CONCERNNING ALL THE PROJECTS IN THE ETHIOPIAN INVESTMENT COMISSION

by Mohammed Saido

The Ethiopian investment commission abiding by the rules and regulations of the Ethiopian government, has its own constitutional autonomy to perform its duties and responsibilities, i.e. attract foreign direct investment. So in order to accomplish its duties enroot its vision and mission and structured the objectives establish the systems deploy the appropriate staff with that run the commission fueling both the government budget and donation.

Unlikely, some years back starting from 2013 all the structured performance deactivated by both external and internal management factors.

• Corrupt the duties and responsibilities stated in the investment proclamation Including the Industrial park and export duties.
• Evolve a huge structure with five commissioner positions one commissioner and five deputes and accordingly expanded all the directorates up to twenty. Before that there was only a commissioner with seven departments.
• Replicated restructuring and disposition of the staff members. The top management using it as a plot to score its own concealed interest. They brought incompetent and flunky to the front. Most senior professionals demoted and left the commission for good. Then after, they filled all the management positions by their clicks and junior staff.
• Monopolize all resources both the budget and basics. Especially the loan & aid in billion dollars are anonymous for the government structure and the concerned staff. Only the external and internal top management members and their clicks are managing it. Violating the rules and regulations of the government, the projects administration and monitoring part is done by external body a highly paid Dutch citizen Mr Koen who is in charge of the government.
• The external and internal top management groups Dr. Arkebe Equbay Inv estment board chairman, Ato fisum arega comissoner Dr. belachew mekuria, a Belgian citizen and the former vice commissioner, Ato abebe abebayehu, Ato teka G/Eyesus both vice commissioners all are not willing to acknowledge the billion dollar projects profile i.e. how and for what purpose by whom, it developed? And the expected outcomes. They deliberately demolish the policy research and development directorate discriminating the appropriate staff and assign their click Ato Nigisse Gurmu who is a layman for policy issues, to hide, conspire and ignore the projects status. Instead of promoting a staff member violating the civil service law as reward, the commissioners elongate his pension time for additional three years to activate more casualty.
• One out of the 12 projects is the young professionals development programme funded by DFID. The major objective of the programme is to train and educate fresh graduates employed permanently in the commission including the regional investment offices permanently employed fresh graduates. But the external and internal top management groups misleading the objective and employ their relatives with very high salaries up to 12000 birr with contract basis and train them in higher institutions facilitate them with better office equipment and furniture. Even give priority for any foreign country experience sharing and trainings. Majority of the permanent staff never visit foreign country in over 10 years’ service period but the new contract workers all repeatedly visit foreign countries using this advantage in 2 years contract time.
• The Ethiopian investment commission boycotted by the mentioned gangsters in the government structure. They are spending the billion dollars loan and aid money also in employing their friends, mates and mistresses as advisors at different capacities in various directorates in the commission with huge salary up to 80000 birr a month. By now, there are at least 12 advisors working in the commission. Most of them are inefficient and there is not a single output of them produced , documented and filed in the Policy research and development directorate.
• Unlike most of the government offices the Ethiopian investment commission management committee consists of the four commissioners, some contract advisors and two contract fresh graduates. The structured directorate directors are no more the management members. They receive orders from the two contract fresh graduates. For the last two years there was no management meeting taken place that involve the directors of 14 directorates. Recently, when Ato Fisum Arega left for the prime minister office he had prepared fictitious management meetings minutes and obliged all the directors to sign on it as if they are collectively decided on issues affecting the Ethiopian investment commission management.
• The Ethiopian Investment commission organizational structure and man power development prepared by the prime minister office and not approved by the Ethiopian civil service minister due to defy the rules and regulations of civil service administration and the labor law. Basically the structure infringes the objectives of the commission and the man power arrangement that is not taken into account efficiency and effectiveness in reverse political commitment and affiliation.
• The Ethiopian investment commission budget administration has also a big problem. Each directorate has denied its right to utilize the budget allocated to it. There are huge budget transfer from various budget codes to travel fee, travel allowance, hotel entertainments etc. Most of the budget used by higher officials and there clicks. For the last four years most of the field works declined due to this allowance and transport expense transfers, beside that in the mentioned time almost all the training budget transferred to higher officials foreign travel expenses. Most of the field vehicles assigned to higher officials and directors transport services .The budget clerks has also benefit from the project money as top up just in order to prevent any investigation regarding the project financial transactions. The commission audit directorate as a responsible body hasn’t report all these messes, on the contrary cooperate with the corrupt management and cover all the damages of the commission on the spot.
• As top leaders or board directors of the Ethiopian Investment commission Dr. Arkebe Equbay and Ato Fisum Arega and the major cooperators for their savage act Dr. belachew mekuria and Ato Teka G/ Eyesus Ato Abebe Abewbayehu,ruined the existing management structure with the wave of the so called restructuring process and hamster the sustained management system by demoralizing the senior staff through repelling and demotion and crack down the fair management system in order to obliterate the commissions basic objectives and strategies for their concealed gang rule. Some of the recent victims are Ato Mulat kibrit customs and duty free directorate director,Ato Yared Administration Directorate director ,W/T Hadas Tafere regional Investment Affairs Directorate director,Ato Sead mohammed Investment registration and licence issueing directorate director,Ato Mellese Finance directorate director,Ato Anmaw Information technology and data administration directorate director, w/ro Genet legal service directorate director,Ato Solomon bole lemi industrial park manager,Ato Mulugeta Eastern industrial park manager,Ato Solomon anti corruption section head, Ato Getahun public relations directorate director, Ato fikru purchasing directorate director(already dead due to this case)Ato Akane Aweke Documentation Head They jam all the positions with junior staffs, contract advisors, contract fresh graduates and their clicks.
• The doctor transform from rolling to stationary hooligan, endorse himself in far east giant broker companies as an east African rich, of course there is a rumor that he saved huge bribed money in some far east banks and financial institutions, declare officially to transfer some Ethiopian regions and potential resources to foreign conglomerates mainly Chinese that can cooperate with the underworld domain. They franchise big brands and operate with secretive joint venture agreements with the underworld domain or transferring lease agreements huge amount to the foreign accounts. The remaining process is accomplished by the tenants in the Ethiopian investment commission (EIC), Industrial parks development cooperation (IPDC) and various other bodies.
• The diseased billion dollar loan and aid projects that are not controlled by the government structure i.e. The Ethiopian Investment Commission policy research directorate. These projects are
• The Ethiopian Investment advisory facility.
• Partnership for investment and growth in Africa.
• Jobs compact project.
• Young professionals development programme.(a-d funded by DFID)
• Investment policy and promotion(IPP)
• East African trade and investment hub funded by USAID.
• Competitiveness and job creation project funded by world bank.
• Ethiopian industrial promotion project funded by JICA
• Strengthening Investor engagement advisory role of Ethiopian investment commission funded by bill and milinda gets foundation.
• Investment support project funded by USAID.
• Sustainable training and Education programme funded by GIZ.
• Transformation triggering facilities funded by EU.

