ተፈጥሮን በማዛባት ልማትን ማምጣት ይቻል ይሆን?
ብስራት ወልደሚካኤል
afrosonb@gmail.com
በኢትዮጵያ ከዛሬ 30 ዓመት በፊት የደን ሽፋን 40 በመቶ ነበር፡፡ የቀድሞው የሀገሪቱ ኢህዴሪ መንግስት (ደርግ) በነበረ ወቅት ለተፈጥሮ ሃብት እንክብካቤ ይሰጥ የነበረው ግምት ከፍተኛ በመሆኑ በሀገሪቱ ያሉ ደኞች ከነ ዱር እንሰሳቱ ከፍተኛ ጥበቃ ይደረግላቸው እንደነበር የቅርብ ጊዜ ትዝታዎች ናቸው፡፡ በአጼ ኃይለስላሴ ዘመንም ቢሆን ምንም እንኳ የአካባቢ ጥበቃ ምንነት በውል የታወቀ ባይሆንም በአብዛኛው የሀገሪቱ አካባቢ በተፈጥሮ ደን የተሸፈነ እና የዱር አራዊትም እንደልባቸው ይቦርቁበትና ቱሪስቶችም እንዳሻቸው ይጎበኙ እንደነበር ይነገራል፡፡
በአንፃሩ ደግሞ ከደደቢት በረሃ የመጡት ታጣቂዎች ቡድን ህወሓት/ኢህአዴግ የሀገሪቱን መንበረ ስልጣን ከተቆጣጠረበት ከግንቦት 1983ዓ.ም. ጀምሮ ያሉት የደን ሽፋኖች እጅግ እየመነመኑ ሄደዋል፡፡ በዚህም ምክንያት ከዚህ በፊት 40% የነበረው የሀገሪቱ የደን ሽፋን ወደ 3% በመውረድ አሁን ደግሞ ይባስ ብሎ ወደ 2.5% መውረዱን የተለያዩ መረጃዎች ይጠቁማሉ፡፡ ይህ የሆነበት ዋነኛ ምክንያት ለ21ዓመታት እስካሁንም በስልጣን ላይ ያለው ህወሓት/ኢህአዴግ ለተፈጥሮ ሃብት እንክብካቤ ያለው አመለካከት እጅግ የወረደ በመሆኑ ቀደም ሲል በተለያዩ የሀገሪቱ ከተሞች ዙሪያ ያሉ ደኖች በካድሬዎች ፈቃድ ለገዥው አባላት ጊዜያዊ ጥቅም ሲባል እየተጨፈጨፈ ቦታው ለመኖሪያ ቤት ግንባታ እንዲውል ተደርጓል፡፡ ለዚህም በአሁን ወቅት የአዲስ አበባን ሰሜንና ምዕራብ(ሳንሱሲ፣ ጉለሌ፣ሽሮሜዳ፣የካ…የመሳሰሉ በደን የተሸፈኑ አካባቢዎች) መመልከት በቂ ነው፡፡
በተለያየ ምክንያት ከፍተኛ የደን ክምችት ያለባቸው እንደ ባሌ ተራራዎች፣ ምዕራብ ኢትዮጵያ ያሉ ደኖች እየተቃጠሉ ይዘታቸው ቢመናመንም መልሶ እምዲለሙ ሲደረግ አልተስተዋለም፡፡ ይህንንም ተከትሎ በርካታ ብርቅዬ የዱር እንሰሳት ወደሌላ ሀገር እንዲሰደዱ ምክንያት በመሆን ሀገሪቱ ከቱሪዝም ማግኘት የሚገባትን ጥቅም ሳታገኝ ቀርታለች፡፡ በደኖቹ ዙሪያ ያሉ በግብርና ስራ( መሬት በማረስና እንሰሳት በማርባት)የሚተዳደሩ ገበሬዎች በአካባቢያቸው በተፈጠረው የተፈጥሮ መዛባት ምርቶቻቸው እየቀነሰ ወደ ከተማ እንዲፈልሱ አስገድዷቸዋል፡፡
ሌላው ለደኖች ውድመት ገዥው መንግስት ተጠያቂ ከሚሆንበት አንዱ የደን ውጤቶችን ለየ አካባቢው የገዥው ቡድን አመራሮች ሙስና መጠቀሚያ እጅግ ዝቅተኛ በሆነ ገንዘብ እንዲሸጡ መደረጉ ነው፡፡ ለዚህም ከአዲስ አበባ ወደ ሰሜን አቅጣጫ 123 ኪሎ ሜትር ርቀት ላይ በምትገኘው ደብረብርሃን አካባቢ ያለው ደን በ2004ዓ.ም. እያንዳንዱን ዛፍ በ40ሳንቲም ሂሳብ ለመሸጥ የዞኑና የከተማው መስተዳደሮች ከተስማሙ በኋላ በአካባቢው ማህበረሰብ ውዝግብ ማስነሳቱ ይታወቃል፡፡ በተለይ አሁን ካሉት የደን ክምችቶችም ከተወሰኑ ብሔራዊ ፓርኮች በስተቀር አብዛኞቹ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋህዶ ቤተክርስቲያን ገዳማትና አድባራት ዙሪያ ያሉ እንደሆነ ይታወቃል፡፡
ንብረትነታቸው የመንግስት የሆኑት የኢትዮጵያ ኤሌክትሪክ ኃይል ኮርፖሬሽን እና የኢትዮጵያ ቴሌኮሚኒኬሽን(የአሁኑ ኢትዮ ቴሌኮም) ለመስመር ዝርጋታ የሚያገለግላቸውን የምሰሶ እንጨት የሚጠቀሙት ከሀገሪቱ ደን በመቁረጥ ቢሆንም በቆረጡበት ምትክ ግን መልሰው ሲያለሙ አይታይም፡፡ ባለፈው 2004 ዓ.ም ደግሞ በጋምቤላና በቤኒሻንጉል ክልል ያሉ ከፍተኛ የደን ክምችቶች መሬቱን ለውጭ ባለሃብቶች ለመስጠት በሚል ተጨፍጭፈው ቢያልቁም መልሶ የተካም ሆነ ዜጎችን አፈናቅሎ ለባለሃብቶቹ ከመከስጠት ያለፈ ለምን ያለ የመንግስት አካል አልነበረም፤የለምም፡፡ ደኑን እንዲመነጠር የፈቀደትና ቦታውን የመሩት የፌደራሉ እና የክልሉ መንግስታት ናቸውና፡፡
