devil is in the details, and carrying out of these options will depend on the circumstances of each company and the governing law and provisions.

In the context of assessing options available under debt documents, the first feasible thing to do is to check the terms of all the company’s existing debt documents and see if there are options for additional liquidity without the need for lender consent.

If consent is required then the next option would be to use the route that has the least amount of condition precedents to draw under the facilities, that is, the minimum requirements that need to be satisfied to take out the loan. Normally, this would mean using any capacity that is available under its committed facilities, typically a Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) or working capital facility and to check whether the company is still able to satisfy the conditions to draw under the facilities. The former is available in Ethiopia at certain banks, usually for those in the export market.

These conditions usually entail showing that there is no possibility of default. An occurrence of an event of default gives the lender the right to accelerate the loan. There is no one-size-fits-all understanding of a default event. It entirely depends on the drafting of the clause and this varies depending on the business, market practice and jurisdiction. There are various types of default events or default clauses that might be triggered.

In the time of COVID-19, the most relevant and amended event of default provisions across the world is insolvency or insolvency proceedings. This is likely to be widely drafted and not only be triggered by an insolvency proceeding but also by a suspension of payment of a borrower of debt. It can also be triggered if the company commences negotiations with one or more of its creditors. This protects lenders by prohibiting third-party creditors from getting preferential rights to payments over the lenders.

The COVID-19 amendments seen relating to this provision allows negotiations with one or more creditors. For instance, just like negotiating with your landlord, allowing companies with decreased revenues to negotiate rental payment terms allows them to address more imminent matters. A cessation of business event is also relevant under the current circumstances. For this clause there is usually a materiality requirement. For example, cessation must relate to the entire business or a material part of it. However, with the current social distancing measures, it is certainly possible the cessation will be material. The amendments during COVID-19 usually provide that it will not be an event of default if the cessation or suspension is a direct or indirect impact of the pandemic. This includes cases where cessation resulted in response to compliance with government measures.

The litigation event of default is also important in the current circumstances. If borrowers are in financial and other difficulties, they may be subject to litigation if they breach other contracts they have entered into. Cross default comes into play if there is a default under other debt arrangements that have been entered into by the borrower or if other debts are accelerated, commitments cancelled as a result of a default or debts are declared due earlier than their maturity.

Considering the trend of companies changing their business models, for example, shifting towards manufacturing ventilators and producing sanitizers, the change of business clause is also another event of default to consider. Naturally, notice requirements need to be complied with, meaning all of these possibilities of default and changes need to be disclosed by borrowers, especially if they want to obtain waivers or amendments to avoid triggering breaches.

Outside of these strict default clauses defined in the facility agreements, there are discussions as to whether the pandemic will constitute a force majeure or merely frustrate contracts.

Force majeure clauses, which usually entitles a party to suspend or claim an extension of time following events beyond its control that make it impossible to perform the contract, are typically not included in facility agreements and, depending on the governing law, if there is no clause then none will be implied or there is already a law defining such an event. Frustration and illegality of contract clauses are also unlikely to be applied in the context of facility agreements. For new facility agreements, there have been discussions on drafting ‘Corona’ clauses, although there is no consistent market practice yet. This clause will enable borrowers to carve out the impact of the virus going forward, particularly in relation to any financial covenants.

In cases where there are no committed facilities available, the next step would be to assess the possibility of requesting additional facility under the loan documents and whether it would provide sufficient liquidity for the business.

Much like, and in addition to, the conditions to access committed facilities mentioned above, many loan facilities of companies will have to comply with requirements such as leveraged ratios and contracts if it is looking to incur new debt. However, how these contracts and ratios are determined depends on the terms of the debt documents and whether it is a loan document or a bond document.

For example, in dollar bond packages, there is flexibility when determining how much debt headroom the company has available. This means if a company is looking to incur debt from January to March of a given year, it would likely be using its financial results from September of the previous year to calculate its leverage ratios. However, in loan documents there are clearer limitations mainly because the management or lender would not want to allow the company to take on a huge amount of debt based on its strongest quarter, creating an unsustainable debt load and inevitably leading to a default event.

Another COVID-19 amendment allows for financial maintenance covenant relief in which borrowers are seeking temporary holidays from compliance with their financial covenants. This relief is provided for a definite period, typically for two to four quarters, however, there are cases where the contracts are removed altogether and replaced with a temporary liquidity one. For the purpose of meeting this, liquidity could take the form of cash or cash equivalents on the balance sheet and any committed but undrawn credit lines. Other amendments relate to more stringent reporting obligations (including financial information) and possibilities for additional debt and lien capacity, that is, permitting access to unsecured new sources of funding (with a cap) that have been made available by governments.

There are also key considerations relating to restructuring and insolvency from the perspective of the borrower or sponsor (in case of private equity) when there is a downturn in performance or a default situation. Assuming the company is in need of cash, the first thing to do is to understand those cash needs and determine whether the company is worth restructuring or whether it should be sold or liquidated.

