Nigerian international Okiki Afolabi joined Ethiopian Premier League defending champion Jimma AbaJifar on a one year contract. Afolabi’s loyalty is in question considering his past record.
The 24 year old giant striker Afolabi was an instrumental player in the club’s dream championship title winning the season’s top scorer award. Submitting a fraudulent document in order to move to Egyptian side Esmaelia, Afolabi was handed a six month ban from the Ethiopian Football Federation and fined about 250, 000 Birr.
After serving the six month term Afolabi is back to Jimma AbaJifar for his second spell signing a one r and half year contract agreement. Despite the team being in a chaotic situation including a nightmarish international campaign, Afolabi disproved the speculation of a move to join Mekele Seba-Enderta following Coach Gebremedin Haile who led AbaJifar to the EPL title.
There is no question among fans that the player’s return could bring a real impact on the team’s performance. But some have doubts that the player may not go through his contract term.
Afolabi’s loyalty to AbaJifar and whether Coach Zemariam W/Giorgis whose record shows no history as a footballer at the higher level could manage the player are the two of the main questions that worry club supporters. “He may walkout any time to try his luck in better leagues or life may be difficult for him under Zemariam with no history as a footballer compared to his former coach Gebremedin who has a higher caliber at the international stage,” remarked a coach who prefers anonymity.
Okiki Afolabi rejoins AbaJifar
Yemeni players united for soccer to make tournament debut
Civil war raging at home.
Soccer players who struggle to play or get paid.
A coach who never enters the country.
It was not a surprise Yemen exited the Asian Cup after losing all three games.
But just qualifying for the continental tournament for the first time was an achievement for a country in the grips of what the U.N. says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
With Yemen’s domestic football league suspended since 2014, there are few chances for players. Most of the 23-man squad at the Asian Cup plays in Oman and Qatar, where most of the federation is based. Only nine players in the squad are based in Yemen.
“There is no league at home and that does affect the national team in many different ways, especially physically,” goalkeeper Mohammed Ayash told The Associated Press. “It makes it much harder for us to play against strong teams like Iran, with players who play in Europe.”
Football in Yemen is virtually non-existent apart from the occasional informal tournaments held in the capital Sanaa. Most clubs have little to no income, often leaving professional players needing to seek alternative employment.
Ayash, who found work in the oil industry before securing a move to Iraqi club Erbil last November, said divisions in Yemen are not reflected in the national team.
“The spirit is strong, we are together on this journey,” Ayash said. “If we were not united then we would never have been able to come here at all.”
Yemen benefited from the expansion of the Asian Cup from 16 to 24 teams. Qualification was clinched in March 2018 with a victory over Nepal in the Qatari capital of Doha. Yemen has not played home games since 2011 when anti-government protests broke out during the Arab Spring.
Abraham Mebratu, an Ethiopian coach, delivered qualification but left the job after being unable to get financial backing for tournament preparations. Jan Kocian, a Slovakian, is in charge.
Ranked 135 in the world by FIFA, Yemen was thrashed in its opening game at the Asian Cup 5-0 by Iran, which is 106 places higher. Games against Iraq and Vietnam also ended in defeat. Yemen left the United Arab Emirates with no points and no goals but with pride at just having participated.
“Our problem is that the players abroad in Qatar and Oman did not have time for preparation and the players in Yemen can’t play football as there are no league games there,” said Kocian, whose contract states that he does not enter Yemen. “When you have more time, you can do more.”
The greatest achievement may be giving fans at home and in the UAE a chance to cheer on their team in a major international tournament.
“I’m very happy to see people from Yemen in the UAE,” Kocian said. “For people in Yemen the situation is very bad, for those who stay there the life is very hard. But maybe with victory we can give a good representation of them in the Asian Cup.”
