Dissent usually signals polite reservation. It invokes the need for reflective analysis on important matters that seem to be neglected by the prevailing established discourse. Pronounced dissent is a peaceful, yet powerful supplication, to bring about caution to actions/activities that have lost or beginning to lose their ways. Its general ethos is to sternly warn the stagnated and overwhelmingly conventional status quo. It is a determined force of ideas challenging assumptions no longer valid. Even though dissent is essentially a disagreement, its decorum is to conduct frank discussion with a view to come up with a better understanding of things, with the hope of resolving them. At the end of the day, what rigid interlocutors seem to forget is; dissent is, by and large, a protracted argument based on seasoned reflections and pragmatically evolved considered opinions!
Why then is dissent so hated, especially by functionaries and politicos? Dissent is mostly reasonable and advocates for gradual change. Nonetheless, entrenched zombies of rigidly set up entities, like political parties, tend to have no respect for protracted and systemic criticism or dissent in short. For the most part, dissent doesn’t want to rock the boat abruptly and completely, so to speak. In fact, the motto of dissent is: ‘if it is not broken, don’ fix it’! Dramatic fissure or rupture on the account of dissent happens only after everything has failed. In such scenarios, it is always intransigent individuals who tend to play dominant roles in the unfolding altercations. Such approaches shut down rational discourse and opens up the blame game. Attacking the messenger and not the message is the way out for the usual simpletons. Simpletons, like idiotic party goons, assume, dissent will just go away if dissidents are eliminated from the scene. Herein lies one of the main problems of rigidly organized entities!
Rigidity is weakness. Rigidity is a fragile set up that will break down when confronted with the slightest challenging perturbation. As dissent within societal context continues to be ignored by the power that be, critical individuals/entities who have been advocating for gradual change will be forced to give up. Some dissidents will abandon all engagements, while others might gear up for resistance. At the same time, those who have no respect for dissent will continue to grind their axes. To such cretins, their targets are not the ideas behind dissent, but the dissidents themselves! They try to battle it out with the messengers rather than the message! Currently, concerned citizens of the world are trying their best to warn and enlighten the global status quo about its misguided ways. The various concoctions of the world system have become absolutely unsustainable and very polarizing for harmonious collective existence. See Smith’s articles next column. So far, the reaction from entrenched interests is to ignore dissent. Here is an interesting example of dissent and the studied reactions of entrenched interests.
The British Labor Party has come out with its new manifesto. The following is its conclusion. Britain has been under the strict regime of neoliberalism since the late 1970s. In fact, it was the vanguard neoliberal state in the west, along with the USA. Privatization, liberalization, deregulation, austerity, etc., became its obsession. In other words, all of the sheeple’s (human mass) interests were undermined consciously and systemically in favor of crony capitalism. After four decades of experimentation the jury is in with the verdict. As far as the British mass is concerned, the experience has been an unmitigated disaster. The privatized entities were stripped of their productive assets and were neglected to the detriment of public safety. The owners saddled the privatized enterprises with massive debts and promptly abandoned them. At the end of the day, the British state had to come back to the picture and inject a whole lot of capital to revive or at least maintain basic services that are needed by the public. The Labor party’s election platform is now, unashamedly; the nationalization of the rail system, energy, water, etc., etc. Those who have been dissenting for decades were ignored and are now classified as bogeymen trying to destroy Britain. While the parasitic elites who actually destroyed the public sector (of the economy) were let go, scot-free! Leading to this week’s general election, the parasites and their accomplices continue to demonize the Labor leader. What the narrow-minded elites don’t get is this; the British (majority) have already decided to go it alone, (against the interests of the oligarchy) as was indicated by their Brexit vote, which is essentially a vote against Brussels’ (EU) bureaucracy. See the articles on pages 38.
In Ethiopia, many critical observers (literally) begged the ruling party leadership to give some space to dissent and dissenters. Initially and as usual, the general dissent was very constructive and non-threatening. However, those whose understanding of societal complexity was shallow were determined to have it only their way. All reflections coming from outside were regarded as existential threat to the status quo. We admit, the vanguard party within the EPRDF coalition had to endure a major split that left it intellectually barren and morally bankrupt. These shortcomings became very pronounced after the death of its leader, Meles Zenawi. After his passing, it was mostly crooks and goons that took over the task of political governance across the country. Bringing back morality, probity, decency and intellectual vigor became an uphill battle within the ruling party. Result: a Mafiosi State. Party connected oligarchs stole and monopolized the crown jewels of the modern economy. The bureaucracy became an entity whose main purpose was to cater for the criminally inclined, at the expense of the interests of the large majority of the people. Civil society organizations were disallowed to operate according to their public prerogatives. The peasants, Ethiopia’s majority, were put in the shackles of destructive ethnicism. As dissent became a crime, dissidents were promptly classified as criminals. The rest; as they say, is history! Maybe the elders of EPRDF foolishly believed the teaching of the following vile: “How lucky it is for rulers that men cannot think.” Adolf Hitler. Good Day!
