The old Emperor Menilek Palace located at Entoto near St. Mary Church is in a very bad situation because the dried grass roof is falling to the ground and a hole is causing sunlight and rain to get into the floor of the rooms.
The historical palace is made from wood and mud. Emperor Menilek II resided there and built the palace for his administration when he came from Ankober and founded Addis Ababa more than 120 years ago.
Another problem is the wooden stairs and balconies that are also in such poor condition that tourists cannot easily see the home.
The palace which was built more than 110 years ago needs just half a million birr to fix the grass roof and has been trying to raise money to accomplish this.
Last year the Entoto St. Marry church was trying to gather money and renovate the roof by themselves, but they told Capital they were unable to get the money. Every 10 years the roof is replaced with new dried grass from Ankobar, however this past decade that has not occurred. Capital asked Melake Aba Kidane Mariam, head of Entoto St. Mary Church why they could not come up with half a million birr for the renovation.
“We have more than 120 staff in our church and we spend more than half a million birr for salaries and different expenditures so we don’t have the money to do that. We have been trying to do it but we could not. We are applying to the Addis Ababa Cultural and Tourism Bureau and we are waiting for their response.’’
Melake Aba Kidane added that the church also needs to renovate the compound of the palace and the museum in the church.
“Honestly speaking the compound itself is not at a standard that can serve tourists and then the museum need big renovations to provide good service for visitors who want to know about King Menilek II.’’
The Cultural Bureau said that they established a committee to find a solution.
Dereje Seyoum, Heritage Expert at the Addis Ababa Cultural and Tourism Bureau said, “the committee will meet soon so hopefully there will be an answer shortly.’’
Having abandoned his old capital at Ankobar several years previously, Menilek settled at Entoto, in 1881. He at once set to work building a palace and a church. The construction operations were accompanied by a certain amount of innovation.
Entoto, however, soon proved an unsatisfactory capital. Menilek therefore founded Addis Ababa in 1887 which was soon established in its stead as the capital of the realm.
Old Emperor Menilek II palace in very bad condition
Civil Society Commission to be overseen by Executive Branch
After the draft of the Civil Society (CSO) proclamation was finished by the advisory committee the Attorney General’s Office decided that a Civil Society Commission should be established to respond to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
The advisory council passed by one vote the decision to have the commission respond to the parliament. The working group, which is responsible for preparing the draft, and presenting the document to the council, initially, wanted the Commission to respond to the OAG, according to the Deputy Attorney General Gediyon.
“As the Commission is a regulatory organ, but not a democratization organ in the constitution, we decided to change the draft for the commission to respond to the Executive Branch,” he told Capital. “We believe the content of the proclamation is the main issue not the response and we will consider the recommendation of the council in other matters.”
Also the recently amended proclamation that governs the powers and responsibilities of the executive, the CSO Agency was mandated to respond to the Executive Branch, specifically to the OAG.
Record profits for Nyala Insurance
Nyala Insurance S.C. (NISCO) recorded record profits among private insurers by amassing 769.4 million birr last fiscal year. This was a 76 percent increase in profits compared with the preceding year.
From the total profits 707.7 million came from general business and life insurance business accounted for 68.6 million birr.
Kemal Mohammed, NISCO’s board chair told the press last Thursday that the company’s work ethic is behind the profit increase.
“There is no secret behind our success, we deeply go into our work, attract new customers and widen our space which allows us to maintain good results.’’
He further indicated that during the budget year the company’s total income grew by 498.2 million birr up from 430.5 million birr, an increase of 16 percent. The company’s total assets stood at 1.9 billion birr, which means an increase of 32 percent over last year or 1.4 billion birr. Similarly, the company’s paid up capital at the end of the year reached 340.5 million birr. This shows a significant increase of 32 percent and 51 percent from last year and the strategic target of 258.4 million birr and 225 million birr respectively, he said.
Kemal added that lack of human resources and unfair competition among insurance companies is still a challenge in the sector.
Yared Mola, Chief Executive officer of NISCO added that even though NISCO achieved record results the insurance industry in Ethiopia still has a long way to go.
“Insurance penetration (total premiums as a percentage of GDP) is 0.4 in Ethiopia while it is 2.6 in Kenya; premium per capita is 2.9 USD in Ethiopia while it has reached 40 USD in Kenya,‘’ he said.
He cited absence of a strategic alliance among industry players and tightened regulations as critical challenges faced by the industry.
Nyala Insurance Share Company (NISCO) was founded in July 1995 following the liberalization of the insurance business in 1994. Currently, NISCO guarantees protection with care to its customers through three pronged services – General, Life and Micro-insurance solutions with a network of 43 service outlets (28 Service Centers and 15 Contact Offices) distributed all over the country.
Sodere Resort resumes service after three months
The largest and the oldest resort in Ethiopia, Sodere Resorts, resumed operation this month after being closed for three months due to over flooding caused by its adjacent river, Awash. The resort which was founded by the government 69 years ago is known for its hot natural springs.
The flood damaged 67 new bedrooms which were under the last stage of construction, according to Abyot Temesgen, Manager of the Resort.
“We have sustained millions of birr in damage by the flood,” he said. “We also paid three months of salary for 670 employees besides the potential revenue we could have generated. The resort is a life line for the Sodere Town, Awash and Adama and its closure has affected them badly. The flooding which was said to be caused by the increasing level of alluvial in the Awash River is being removed by the resort now. The resort also began making bricks to limit the flow of the water into the compound in addition to diverting the direction of the water.
“We hired 10 experts to study how society can use the water for irrigation while we all work to control potential damages of the river,” said Abyot. “We want to be a major chain hotel in Africa and we hope the resort will be ranked five stars soon.”
Abiyot also revealed that the resort soon will open new hotels in three different cities in Ethiopia including Addis. He also stated that that they are working to expand abroad.
Sodere Resorts and hotels currently has 304 bedrooms beside the upcoming 67 bedrooms under repair. The resort is constructing one Olympic standard swimming pool which also has mini stadium seats, aiming to host games. Four operational swimming pools, three meeting halls, unlimited parking lots, spa and bars are among the facilities it features.
The resort is said to claim 427 hectares of plot while only 127 hectares are utilized.
