Mesob Pushes Digital Platform to Meet Entrenched Resistance

Aug 17 , 2025. By BEZAWIT HULUAGER ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

The federal government is formalising the legal scaffolding for the Mesob One-Stop Centre, a digital hub launched in Addis Abeba six months ago, in a fresh salvo against a deeply entrenched bureaucracy and widespread public discontent as a result.

The initiative promises to revolutionise how citizens interact with government, consolidating fragmented services, digitising processes, and confronting corruption head-on. Unveiled by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) in April 2025, the Centre was lauded as a flagship for a digital governance renaissance.

"We know the public is tired of slow and frustrating services," said Abiy during the launch. “Land issues and corruption have been sources of deep dissatisfaction. This Centre is part of our promise to make those grievances a thing of the past.”

A draft regulation, "Establishment of a One-Stop Digital Government Service", has been tabled before the Council of Ministers, whose passage officials hope will challenge an emerging institutional inertia. While designed as a coordination platform rather than a power usurper, Mesob’s reception by federal agencies has been mixed, an early test of the Administration’s reformist credibility.

“It’s an aggregator, not a mandate taker,” said Anteneh Mamo, Mesob’s CEO, addressing agencies hesitant to relinquish turf.

The draft regulation defines Mesob as an autonomous federal office, legally nested under the Civil Service Commission, and governed by a board chaired by a Prime Minister-appointed official. The Board features high-profile figures, including ministers of Finance, Labour & Skills, Planning & Development, and Innovation & Technology. The heads of INSA and the AI Institute, as well as CEOs from Ethio telecom and the Ethiopian Telecommunications Authority, are also included.

The Mesob CEO will act as a non-voting secretary, and the Mesob Services Office will serve as the Board's secretariat.

Its legal mandate extends beyond public offices to include third-party contractors and public enterprises. Its objectives are ambitious, from digitising public services to enhancing transparency, eliminating redundancies, and strengthening accountability. Mesob is responsible for coordinating fee collection, operating service centres, ensuring accessibility, and protecting personal data.

Initially offering 22 services from Ethio telecom, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), and Ethio Post, Mesob now hosts 124 services from 11 institutions. Agencies like the Immigration Service and the Document Registration & Authentication Service (DARS) have paused their own expansion plans to instead integrate with Mesob’s platform. Services should meet strict onboarding criteria, interoperability, digital readiness, commercial viability, and public demand.

DARS processed 947,000 cases in the 2024/25 fiscal year, serving over 1.6 million clients across 17 branches, 83pc of which were online. It generated three billion Birr in digital payments and registered 54,000 citizens for the national digital ID. At Mesob, DARS now offers six core services, with nine more pending. Since integration, it has delivered over 2,100 transactions worth 13 million Birr.

According to its Director General, Hamid Kinisso, fraud has declined, while wait times and customer frustration have dropped.

Operating out of Gerji, the Centre currently serves 200 clients daily through a unified digital interface. The model, which mirrors international benchmarks from Rwanda, Georgia, and India, adopts a “sandbox” environment to trial services before full implementation.

More than 77 countries operate some form of digital one-stop governance, according to the World Bank. Ethiopia’s Mesob finds its peers in Rwanda’s Irembo, Brazil’s Poupatempo, and Georgia’s Public Service Halls. In each case, centralisation and digitisation have improved service delivery and restored public trust.

But Ethiopia faces steeper headwinds.

According to Hirko Alemu, a lawyer and legal consultant, the judicial system remains lethargic, as evidenced by a foreign investment case that has been delayed for over 18 months.

“Such inefficiencies erode investor confidence and undermine the rule of law,” he warned.

Mesob, while a positive step, should be accompanied by broader institutional reforms, particularly in the judiciary and enforcement bodies.

Countries like Kenya and Rwanda, says Hirko, succeeded not merely by digitising, but by re-engineering how services were delivered, streamlining approvals, training frontline workers, and holding public servants accountable. Ethiopia’s reforms, if not paired with these essentials, risk becoming window dressing on a dysfunctional state apparatus.

According to Anteneh, the Centre is gearing up for 24-hour service across three shifts, a structural break from traditional 9:00am-to-5:00pm bureaucracy. The Centre is staffed by approximately 169 personnel, including volunteers and staff. Employee performance is incentivised. As operations expand, the workforce is expected to double in size. Yet, integration remains partial. The Ministry of Finance, which is crucial for processing investment incentives, has not yet fully joined, although discussions are ongoing.

Service charges are set five per cent above standard rates; the difference funds monthly bonuses. Training is delivered by Ethiopian Airlines, and evaluations depend on punctuality, service quality, and customer satisfaction.

Plans are afoot to scale. Officials want to establish at least one Mesob Centre in every regional state. Already, four centres operate in Oromia, three in Amhara, and five in Sheger City. New sites are planned in Addis Abeba, including one near the Arada District Office.

"The goal is to have at least one Mesob in every region by the end of September," said Anteneh.

PUBLISHED ON Aug 17,2025 [ VOL 26 , NO 1320]