Ethiopia: EPRDF's Whip Resigns One Chairmanship

Hailemariam Desalegn, chief government whip at Parliament, resigned from his position as chairman of the Board of the Addis Abeba Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA), although he retains his chairmanship of the Board of the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency.

Deputy Chair Mekuria Haile, general manager of the Addis Abeba City Administration, will ascend to the vacated position starting this month.
"I wanted to resign because of a heavy work load," Hailemariam told Fortune.
The former president of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State moved to Addis Abeba to become the secretary of the Ethiopia People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) council and advisor to the Prime Minister on public organisation. He no longer keeps both of these positions, moving fulltime to the parliament work. He has also been one of the chief negotiators of the EPRDF in talks with opposition parties.

AAWSA sources anonymously told Fortune that replacing Hailemariam by Mekuria compromises the transparency of the board.
"Hailemariam came to the board by the order of the Prime Minister so that he could follow up the city water supply issue which had become a serious concern," said the AAWASA source.
He attributes the growth of water supply from 50pc to 64pc to Hailemariam's chairmanship of the board.
"He must only be replaced by another top person from the EPRDF," he said.
AAWSA is accountable to the city general manager, according to another AAWSA who questioned the legitimacy of Mekuria's chairmanship.

The city has plans to increase water access to 80pc by digging deep wells. It also has long-term plans to construct two dams on the Cibilu and Gerbi rivers 30km from Addis Abeba in the Oromia Regional State.

The construction of these dams is expected to take place in two phases. The first phase will require an investment of 196 million dollars and supply 453,000 cubic metres of water daily, and the second phase will take 165 million dollars and provide 203,000 cubic metres of water, daily.

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Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Wudineh Zenebe
14 December 2009