Businesses to Raise Funds to Finance EPRDF HQs, Training Centre
Owners of major businesses grouped into five sectors have began raising funds that would be used in financing the construction of a headquarters and a training center for the ruling Revolutionary Democrats. The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) needs 130 million Br in order to build its political command center up at Arat Kilo, and a training centre to an army of its cadres in Sendafa.
The party has so raised 58 million Br from its four million card carrying members, Hailemariam Desalegn, advisor to the Prime Minister on public mobilization, under ministerial portfolio, and deputy head of the party’s secretariat, told Fortune.
Businessmen and women involved in construction, horticulture, transport, import and export and manufacturing are officially requested by the party to chip in filling the gap. A letter signed by Hailemariam, and dated on June 13, 2008, propelled some of them to act.
“As the construction of this complex requires a considerable investment, we hereby seek the usual support from our members and developmental investors,” reads a letter, a copy of which is obtained by Fortune.
There have been series of meetings among each grouping to launch the fundraising efforts. For instance, the importers group, led by Tadesse Tilahun, head of NOC (Ethiopia), will lead the fundraising exercise next Saturday, July 19, 2008. Other members in this group include, Getu Gellete, from GetAs International, Benyam Brehane, from Country Trading, and Sabir Argaw, Alsam Trading.
Other sectors - such as Manufacturing sector is led by Sied Mohammed Brehan, from Ambassador Garment; construction by Samuel Teklay; and horticulture by Solomon Sebhatu - are expected to follow suit soon, developing their own preferred way of fundraising.
Top priority to the ruling party is the construction of the headquarters. The party’s head office has been an old building nationalized by the Derg on Development through Cooperation Avenue (Edget Be’hibret Godana), behind the Parliament. It is the same building that used to house Mengistu Hailemariam’s (Col.) Workers Party of Ethiopia (WFP).
“Building the headquarters is vital to strengthening our party,” Hailemariam told Fortune.
Coming to power in 1991, after toppling the military Derg regime, it wants to brand itself as a “party for the future”.
EPRDF is an alliance of four groups; the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organisation (OPDO), the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), the Southern Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic Movement (SPDM), and the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF). Together, they control 472 of the 545 seats in Parliament, following the bitterly contested elections held in May 2005.
It [the EPRDF] always comes up with new ideas, according to Hailemariam. Building a new edifice appears to be part of this grand plan.
The headquarters will be erected on a 4,330Sqm plot in Arat Kilo, off the road from Parliament building to the Social Security Authority.
The party secured the plot in 2006 from the Addis Abeba Land Development and Administration Authority during the time of the Caretaker Administration. Settling a 20pc down payment of the 6.2 million Br lease price, the EPRDF acquired the plot for 90 years.
The design of the structure was developed by Begziabher Architects, a firm owned by Begziabher Alebel, for free, according to sources close to the project. With a budget of 40 million Br, the party plans to start construction in September 2008.
Followed will be the construction of a training centre in Sendafa, 39Km northeast of Addis Abeba, in the Oromia Regional State. It is projected to consume an investment twice the amount the party will spend on its headquarters, according to sources close to the project.
The centre will lie on 25hct of plot, and supervision during construction will be conducted by MH Engineering Plc, a firm largely owned by Meselle Haile (PhD).
The centre will incorporate and administration building on a 673Sqm, a museum, 20 classrooms each with a capacity of 70 seats, four lecture theatres with 70 seats each, and dormitories for 470 student. For senior party members, there will be VIP bedrooms with en-suite baths, a lounge, a dining-room and a kitchen.
Opposition political parties, who always demand government funding, claiming that they are always in financial trouble, are skeptical about the issue.
“We couldn’t secure any government funding,” Lidetu Ayalew, president of Untied Ethiopia Democratic Party (UEDP-Medhin) told Fortune. “But, the EPRDF uses its power to amass money and strengthen itself. It claims to have four million members. And yet, it demands business-sector-specific contributions. This is not apposite.”
Nevertheless, EPRDF seems oblivious to such complaints. It plans to issue public tenders in order to select the construction companies to be awarded the projects, according to Hailemariam.
By WUDINEH ZENEBE
SPECIAL TO FORTUNE
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