If there is a little bit of headroom before insolvency, the company can make cash projections and, depending on how realistic these projections are, the borrower or sponsor can negotiate with banks or lenders on where the funds should come from. Usually, the banks ask the borrowers or sponsors to inject more equity, which, in turn, requires the banks to provide the principal, an interest holiday or an additional loan.

If the sponsor or borrower is forced to make the investment, then it should try to structure the investment or secure it. Injecting money as equity should be the last resort, and even then it is preferable to consider equity appreciation rights because they create a contractual debt claim over any future insolvency priority over pure equity claims.

While all of these are some of the relevant provisions to facility agreements that should be focused on against the backdrop of the global pandemic we are facing, it is by no means an exhaustive one. No doubt, each facility agreement and local law requirements should be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis.

Constitutional Interpretation: the Topsy-turvy Way Out

Posted on by Web Master

It was only a couple of weeks after the first case of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was reported that the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) submitted a proposal to parliament to extend the national election that was scheduled for August 2020. It was a proposal that was accepted by parliamentarians.

But the postponement has raised critical constitutional questions that have never been addressed by the country’s constitutional law jurisprudence. This issue has arisen at a time when the constitutional deadlines for elections are being taken into consideration.

Although any legal measures to postpone an election is far from simple, parliament opted for the constitutional interpretation option to legitimise the postponement. Many of the incumbents believed that the only possible solution to the current constitutional crisis concerning election postponement should be addressed within the legal framework, effectively ruling out a transitional government.

Indeed, the Constitution asserts its supremacy and denies the power of any law, customary practise or decision of any organ of the state or public official. It is, therefore, illegal to assume power through any means other than, or contradictory to, the manner prescribed by the Constitution.

Still, the incumbent’s decision to require constitutional interpretation to answer the question of election postponement in Ethiopia, given the constitutional provisions that fix the term of the office of any elected parliament to be five years, brings up serious legal conundrums.

One of these is the necessity of the very act of interpreting the Constitution. This is due to the Constitution having explicit provisions that govern election schedules and determine the term of office of the parliament.

“Members of the House of Peoples’ Representatives shall be elected by the People for a term of five years on the basis of universal suffrage and by direct, free and fair elections held by secret ballot,” reads Article 54 of the Constitution.

Thus, the term of the office of the incumbent members of parliament, who were elected in May 2015, will expire sometime around September 2020. Another article determines the members should be elected for a term of five years, and that elections for a new House shall be concluded one month prior to the expiry of this term.  Many have questioned what is not clear about “five years” that needs interpretation.

This brings into focus the article that allows the government to declare a state of emergency. The article, while listing grounds to declare a national emergency, does not specify anything about election postponement if the election schedule occurs amidst such extraordinary situations, such as a pandemic.

Some argue that, in the midst of a state of emergency, an election can be postponed because the Constitution does not list the right to vote and be elected as non-derogable under the article. Their logic follows that if there is not an election that can be conducted, there will not be a government, leading to a power vacuum. This is also not in the spirit and intent of the Constitution and that the incumbents, perhaps in the form of a caretaker government, should take hold.

Others would argue that voting ties in with the right to self-determination and is a non-derogable right under the state of emergency. Holding elections is one of, if not the single most crucial manifestation of self-determination, and thus cannot be postponed – another line of argument that has not sufficiently been addressed.

At this late stage, though, it seems that we are stuck with interpretation. Here, a holistic understanding of the constitution and a robust interpretation by the legitimate body is necessary for guaranteeing constitutionalism and making possible an indisputable and consistent reform in line with the ever-changing conditions of politics.

Parliament (with reservations from few MPs) has already voted and pushed the matter to the Council of Constitutional Inquiry, which is mandated to advise the House of Federation, the only body empowered by the supreme law of the land to decide on interpretation, and did decide.

Unfortunately, the process has not been as inclusive as was hoped under the circumstances. Interpretation was decided upon by parliament without sufficient discussions with opposition parties, and less than a week after four possible options for postponing the election were put forward, including the option of amending the Constitution.

Neither is the process of interpretation free from conflicts of interest. It was also a unilateral decision by the parliament, without sufficient consultation having taken place with competing political parties and before sending it to the House of Federation.

No doubt, it was not helpful that some opposition parties have suggested steps forward that are outside the constitutional boundaries. The Constitution states that the form of government should only be parliamentarian. This is in direct contradiction to what opposition parties have called for, including the option for a transitional or caretaker government. Any attempt to establish such a government would have been understood as contradicting the constitutional provisions.

More worrying is how the idea of the neutrality of the interpreter has failed to be addressed, which is primarily due to the establishment of a constitutional court. Rather, the Constitution empowers the House of Federation, a political organ, to settle all constitutional disputes.

