Content: Viewpoint

  • Can We Afford the Internet Shutdown in Ethiopia?

    I was just here for a working visit in Ethiopia when I heard that the government has shutdown the Internet. Whooooaaah!!! Can they do that? I asked my friends who are hosting me. Their answer was clear and simple. The government can do anything and does not even have to explain why it is doing […]

  • What Miracle Can Nudges Do that Carrots and Sticks Cannot?

    Having ruled the country for more than a quarter of a century now, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has faced unprecedented and staggering internal and external challenges that have led to the recent nationwide so-called ‘Tilq Tehadso’, crudely translated as ‘deep reform’. These challenges are rooted partly in the mismatch between the increasing […]

  • Misleading Reportings, Misrepresenting Facts in the Fine Line

    I consider myself one of the most loyal readers of your newspaper. I read your paper not only because reading papers was part of my job description until very recently, but equally important because your newspaper has grown to serve as a platform for the exchange of much needed analytical articles on a range of […]

  • Political Trust: Key for Overall Well-Being

    Do citizens trust the Ethiopian government? Ask a rational person this question, and their answer would probably be something like ‘yes and no’ or ‘well, it depends’. Perhaps trying to answer such broad a question is apparently futile since, first of all, not all citizens will trust their governments. Secondly, the notion of trust is […]

  • What Deters the Passion for Science

    On a beautiful Sunday morning, I had nothing to do other than hovering around the local bookshops in Addis Abeba. I was just hoping to find one or two of “the greatest science books of 2016,” as listed by bookworms and influential persons around the world. To my dismay, though I tried to visit most […]

  • Improved Services Essential for Better Industrialization

    These days various issues overwhelm a typical Ethiopian. From the release of an album by a popular Ethiopian pop musician – often considered as the voice of dissent against the political establishment, if not a reminder of the glory days of the Great Abyssinian Empire, Tewodros Kassahun a.k.a. Teddy Afro, who is received with huge […]

  • China’s Not-So-Cruel

    Later this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping will host a summit for many of the leaders of the 65 countries engaged in his “one belt, one road” (OBOR) initiative, a pioneering program that will channel billions of investment dollars towards infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa, and Europe. Despite a strong economic case for the project, […]

  • Lessons from the Anti-Globalists

    Advocates of globalization should keep the champagne on ice: protectionists and advocates of “illiberal democracy” are on the rise in many other countries. And the fact that an open bigot and habitual liar could get as many votes as Trump did in the US, and that the far-right Marine Le Pen will be in the […]

  • Women in the Green Economy

    In Ghana, a group of enterprising women and young people is building bicycles out of an unlikely material: bamboo. Ten farmers grow the bamboo, and 25 builders craft it into environmentally friendly bikes that can be used on Ghana’s bumpy roads or exported overseas. Bernice Dapaah, the founder and CEO of Ghana Bamboo Bikes, plans […]

  • Uniting Against Malaria

    As African women leading influential and impact-driven organizations – the Ecobank Foundation and the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) – we are passionate about building a prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable African economy. But achieving that goal requires accelerating progress toward eradicating the diseases that continue to deplete our communities of their most valuable resource: healthy […]

  • The Saga on Donkey Slaughter House Demonstrates Case for Public Hearing

    We should debate the case of the ‘donkey slaughterhouse’ in the town of Bishoftu (Debrezeit) and its implications for future projects. It is a serious case, and we can learn from it only if we give the attention it deserves. It is puzzling how it all came about in the first place and what procedures […]

  • Enlisting Women in Africa’s Health Fight

    Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) disproportionately affect women and girls. Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) alone causes severe pain, bleeding, and lesions in more than 16 million women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa. Beyond causing widespread physical suffering, NTDs have a severe long-term socioeconomic impact on millions of women and girls. Women who have been scarred or […]

  • Steadfast Unity of Purpose Imperative for the EPRDF Leadership

    Depending on our vantage point, the last seven months have been full of actions – or inaction – for the ruling EPRDF coalition in general and its chairperson and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in particular, writes this author, whose identity Fortune withheld upon request.

