The House of Peoples’ Representatives debated on November 23, 2006 a draft proclamation calling for for the dissolution of the Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund (ESRDF).
 

The Council of Ministers drafted the proclamation after concluding that the purpose of the Fund - undertaking emergency rehabilitation and development projects as needs arose - was no longer there and that federal and regional government bodies were already carrying out the works previously undertaken by ESRDF, creating duplication of activities.
 

The House upheld the decision of the Council and directed parliamentary debate to the status of the employees, the possible presence of officials that could be held accountable, and also the observation that the Fund has already been ‘inactive in some states, while it still exists in others.
 

Some employees told Fortune that ESRDF had been wrapping up unfinished projects for the past year. Once closed, the Fund’s properties will pass to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) when it is dissolved.
 

ESRDF was established in July 1991 by the then Transitional Government of Ethiopia, led by the EPRDF, to meet the urgent needs of relief, rehabilitation and development works. Its objectives included playing a role in stimulating the war-torn economy by rehabilitating retrenched workers, displaced civilians and returning refugees and demobilised soldiers through safety net projects.
 

ESRDF was active in Addis Abeba, Tigray, the Southern Regional State, Oromia and Amhara. ESRDF funded 219 projects in these regions in its pilot period of 1992 – 1995, spending 13 million dollars.
 

ESRDF continued in active operation until 2004 utilising a budget of 269 million dollars provided by the government and the World Bank.
 

The Fund’s board chairman was Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and the manager was Afewrok Gebreyesus. It has now ceased operations and giving a provident fund to its 405 employees.

The employees are not happy to see ESRDF go; one project manager rejected the argument about duplication of activities, saying that the Fund had done better job in constructing schools and clinics in remote parts where the regional governments would not go. The argument was hotly debated in the Council of Ministers deliberations in the weeks leading up to the drafting of their decision.
 

The draft is now under consideration by the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Standing Committee, which will present its decisions for further parliamentary debate within 20 days of last week’s first discussion.