(AP)
Accessing safe water
A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed that access to safe water and sanitation is a major problem in Ethiopia. Water and sanitation coverage rates in the country are among the lowest in the world. Water Aid also has issued a report showing that 93 percent of the Ethiopian population lacks a safe toilet. Many are forced to defecate in the open and hence spread diseases like diarrhea. So people can access water and toilets without waiting for government funding, Water.org, founded by Gary White a water engineer and Matt Damon, a famous film actor started a project that connects people with bank and micro financial institutions so that people in developing countries can access loans, construct their own toilets and install pipelines. Ethiopia is one of the countries benefiting from this ambitious project. Capital’s Tesfaye Getnet sat down with Salfiso Kitabo, Country Director of Water.org to learn more about the sanitation challenge in Ethiopia and their project. Salfiso has been working in this sector for over 25 years. He was a country director for a Canadian organization before joining Water.org about two years ago. Excerpts.
Capital: What makes you focus on water and sanitation now and why do you think these are important topics for public discourse?
Salfiso Kitabo: A child dies somewhere in the world every two minutes from illness related to water and sanitation issues. According to recent reports, in Ethiopia, 23 children die each day (8,500 a year). No food shortage, no war, no other crisis kills children at this rate and speed. Why shouldn’t the world make this a priority? A report entitled: State of the World’s Toilets 2018 estimated that decent toilets at home for all in Ethiopia is not expected to occur until 2370. Water.org believes that solving the multiple problems related to the water and sanitation crisis is a priority and the way to break the cycle of poverty.
Access to safe water and sanitation protects and saves lives. Solving the water crisis makes a bright future possible for all. Access to safe water and sanitation has the power to turn time spent into time saved, when these are close and not hours away. Access to safe water can turn problems into potential, unlocking education, economic prosperity, and improved health. Every human being deserves to define their own future, and water makes that possible. This is why the issue is current, and it should be the issue for all concerned.
Capital: Water.org focuses only on Water and Sanitation projects in Ethiopia. Many NGO’s do not work on Water and Sanitation issues. What initiated your focus?
Salfiso: Water.org believes there isn’t and won’t be enough charity and public funding to end the water crisis. We believe there’s a smart way to end the water crisis. Millions of people around the world could get access to safe water in their homes with the help of small, affordable loans.
The private sector should become involved. Let’s make the Water and Sanitation sector bankable. That’s where Water.org comes in. We are here to bring safe water and sanitation to Ethiopia through access to small, affordable loans. There is both a need and demand for these loans, because when people have access to safe water, they get time back to go to school, earn an income and take care of their family. It changes their world. The poor are already paying a lot to access water. Ethiopia needs charge the proper amount for accessing water. Water.org has provided it and has a measurable record of success for more than 25 years.
Capital: Water management in urban areas is complicated, particularly in developing countries. Why is this so?
Salfiso: Water management is complicated because we do not understand the value of Water. We do not understand and prioritize it. We do not realize that the wording and expectations for delivery in the water and sanitation sector is changing. There is already a move from “reduce by half” to “universal access”, a move from “improved” to “safely-managed”. The expectations and the wordings are ambitious. We plan to move everyone from the current few figures to 100? Can we get that? No. Not knowing these facts are among the main reasons for mismanaging the water sector.
Capital: What is required to improve access to drinking water and sanitation for peri-urban areas and secondary centers, what would make it possible to better fight against poverty? What needs to change?
Salfiso: The most important thing for change is stopping confusion. Clarity in the role and responsibility gets us to success in services delivery half-way. Government and development partners should work towards creating clarity in the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder. Some Institutions are preserving the problem to which they are the solution. Most are externalizing the problems created. This does not help. This must change. Depending on pubic funding and Charities for Water and Sanitation should change and change now. The water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector in Ethiopia requires fresh thinking and bold approaches to accelerate progress toward full access.
Capital: Goal 6 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030 states “Ensure water and sanitation for all.” How is Water.Org helping Ethiopia meet the 2030 goal?
Salfiso: Water.org Globally has already reached 13 Million people by mobilizing USD one billion in capital from private banks and Micro Finance Institutions (MFI’s). This is an unthinkable source of funding for the sector. Which donor or public funding could avail this amount through a single initiator like Water.org? In Ethiopia in just less than a year three private MFI’s (Metemamen, Vision Fund and SFPI) were able to give out loans totaling 18,613,654-birr that reached 22,423 individuals. The loan repayment rate is 99.9%. This is an unheard of amount in the land where supply of water is expected from the government or NGO’s. Anyone interested in seeing how all this works can visit Mojo, Boditi, Fiche etc.