These all projects are failed projects. They abducted by organized government gang groups for their private satisfaction. The board chairman and members of the board, the commissioner, vice commissioners all are responsible for the failurity. They have to be accountable for any single illegal activity of the projects. Every concerned party or stake holder has to involve and investigate the projects destination and release the report to the public. The major excutive bodies take the liabilities are The Ethiopian parliament, ministry of finance, General Auditor, Anti-corruption commission, media centers ,regional investment offices , donors etc.

• One of the present government deterioration is detecting appropriate official and assigning on the proper position. In order to detect the government has to evaluate every organization discuss problems with both staff members and management together. The responsible government body has to give guarantee to the staff members from harmful measures and give more freedom to organize their union. The strong union will protect the organization from corruption and expose afflicted management members. The other measure is to separate government activities and political party affiliation. Most of the inefficient experts shelter themselves as a party member in the EPRDF. These shallow minded experts battle for their belly and private comfort. To depict some of their character, two years before in the Ethiopian Investment Comission The comissoner Fisum Arega and Vice Comissoner teka G/Eyesus clashed with the delivery of 2 new V8 cobra vechiles ,Fisum Arega said the 2 new V8 cobra vechiles assigned for me and my family service, Teka G/Eyesus challenges him that he does not use any other vechile than one of the new V8 cobra vechiles. And finally Teka G/Eyesus won and has got the new V8 cobra. These selfish persons are designated as the Ethiopian Commissioners, shame on them and the Ethiopian government. With all the tax payers’ money and shortage of field vehicles they advance their private interest.

