Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has appointed the former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn to lead a team of AU election observation mission to Zimbabwe.
The election will be held on 30 July 2018.
The African Union deployed the mission following an invitation by the government and the Zimbabwe electoral commission, the AU said in a statement.
The former Ethiopian Premier will travel to Harare after 10 days.
The European Union has also deployed an election observation mission to observe the elections.
The overall objective of the AU observation mission is to promote democracy and build public confidence in electoral processes in AU member states.
Former Ethiopian Premier to lead AU election observation mission to Zimbabwe
BE THE LEGACY
Madiba’s Centenary Celebration and the Role of Artists
“Ethiopia always has a special place in my imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England, and America combined.” Nelson Mandela
On July 18th Africa and the world will celebrate the Centenary of freedom fighter turned President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Nelson “Madiba” Mandela, under the theme “Be The Legacy”. His efforts to end apartheid resulted in 27 years of confinement at Roben Island’s Pollsmore Prison, during which time he inspired decades of timeless artistic expressions. Most over 40 years of age may be familiar with the many Free Mandela songs from Hugh Masakela, Miriam Makeba and Stevie Wonder amongst others. But protest or resistance visual art was also a crucial part of the narrative for change. The “visual culture of struggle,” according to author and artist Judy Sediman in RED ON BLACK: The Story of the South African Poster Movement, documents the powerful images that helped ensure the transformation of South Africa.
Poignant slogans and explicit images resulted in graphic posters circulated secretly throughout the active anti-apartheid networks. The posters were calls to action, launch of campaigns, and announcements of mass meetings etc. Most of all, they were visual platforms to express the fury, frustration, self-determination and resilience of the South African people through art. Sediman states, “We argue that most if not all people making this artwork saw no contradiction between political belief, feelings, ideals and commitments and the production of their art work – indeed, these factors reinforced and informed that production.” Sadly, some artists sacrificed livelihood and life in their pursuit for justice, as was the case with S. Afica’s leading artist of that time, Thami Mynele, who fled to Angola and was subsequently caught and killed by the apartheid regime.
So what social and political challenges and responsibilities do 21st century African artists face? Should they be consumed with the lack of an African art industry, art materials and venues to exhibit? Should they be equally concerned for the millions seeking policy changes on issues of food and housing security, education, employment and anti-corruption? Should artists be forced to consider their daily sustenance before setting paint on their palette? Can or should artists try to reconcile the two? I offer one compelling and highly unusual case in point. The anonymous and illusive UK based graffiti artist, Banksy, has seen his subversive and politically charged works removed brick by brick from public spaces, to be then installed and auctioned at prestigious institutions such as the Tate Museum for…get this…hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hmmm.
Frankly, the Banksy story is A-typical but suffice it to say that in my experience with artists in Ethiopia and other parts of the Africa or in the Diaspora, there is generally a connection and concern for society. Sometimes literal and graphic other times not; but trust that African artists are feeling the pulse of the people and reflecting it accordingly. Some of these successful artists include Zambia’s Zenzele Chulu, whose achievements with modern recycled art has propelled his commitment to preserve Zambia’s rock art; African American Dr. Fahamu Pecou’s cocktail of fine art and hip hop challenge status quo myths on black masculinity and identity; South Africa’s Dr. Esther Mahlangu large scale colorful creations promote and preserve her Ndebele indigenous traditions; and Ethiopia’s Girmachew Getnet confronts capitalism, climate change and the celebration of splendid differences in his paintings.
So as we celebrate Madiba’s Centenary, I encourage artists to “Be The Legacy” as the visual voice for justice can never be enough. Your art is the mirror, reflecting the here and now. Twenty first century African artists should blow away the self-imposed boundaries, reconciling social responsibility with inherent talent. If successful, 22nd century artists, historians and students alike will be inspired by this century’s role towards their subsequent success; just as South Africa reflects on the 20th century efforts of artists towards ending apartheid.