Capital: Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries across the globe, can the poor build toilets or install pipelines for water by borrowing money from the bank?
Salfiso: My straight forward answer is a big YES. Why yes? Because it worked, we did it. MFI’s did it. As I said earlier, three private MFI’s alone (out of the 38 in the country) were able to mobilize 18,613,654 birr and reach 22,423 individuals. Water.org did a market assessment before starting the program in Ethiopia. We did prove there is a demand for loans to access safe water and sanitation sources. Five MFI’s namely, (Amhara Credit and Saving Institute (ACSI), Addis Ababa Credit and Saving Institute (ADCSI), Vision Fund, Metemamen and SFPI did their own independent market assessment. They all found out that there is a demand and ALL of them got approval from their board of directors to add WSS loans into their loan portfolio. Yes, the Water Credit model of Water.org works. One can only imagine if the entire 38 MFI’s and the 18 Banks got involved in this sector.
One thing we need to be clear about is that we are not talking about the very poor families or communities. We are talking a bout the better off poor who are already paying a lot of money to access clean water. All poor are not equally poor. I am saying this because some are at a higher level as well are saying we are putting the poor into debt. We are talking about the better off poor who have lined up for a hand out from the government and donors. The poorest of the poor can get subsidies from donors, NGO’s and the Government. Water.org is not against charity work. We are only saying let’s divide the poor into the better off poor and those who need subsidies and charity.
Capital: When it comes to funding and aid from Western countries, do you have any idea what the estimated aid amount is right now for sanitation related issues?
Salfiso: Annual aid for water and sanitation amounts to only USD 8 billion – far short of the USD one trillion needed to solve this crisis and maintain access long term. Globally, to achieve SGD 6 targets, it would require USD 114 billion per year starting in 2015 to solve the water crisis by 2030. This USD 114 billion amount is 3x more than the current global investment in water and sanitation. To achieve these targets in Ethiopia, the nation will require more than USD two billion annually. There is no way you can get this amount of funding from anywhere that is why we in water.org say turn your eyes to the private sector and make the sector bankable.
Capital: You have been the chief of Water.org, for over a year now. What are the Major challenges you have experienced?
Salfiso: The biggest challenge is the misunderstanding of NGO work with MFI’s. If you are an NGO, you are there to give for free. This is the biggest challenge. The second is related to lack of policy and awareness of the policy makers and regulators in understanding the role of banks and MFI’s into the WSS sector.
Lack of loanable funds is the most critical problem, followed by lack of capacity of MFIs. The national bank has no policy which talks and includes the WSS lending as one of the priority lending schemes as it did for agriculture and energy credit schemes. This has created a dilemma. If MFI’s could take this as seriously as they do for fertilizer lending.
Capital: Are you getting the support you need from the Ethiopian government?
Salfiso: The answer is yes but not to the extent we need. I am sure this will improve. We are working with the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity to include MFI’s in the policy document. The government has given us a license to operate in Ethiopia of course. I am confident when they understand our Water Credit Model, they will fully align with us as it will solve their own problem and help them reach the commitment the government made to the world through SDG.
Capital: Open defecation has been a major challenge in Ethiopia. Millions still relieve themselves outside in public how is Water.Org doing working to stop this menace in the country?
Salfiso: We all know in Ethiopia eating in public is a shame but urinating on the side of the road is not. We need to change that. Availing affordable toilets in each house will make things better. We need to avoid the campaign mode of doing things around WSS but focus on a mindset and behavioral change. We believe a changed mind will lead to renouncing open defecation instead of practicing it.
Capital: How can we convince political decision-makers to better understand and to work harder on sanitation issues?
Salfiso: Decision makers at all levels should understand that the extent of water crisis and the level of commitment we make as a nation is huge and not attainable at the current pace. All concerned should bring their heads together and talk. We are only 11 years away from 2030, which is the end of SDG. Considering the significant resources needed for the sector, there is a need to mobilize domestic resources through commercial banks and micro finance institutions (MFI).
