BEN TV  Award Meles

Addis Ababa  (WIC) - Bright Entertainment Network Television (BEN TV) conferred late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi with a posthumous award of THE ORDER OF KILIMANJARO - the highest honour to be bestowed on anyone by indigenous Africans resident in the UK – at a grand event held at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Bloomsbury  November 23,2012.

The award, a tribute to the outstanding and life-long commitment of the great leader to the development of his nation and that of the African continent, praises Meles as “The True Son of Africa”.

In opening remarks at the event, the representative of Ben TV said “though we are deeply saddened over the loss of Meles, we are also here to celebrate achievements of this great son of Africa, who dedicated his life for the development of Ethiopia and firmly stood for African interests.”

Burundian Minister of Finance, Tabu Abdallah, who was the guest of honour at the event, handed over the award to Berhanu Kebede, Ethiopian Ambassador to Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries.

The Minister who also received an award as Development Ambassador of the Year cited the dynamism and change taking place in Burundi and Africa, appreciated the role of BEN TV in promoting African issues and paid tribute to the late Prime Minister Meles for his leadership to both his country and Africa.

Receiving the award, the Ambassador Berhanu said Prime Minister Meles was a staunch freedom fighter and a man of the people who had always been at the forefront in the long and arduous journey to uproot the repressive regime and put in place a democratic order that guarantees equality and prosperity to the people of Ethiopia, now empowered to decide on their destiny.

The Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), and its predecessor, Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP), were massive blue prints produced under his leadership to ensure a faster economic growth that saw millions lifted out of abject poverty even at the time of economic meltdown elsewhere in the world.

For the Prime Minister, there is no greater indignity than poverty and that is why he underlined the imperative of defeating poverty for Ethiopia to be viable and honor the dignity of its people.

He had a deep affection and unswerving commitment to the people of Ethiopia. But he was also a Panafricanist in deed.

He effectively argued for fair prices, for African commodities, for increased investment and financial flows, for payments in compensation of adverse impacts of climate change, and for fair regime of international trade. Indeed, he was, a True Son of Africa.

Ambassador Berhanu said the legacies of this great leadership are abound and multi-faceted. Ethiopia has been growing at an annual rate of 11 per cent over the past several years and projections indicate the trend will continue unabated.

A democratic order has been put in place and democracy is taking roots in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Already, a peaceful and constitutional transition has taken place, bringing to the fore the new leadership which will see through the implementation of the strategies and policies crafted under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi He also said the Ethiopian Embassy in London was greatly honored to receive the posthumous award of the Order of Kilimanjaro, on behalf of our great leader, the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Slides depicting tributes paid to PM Meles by world leaders and eminent personalities and highlights of his achievements and visions were shown at the grand event of the BEN TV Award.

Speaking at the event, Simon Hughes, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Member of Parliament for Southwark and Bermondsey, said, the late Prime Minister Meles “put his country on the map globally and diplomaticall.

He changed the culture and perception of Africa by arguing against, not just for the poor at home, but for planned change to be controlled for people, to understand the need for international global responsibility and we need more African leaders like him.”

He said “…we need to make sure more and more African countries are still practicing good governance, anticorruption governance, democratic governance and representative governance…and that every country in Africa in our lifetimes will become an example of good governance and good leadership, like the one given to the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia [by BEN TV]…this is a time for celebration of talents and for looking ahead with ambition and optimism.”

He further said that [Africans] have phenomenally changed the outlook of the UK and we are much more focused on Africa than we have been at any time and there is now a much greater consciousness of the potential of Africa. The UK government, he said, is determined to increase our trade and links with every part of Africa.

A minute of silence was observed in memory of the late prime minister and tributes were paid by high commissioners and representatives of various countries.

The High Commissioner for Malawi praised him for his outstanding leadership not only of Ethiopia, but also in matters of great significance for Africa.

Award winning musical troupe, Dankira, staged a drama highlighting the construction of the Renaissance Dam, one of the legacies of the late Prime Minister, and showcased the rich Ethiopian cultural dance to the delight of the audience. At the conclusion of the event, the Ethiopian National Anthem was played.

BEN TV is a British television channel founded by Alistair Soyode. It is aimed mainly at expatriate Africans living in Europe and North Africa and prides itself at being the first and longest-running African and Caribbean-focused television channel in the United Kingdom with its tagline of “Bridging the Gap”.

Present on the occasion were government representatives, parliamentarians, members of the diplomatic corps, companies and businesses, representatives of the Ethiopian community in the UK, as well as invited guests.

Pan-africanism exhibition at AU HQ, an insult for Continent!