Mandela wrote, “Ethiopia always has a special place in my imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England, and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African. ”
In honor of Madiba; guided by his profound testimony on Ethiopia, then; considering Ethiopia’s sea of change, now; and might I add with an impenitent art lover at the helm, H.E. Dr. Abiy Ahmed, we encourage the recognition and elevation of the artists in the advancement of the country through awards of distinction, grants, and even appointments as Special Advisors to the Office of the PM, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and other relevant ministries, regional offices and more so Ethiopian artists may do their part towards realizing the individual and collective aspiration…Be The Legacy.
Dr. DestaMeghoo, Jamaican born Creative Consultant and cultural promoter is based in Addis Ababa. She settled in Addis Ababa as former Managing Director of the Bob Marley Foundation, in 2005 and currently serves as Liaison to the AU for Ghana based, Diaspora African Forum.
Hot Potential
Ethiopia has the potential to earn billions of dollars from spices. However, a poor post harvesting system, adulteration, unsystematic land management, failing to utilize technology and other factors keep it from reaching its full potential. Recently a large amount of aflatoxin in some red pepper and other spices caused Ethiopia to receive a warning from destination countries. Addisu Alemayehu, a senior expert in field of spices, herbs and aromatic products argues that the country should replace traditional methods and utilize a modern system of developing the spice industry. Capital’s reporter Tesfaye Getnet talked with Adissu to learn about the potential and challenges of spices in Ethiopia. Adissu is currently working at the Ethio-Netherlands Trade for Agricultural Growth (ENTAG) Program which is one of the five programs under the BENEFIT portfolio between the Ethiopia and Netherlands government as the spice and private sector association project coordinator. He is also one of the founders and board secretary of the Ethiopian Spice, Aromatic and Herbs Growers and Processors Association(ESAHGPA).
Capital: How much spice does Ethiopia have the potential of producing?
Adissu: CSA and MOA don’t conduct a formal annual assessment of production data but based on a study conducted in 2014/15 the country produced an estimated 418,000 metric tons. Other studies indicate that Ethiopia could make one million metric tons of spice.
Capital: Knowledge of proper cultivation and post harvest management are the key challenges in spice export, for example farmers wet down the red pepper with water so it will weigh more. What should be done to tackle these challenges?
Adissu: Yes, as you said adulteration and such bad practices are major challenges to the spice export and sector development of the country and the best solutions come from understanding the real causes or main reasons behind the problem. Such practices occur for three major reasons. There is a lack of awareness about aflatoxin and limited knowledge on the impact of such practices (wetting) on safety and quality which can be tacked by creating awareness through information, education, communication and training across the value chains (farmers, traders, processors, exporters, consumers, policy makers and
implementers). There is also a lack of spice marketing proclamation; quality based pricing systems, regulation and guidelines along with a lack of spice marketing centers. Thus we need spice marketing regulation and marketing centers in place along with a quality based pricing system. Finally there is a lack of improved and mechanized technologies that either shorten spice drying time or escape from unexpected rain. Thus the research institutions and universities must either introduce and make adaptation trails of innovative drying and processing technologies from abroad or generate similar technologies which are affordable to smallholder farmers.
Capital: Land degradation is another challenge in spice production, do we have proper land management with regard to spice production ?
Adissu: Like other crops mono cropping, poor soil fertility and land management are the other major challenges of spice production in the country These problems make Ethiopia’s average spice productivity much lower than the world average despite the fact that there has been much improvement in production and productivity over the past 10 years. One of the typical examples is the ginger bacterial wilt disease outbreak which occurred six years ago due to over a decade of mono cropping of ginger on the same farm which devastated 85% of the total ginger production of the country.
Capital: Countries like India are using better technology and IT software in both production and transaction but in Ethiopia people still use traditional methods, what prevents us from using technology?