Making the WSS bankable and subject to commercial loans is paramount. There are over 38 MFI’s and 18 commercial banks in Ethiopia. These MFI’s and banks including WASH loans to their loan portfolio will help government and WASH charities free up their limited funds and focus their efforts in a more targeted way on the poorest. The resources in these private sectors include more than the funds to be mobilized by public, bilateral donors and NGO’s.
Our recommendations to further develop the potential use of micro-finance for the WASH sector include: making the national bank and development bank include the WASH lending as one of the priority lending schemes as they did for agriculture, income generating and energy credit schemes. They should convince the commercial banks and development bank to allocate dedicated capital for MFIs to take loans from these banks and lend the money out for household water and sanitation self-financing as these MFI’s are within the communities. A mechanism should be put in place to recognize household lending as is done for groups.
Leather’s difficult times
External challenges like the latest perk of US and China trade war, revised FDI policies besides slow interest of the international market is continuing bleeding local and foreign trade of the Ethiopian leather industry.
The leather sector is one of the major historical sources of hard currency like coffee, while this day it has been substituted by other commodities like horticulture and khat.
The Leather Industry Development Institute (LIDI) stated that the latest trade war between the two world’s biggest economies has affected the export of leather and leather goods.
Berhanu Sirjabo, public relations head of LIDI said that the country’s export has been affected by the trade war between the US and China, who imposed tariffs on each other’s imports.
The public relations head claimed that the trade war affects the country’s revenue directly and indirectly. Both sides would buy our products and export to each other’s country, but this has now slowed due to the tariff that both countries imposed on each other in the past few months.
Experts at the Ethiopian Leather Industries Association (ELIA) said that the sector is going through a serious problem locally even though the international trend like the US China trade war is also pressuring the sector externally.
The leather sector actors are strongly arguing that the leather sector has declined in the past five years, despite the government’s statement that it has shown a slight improvement in investment and export revenue.
Local tannery owners who requested anonymity claimed that the government has been deliberately or ignorantly affecting the sector through its policy which was amended in the past years.
“The sector has been built for nearly seventy years and was expected to brew better achievements in these days, but the reality is different,” they complained.
Yared Alemayehu, owner of Wallia Leather and Leather Products and former president of ELIA, said that the problem in the leather sector is very wide and directly pointed to the government’s policy.
“In the sector we the local actors have over a half century of experience, but all of a sudden in the past five years it has collapsed. It has to be asked why the collapse occurred,” Yared said. “If the problem is seen in one or two factories it would likely be due to mismanagement by the companies but the problem is seen in all actors. Therefore, the government body considers that it is a problem of mismanagement by local companies and lack of competition with FDIs’ that invested in the sector around a decade ago,” he added.
That has caused stakeholders to develop incorrect policy in the sector and replace the former policy that only favor FDIs, according to the sector actors.
“Since the policy change is in favor of FDIs there is another question, does the country benefit in export revenue, value addition, technology and even employment? But the answer is that the sector does not show any change regarding the stated questions,” Yared told Capital.
Ethiopia’s rank in livestock population is 8th in the world while India is not far from Ethiopia in terms of the population number of livestock but the export of India excluding local business has reached USD 17 billion. “When it comes to the Ethiopian leather sector it did not show any change meanwhile the number of the size of FDIs increased,” experts said when pondering the role of FDI and its contribution.
“When FDIs expanded in the country why did the export revenue become stuck at the level where Ethiopian actors performed about a decade ago,” they asked.
They argued that the current export revenue is not comparable from the performance a decade ago.
“Ten years ago we exported natural leather, but now export items for instance footwear produced by synthetic materials is registered as the export of leather goods.”
“If excluding the non leather goods like the synthetic footwear and then comparing the leather export from exports ten years ago the current hard currency generation is lower than what we achieved years back,” they claimed.
“At the past we have earned the same export revenue by only the export of semi finished and finished leather not by exporting footwear. If they said that export of leather goods expanded why did the sector earn the same amount that we have contributed,” they asked.