በከተሞች ውስጥ ያለውን የተመለከትን እንደሆነ ዕፅዋቶች ሙሉ በሙሉ እንዲወድሙ ተደርጎ የድንጋይ ካብ ህንፃ ብቻ መገንባት እንደስልጣኔና እንደዕድገት እየተወሰደ በመምጣቱ ቀደም ሲል በየከተሞቹ የነበረው የአየር ፀባይ እንዲቀየር አስገድዶታል፡፡ እዚህ ላይ ስለተፈጥሮ ሃብት እንክብካቤ አነስተኛ ግንዛቤ ያላቸው ደካማ መሪዎችን ፈለግ በመከተል ነዋሪዎችም የአካባቢውን ተፈጥሮ በማዛባት ትልቅ ሚና መጫወታቸው እሙን ነው፡፡ በዚህም ምክንያት በሀገሪቱ ላይ ያልተለመደ የአየር ፀባይ እየተስተዋለ ቢሆንም ገዥዎች የራሳቸውን ድክመት ሳይቀርፉ የተለመደውን የገንዘብ ሱስ ለመወጣት ሌሎች ላይ ምክንያት ሲደረድሩና የገንዘብ ካሳ ብቻ ሲያባርሩ ይስተዋላል፤ የቤታቸውን የአደባባይ የአካባቢ ጥበቃ ችግር ገመና ግን እየኖረ ያለው የሀገሬው ሰው የሚያውቅ ሐቅ ነው፡፡
የወሬ ዘመቻ የማይታክተው ኢህአዴግ በኢትዮጵያ ዘመን አቆጣጠር 2000ዓ.ም.(ሚሊኒየም) ክብረ በዓል ወቅት እያንዳንዱ ሰው ችግኝ እንዲተክል ለማበረታታት በሚል የውሸት ዘመቻ ሁለት ዛፍ በሁለት ሺህ ሲባል ቢከርምም እንክብካቤ ተደርጎላቸው የፀደቁ ችግኞችና ዛፍ የሆኑትን ልናይ አልቻልንም፡፡ በርግጥ በወቅቱ ዓላማው የተፈጥሮ መዛባትን ከመከላከል አኳያ የሚበረታታ ተግባር ቢሆንም ኢህአዴግ በባህሪው ከወሬ ዘመቻ ባለፈ የተግባር ቁርጠኝነት ስለማይታይበት ይባሰ ያሉትም ደኖች እየወደሙ ይገኛሉ፡፡ በዚህም ምክንያት ከፍተኛ ፕሮፖጋንዳ የተነዛበትና ከፍተኛ በጀት የፈሰሰበት “ሁለት ችግኝ ለሁለት ሺህ” የሚለው ፕሮጀክት ከወሬ ባለፈ የታሰበው ሳይሆን ይኸው 5ኛ ዓመት ላይ ደርሰናል፡፡
በአጠቃላይ ተፈጥሮን እያዛቡ ልማት ማምጣት የማይታሰብ ነው፡፡ ስለዚህ ተፈጥሮን መንከባከብ፣ የተራቆቱ መሬቶችን በደኖች ማልማት፣ በከተሞች የሚሰሩ ህንፃዎች በእያንዳንዳቸው ግቢ እንደየስፋታቸው መጠን ቢያንስ አምስትና ከዛ በላይ ዕፅዋቶችን(ዛፎች) እንዲተከሉ አስገዳጅ ህግ በማውጣት መተግበር ግድ ይላል፡፡ አለበለዚያ ተፈጥሮን በማዛባት ልማት ማምጣት ቅዥት ካልሆነ እውን ሊሆን ስለማይችል ቅድሚያ ሊሰጠው ይገባል፡፡ ምክንያቱም ተፈጥሮን መንከባከብ ከሰብዓዊ መብት ተለይቶ የሚታይ ጉዳይ ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡
The death of Meles and challenges of the new prime minister
Bisrat Woldemichael
afrosonb@gmail.com
It is sorrowful when every human being has died. Mr. Meles is so lucky to die through sickness. Because, in the Ethiopian history of Modern state establishment (starting from Emperor Tewodros II up to Mr. Meles) he become the first person to hold out the national funeral ceremony.
On the other side he can be called lucky to die before suffering like other governor of North Africa and Middle East countries on the current disturbance of political, economic and social situations honorable death have a value.
For today let’s see the destiny of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who is successor of PM. Meles.
Voyage of Mr. Hailemariam
Mr. Hailemariam who was born on the southern region of the country called Wolayta zone, he have graduate in civil Engineering with BSc. and sanitary engineering with MSc. and served at Arbaminch University as a lecturer and dean before Joining SEPDM/EPRDF. After the former president of southern region called Mr. Abate Kisho has prisoner due to corruption, he has served the region for five years as the president of the regions and transfer to the federal government and again serve to the federal government and as an advisor of Mr. Meles Zenawi in social affairs.
