Despite repeated requests by opposition parties, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) postponed the restructuring and rearrangement of electorate constituencies to sometime later in 2010.

The board had considered the statistics obtained from the 2007 National Census in its major activities, especially in arranging constituents. It had planned to work with the census just after its announcement in June 2009, Mohammed Abdurrahman, public relations head of the board said.

The number of electoral constituencies and other technical matters in the Ethiopian electoral system had to be rearranged inline with a growing population.

The board, which calculated its capacity and the magnitude of the work, understood that it is impossible to carry out the task of rearranging the electoral constituents simultaneously with managing the national election, said Mohammed.

The current number of constituencies was organised based on a national censes that took place in 1996.

According to that figure, the nation has 547 constituencies with a representation of 100,000 people for a single constituency, making the total population size about 54 million.

The 547 constituencies, which is exactly the number of seats in Parliament, were divided among the nine regional states and two administrations based on their populations, one seat for each of 100,000 people.

According to some opposition leaders the result from the 2007 National Census would not be welcomed by the ruling party as it might affect regional occupations of seats in the parliament.

Zewai Roes, a flower farming company, became the first such farm to be taken to court by the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority over alleged value-added tax (VAT) violations. After an investigation was made, the company was taken to the 10th Criminal Bench of the Federal First Instance Court in Addis Abeba two weeks ago. The court that looked into the matter gave an order for the company to defend the case in a trial to be held next week.

Similarly, Shere Ethiopia, one of the biggest Dutch flower companies, in Ethiopia is under investigation for alleged VAT violations. Giving increasing attention to the flower industry, the authority is preparing to intensify its investigations in the future, sources at the authority told Fortune.
 

Helnan International Hotel, one of the biggest hotel groups in Denmark has shown an interest in buying the Ghion Hotel Enterprise from the Privatisation and Public enterprises Supervising Agency.
Helnan was pulled towards Ghion after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) businesspeople had retreated after an initial show of interest.

Helnan has already submitted its proposal to the agency.

"Helnan's proposal is a joint venture request with the Ethiopian Government and the agency is evaluating the proposal," according to an official at the agency.

Currently, Helnan International Hotel owns first class hotels and resorts in Egypt, Morocco, Denmark and Sweden.

Ethiopian exporters are lobbying a Ugandan-based Belgian laboratory to open a branch in Ethiopia. There is a need to attract internationally accredited laboratories here, as the country becomes engaged more and more with the world in the export and import of food products.

International standards require food exports to pass through testing for chemical traces as part of a Residue Monitoring Plan, to check for chemicals such as pesticides in agricultural products. In 2008, Ethiopia had to send samples of its honey products to foreign countries when it received export permission from EU countries. It had to pay thousands of dollars for a handful of samples.

An expert on the issues said the country needs to get internationally accredited laboratories, not only for export but also for import as well, because it has been importing foods that are usually unchecked. According to him, officials of the Belgian company had visited Ethiopia three times and showed interest.

People rushed to Miki's Fashion attracted by a big sale that involved 15 to 70pc discounts starting from Wednesday, December 23, 2009. Women enjoyed "broad selections at bargain prices" while some male shoppers were heard complaining of "lack of size options, selection varieties and next to zero discounts." The sale is expected to last for a month unless Miki's runs out of stock by then. It is in all its branches in Addis Abeba. Miki's shop at Getu Commercial Center was overwhelmed by large numbers of eager shoppers.

Meaza Ashenafi (left), founder and former executive director of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, is now the chairperson of the committee which initiated the idea of starting a women's bank, currently under formation. Last Friday evening, November 13, 2009, the initiators invited prominent businesswomen to a consultation meeting held at the Belgium Embassy. Rahel Zewde, wife of Gunther Sleeuwangen, Belgian Ambassador to Ethiopia, is one of the ten women initiators who are involved in different business sectors. The initiators, who submitted their application to the National Bank of Ethiopia more than a week ago, are waiting for its approval to open a blocked account and start selling shares to the public. They expect the approval to come within a week or two.

The Ethio Poultry Expo was held at the Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre from November 4 to 6, 2009. The expo was organized by a Sudanese company, Expo Team Services Co. with an Ethiopian partner Prana Promotion. The organizers expressed their hope that the expo would be a springboard to attract international companies to enter the poultry markets in Ethiopia and other African countries. Culture and Tourism State Minister, Mahmoud Ahmed Gass, visited the expo where various poultry technologies were displayed.

The construction of the condominium houses of the Gergi site were completed six months ago. Since then, residents have started moving in. Nonetheless, the houses have no electricity and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) was only able to provide power to some of the residents. Consequently, residents with no access to power are sharing with those who have power by using cables which they have extended themselves. Some of the cables extend for 400 metres, Abebe Daneo, a resident, told Fortune. The cables cost about one Birr per metre and the selling residents could charge the buyers up to 50 Br for a month's share of electricity.