Though the newly elected Ethiopian Football Federation has not yet come up with a solution for the highly criticized non-transparent and exaggerated players’ transfer saga, Ethiopia Bunna and Fasil Ketema became active participants in the recently opened players’ transfer window.
Strapped with a staggering artificial annual budget, short of fulfilling contract agreements at the final months of league seasons and unfair for teams on the way to promotion, the middle-men led Ethiopian Football players’ recently opened transfer window is getting momentum.
According to latest news from sources close to the club, the talk of the town is more about those who left than the new signees. Ethiopia Bunna said no to extend contracts to nine players including two foreign players. Long serving team Captain Mesud Mohammed, play maker Elias Mamo, and Aschalew Girma are the big name players while Aklilu Ayanaw, Efrem Wondowosen, Alemayehu Muleta and Aklilu Walelgn are all on their way out. The much appreciated goal keeper Harrison Hesu and under achiever striker Baptist Faye also parted ways with the club that finished third in the recently closed league season.
The French Boss said to be busy in looking for a new squad has signed two players both from the relegated Arbaminch Ketema. Left full back Tekalegn Dejene and famous for playing both a striker and central defender Temesgen Castro are the duo that signed a two years contract with Ethiopia Bunna.
The newly appointed Head Coach to Fasil Ketema Wubetu Abate also kicked off his squad building by signing three new players. The most talked about player in Wolayta-Dicha’s international fixtures play maker Bezabeh Meleyo, Dedebit and national team winger Shemeket Gugsa and the mid fielder who helped Mekele Ketema to finish fourth in the past season Habtamu Tekeste have joined the Gondor based side Fasil Ketema signing a two years contract.
Fasil signed three; Bunna kicked out big name players
El-Gouna FC handed Gatoch a three years contract
Ethiopian national team skipper Gatoch Panom landed a lucrative three years contract with Egyptian upper tier side El-Gouna FC. “Ethiopian international defense mid fielder Gatoch Panom completed transfer to Egyptian Premier Division club” tweeted his agent Rahman Magdy in mid-week.
The giant defensive mid fielder for Gambella had had a six years with Ethiopian Bunna in which time he became the team Captain as well first choice mid fielder in Ethiopia national team Waliya-Ibex. Becoming the first Ethiopian Footballer to grace European top league when he joined Russian top league Anzhi Makhachkala only to a short spell due to lack of regular place in the side.
On his arrival back home he signed a six months contract with newly promoted side Mekele Ketema boasting the country’s highest paid player with a staggering monthly salary of 250,000 Birr. Two goals in to his name and steering Yohanes Sahle’s Mekele to much acclaimed fourth place finish in the league season, the 23 year-old Gatoch landed a mouthwatering opportunity through his new agent Abdulrahman Magdy becoming the third active Ethiopian footballer to play in Egyptian top league. Play maker Shimeles Bekele with Petro Jet and Oumed Oukri banging goals to Smouha the 1.9m tall tackler is not expected to be a stranger in Cairo where the real action is taking place.
Tragic death hits the nation
Semegnew Bekele (Eng.) (53) head of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) will be laid to rest today Sunday July 29 at the Holy Trinity Church.
The engineer in charge of the country’s flagship electricity project has been found dead at Meskel square on Thursday morning.
The body of Simegnew Bekele was found in his car parked at Meskel Square. Police have opened investigations into the possible cause of death and confirmed that he was dead by a gun shot.
The GERD is set to become Africa’s largest hydro dam with a capacity of 6,450 MW when completed.
Ethiopians all over the country have been expressing shock and sadness at the incident.
Ethiopia despite the breeze of a new political order which is expanding the political space is also facing security headaches in parts of the country. It has led the United States to openly call for the need to maintain the peace in these delicate times.
A series of arsons have been recorded in a number of prisons across the country whiles there is a bulging humanitarian crisis in the face of displacements from communal conflicts in some areas.
The most high-profile death till date occurred in May 2018 when the authorities set of to investigate the circumstances under which the country manager of Dangote cement was killed by unknown assailants.
At a time when the country was still under a state of emergency, the Command Post in charge of security said Deep Kamara the manager was killed along with two other individuals in the attack.
The Command Post at the time said it was hunting for the attackers and called on the local community to cooperate with security forces to help apprehend the criminals.
About GERD
Ethiopia stated earlier this year that the project was going well and expected to start partial test power generation soon. It is a major part of a massive energy infrastructure project the Ethiopian government is undertaking which aims to see the country’s power generation capacity increase from the current 4,280 MW to 17,300 MW by 2020.
The Ethiopian government has embarked on massive energy projects across the country with a view to succeeding in its plans to make the East African country a light industry hub in Africa and a middle-income economy by 2025.
GERD, whose construction started in April 2011, is being built at a cost of 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, fully financed from domestic resources and is expected to have a reservoir with a total of 74 billion cubic meters of water upon completion.
The hydro dam, which is being built on Blue Nile river 40 km from Sudanese border, has been billed as a landmark project signaling Ethiopia’s renaissance.
It has however been the center of a dragging diplomatic standoff between Ethiopia and Sudan on one hand and Egypt on the other hand. Egypt fears the USD 4.7 billion dam, that the Horn of Africa nation is building on the Nile, will reduce a water supply vital for its 84 million people, who mostly live in the Nile valley and delta.