Adissu: I think we as a country are new to IT and new technologies and honestly our behavior is not to explore for science and technology. Let me share with you a funny story (which may be a true joke) One senior researcher was working in my previous employee organization, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural research; The first computer was introduced in that research center by denotation 1980’s in the wheat research department and other fellow researchers in the center when entering into the office with with their bare feet because they were told by an anonymous person that the computer would be corrupted if it became dusty from their shoes.
So, limited access to IT equipment and lack of practical training (mostly theoretical or like one computer shared for thousands) in the education systems are the major reasons behind it.
Capital: Is the spice sector creating the amount of jobs hoped for?
Adissu: Based on a survey conducted in 2014 more than 5 million smallholder farmers, around 25 million people’s live depend on the spice sector and it can provide more employment opportunities if proper attention and support is given from all stakeholders (GO, NGOs smallholder farmers and the private sector)
Capital: Aflatoxin in the export product it threatening Ethiopia earnings, what is a good remedy for getting rid of Alfatoxin in spice products?
Adissu: Aflatoxin can’t be eliminated once it infects products including spices. Thus prevention is the only remedy and the main strategies are; proper drying using natural sun or if it is not possible due to weather problems use of fast and efficient drying technologies such as solar tunnel driers, heat driers, use of raised beds or cemented floor or plastic sheet for drying. Healthy plants give healthy seeds so implementing proper and improved agronomic practices and technologies, Keeping it in appropriate storage facilities (dry, well ventilated, food grade painted floor) if possible use of cold rooms or storage in less than 10%, use of hermetic bags for packing and storing spice products, If the aflotixin infection starts from soil use of alfa-phase fungus inoculants which is successful in maize and ground nuts.
If all this is not possible selection, cleaning and hand picking of aflatoxin (yellow outside and white inside in red pepper or white mold/fungus materials) infected seed/pods from our product and proper drying on wetted products before we consume or process or export. Steam sterilization and irradiation technologies were also the other advanced spice processing technologies which need huge investment but are used in major spice exporting, producing and consuming countries.
Capital: What is the global spice market like and what can Ethiopia do to export more?
Adissu: Spice trade developed throughout Asia and the Middle East in around 2000 BCE. Its contribution to world civilization is well recognized, as it established and destroyed empires, led to the discovery of new continents, and in many ways helped lay the foundation for the modern world. Spices have lost the status and allure that once placed them alongside precious metals as the world’s most valuable items, but the spice sector remains dynamic. Out of the almost 400 products of the herbs and spices category, about 40 to 50 are of global economic and culinary importance. Global consumption of spices is expanding steadily with growth rates of between 2% and 5% per annum. Globalization, access to information, growing population, shifting consumer trends towards health and authenticity in developed economies, sustained economic growth in developing economies and increased consumption of meat in developing countries (the “march of the meat eaters”) have resulted in a growing spice market.
Asian-Pacific and European consumers are the largest consumers of spice, and the global market for spices is projected to exceed USD16 billion by 2019. The market for spices in developed economies such as Europe and North America will continue to grow, but more slowly than in other regions due to maturity of the industrial sector. The Asia-Pacific region is projected to be the fastest-growing market for spices, at an annual growth rate of 8% from 2014 to 2019. The food processing industry in Asia will be an important driver behind this growth.
In order to tap these growing and enormous market opportunity I advice the government should implement the 10 years spice industry development strategy which is developed three years by Addis Ababa Science and Technology University through MoT ownership and UNIDO financial support.
Capital: A good spice exporters and producers’ association is vital in increasing exports as is the case in India but when we look at the Ethiopian association their work has not been very productive what can be done about this?
Adissu: The major problems of Ethiopian private sector associations including the Ethiopian spice, aromatic and herbs growers and processors association is limited financial capability and lack of proper policy support for private sector associations. European countries have a compulsory rule that enforces that any private company has to be members of their engaged sectoral association. Moreover, the created a spice association (ESAHGPA) only three years ago and it is in its infant stages so it is hard to measure its impact. Besides, support from development partners or NGOs for the spice sector is very limited. For instance ENTAG is the only NGO working in spice sector development.