In the debate regarding how to legitimately address postponing the election, the interpretation option brought the matter under the feet of the very body that would benefit from a postponement, the House of Federation.

Can anybody be the judge in their own case?

This eroded the credibility of the decision that was given by the House of Federation.

But postponement was as much a political problem as it was a legal one. Accompanying the legal norms with a political agreement may create a similar mode of participation for various interests and can be binding with its shortcomings. In the absence of a constitutional remedy that could create a consensus, political dialogue and consensus-building were the only real avenue for resolution of the crisis.

Given the internal political polarisations and external challenges, a short period of extension for the incumbents, with limited powers, and a consultative role for the opposition outside of government, was one of the least bad options until the next election is held after the pandemic is over.

Health Professionals: Let’s Reciprocate the Care

Posted on by Web Master

There is a friend of mine who knows about sleep deprivation like no other. Working double shifts and sleeping on wooden benches, he is one of those strong men and women on the front line of the fight against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Our healthcare professionals are putting their lives on the line to save the lives of others each day with the lack of even the most basic infrastructure.

For my friend, the COVID-19 pandemic means the disruption of his previous practice, where he cared for a single patient at a time. Now he has to engage with multiple patients at a time in a public health institution.

Making that sort of abrupt change is not easy for him and his colleagues who have had to adapt to ever-changing unpleasant new realities. They were not expecting to contend with a flood of patients. It is not just new COVID-19 patients who are impacted but others that have been affected with the strain put on the healthcare system.

Even under normal circumstances, our medical professionals are expected to deliver more than their training prepares them for. They are not provided with adequate medical gear and equipment, they face high rates of infection, and the stress that comes from dealing with patients in pain is often exhausting and distressing. Apart from a lack of facilities, the grossly inadequate number of medical doctors has added to the burden.

The COVID-19 outbreak is especially taxing. It often involves working in an environment where not enough is known yet about the illness, but health professionals are expected to meet expectations with a similar level of effectiveness. The emotional and psychological impact takes its own toll, as their exposure to the virus negatively impacts their social life.

We all may be living in uncertain times, but it is truer of these professionals. Society owes them a debt of gratitude for the resilience and dedication to their profession. Without them, we will not be able to defeat the pandemic.

As the number of cases has been rising over the past month, with daily rates having reached three digits, the best way we can still keep ourselves safe is by protecting ourselves from the disease.

Although we may not have the medical skill to treat patients, we have hard-wired humanity in all of us to be there for one another and to appreciate those who are helping the country. We should all go beyond our comfort zone and cope with the lifestyle changes the pandemic has brought.

Certainly, the pandemic is a new aspect in our lives that is largely out of our control. Until these professionals can come up with an effective enough treatment, it will be out of our control.

There are already promising clinical trials taking place at the moment. One of the most promising seems to be Dexamethasone, a low-dose steroid treatment that has been seen to cut deaths by a third for patients on ventilators and a fifth for those on respirators.

What this shows us is that the pandemic will come to an end, and we will once again venture outside without fear. What is expected of us is patience to stay put, while our health professionals save the lives of those who have unfortunately contracted the disease.

We also do not know whether after the pandemic life as we knew it might be significantly different. We may reassess our values and institutions. Most likely, we would attempt to look after our environment better and work to strengthen our health system, including providing healthcare professionals with the resources they need. The silver lining might be that we will come out of this fairly committed to caring for our doctors and nurses, in much the same way they took care of us in our time of need.

Gov’t Writes Protocol, Strategy for Tourism Industry to Bounce Back

Posted on by Web Master

Tourism Ethiopia has written a protocol to prevent the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) at tourism sites and protect tourists and tour operators from the virus.

The government tour promoter has been working on the protocol for the past three weeks via a task force composed of professionals from the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, tour operators’ associations and regional states’ culture and tourism bureaus.

The protocol aims at protecting tourists, tour guides and the community at the destinations from the transmission of COVID-19, according to Seleshi Girma, CEO of Tourism Ethiopia, which is preparing to consult on the protocol with religious institutions and on the destination sites with the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority.

The protocol limits the number of tourists that can visit a certain site at one time and requires physical distancing between visitors and tour guides. It requires the visitors, tourist destinations and hotel associations to comply with the World Tourism Organisation’s health and hygiene safety requirements that have been set in place to combat the spread of the virus.

The sites should have thermometers to test the temperature of the visitors before they get to the site. The tourists should also disinfect their materials at every tourist destination before they enter, according to the draft protocol.

The destinations should also cut their serving capacity, and the destinations are also advised to increase the number of windows they use to give service to visitors to avoid crowds. They are also encouraged to implement E-payment systems enabling tourists to pay and finalise tripes online before reaching the destination.