  • Managing Drought, Ethiopia Serves as a Model for its Neighbours

    The Horn of Africa is suffering its worst drought in decades, with devastating humanitarian consequences. Two districts in South Sudan are officially in famine. Areas of Somalia and Yemen are on the brink. Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of death, while millions face severe disruption to their lives and livelihoods. The drought […]

  • Tana Forum Should Focus on What Matters to Ordinary Africans

    Kofi Annan, the former secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), was instructional and sincere in his advice to sitting African heads of state and governments, whom he had addressed as a keynote speaker at the fifth Tana High-Level Forum on security in Africa last year, held in Ethiopia. “Leave when your time is up,” he […]

  • I Remain Optimistic We Can Achieve Human Progress for Everyone

    The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has released the Human Development Report for 2016, entitled “Human Development for Every One”. The report comes at a momentous time when the world leaders just recently endorsed the Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the guiding principle of leaving no one behind. The nexus between human […]

  • Illiberal Stagnation

    A quarter-century after the Cold War’s end, the West and Russia are again at odds. This time, though, at least on one side, the dispute is more transparently about geopolitical power, not ideology. The West has supported in a variety of ways democratic movements in the post-Soviet region, hardly hiding its enthusiasm for the various […]

  • Emergency Law in Ethiopia: Why Do We Need to Extend It Any Further?

    Ethiopia is a party to a number of international and regional human rights’ treaties signed and ratified on several occasions. In fact, any human rights’ treaty ratified by the country forms part and parcel of the domestic law system pursuant to Art. 9 Sub-Art. 4 of the Federal Constitution. One such instrument of profound significance […]

  • Napping for Good beneath the Heap of Dirt

    The landslide of the mountainous rubbish dump, the most devastating incident of its kind, happened in Addis Abeba, Kolfe Keranio District on Saturday, March 11 2017 at about 8.00pm local time. Although the City Administration officials roughly unveiled various estimates of casualties on different occasions, no one is exactly sure how many lives perished. Many […]

  • The Misunderstood World of Autism

    The ninth annual World Autism Awareness Day is today, April 2, 2017, it is being celebrated with the theme “Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination”. Every year, autism organizations around the world celebrate the day with different fundraising and awareness-raising events. For many years autism has been celebrated the same way in Addis Abeba by the Joy […]

  • Keeping the Lights on Power Africa

    Uncertainty surrounding one of President Barack Obama’s signature initiatives was apparent this month when several hundred energy industry representatives gathered for this year’s ‘Powering Africa Summit’. While future policy remains undecided, the opportunities in the power sector across Africa are obvious. In Nigeria, west Africa’s economic engine with one of Africa’s fastest growing populations, only […]

  • G20 Dilemma: Falling Trade, Soaring Market, Looming Contraction

    Historically, Baden-Baden’s spas are famous for their healing waters, which have healed ancient Romans’ arthritic aches, Prussian queens’ rheumatism and European aristocrats’ paralyses. Nevertheless, the G20 Summit is fresh evidence that even Baden-Baden cannot do miracles. As American Treasury Secretary Mnuchin rebuffed the push by the masters of the global finance to renounce protectionism, concerns […]

  • Holding Companies, The Change Ethiopia Needs to Make

    Though Ethiopia is the first African country to make modern laws, including the stipulation of establishment of business organizations back in 1960, the concept of holding company has not been accepted by law for the last half a century. However, with the emergence of new business operation practices and dynamics as well as the rapid […]

  • The Return of Industrial Strategy

    Industrial policy is making a comeback in many advanced economies. Dismissed out of hand in the go-go 1980s as a contributor to the previous decade’s stagnation, it is increasingly viewed as a means to stem working-class voters’ defection to right-wing populist parties. But developing a modern and effective industrial strategy will be no easy feat. […]

  • Africa’s Homegrown Development Solution Requires Better Leadership

    The slow pace of development of Africa can be pinpointed to the continent’s leaders decision to seek help from their former colonizers instead of looking inward for homegrown dynamic businesses. This provided the avenue for Western multilateral imperialist agencies the World Bank and the IMF – to successfully infiltrate into Africa, re-colonize African states and […]