|
The caretaker administration came to the lime-light
following an overwhelming victory by the then
Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD),
which refused to take up its seats alleging that the
election had been rigged by the ruling party.
Subsequently, the government designated the current
caretaker administration to run the affairs of the
city for a year. This was what brought Brehane and
his 10 cabinet members to the glare of publicity.
This May, these senior superintendents, as well as
their appointed District and Kebele officials - who
are dubbed as non-partisan - will relinquish their
administrative seats to the winners of the local and
by-elections held on April 5 and 13, 2008.
Despite having held the reigns to the city for two
consecutive years, the departing officials have
failed to win the hearts of the Addis Abebans
through their works. Critics have bombarded them
with belittling comments on their unsuccessful terms
in office.
They have a point; most of their targets in various
sectors were only seen as a disappointment.
Apart from calming down the political instability
the custodian administration was, among others,
tasked with cutting down the rate of unemployment,
taking swift decisions on land transfers in a bid to
foster investment, constructing condominiums for the
city dwellers as well as raising access to potable
water. It has barely realized these objectives.
The city administration has industrial zones where
it allocates plots for manufacturing industries but
because of the lack of adequate infrastructure,
there has not been a single industrial zone that has
begun operations since the administration led by
Mayor Brehane came to power.
Aside from the Akaki Kaliti and Mekanisa Lebu
industrial zones, established by the provisional
administration, there are an additional four zones
with a total area of 687ht that have yet to be put
to use.
The Akaki Kaliti Industrial Zone has requested an
additional 62ht for an expansion project, which has
yet to see the light of day. The 35ht flight
terminal and the 305ht Kilinto Industrial Zone have
all been sitting idle.
According to an official at the Addis Abeba
Investment Authority, over 1,500 investors have been
issued an investment license. These developers
require investment plots.
“We have recurrently requested the installation of
infrastructures in the industrial zone to no avail,”
he told Fortune.
Although the city lease board is faced with over
1,500 pending plot requests, there has not been a
single investor awarded a plot in an industrial zone
until now.
Lease decisions made are also very minimal. The
board leased only 152 plots this year. While 140
other lease requests are pending, the city cabinet
has already stopped the lease board from
functioning.
According to an official at the Addis Abeba Land
Development and Administration Authority, in a
single day the provisional administration would pass
decisions on cases that have taken the caretaker
administration one year to deliberate on. He said
that the administration has passed as many as 160
decisions a day.
The caretaker administration has yet to succeed in
its other activities as well. Having projected a
year-long vision of decreasing the number of jobless
people, the housing shortages and increasing
infrastructure, the administration has not been able
to meet its goals. The CITY government had allocated
a 5.16 Billion Br budget in 2006/2007 for the city,
of which 3.6 billion Br was allocated for capital
projects. Of this amount, the 152.6 million Br that
was assigned to land development, the 312.2 million
for potable water projects, the 1.1 billion Br for
road construction and the 1.7 billion Br for housing
development have yet to be put to good use.
During the transitional period, there were illegal
land and housing transfers, according to the Federal
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. The measures
taken by the administration against the alleged
illegal land grabbers has also been unsatisfactory.
Mayor Brehane had, in February 2007, launched a huge
campaign to demolish illegal constructions and evict
illegal inhabitants from state houses. Although it
was projected to end in September 2007, the campaign
was gradually halted after only a few houses were
demolished. The evicted settlers now feel
discriminated against.
“Only a handful of houses, including mine, were
demolished while there are plenty moon light houses
in our District,” says a resident of Nifasilk Lafto
District, baffled.
Condominium construction and transfers were also the
administration’s other setback. In its three-year
programme, the administration had set out to
construct 50,000 houses every year in the capital.
This was to be a follow up programme to the efforts
of the Arkebe led administration. The provisional
administration had allocated 360 million Br for low
cost housing in 2003/2004 and close to 1.5 billion
Br in 2004/2005, after the construction of 30,000
houses. Following the transition in 2006, the
caretaker administration pursued the housing
projects begun by the previous administration.
However, none of the houses were completed until the
following year. The performance is hardly different
this budget year. According to the caretaker’s first
half-year performance report, only 6,766 houses
(35pc) of the envisaged 19,361 houses were completed
in the first half of this budget year. This a
project that rolled over to the current budget year
from 2006. The administration had set out to
construct 38,500 houses in 2007/2008.
The main reasons, according to the report, for the
failure to achieve the target are a lack of
motivated labourers and plans, as well as a shortage
of inputs and a low budget for procuring
construction materials.
“I do not want to hear reasons,” says Bayu Taye, who
pays 700 Br a month for his modestly sized houses
around Kirkos. “Housing is a necessity. So it has to
be made available by any means.”
He is one of the 400,000 registered
condominium-housing seekers in Addis Abeba.
“It is an undeniable fact that the caretaker has not
been fully successful,” State Minister Arkebe told
Fortune. “We have been seeing problems in its
development endeavors.”
A
cabinet member, who would like to remain anonymous,
has challenged these criticisms.
Says he: “There are also good achievements. For
instance, in the past six months, we have met 95pc
of our target in health and education.”
In 2006/2007, the administration had allocated 50.5
million Br and 17.9 million Br for health and
education respectively.
According to a veteran official, who served for 25
years in the city administration, the caretaker
should have worked closely with District and Kebele
officials, as well as Agency heads, in a bid to make
its programmes successful.
In a discussion the EPRDF held with residents of
Addis Abeba in the presence of District and Kebele
officials in June 2007, heads of Kebeles and
Districts complained about a gap between the levels
of city government that create policies and the
realities of administrative duties.
The caretaker administration does not command the
support of the residents in Districts and Kebeles as
the previous administration, critics say.
Many Kebele and District officials feel as if the
city administration’s tenure is limited and thus
their directives do not carry the same weight as
that of the past administration,” a source told
Fortune.
Despite these criticisms, there are still those who
appreciate the officials for taking a bold move in
accepting this burden of responsibility amid the
hectic environment following the national election
of May 2005.
According to figures released on the current local
and by elections, the EPRDF has regained control of
Addis Abeba.
“EPRDF knows the problems of the city as well as the
solutions,” Arkebe told Fortune. “The
succeeding administration will be fruitful.”
The Mayor was not available for comment. |
