Enjoying the benefits of the controversial directive issued by the Federal Transport Authority (FTA), 19 out of the 81 companies and individuals that applied for fuel truck importation permits started receiving their licences from the Authority last week.
 

According to the Directive, the time set for the issuance of permits was from September 19 to 29, 2006, but the FTA only started giving out the permits as of October 18.
 

Of the companies that qualified for permission to import 25 fuel trucks, the one that made it to the A-list was Marathon Transport Plc.
 

According to an FTA staff member, Marathon was in fact the one company that met all the requirements better than any of the other applicants, without a single feature left unfulfilled. The Company was co-founded by Tsega Assamere and eight other shareholders in August 2006.
 

Strangely for some, Tsega is also the chairman of the Total Ethiopian Fuel Transport Truck Owners Association Board of Directors and was one of the leaders in the peaceful demonstration that was held in August 2006, to protest the lifting of the two-year ban that prohibited fuel trucks from being imported into Ethiopia.
 

“The individual has been highly respected in his struggle to uphold fuel transporters rights, but he has now betrayed us, which has erased all the good he has done.” a truck owner said. “I am very disappointed in him.”
 

In his own defence, Tsega told Fortune that he still disapproves of the Directive and considered it to be unfair and breaching a person’s constitutional rights to work in whatever sector they want. Nevertheless, he said that the reason he protested was never because the Directive would cause him problems, but to support his Association members.

“It is a right to protest against a directive issued by the Government, but if the directive has not been amended or cancelled as a result, it is an obligation to subscribe to it,” Tsega said.
 

In any case, he said, many of his fellow Association members knew that he was going to apply for an import permit. However, none of the members approached by Fortune would confirm his remark.
 

Tsega involvement in the energy sector is greater than transportaion. He is the chairman of the Yetebaberut Beherawi Petroleum S.C (YBP) Board as well as a shareholder. Tsega is also the Gulele Total Fuel station dealer as well as for the biggest fuel station in Ethiopia, which is the YBP Fuel station in Kaliti.
 

As part of the requirements, Marathon needed to deposit 30pc of the total amount of money that the company intended to spend. Marathon deposited over 12 million Br in a closed account at Awash International Bank, sources from the Bank disclosed.
 

The path to this new Directive, and the extensive resistance against it, began when a study done by FTA claimed a need for 362 fuel trucks to fill a fuel transport gap. Accordingly, in August 2006, the Authority issued an announcement inviting all interested applicants to register.
 

In response, 81 companies registered, including first time fuel truck importers as well as those wanting to replace their old vehicles with new ones.

Nevertheless, most applications failed as all the requirements were not met. Those that received the permits will import a total of 314 fuel trucks.
 

After the FTA opened documents on September 12, 2006, 24 of the 81 applicants were disqualified. Fourteen of these had requested that they be allowed to replace their old trucks with new ones, while 10 others had registered to import just a single truck each. The remaining 57 that had qualified had registered a total number of 911 fuel trucks for import.

“Of the 19 qualifiers, 13 had fulfilled all the Authority’s requirements. The other six did not manage to make the 30pc deposits and had to reapply after the Authority requested them to,” Belayneh HabteGebriel, head of FTA Public Relations told Fortune.
 

Although 18 companies had applied for the import of 25 cars each, only six received permits. These companies include GARAD Plc, Muluneh Kassa Coffee Export Enterprise, Yeshi Plc, Abass Trade and Transport Company, Vision Liquid Shipment and Yirga Tefera and Family Plc. The remaining companies were disqualified because they could not meet the requirements.

According to the Directive, all trucks must be imported and ready for duty within six months of receiving permits.   
 

Fuel transporters had protested the Directive since its very issuance.  Another reason for the protest against the Directive was made because it holds that individuals and companies with business licences can import 10 to 25 vehicles only. The truck owners said that this was done to benefit only a group of people.
 

The directive also required for prospective importers to bring the number of trucks they want all at once.
 

The basis for the truck owners’ protests is that they believed that the privilege should not be restricted to only those that have business licences, but should be all encompassing. They also argued that the 30pc deposit in a closed account was not reasonable.
 

The Office of the Prime Minister has still not responded to the protest and the letter that was submitted by the fuel transporters in August 2006.

“A decision has not yet been reached. We do not know what kind of reaction will be brought on now that the Authority has started issuing permits,” Tekle Abegaz, the Prime Minister Office’s Legal and Conference Management department head said.