DISSENT AS A SIGNAL
Tendaho stops making sugar
Tendaho Sugar Factory has cut its sugar production. As Weyo Roba, CEO of the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, told Capital, the factory failed to produce sugar because of deterioration and shortage of sugarcane and drought in the area which began in 2008 EC.
The factory is located 670 km from Addis Ababa in Afar region. It is 300km from the Port of Djibouti. There are 41,176hct of total cultivation land, 22,835hct of land is irrigated and 17,683hct of land is covered with sugarcane.
According to Weyo, the factory is the process of leasing 5,000 hectares of farmland within its territory to cultivate wheat. It is mainly aimed at protecting productive land from weeds, and will also play a significant role in sustaining the market.
As Weyo stated, beside the cultivation of sugarcane, the violence in the area and disputes among people have contributed to failed production.
In order to help the local community benefit from development, the factory is in the processes of giving away 6,000 hectares of its sugarcane farming land to the residents. This land is 76km from the factory, however we are expecting the regional government to give us alternative land near the factory, said Weyo.
As usual the corporation will transfer the machines and its employees to other sugar factories until the factory starts operating.
The factory may start its production within the next two years if the cropped sugarcane ripens.
The factory`s construction began in 2005/2006. It was built by the Indian OIA (Overseas Infrastructure Alliance) company. The first phase of the factory began trial production in 2014. Within full production capacity it was expected to produce 13,000 tons of sugarcane per day and is expected to produce about 300,000 tons of sugar a year and generate 60 megawatts of electricity to produce 27 million liters of ethanol. In 2017 The Public Enterprises Affairs Standing Committee of the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) came to visit and urged management to start the factory.
Ethiopia has a favorable climate for sugar cane development. Ethiopia has 1.4 million hectares of land favorable to sugar production 1,620 quintals of sugarcane per hectare every 15 months. Annual sugar demand per individual is estimated at 10 kg and current supply per individual stands at 7 kg while the country imports up to 200,000 tons of sugar per year.
Currently there are seven sugar factories operating in the country. The government is in processes of privatizing sugar factories starting from 2020. Tendaho is expected to be one of the six sugar factories the government has planned to privatize in the first quarter of 2020.
Adama sprouts local cooking oil factory
A local edible oil manufacturing company began distributing premium sunflower after the regulatory body certified its quality.
Owned by AB plc, the company is situated in Adama. It took three years to construct the factory. The manufacturing plant rests on 3200m2 plot of land.
“The company is established to produce100 percent pure refined, high grade oil,” said Selam Demisse, General Manager of the company.
According to the company manager, Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Agency got the certification after a rigorous process and laboratory tests of the actual product. The very promising brand is a result of two years of rigorous quality assurance carried out in its in-house laboratory which deploys a top-rated quality control system
The company sources all of its sunflower oil ingredients from the Black Sea region to produce SUNVITO edible oil, which is 100 percent pure sunflower oil.
The company is expected to meet 40 percent of the soft oil consumption demands in the Ethiopian market and will also supply the regional market through the export as an MoU has been signed with a Singapore-based company after its team of experts visited the facility.
To strengthen this effort, The company also planned to undertake expansion projects to produce specialized oils such as Olive Oil, Sesame Oil for export and other soft oils such as Soybean oil, Corn Oil and other Vegetable oils.
“Consumers in Ethiopia will get a healthy alternative in the new premium refined sunflower oil which has made its debut for the Ethiopians adding that the product during its first test-run, a week before the Ethiopian New Year, SUNVITO has received great acclaim in the market as well as consumers. Product during its first test-run, a week before the Ethiopian New Year, SUNVITO
The producers, AB Plc. employed over 200 people that will increase more when the company use its full capacity and finalized expansion.
For country like Ethiopia that mainly relies on imported palm oil from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in order to satisfy its edible oil consumption, the joining of such local companies are vital as palm oil covers 96 percent of the total consumption and the country imported 73,434 liters of palm oil last fiscal year.
Only four percent is covered by a few domestic manufactures with low level of production capacity and other importers.
According to the figure from the Ministry of Trade, the countries spend over 600 USD for edible oil per annum.
Port takes step to solve problems fast
Port actors in Djibouti and stakeholders in Ethiopia agreed on the formation of a technical committee that shall solve problems immediately they happen.
The Doraleh Multipurpose Port (DMP), the modern port facility in Djibouti that handles both containerized and bulk cargos, officials met stakeholders from the freight forwarding and transport partners of Ethiopia with the goal of talking about areas considered as a problem on the operation and introduce new changes that the port applies to improve the sector.
At a discussion held on Wednesday and Thursday at Ethiopian Skylight Hotel the DMP CEO Wahib Daher, explained the operation and improvement that the port, which was inaugurated just two years ago, is undertaking. He has also disclosed that since the port commenced operation the logistics charges have been reduced significantly.