There after the election of 2002/2010, he has served as deeply Prime Minister and Ministry of foreign affairs. It is expected to rule the coming three years as the prime Minister of the country. However, the situation of EPRDF cannot be believed so that it is better what will happen through time.
Destiny
The notices come out of the EPRDF office put a big challenge before Mr. Hailemariam. Because, is explained that the directions made by Mr. Meles should continue in a strengthen way.
As it is about the explanation of the party, there will be an impediment to practice the different thoughts of the new PM. from that of the former PM. However, if Mr. Hailemariam wants to win this and record his own historical print, it is expected to take an improvement measures.
Specially, distraction of political, economic and social affairs done by the administration of the former PM. Meles and also human rights violence are still alive through the minds of the people. So that it will be challenges of Mr. Hailemariam which needs correction sooner.
Newly expected happenings
Following the death of PM. Meles and settling the country, he is expected to control embezzlement of the property of the people, taking administrative measures on Ministers for their faults, developing foreign diplomacy relation and creating an opportunity of national understanding and agreement.
As the above notified points stayed as they are, if he has a skill to communicate and convincing he can solve the problem that will happen in security structure, security officials and other peace army regarding shaping their authority. In addition to the above mentioned points, he is expected to let free the illegally prisoner innocents (Journalists and politicians) without any pre-conditions and by discussing together with other competent political parties and concerned bodies in starting a transparent discussion and dealing to listen the heart beat of the people and giving the appropriate response.
The other thing is that, he has a home work in improving the practice of freedom of speech, promoting the independent media through practice and to work freely from the ruling party for those vital institutions of democracy like election board, court and securities.