The protocol will help the sector to not lose experienced workers and to keep the sector on track, according to Andinet Feleke, president of the Ethiopian Tour Operators Association, which has 300 tour operators as members that account for a total of 3,000 employees.

Tour guides are also expected to regularly disinfect the vehicles that they use to transport tourists before travel and after travel. They should also regularly check the health status of the visitors throughout their trips.

Tourism is one of the industries that has been most harmed by the global outbreak of the virus. The industry has suffered since the lockdown in many countries across the world and flight suspensions of most of the international airline companies.

Ethiopia could lose up to one billion dollars due to the situation, according to Endegena Desalegn, acting communications director at the Ministry of Culture & Tourism.

During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, a total of 541,145 tourists arrived in the country and generated just under 2.1 billion dollars. In the last fiscal year, 811,604 tourists arrived in Ethiopia, generating 3.2 billion dollars in revenue.

The protocol is part of the recovery strategy that has been drafted by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism and Tourism Ethiopia to help the industry bounce back. The strategy incorporates proactive communication and media engagement; cooperative image building and marketing; stimulation of the struggling industry; service excellence and product diversification, implementation arrangements, monitoring and evaluation of performance.

Henok Seyoum, a tourism journalist, appreciates the government taking action before the industry is hit hard and falls to an unrecoverable level.

“The measures will let the operators and the professionals stay in business until the pandemic is over,” he said.

Henok adds that only the federal offices are taking action, while the regional culture and tourism bureaus remain dormant.

“The regional offices and administrations of tourist destination sites need to cooperate and work closely with the federal offices,” Henok said.

Rick and Morty: A Back to the Future Fitting of the Times

Posted on by Web Master

While The Simpsons and Family Guy have become caricatures of their earlier season selves, with BoJack Horseman (one of the best-written shows of all time) having bitten the dust earlier this year, and with South Park, Archer and Bob’s Burgers having never been more sophisticated than annoying, there is only one great adult animated series left standing in the ring – Rick and Morty.

With its series finale having aired late last month, the series is a millennial geek’s dream. It is in equal parts self-referential, self-deprecating, obsessed with internet pop culture and filled with self-loathing and shame. Its nihilism is only matched by its seemingly limitless drive for the metaphysical. Its self-hatred is only matched by its preoccupation with radicalising geek culture. So, yes, it is a great show.

The series follows the adventures of Rick Sanchez, continuously referred to as the smartest person in the universe, an omnipotent-ish alcoholic scientist who has discovered inter-dimensional travel, and his grandson, Morty, a scrawny, timid and hormonal 14-year-old boy.

Both live in Morty’s parents’ house, where the who’s who of personality disorders can be found. The patriarch is Jerry, an unemployed, inarticulate, emasculated man whom Rick hates for being ineffectual.

Beth is obsessed with being acknowledged by her father, Rick, but resents him for leaving her early in childhood, mostly because she ended up with a man she believes is beneath her (in looks, financially, intellectually) and forever tries to come to terms with the possibility that she may be a loser as well. Perhaps the sanest, and most well-put-together presence in the family is Summer, Beth and Jerry’s first born, who sees the meaninglessness of it all and often just goes with the flow.

All of this character study is done as a backstory to convoluted sci-fi plots in each episode. The protagonists are Rick and Morty, who travel across different universes, get into trouble and consistently come out on the other end having learned that the concept of the good is an illusion. Rick unlocks reality to the extent that it becomes so complicated and so de-centred from humanity that many episodes devolve into nihilism.

It is for this reason that the Rick and Morty we are shown in the first episode of the first season are probably not the same individuals we are shown in the fourth season – we do not know, but it barely matters. There are infinite versions of them in the multiverse. The garbage-in-garbage-out attitude the show has to values and knowledge applies to its protagonists as well.

It is to the animated series’ credit that it manages to be even more meta than this. It is not just the characters, their emotions and ambitions that are cross-examined, critiqued and chewed out as ultimately meaningless in the face of a reality that warps and bends. It is the style of storytelling itself, its theme and the show’s fandom. All of these were particularly addressed in the fourth season’s “Never Ricking Morty” instalment. The episode is set inside a so-called Story Train, which mirrors the incoherent script-writing of the show over the show’s four seasons and alludes to the expectations of fandom, perhaps even suggesting that the theme of the series is escaping predictability by its fans.

All of this may make it a turn-off for mainstream audiences, but the show’s popularity is a testament to how accurately it represents the general tone of our times. It takes from Back to the Future but upgrades the context to thematically mirror an era that has increasingly grown wary of science, technology, family values and is stuck in a constant cycle of updating its cultural and historical references.

If Back to the Future was the child of the light sci-fi of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells – human values and spirit kept intact in the face of a changing world – Rick and Morty imagines the Nietzschean world – humanity turned inside out by its ambition to know and understand the universe.

As I said, this is a great show, if not a bit depressing.