Worku B. from Kera

Thanks to Ethio telecom! Text messages flood our cell phones daily in the face of our little space of memory card we own. Of late, most people have received one SMS message read as 'Promoting pan-Africanism & African Renaissance through ICT' and my friends and I did not want either to miss this huge opportunity or delay for it. And we attended the exhibition on the 22nd of November.

Alas, by the time we arrived at the head quarter of AU, there was a long queue on the irritating hot sun making our while too bitter. And finally we got the chance to enter into the new gracious and tall African Union Commission complex. Inside the complex, at one corner we saw some people displaying materials, their number does not exceed fifteen. Most of the displays, if not all, has nothing to do with the theme of the exhibition.

In the first place this huge idea need to be well managed, other African countries' innovations with regard to ICT, achievements in ICT registered so far that holds hopes to tie up the people of Africa together, progresses African people show in the area and the likes should be shown off. And at least third of African countries could have displayed their successes that match the theme. Some of the displays even gave us a shock wave as we hardly understand why they are there.

Africa is a big continent, and pan africanism encompasses a wide range of noble ideas. Plus, the continent has conceived and delivered a lot of innovative persons, thus, is endowed with varieties of innovations in the ICT area which the organizers look like are failing to understand. Compared to that the so called exhibition takes a dwarf position, I can say. Almost every of the people who attended the session on that morning expressed the exhibition, 'a total wastage of time'. On top of that, the very funny stuff was security personals of AU did not allow visitors stay there more than an hour, even my friends and I could not stay for thirty minutes, we were driven out soon from the small display room.

Therefore,those who organize the 'event' need to ask apology for the messes created, and should change the theme they have wrongly assigns!!

Is Anbessa city bus operating with full capacity?

BY WORKU BELACHEW

Anbessa City Bus Enterprise (ACBE) has served Addis Ababa and few other regional towns over the past seven decades as a major public mode of public transport. It launched operation as a share company of the royal family of emperor Haile-selassie I until it was nationalized in 1975 when Derge assumed power, available data show.
Today, ACBE provides a relatively affordable mass transportation service in and around  Addis Ababa in the face of a wide variety of  challenges. The twelve meters yellow and red coloured vehicles go to the extent of becoming one of the defining attributes of the capital. Over the past seventy years, the buses have been transporting millions of residents of the city and its environs in a mixed road traffic system, though the road networks of the city had been poor in quality and the topography of the city so challenging for its service.
Many agree  that the services of the enterprise have proven a remarkable surge during the past few decades. This time a fleet of six hundred fifty buses are operating, in a full day base, covering ninety five routes within and fifteen more routes around the city and in nearby towns in Oromia zone. On top of that, it is striving to its level best to curb the ever increasing acute transportation shortage of the capital through giving supportive transportation services in twenty nine additional routes effective during rush hours, according to sources. The enterprise also renders contract base services for various institutions, says  Amanuel Tezera, Yeka Depot Transport Service Sub Process Owner of ACBE. He also added that ACBE has allocated eighty buses to give premium service for operators of micro and small scale industry who engage in housing projects, thereby, contributing its share to accelerating the pace of the constructions. That the case, the enterprise recently launched five additional routes following the increased demand of some places in the city. Amanuel also pointed out that the enterprise is making preparations to launch circular route around the ring road of the capital, but only after maintaining some of DAF buses which are out of function and after receiving the remaining locally assembled buses from Bishiftu Automotive and Locomotive Industry (BALI).
Some passengers whom this writer approached for an interview, however, complains about problems in the enterprises  services . Adane Bekele is one among them. He was awaiting for bus  number fifty seven at Lagar terminal, near the Head quarter of Ethiop-Djibouti railway Company. According to him,  it usually takes him more than an hour to get this bus. Consequently, he is always late  at  work and to get back  home. Adane does not know where and how he can express his complaints. Yeshi Kahissay was also lining up awaiting for route number forty-five bus, from Lagar-Addisu Gebeya via Churchill avenue. She expressed getting this bus as a nightmare. She also said awaiting for this bus in a dusty area and tropical burning sun is too boring. Merega Debela, another commuter, desperately awaited for route number seventy six bus around Hayahulet Mazoriya station. “I was here despite the awful afternoon hot sunshine for over thirty minutes and I saw the bus travelling to Megenagna terminal but it did not comeback.” To him some buses detour their route while people like him waste their time awaiting at the stations.
There are other more  people who share the above complaints. This being the case, few routes have ample number of buses than others. Thus, customers are too comfortable, says Mulu Mamo who usually travels with bus  number six from around Addis Ababa Abattoirs Enterprise to Pizza . She also mentioned some routes have more number of buses while others have only few.
Amanuel admits the existence of the aforesaid problems.  “The ongoing road constructions in most places in Addis Ababa coupled with the mixed traffic system are negatively impacting  the services of the enterprise. Due to that customers may stay long time awaiting for  buses at stations. Besides, most of the old roads are too narrow and busy, a case in point is the road from Arrarat to Kotebe,” he said. According to him, the enterprise is making attempts to mitigate these problems, in the routes where roads are under construction, they are providing  services  via detour roads. Responding why some buses  change routes he sad , “our transport operation system is flexible. And the mobility of people varies from time to time within a day. And when there is less mobility in some routes and more in another, we are obliged to change the routes of the buses and people need not to misunderstand that.”
ACBE has means to collect complaints of customers. We have transport coordinating committees in some routes. There are  also committees for  number twenty five,  number sixty and  number twenty six. The committees work hand-in-glove with us and it creates an opportunity for us to collect complaints. Not only that, according to him, people also visit the officers at different terminals and even the headquarter, Amanuel explained. He also made it clear that ACBE has recently launched a free line 8642,which allows us to receive complaints and put solution in place when problems arise.
 