He should open a door of improvement towards those proclamation which are prepared to kidnap the community like land lease, anti terrorism, press, civic associations and election proclamation.
However, if he can’t correct the above mentioned points and want to continue by keeping the former administration, Mr. Hailemariam have no his ruling role or there is a ruler behind. For this reason, the tension of the people will explode and lead the country to the unnecessary direction so that he will be forced to accept sorrowful challenges which were faced to PM. Meles if he were alive.
Black terror on freedom of expression
Bisrat Woldemichael
addismediab@gmail.com
Among the desperate times faced by Ethiopians in the 1970s are the socialist divisions among the citizens as groups of ‘white terror and red terror.’ At that time, military rules suppressed ideas. For this reason, some parties are established to face against the army while others are subjected to life in refuge.
The Derg regime did not allow the freedom to expressions and suppressed the press freedom amid its demise by the EPLF & EPRDF forces in 1991. The Derg opponents of that time split in to two as Ethiopia & Eritrea and repeating the same system they used to oppose.
Particularly, after controlling the Menlik II palace in Addis Ababa, under the leadership of Mr.Meles Zenawie, the EPRDF disclosed the right to free expressions, press freedom, multiparty, freedom of organization for professionals and political parties. Proclamation 34/93 for press freedom in accordance with the constitution Article 29(3) A & B, the right for press freedom for multimedia and copyright provisions are being respected. The press freedom particularly encompasses the following press rights:-
A. Any form of censorship is prohibited
B. Clearly indication of getting information for public interest but the above rights slightly worked only until May 2005 during the election. The main reason that the free press disclosed the bad operations and oppression of the press rights by the government and played major roles in the election by motivating the public at large. After the election, some journalists were jailed and others were subjected to refuge.
Consequently, the CPJ, HRW and other reputable international media indicate that more than 140 free press and about 48 government multimedia Journalists are subjected to refuge.
In fact, even during that time, the number of free press and government media are not proportional to the need of the people. Notwithstanding to the gaps in capacity of some free press & government media professionals, the number of such institutions remains lacking ; for this reason, information supply is limited to some towns and cities.
Notwithstanding to the provisions of the constitution, the press freedom proclamation No. 590/2007 article 4/1/ that attest ‘The freedom of multimedia is accredited by the constitution. Censorship is prohibited in any way.’ In this proclamation Article 2 attests that “any limitations to multimedia shall be enforced based up only on the provisions of the constitution and the laws.’ The fact presently is far beyond this truth.
For instance, the government owned ‘Berhanena Selam Printing Enterprise’ officially violated the constitution and the proclamation and drafted a new ‘printing Agreement.’ In this draft article 10/1/ is written ‘The printing press, up on findings that the script supplied by the client violates the law, has the right to reject the printing order.’ This shows that the firm is ready to censor the script before it is printed and as a result the newspapers that officially disclose human rights violations, non democratic operations, issues of good governance and inappropriate actions by EPRDF will be forced to diminish and the public remains thirsty of such information. This encourages dictatorship and the need to remain on power.
The other article 10/2 of this draft attests that ‘If the printing press finds a content that brings legal accountability is intentionally submitted for printing, it can terminate or dissolve the agreement.’ Besides implementing censorship, it articulates the Journalist or the press ethics as if it is not legally accountable and therefore leading to a conclusion that journalism is not a disciplinary profession. The amazing thing here is that it contradicts with the constitution regardless of the article 9/1/ that states any law or regulation that contradicts the constitution shall be nullified. Not only due to the fact that the printing press belongs to the government but also under the leadership of the EPRDF higher officials that it intended to censor scripts.
The socialist partisan philosophy divided parties as ‘white terror’ and ‘red terror’ and now indirectly imposed on the free press because of censorship. The White terror and red terror are direct signs for bloodshed but censorship is indirect way of violation of freedom of consciousness and that’s why we called it Black Terror. Thus any threat to the natural rights of human beings shall be cursed.
The EPRDF led Ethiopian Government appears saying ‘The right to free expression and press freedom are constitutionally approved’ to win the hearts of donors and fooling citizens but kept contrary in action. Writing on papers cannot guarantee the right of citizens nor does it have more value than the paper it is printed on. Freedom shall be shown in action not only by papers. Therefore, suppressing the free press and censorship is a black terror to the freedom of expressions. In this case now a day’s two independent newspapers Feteh and Finote Netasnet are blocked from publishing without legal ground.