The other immoral thinking is “All government position has to be controlled by EPRDF members’ what does that mean? Every intellectual has to be EPRDF member in order to come to the leadership position. It is unfair thinking. The government has to give emphasis on this, by splitting the government structure out of the party structure. Most demoted senior staff has to come to the front to the leadership position. Party members including directors has to gain the management position through competition based on efficiency and experience. Experience means sustainable leadership. Every day activity has to be valued. For instance, for a position that demands 10 years’ experience 2 competent the first who has 10 years and the second 20 years’ experience will get similar point for their service years in the present evaluation system. WHY? The difference between them is 10 years treated no value. But, with in those years the senior one at least is trust worthy, respect the rules and regulations of the government, Loyal, know more customers, provide more customer service, decent, part of the good will of the organization as well the country(senior citizen) etc.so, the Ethiopian government has to consider and underline the issue for amendment.

(15)That Doctor and his tenants understand industrialization means that planting industrial parks around barren lands, that is the wrong approach which led to more corruption and resource devastation. Referring some sources, the first industrial parks project designed in the Derg regime 45 years before. The areas selected were surveyed based on basic industrial park or zone development criterias. At that time, the selected areas were Addis Ababa, Akaki, Mojo, Diredawa, Bahirdar, combolcha and Asmara, with that the first one developed in Addis Ababa city near st. Yoseph chirch area. After long years of interruption, 12 years before a chineese company emerged with the idea of industrial park development at a full scale i.e. within the industry park to develop industries, residential areas, markets , hotels,  schools, hospitals, entertainment areas etc. though, the Chinese company breaking their promises and utilize all the area for industrial shade development and rent it to other investors in demand. It is a big failurity. Unfortunately at 11 hours the spark of the idea snatched by that doctor and his tenants as a means to gather more corrupted money through government budget, foreign aid and loan.

(16)The other very absurd occurrence is accrediting him as honored intellectual the doctor hand out lecture to those dispirited government officials with a hooligan minded vulgar knowledge that his lecture from inception to end full of warnings and disparage. There is no compromise and discussion of ideas in the lecture, full of hypothesis, here and there thinking’s, left the audience in the bush he crawled behind and suddenly said hands up! By raising questions paradoxical to the agenda, self-destructing closure, concluded with pessimistic turnout i.e. the assembly appeal no lecture any more.

It is very surprising how the University of London provide him his PhD. The committee work provide him PhD with the government budget and contributed knowledge of senior experts in the government offices to gather data, select system, develop theory, defend term papers, prepare dissertation paper etc. at least 20 government workers at various levels involved in the heinous team work.

(17)Finally the Ethiopian Investment Commission Workers earnestly request the government of Ethiopia;-

(a)To discuss the commission problems with the prime minister.

(b)To get a progressive management system and good leadership.

(c)To work under the government rules and regulations.

(d)To protect from unfair management system, abduction of political parties, harmful restructuring.

(e)To organize the labor union.

(f)To adjust the working conditions like fair field work facilitations. (vehicles, enough allowance, laptop, telephone cards etc.),seasonal trainings, foreign country experience sharing, salary increment, proper promotion system etc

(g)To investigate the Ethiopian Investment commission damages and take the proper legal action.

(h)Specially to investigate the billion dollars projects destination and take adjustment measures like;-

– Immediate cancelling of contract employments of both the young professionals and the so called consultants and in turn utilize the fund for the training and education of both permanent employees of the Ethiopian investment commission and permanent employees of regional investment offices.

– immediate cancelling of the contract employment of the Dutch citizen who administer and monitor the billion dollar projects representing the commission and in turn transfer the duty to the appropriate directorate in the commission.

– Audit all the billion dollar projects and take the legal measures.

(I) Dismiss the Ethiopian Investment Board.

Thankyou