During a panel discussion organized by a team under the Council of Ministers, established to assist legal reform, ethical journalism was addressed. Media representatives stressed the danger faced by the nation because of lack of ethical conduct and asked for amending proclamation to resolve this problem.
The current laws focus on monitoring and controlling the media, thereby limiting freedom of expression. International and human rights conventions support freedom of speech which the current laws limit. They came to a consensus saying that a strong democracy requires people’s participation and freedom of expression.
When freedom of expression is limited, the panel felt, it should be done so based on international laws and principals. Otherwise it should be protected, which goes in line with the Ethiopian constitution. This document forbids censorship, entitles the people to obtain information concerning them, and sees the media as a force for building a democratic system. The panel felt that information needs to be allowed even if it goes against what the government wants. In a similar vein, government sponsored media should not be immune from penalties when it makes mistakes.
Another major issue on the table, was foreign media ownership, which currently is prohibited except to Ethiopian Diaspora. The team looked at South Africa’s experience which allows foreign nationals to own up to 20 percent of a media company.
They also felt forbidding a publisher from owning more than one print media in the same area, or in the same language marginalized the press.
Lawyers attending the dialogue, which is a rare occurrence, featured the presence of media, placed the issue of defamation on the agenda. They recommended it be removed from criminal laws. They also went over a literature review of current research that showed lawsuits used by the government to stifle the media. The charges are made by using the current media law to stifle the media and they mostly fall under terrorism cases, according to the working team chair person, Solomon Goshu.
Representatives from Ethiopian Reporter Newspaper said that the current code of conduct signed between the opposition parties allows political parties to own media companies. He questioned this because the Prime Minister said parties still own media. However media law states that political parties can’t do this.
They also felt that rules regarding responsibility for content was vague, and they asked that it be made clear. Currently the reporter, audience, seller or the printing house could face consequences for unlawful content. They said the responsibility should fall on the Chief Editor.
Recent reform in the nation is expected to alleviate this to some extent. However, currently media law is fragmented, the panel said. Right now there are three major proclamations addressing media; the Broadcast Service Proclamation, Computer Crimes Proclamation and Media Law.
The team working on reforming media law looked at academic research, feedback from previous dialogue and experiences of team members.
It was chaired by Solomon Goshu, journalist, lawyer and lecturer, and 14 other members including: Deputy Attorney General, Giedion Thimotiyos (PhD), Teamerat G.Giyorgis, Mesenbet Assefa (PhD), Hallelujah Lule, Yared Legesse (PhD), Hanna Betachew, Bethelhem Negash, Mesfin Negash, and others.
Make media more free, panel says
Nyala Insurance pays over 10 million birr to Dangote Industries plc
Nyla insurance SC paid over 10 million birr to Dangote Industries plc in a compensation claim.
Dangote Industries plc Ethiopia claimed 10.7 million birr as a compensation when its conveyer belt failed and its business was interrupted four months ago.
The payment was made in the presence of Nyala Insurance Management team and representatives of Dangote Industries on March 20, 2019.
“This is really a moment of truth to stand beside our prominent customers, Dangote Industries Ethiopia and we are honored to pay out the claims as per the insurance policy coverage for assets and the risks of machines breaking down and client business interruption Yared Molla, CEO of Nyala Insurance said.
“Nyala Insurance is ready to settle claims on time and provide effective and regular risk management and safety trainings to ensure customer business welfare,” Yared added.
Nyala Insurance Share Company (NISCO) was founded in July 1995 following the liberalization of the insurance business to the private sector. Companies such as BGI Ethiopia, Derba Cement, Salini Impergilo, Trans-nation Airways are some of its corporate customers.
Last fiscal year, the company recorded the industry’s highest result in its core business where its growth written premiums increased by 76 percent to stand at 769 million birr.
The insurer became one of the leading private insurance companies in Ethiopia with a strong financial capacity of Birr 300 million subscribed capital, it guarantees protection with care to its customers through three pronged services – General, Life and Micro-insurance solutions with 45 branches throughout the nation.
PACCI took center stage at EU-African SME summit in Brussels
The first EU-African Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Summit was held in Belgium Brussels on March 20 and 21. The summit focused on Shared Value Business Lab and the role of SMEs in EU-African International Cooperation. The summit aims to generate creative business ideas addressing development challenges.
Kebour Ghenna, Executive Director of the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI) insisted that African governments should do much more to encourage the growth of SMEs, thus enabling them to contribute to the national economy. There is quite a large gap, he stressed, between the intentions of most of African governments and their understanding of the needs and challenges SMEs face. At a this week’s EU-African Summit, PACCI and African business executives from Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and others agreed there is quite a lot that governments can do to support SMEs.
CEOs of European SMEs noted the financial challenges most felt when establishing and developing SMEs in Africa and said there are numerous ways to support SMEs, including providing collateral, creating and supporting specific loans to SMEs or grants to those that achieve certain goals, like improving productivity or hiring additional personnel. The high-level international summit explored the space of business-based cooperation and networking between the SMEs of the two continents, with the goal of tackling local challenges in African countries.
At the summit speakers, including, Jyrki Katainen Vice-President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude TchatchouangExecutive Director of the World Bank Group, Mario Ohoven, President of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME, and Youssouf Dawaleh, President of the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI) stressed the importance of small businesses in Africa as drivers of growth, developers new markets and creators of jobs.
The summit focus on a promising new player in international economic cooperation for development: the Small and medium-sized companies in Africa and Europe.