The acuteness of transportation problem of the city is soaring steadily from time to time. Workers and students always face fierce challenge of transportation shortage, spoiling their morning fresh energy  and getting fatigue before they carryout their daily routines. The transport shortage in rush hours is beyond the capacity of any service providing body ,be they Minibus taxis, Higer  buses or Anbessa. Anbessa city bus takes the great share in moving residents daily. Available data show that ACBE transported over one hundred twenty eight million passengers in 2004 EC budget year, for instance. Amanuel on his part builds on that saying the enterprise transports over four hundred thousand people a day.
Yet, it looks like that the enterprise is hardly giving operation with full capacity. There are manifold reasons to say so. Most of the old DAF brand buses failed to give function and are decaying in the backyards of the enterprise's depots. Even the rest DAF buses frequently interrupt function for either minor or major defects. In fact, the locally assembled Bishoftu buses are filling these gaps. But, still a considerable number of these new buses are also facing recurrent defects, though it is said to be minor.  More than two hundred of them had been in the enterprise's garage for maintenance last month, for instance.
Nigussu Lakachew works as a Technical Service and Automotive Parts Production Process owner with  ACBE. According to him, the enterprise has four hundred sixty-one DAF brand old buses, of these one hundred eighteen buses' engine have already failed. “This is for obvious reasons,” said Nigussu. “Most of them worked between twelve and seventeen years. And the rest also hardly functions with frequent maintenance. As genuine spare  parts are hard to find for these buses, we fix counterfeit parts that we produce ourselves or take parts from non functioning buses. Sadly  most of their parts cannot be produced locally. In fact, we ordered to get the delivery of genuine parts in 2004,  but it is evident that the buses are old models and the company that manufactured them has long started  producing modern models and their parts. However, we communicated with suppliers and managed to get the parts and hopefully we will be delivered soon.” He added. Thus, at least we will bring sixty of the non functioning DAF buses into operation, according to Nigussu.
We have also another project which cuts our spare parts cost almost by half. The project  is envisioned to get all the old buses into operation. We have brought this idea after Egypt Power granted us full spare parts that is enough to fix one DAF bus free of charge. And we re-power one DAF bus as a pilot testing. Though some technical weakness has been experienced, this bus is functioning for the last six months. “we have also commented on the weaknesses we observed, and Egypt Power promised to correct them,” he pointed out. Now we floated bidding for the procurement of spare parts and five companies_including Egypt Power_bought the bid document, of which two of them have won the technical specifications. Our next step is to consider their financial specifications and one of them would deliver the parts, he unveiled. This strategy may help us even to bring the old and idle Mercedes buses into the road traffic, added Nigussu.
According to Nigussu ACBE has received three hundred fifty rigid and one hundred nine articulated locally assembled buses from Bishoftu Automotive and Locomotive Industry. To him assembling these buses locally is one great leap to achieve the knowledge and technology transfer ambition of the nation.  “This project serves as a steadfast ground as it creates capacity for the nation to manufacture vehicles locally in the near future.” He remarked.
However, the new buses encountered some technical defects on one of its components of gearshift system. “One important component called Servo, fixed in the system has been found poor in quality. As a result, over two hundred of the new buses have repeatedly failed to operate,” according to Nigussu. The enterprise discussed the defect with BALI, then the company communicated and convinced the Chinese company that supplied the parts. Hence,all the components damaged have been substituted with the suppliers own cost, he added. “But, though we were delivered parts in three rounds, all were again poor in quality, most amazingly we fixed the third round to the buses and most failed before they left our compound.” Explained Nigussu.  Now we are delivered for the fourth time and this one looks like better in quality. He has further indicated that, this component will be substituted for all the buses we received as well as for the buses we are soon to receive.
The capital's growth in all aspects obviously is creating an increasing demand for transportation than ever before. In fact, the city administration has both long and short term plans to curb this though challenge. The ongoing project, Light Rail Transit (LRT) can be one in this regard. Bearing that in mind, putting a sound solution in place for the shortcomings mentioned earlier would be indisputable. Thus, looking for genuine parts for the idle (and decaying) buses left in the different depots of the enterprise can have layers of benefits like,it positively impacts to curb the transportation shortage of the city and  public properties would escape decaying. There are enough reasons to say so, the writer of this piece has observed many buses in the two depots of the enterprise, Yeka and Mekanissa. If these vehicles are found not functional any longer, they should be disposed based on the guidelines set for this purpose. Another very important point is, customers need to get enough rooms to deliver their complaints. Thus, the free line serving this purpose need to be made public in various ways.

