Fortune News | Feb 01,2020
May 25 , 2019
By
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) hosted one of the most expensive dinner parties the world has ever seen on May 19, 2019. For five million Birr a plate, business people and representatives of different organisations dined at the newly refurbished Palace of Menelik II.
Nostalgic of the lavish parties Emperor Menelik II used to hold at the palace, the dinner was traditionally themed. There were raw meat and even Tej. As far as initial reports of the dinner were concerned, it was a success and guests were satisfied, even if they came out of it five million Birr lighter.
It was not just a dinner though. It was a fundraising event for a project in the capital. Shortly before the event, the African Developmental Bank gave 600,000 dollars, the government of Italy five million euros, two United Nations’ agencies gave a total of two million dollars and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia contributed over 17 million dollars.
What sort of project would get such enthusiasm from government agencies, development partners, business leaders and organisations?
It was not one of the countless number of problems that afflict the nation, such as inadequate access to education or health services. The project did not aim to address the humanitarian crisis caused as a result of the displacement of millions of people, and neither was it meant for the street children in Addis Abeba.
It was all for the realisation of “Beautifying Sheger” project. It aims to revitalise and develop river banks and riversides along a 56Km stretch from Mount Entoto to Qality. It is planned to be finalised in three years and estimated to cost 29 billion Br. If the concept designs are anything to go by, the Beautifying Sheger project will give the city a facelift.
But it rings hollow. It seems too much like a luxury for a nation facing various infrastructure and macroeconomic bottlenecks. It is not that most do not wish for their city to look like what is envisioned in the project’s concept designs. It just does not strike one as a priority.
In the city where this dinner was held, getting by is getting harder by the day. Basic services are amiss. Costs are rising every which way, most of them as a result of a shortage of either foreign currency or supply chain disruptions.
Just this year, the city saw the kind of fuel shortage it has rarely ever seen before. The inability of the government to facilitate a functional market for wheat, cooking oil, eggs and milk has meant a significant rise in the cost of living. This is not to mention the regular scarcity in pharmaceuticals, sending citizens to scurry around to the black market.
A shortage in manufacturing raw materials and a consistent shortage in utilities such as electricity and water makes the possibility of a thriving private sector unlikely. A consumer that is hit with a high cost of living and a private sector burdened with a lack of basic infrastructure makes the likelihood of an economic resurgence anytime soon very unlikely.
The Prime Minister has a range of projects that he could dine for. The resources that are going into the Beautifying Sheger project could have been justified at almost any other time in the nation’s history. Now, there are too many challenges where such resources could have done a great deal of good and been used to heal the national spirit.
At the moment, this is a facelift for a city that is the capital of a country with all kinds of fatal afflictions. The government should instead spend its political capital, or what is left of it, and resources into strengthening the nation’s political and economic foundations.
PUBLISHED ON
May 25,2019 [ VOL
20 , NO
995]
Fortune News | Feb 01,2020
Radar | Jan 19,2024
Covid-19 | May 23,2020
Fortune News | Jun 20,2020
Radar | Feb 20,2021
Radar | Dec 04,2021
Covid-19 | Mar 30,2020
Fortune News | Aug 23,2025
Fortune News | Apr 09,2022
Radar | Oct 23,2023
Photo Gallery | 156259 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 146542 Views | Apr 26,2019
My Opinion | 135227 Views | Aug 14,2021
Photo Gallery | 135059 Views | Oct 06,2021
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
Sep 13 , 2025
At its launch in Nairobi two years ago, the Africa Climate Summit was billed as the f...
Sep 6 , 2025
The dawn of a new year is more than a simple turning of the calendar. It is a moment...
Aug 30 , 2025
For Germans, Otto von Bismarck is first remembered as the architect of a unified nati...
Aug 23 , 2025
Banks have a new obsession. After decades chasing deposits and, more recently, digita...
Sep 15 , 2025 . By AMANUEL BEKELE
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa's largest hydroelectric power proj...
Sep 13 , 2025
The initial budget in 2011 was 80 billion Br, but this figure swelled to a revised cost of 240 billion Br by 2024, a challenge that was exac...
Banks are facing growing pressure to make sustainability central to their operations as regulators and in...
Sep 15 , 2025 . By YITBAREK GETACHEW
The Addis Abeba City Cabinet has enacted a landmark reform to its long-contentious setback regulations, a...
Loading your updates...