In her presentation Elizabeth Getahun, President of Ethiopian Freight Forwarders and Shipping Agents Association, proposed that the formation of a technical committee with the goal of bypassing problems in the sector between the two countries. 
Wahib told Capital that the idea raised by the president of the association is very crucial in order to close the gaps.
“If we continue to meet every two months in Djibouti and Addis it will be very important on to have the milestones and action plans. So on the technical committee will be very important because it will allow having institutional mechanisms in order to tackle all the problems,” he added.
The port has improved but Ethiopians claim that there are several problems in the sector. Ethiopian actors claimed that a delay of cargo mainly when wide bulks like wheat and fertilizer arrives at Djibouti have a problem in their operation.
Freight forwarders have also said that in the region competition is coming so Ethiopia might expand its access to sea via different countries in the region. They said that due to the coming competition the Djibouti sides should have some tariff changes.
“Regarding the port cost I would like to remember that in 2018 we decreased the charge from 20 to 40 percent that has been reported by the Ethiopian media. We are really aware of the competition in the region so we want to be chosen by best services under the competition,” the DMP head responded.
The port officials said that the grain or fertilizer arrival does not have any problem on the port activity it is all about the trucks.
Eyob Tekalegn, State Minister of Finance, mid of the week told media at the press conference that the government is working to harmonize the procurement and arrival of bulk commodities unlike the previous poor operation. “The new operations will easy the activity at the port since products will arrive at the port on different timeframe,” he added.
“Logistics is a total of whole issues unless we solve the road transport problem we cannot solve the issue of lead time,” one of the participants said.
Roba Megerssa, CEO of Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE), on his part said that there are challenges everywhere but the consequences and impacts shall differ. He said that the there are problems in both sides.
He criticized the Ethiopian side with lack of effectively communicate with stakeholders let alone Djibouti. “We have no common platform on the logistics service that is now improving,” he said.
He said there is so many challenges on the sector that will be solved on the team work.
Currently the railway line is currently connected with the port inside at DMP that has easy the port activity by easy loading cargos to the rail to transport with smaller period than truck transport to the central part of the country.
“For the last two months the railway has launched and so far seven trails have been operated, while it has managed three trains at the trial stage” Wahib told Capital.
“A single tingle train shall manage the volume that 70 trucks transport so the service will be daily after the discussion with the Ethio-Djibouti Railway operators and ESLSE,” He added.
Recently the Ethiopian stakeholders that included officials from Maritime Affairs Authority and the Ethio-Djibouti Railway visited the port and agreed to transport at least 2,000 tones of fertilizer per day via the rail.
On the other hand one of the major discussions point has been the challenges of the unseasonal rain in the region that is even unusual for Djibouti.
Roba said that the rain in Djibouti that seen in the last few weeks posing serious challenge for the logistics service provision.
The DMP CEO said that the meeting with the stakeholders is crucial and very pertinent questions raised the idea to form the committee is the right decision that both sides will work hard to make real.
The committee is expected to comprise relevant actors from the government private countries from both sides.
At the two days conference Warsama Guirreh, CEO of Djibouti Port Community System (DPCS), a subsidiary of Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority through Great Horn Investment Holding, has been also introduced the operation of the DPCS that established about a year and half to harmonize the logistics activity with latest platform that the world using now.
DPCS aims to coordinate the different processes linked to importing/exporting through the ports, airports, rail and corridor. Its product, the Port Community System aims to leverage technology to simplify, connect and streamline those processes.
Warsama told Capital the company is working on the implementation of integrated system of the Djibouti logistics and also Ethiopian logistics. “We have started with the implementation of all the vessel management for the shipping agency in Djibouti where everything is automates,” he said.
The agencies are able to send all the regulatory documents online to different authorities and DPCS noticed increase efficiency and that has reduced the time for the process to a single hour for berth response time that was 72 hours before.
For the freight forwarders also at this point in time able to book online the slots, containers slots, and to get port invoices online that has help them save four hours were they used to go to port premises to get the invoice with other process but now it shall be done online.
“Now they can do all online and they can print pre gate/ certificate from the system that allow the driver to get at the port,” he added.
“This will enable the Ethiopian logistics community to follow from Ethiopia the operation and process of their cargo transit in Djibouti so that is the importance of this conference,” Warsama explained.
So what is available at this point in time Ethiopian freight forwarder and transporters are able to follow the Ethiopian trucks coming in Djibouti. They will know: what time it has arrived in Djibouti, what time it has gone to the port, what time the booking has been done, what time it is has come out from the port and what cargo the truck is carrying. For instance what used to happen is that a lot of forwarders complained about being unable to know where the trucks were or even if they were in Djibouti or not. Now the new scheme will make it easier to follow up not only for the agents but for exporters or importers who shall also follow their cargo, Warsama said adding that the system has improved the logistics sector.