In general, suppressing the free press is not only violation of the law but also threatening dignified humanity.
The 40/60 Housing Construction plan that Ignored Citizens’ Income and capacity
Bisrat Woldemichael
Shelter is one of the basic necessities to human beings. In the past Derg Regime, any citizen aged 18 years and above can acquire 500m2 plot of land with the least service fee of 50-100 Birr provided he/she is capable to construct; however evidences testify that those incapable are loaned from 7-14 thousand Birr for the apartment construction with 20 Years repayment schedule.
Currently, the citizens are being deprived of land ownership due to the policy that stated “Land belongs to the public & the government” following the proclamation “Land belongs to the government.” To the contrary, it seems that only members of the ruling party are beneficiaries of this system and other citizen are being dislocated from their habitat. Comparatively, the outstanding members of the ruling party are grabbing many houses and urban lands.
Condominium houses Construction
In 2005, the low cost condominium houses construction begun for low income citizens following the new government project. At that time, more than 470 thousand residents were registered in Addis Ababa only but the information disclosed by the city administration shows that only 72 thousand houses were allocated in the last 7 years.
This means that the government handed over houses only to 15% of the registrants in the past 7 years. The remaining registrants remain uncertain for when they will be getting their houses. The city mayor disclosed officially that there is no more registration for condominium houses at this right time.
The New Housing plan
Due to the drawbacks in fulfilling housing needs by Condominium construction, the new housing plan was currently put forward.
This new housing plan, called the 40/60, requires saving of 40% of the housing cost for five consecutive years. The remaining 60% shall be paid within 17 years after handing over of the house completing the 40% payment.
It is disclosed that the project commences in 2012/13 but details are not known yet. As per the general quotation from the city administration, the one bed room house candidate is expected to save 857 birr monthly that total cost is 128,590 birr. The two bedroom house candidate is expected to save Birr 1,337 monthly that costs total birr 200,475. A candidate to three bedroom house is expected to save birr 2,133 monthly that total cost is 320,000 birr.
The city administration disclosed that these houses are intended for the low income groups without clue to the average low income of citizens. I went to the Central Statistics Agency (CSA) to look for the average income of citizens (as low, medium and high) via the ministry of Finance & Economic Development; the office informed me that even if they have data for the last five years, they cannot allow such data before permission from the ministry and approval of the foreign donors. That may be due to the myth, as one official told me in secret, that these offices are accountable to the donors and not to the public at large. I have calculated education level and average salary of government employees and put the fact forward.
The average salary of the lowest scale (guards & Laborers) and one year academic trainees is 800 birr, the master’s levels get 2500 birr and doctorate degrees get 3500 birr respectively. The above employees have such monthly deductions as income tax, pension funds, contribution for Abay Dam, EPRDF membership contribution which totals ranges from 15-20%.
Residents’ status
Economists’ device that employees free from any addiction could save up to ¼ of his/her salary. The saving for emergencies and long term investments including house rent fees.
As mentioned above, the highly paid doctorate degree graduate shall save only to the maximum of 700 birr; as testified by an economist in Addis Ababa University. Accordingly, a highly paid doctorate degree employee is expected to save birr 857 to get the least one bedroom house but unfortunate to save such amount monthly.
However, I would like to notify that the above calculations did not include the farmers and business people.
Generally, some residents in Addis Ababa City mention that they doubt the 40/60 housing plan fits the citizens’ capacities. Therefore, it is not clear up to now that, which the target beneficiaries will be.
Even though housing construction is very important, the target citizens and responsible government bodies are not known yet; some residents in Addis Ababa who need house told me that housing construction is a dire need but due to ambitious government expenditures, they suspect the plan is designed to compensate the lack of finances. They reasoned that besides the current inflation and high cost of living, they cannot pay the monthly saving amid the plan failed to consider citizens’ capabilities that lacks transparency and questioning the success of the projects.
Update፡ The above “40/60 housing project” article posted on March 2013. But after 3 months the Ethiopian government city construction and development ministry, within alternatives based on the city residence income automatically changed the project into 10/90, 20/80, 40/60 and 50 % saved before registration in the form of as an association. Finally, the new housing project implemented on June 20, 2013 because of failures of earlier 40/60 project.
Dagumedia 