In 2008 the government has imposed a high levy on the export of raw hide and skins and wet blue, pickle and crust, which are semi processed products to encourage the local production of finished leather and boost the country’s hard currency revenue.
Against the investment proclamation of 2003 the government has allowed foreign investors to invest in the leather sector from scratch which was claimed as illegal and affects the local investors.
The 2003 investment proclamation stated that FDI shall invest from the semi processed; while the local investor is protected to produce from raw to crust on the concept the country has adequate capacity to process by local investors. “But without a law the government has allowed FDI’s to invest from the raw level that we argued it is a displacement of local investors,” experts claimed, “they even amended the investment proclamation that highly favors the FDI without evaluating the outcome of the allowed foreign investors in the sector.”
They argued that the government policy has affected one of the oldest businesses that Ethiopian developed for close to 70 years.
“We have argued that the foreign investors do not have a long term vision and that they are now engaged on environmental challenges, lack of working safety,” they claimed.
Currently about 16 local tanneries have suspended their production, however the government claimed that there are 8, according to sources. The sector has been one of the major areas to manage a huge amount of employees, but it declined.
Experts also claimed that the other reason the sector did not show improvement in revenue is that the FDI’s export their products for their chained companies or affiliates by offering a lower price or under invoice.
“If the sector was protected on some level for local investors the customs shall cross check the cost of production of the finished and goods products, but when we challenged the idea allowing foreign investors to engage on all sectors the officials ridiculed us and blamed us saying that we are backward,” experts claimed.
According to Berhanu, the limited capacity of Ethiopian leather goods manufacturers regarding the management and weak technological capability also negatively affects the sector. “Technological transfer on the sector is the major issue that the sector needs is tackling the inner challenge, while the external challenge is difficult to be solved,” Berhanu said.
“When the technology advanced at the leather industries the sector shall keep the standard and improve the export value and volume,” he argued.
“The Prime Minister shall interfere and solve the problem by changing the policy,” local actors expressed hopefully.
Experts at the association have also stated that the international trends in the past couple of years have changed in the leather sector.
Currently the synthetic industry is booming and major manufacturers are also engaged in the sector that affects the Ethiopian export.
“The sector is very dynamic which also is a significant factor in the slowdown of the Ethiopian leather sector in the past couple of years,” sources at the association said.
According to Berhanu the country has now a capacity to produce 20 million pairs of footwear per annum for the export market, while the revenue expected from the sector has not grown as per the expectation. “Currently the country has a single factory that shall produce 50,000 pairs of footwear per day,” Berhanu indicated. The country’s revenue from leather and leather goods exports stood at USD 134 million based on the past budget year’s performance.
At the end of the first Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP I) the government has targeted to generate half a billion USD, while the actual performance did not show change for the past decade.
In the past few years the sector investment has grown significantly. For instance the number of tanneries has reached 32 from 20 about a decade ago, but some local tanning facilities became bankrupted, according to the sector actors.
“Previously they have killed the local investors by buying the product with high price and now they are saying they do not want to use the local raw material that is the reason for price reduction and wastage of the national resource,” a tannery owner, who declined to be named, told Capital. “Currently we are very few struggling to service, while most of them are out of the market,” he said. “The companies that currently existing are also in trouble of heavy debt and even consumed significant amount of running cost in the past ten year,” he added, “if the government want the existence for the industry has to right off the debt of the companies what Egypt made in the past.”
However even the number of tanneries increased more, in the past couple of years the raw material price has significantly dropped and that forced to waste the resource. To keep the resource from wastage the government itself is engaged on buying the raw hide and skin from suppliers on major holiday seasons and processed the raw to semi stage via private tanneries.
On the latest holiday, Christmas, the raw hide and skin has been rated a price of up to 25 birr and 35 birr for goat and sheep skin respectively, while the demand of hide is very low that it has been sold by 4 birr per kilogram. The institute official said that lack of industrial salt has been slowed the hide trading on the holiday morning but it has been revived in the afternoon after the collectors encouraged to use edible salt as optional.
There are 24 footwear factories and from those 16 are engaged in the export market. The international trend indicated that the price of footwear is from USD 9 to 23, but the locally produced footwear is not worth more than USD 13.