Why Faidherbia is considered a promising tree

BY WORKU BELACHEW

At the Durban Climate Change Convention in December 2011, the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced that Faidherbia programme—a government initiative will establish hundred million Faidherbia albida trees on smallholder cereal crop lands across the country within the next three years in order to improve the food production and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. This programme will run until 2014. The government also plans to reforest fifteen million hectares of land, including the regeneration of tree cover on croplands.

Recent research findings in the area of Agriculture are well hammering the use of farming strategies that help boost agricultural product and productivity and as the same time.

At the Durban Climate Change Convention in December 2011, the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced that Faidherbia programme—a government initiative will establish hundred million Faidherbia albida trees on smallholder cereal crop lands across the country within the next three years in order to improve the food production and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. This programme will run until 2014. The government also plans to reforest fifteen million hectares of land, including the regeneration of tree cover on crop lands.

Recent research findings in the area of Agriculture are well hammering the use of farming strategies that help boost agricultural product and productivity and as the same time serve other related purposes as the saying goes 'kill two birds with one stone'. In fact, in this case it is killing many birds with one stone. Farmers in many drought prone regions will better improve their lives through growing their crops under a canopy of trees that provide cover, nutrients, fodder for animals, firewood and other indirect benefits like carbon sequestration. This is a strategy employed by mixing agriculture and forestry and is called Agroforestay- Agro forestry involves raising trees in combination with other agricultural enterprises, including livestock. Different species of trees can be planted with many types of crops in a variety of patterns. For example, fast-growing trees can be planted when the land is fallow or they can be grown at the same time as agricultural crops- Agroforestry trees are, therefore, selected based on the merits of their multifarious advantages and some of then include, fertilizing the crop land ,availability of adequate seeds, needs of farmers and the plant's environmental adaptation.

e serve other related purposes as the saying goes 'kill two birds with one stone'. In fact, in this case it is killing many birds with one stone. Farmers in many drought prone regions will better improve their lives through growing their crops under a canopy of trees that provide cover, nutrients, fodder for animals, firewood and other indirect benefits like carbon sequestration. This is a strategy employed by mixing agriculture and forestry and is called Agroforestay- Agro forestry involves raising trees in combination with other agricultural enterprises, including livestock. Different species of trees can be planted with many types of crops in a variety of patterns. For example, fast-growing trees can be planted when the land is fallow or they can be grown at the same time as agricultural crops- Agroforestry trees are, therefore, selected based on the merits of their multipurpose advantages and some of then include, fertilizing the crop land ,availability of adequate seeds, needs of farmers and the plant's environmental adaptation.

Why Faidherbia albida is chosen for agroforestry in Ethiopia?

Professor Ensermu Kelbessa is Head of Department of life sciences at Addis Ababa University College of Natural Sciences. He explains the multifaceted advantages over using Faidherbia albida (also called acasia albida) species for agroforestry purposes. “Acacia is a genus of leguminous subfamily, nitrogen-fixing plants, we have over seven hundred leguminous species in Ethiopia. Globally there are one thousand and hundred species of Acacia. Of which around one hundred thirty of them make Africa their home. Amazingly, over half of Africa's acacia are found in Ethiopia, that is sixty of them. In fact, ten of the species were brought from Australia with Eucalyptus tree. Surprisingly, all the species in Africa are spiny. Faidherbia albida is enlisted in the 'Ethiopian flora' as one species.