Capital: What is your opinion about applying food safety standards in Ethiopia?
Adissu: It is my initiative and I have raised the agenda of food safety and aflatoxin in ENTAG since April 2017 and now thanks to all stakeholders and partners’ support after the spice platform meeting in May the agenda was taken to higher policy makers. I hope the food safety regulation will be issued very soon. Thus I strongly support the idea of application of food safety regulation in Ethiopia.
The Roles of Narrators
In the dooms day of childhood, most of us remember what our soul desires most. We are indebted former nation wide radio- Ethiopian radio which housed a weekly program of ‘Ke Metsahift Alem- to mean ‘from the Book World’ which showcased to transmit a narrated novel. To our surprise, we all misses the program every week and make the development a talk around a coffee table, none other than like we had for football tournament of now a days.Yes, the radio narrator has the enigmatic aura to attach the audience with the published novel.It is like once a blogger on ‘AfricaInWords.com’ dubbed it as ‘Books in Your Ears’. Perhaps, the job of narrating a book is fulfilled either under a single narrator or a multiple narrators’ task. The job is not a simple task with lesser marginal utility.
On last year in August 2017, it is our fresh memory that the HOHEAwards recognized even the role of narrators for the popularization of novel published. Hence, atleast out of the live narrator HOHE awarded DejeneTilahun for whom HOHE felt the society is indebted for his decades long narrator role on various local radio. Consensually, one can find the move as hardly objectionable as to alternatively to give the HOHE trophy to some other contender. Indeed the recognition was entirely without contest to only help the surprising awe of the awardees and the audience. We remember him, among other things, to narrate the French dime‘ Less Meserable’ Translated as Menduban, Qal (to mean ‘the Promise’) and manymore can be counted.
Narration is not a simple technique as the rank and file simplifies as he undertook his monologue very easily. To the discomfort of the narrator the diversity of the characters is makes the narration a difficult job as they are gender, age and status above all, narration is a challenging task that require the strong rigor of the radio artist. More often than not, radio curators stressed that radio peculiarity is found in its broadcast, which requires fulfilling what is missed from the visual image of telecast and webcast.
Here one can recount how the society remembers the grand role of narrator Wogayehu Negatu for the Ethiopian dime novel ‘ Fiqir EskeMekabir- to mean ‘Love unto the Grave’. The adult population still remembers their impression when Wegayehu narrates to the extent of replaying the melodized introduction of the Program. He was the legendary artist the year long serial narration of the dime ‘Fiqer EskeMekaber’. Indeed, the late Wogayehu was marvelous when he manage the assignment to imitate the old man moralist-Bezabeh to the protagonist- Seblewongel. Moreover, the author- Haddis Alemayehu himself recognized this exceptional role of the narrator with his historic excerpt ‘ Wogayehu reincarnated the soul of Fiqir EskeMeqabir which I couldn’t do literally’.
Today we had many air flights where passengers have options to hear audio book just in a manner of Movies and Music clips. Courageously enough, Ethiopian Air line used to showcase Madiba’s ‘Long Walk to Freedom’. The autobiography was narrated by a single artist whose challenge is a bit lesser than the several characterized epic novels. In fact, it is ideal to commend that transport facilities ought to have the stock of narrated Amharic book for local passengers.
In a nutshell, HOHE awards still reiterate its contention of promoting the business of novel narrators and the agency of narrator artists. Undoubtedly, literary podcasts are highly demanded platforms for published novels. Hence blind persons can be embraced since they have the access for audio file. Passengers can tune the audiotape to hear the audio novel off their choice. Perhaps, one has to be precautious enough to reserve the pool of novel narrators in par excellence. Otherwise, without the good narrator, we don’t safely channel out from ‘ the books in our eyes’ into ‘books in our ears’. Good day!
(This article is contributed by HOHE Awards. HOHE Awards started in 2017, is an annual award presented for an author of a distinguished book possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective and illuminating important contemporary issues)
