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Jimma Palace, which was one of the resting spots of
Emperor Haile Selassie I and the seat of his
principals, is to be given to Radio Fana, the
nation’s first private multilingual national
broadcaster. Constructed in the 1940’s by Tsehay
Enqu, close confident of the late Emperor and
administrator of the region, the palace is situated
on the road from the town’s airport to Ferenj Arada
around Bosa Arat.
Currently, Wakjira Terfassa, Jimma Zone deputy
administrator, lives in the Palace situated on a
1.5hct plot holding Gibe Hall, one of the largest
assembly halls in the city.
“The palace has so far not been put towards
productive purposes,” said Kefyalew. “We have
decided now to grant the palace to Radio Fana to
open a studio in it.”
A senior officer at Radio Fana confirmed to
Fortune that the town administration is to
provide the palace to a third party.
“Our technical staff will first assess the
feasibility of the palace for radio broadcasting and
submit its findings to the radio station. The board
of Radio Fana then decides the fate of the request.”
According to a radio engineer, the location of the
palace is suitable for beaming signals as it lies
atop a hill with access to Jimma’s population.
After the fall of the Emperor, Tessema Belay
(Colonel), administrator of Kefa, used to reside in
the palace. Derg leader Mengistu Hailemariam was
also claimed to have rested at the palace.
Following the ousting from power of the military
regime in 1991, the defence armies controlled the
compound.
The 15-room palace also has a neighbouring church,
which is feared to disturb the broadcast.
According to a resident of the town, Junedin Sado,
minister of Transport and Communications, who
earlier was president of the Oromia Regional State,
has consulted with residents of the town concerning
the possible fate of the palace. The prudent choice
in the minds of the town’s officials was to make the
palace a museum, library or guesthouse.
“It is not a wise decision to give the palace to
Radio Fana while the city is suffering from lack of
proper hotels for guests,” says a resident of the
town. The radio station is expected to take
programmes from its main office in Addis Abeba and
develop in-house content on local issues
broadcasting 212 hours per week.
In addition to Jimma, Radio Fana this year has
planned to broadcast from four other regional towns.
“We have requested to be granted spaces for studios
in Awassa, Gondar and Harar,” said a senior official
of the station.
Fana has floated a tender to procure a one & two KW
FM Transmitter with complete system studio
equipments, on January 24, 2008. The tender closes
on February 28, 2008.
Although the Mayor of Jimma said that Radio Fana
would provide community radio service to city
residents, an executive member of the station told
Fortune that they are targeting commercial
radio including in the other three expected towns. |