Ensermu also explains the agroforestary advantages of Faidherbia albida “It regains its leaves in dry season, during the period most trees drop their leaves. To the contrary, its leaves falls off the tree in rainy seasons. For this reason, crops cultivated under the trees can easily get sunshine- which is rare during the rainy season- without competition. The leaves littering the land under the trees also easily get decomposed and increase the organic content of the croplands. More importantly, birds could not spoil crops taking a shield on such trees as other carnivore birds can easily see and attack them, due to the absence of its leaves. According to the professor's explanation, legumes are notable plants for their ability in nitrogen fixation. “we can easily see the purplish nods, in which nitrogen fixing bacteria are found at the roots of such plants- pea and chickpea for instance-and these bacteria brings nitrogen from air into the soil which is very important for plants growth.

Faidherbia albida has also unusual adapting quality to various climatic zones, says Ensermu, “this tree can grow up to 270 meter below sea level like in Palestine to 2700 meter above sea level like in some areas of Sudan, he added. “This means it can grow between Afar depression and Entoto Mountain in Ethiopia.” This tree also grows in wet areas. Therefore, Faidherbia albida is of great importance for countries like ours. There are plant species famous for seed banking, plants that keep their seed in the soil for long period, researches have shown that the tree species in context can save its seeds for over thirty years, if places in the rift valley region of Ethiopia can be free from human and animals interaction this agroforestry can have a chance to grow on its own, Ensermu has made it clear.

               Maize farm under a fully grown Faidherbia forest

Farmers can also use this tree to produce animal's fodder. Pods usually falls during dry season when fodder is scarce. Available data has shown that average pod production ranges from 6 to 135 kilogram per year per tree, as has been witnessed in one of Sudan's zones. Obviously, this figure varies from country to country for various reasons. If farmers have fifteen to twenty of this trees, they can produce significant amount of fodder for their animals, says Ensermu. “In most places in the rift region like in Adama you can see goats around the trees searching for the thick protein rich pod to eat, as a result they also put their dungs on the fields which in turn serves as fertilizer.” He added. There are indicators as farmers in the rift region of Ethiopia are well aware about the advantageous of the agroforestry tree. They never clears it from their farmlands, in case they face with fuel-wood shortage, they only cut some of the branches. Many research findings have also shown that Faidherbia can be greatly used for bee farming as the trees flowering period is following the rainy season while other local plants lose flowers. In addition to the aforementioned advantages, Faidherbia plays a great role for water and soil conservation works. What is more, as the roots of Faidherbia stretches up to forty meters deep, it does not compete water with the crop plants

Mesfin Gebreyohanis is natural resources expert with Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) explains; Some efforts have undergone and the late premiers' efforts has been translated into practice. He said the efforts are not only planting the tree species, it also includes caring the trees which are already available in most farmers croplands around the rift regions in Ethiopia. In fact, the major plan is to grow twenty five million Faidherbia trees in four regions of the country; Oromia, Amhara, Tigray and South Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region. To get the full potential of the trees, hundred trees need to be planted per hectare of land, that means in a ten by ten area. By doing so, two hundred fifty kilograms of lime and around three hundred kilograms of complete fertilizer, contains nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, can be replaced. That means it reduces cost of fertilizer and the chemical fertilizer's prolonged effects on the crop lands. “Farmers clearly knows such advantageous of the forest, we have seen some farmers spreading the soil which is found under Faidherbia trees to other parts of their cropland,” says Mesfin..

Understanding these significance of the trees, the late Meles Zenawi made the remark mentioned earlier at the Durban climate conference. And after that two hundred quintals of Faidherbia tree seeds have been distributed at a federal level to the four regions, that is fifty kilograms each. And there was also a direct follow up from MoA. But, nowadays it is the regional states that carry out the task based on Fehderbia Albida based Agro forestry Technology package. In fact, there are some mismanagement of this trees witnessed so far, that is cutting the canopy, branch of the tree that extends to the sides, and this decrease the potential of the trees in yielding the desired outcomes. For this reason, repeated trainings need to be given for the farmers, hence, produce surplus crops than ever before through implementing this strategy.

The package shows that Fedherbia can be planted mixing with, maize, Sorghum, Teff ... the package can also be implemented with pastoralist lands. This obviously ensures the production of animals' fodder in the pastoralist regions of the country. The package also shows, on one hand, that the Faidherbia tree seedling preparation should start six months in advance before transplanting the young trees. On the other hand, it states transplanting of Faidherbia tree seedlings will bring best results if it is done in the rainy season, that is starting from mid February on. In fact, this can go until mid July based on the climatic variation of the places. Meanwhile, from the above argument, it can be concluded the time for the preparation of the seedlings is already at hand. Therefore, the premiers' aspirations to improve the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers should come true.