In Mid-January, I went to Ethiopia for personal reasons. I saw the country which is great and
Photo at Betemengist zoo
transformed massively. I saw the high-rise buildings in Addis Ababa and the rural areas around it such as Intoto, the Karamara Heights, and as far as Sendafa. After four days of stay exploring the city, I flew west to Gambella.
I stopped for lunch in Gambella town and after three hours in Baro Hotel, I travelled to Lare where I spent four days. On my three weeks in the country, I noticed an immense change which is greatly significant in some regions and more or less the same in some areas. The Addis Ababa is a region with prodigious transformation.
No where is still the same as it was more than twenty years ago. There are High Rise Buildings everywhere. This made me feel the capital city will soon become the Dubai of Africa. Wherever you travel whether it is from Kotebe to Megenegna or Mexico to Goffa Camp or Paulos to Piassa or Mercato it is hard to take your eyes off the high-rise buildings.
One would say there are more high-rise buildings in Addis Ababa than you would get in Melbourne.
Addis Ababa the second Dubai of Africa
These are not just stones and steels. They are beautiful towers.
The roads too are somewhat good. In a matter of time, when all the construction of the highways and high-rise buildings currently going on, are completed, we would proudly state that, Addis Ababa will be incomparable with any other infrastructure in Africa. The manpower, the population and the willingness to excel are there to match that expression.
I visited my old schools, the Black Lion Senior Secondary School where I studied in year 9th and the Karamarra High school also dubbed Higher 12 Comprehensive
Karamarra High School or Higher 12 Comprehensive Secondary School
Secondary School where I studied year 10th to year 12th.
It was hard to notice anything on both schools. The Karamarra High School could be identified only by the geo location. I hardly noticed anything. The school, now a college, is surrounded by High Rise Buildings which were not there nearly thirty years ago.
The Logo has also changed as the school was transformed into a college. This is not just Karamara. Many of the Senior Secondary Schools in 1990s or early 2000s such as Menelik II, Yekatit 12 or the Black Lion Senior Secondary School are either colleges or Vocational schools.
Thie transformation of the country is great. We could proudly say credit needs to be given where it is due. I think we all owe a shout out to Prime Ministers of Ethiopia for that, especially the current one, Dr Abiy Ahmed, for his effort to suppress corruption which is not only an endemic disease but a dangerous ailment to development in a lot of places in Africa.
The Addis Ababa City Government Admini
Addis Ababa High Rise Buildings
stration which hosts the federation is doing its best to ensure that the capital remains vibrant and become one of beautiful cities of Africa. So by doing that, people who are suspected of having hands in public funds, are sidelined so that the vision of beautifying the city does not breather.
I have seen a lot of progress exemplified by the Adwa Museum in Piassa, the Addis Ababa Zoo established in the old Parliament House adjacent to Kazanchis and Meskel Square. The Unity Park also in and around the old Parliament House and the Police Garage has made Addis Ababa an iconic place in Africa.
Lions at Betemengist
The zoo itself is tremendous. It can easily be likened to Melbourne or Sydney Zoos. This is great and a huge thank you to the Prime Minister for following the ideas initiated by his predecessors, the late Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi and former Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn.
The roads are as good as some roads in western world. Cleaners do their job in the morning between 5am and 6am sweeping the streets. This is a good sign and a positive aspect in the African Continent. If we could take the dust out which is now a major challenge of pollution, we could easily say Addis Ababa surpasses all the expectations.
My observation of Addis Ababa is also what was seen and noticed by the former Secretary General of SPLM, Peter Lam Both. Peter Lam used to live in Ethiopia particularly in Adis Ababa.
He studied his Bachelor Degree in Sidist (6) Kilo University, one of the top University at the time for Art (Social Science) Students.
Statue of Atse Menelik in Piassa
Piassa which is a few minutes ride from Sidist Kilo University gate was always frequented by Sidist Kilo students including Peter Lam himself as it was the main junction and the city centre at the time.
Peter Lam said, during his speech to Prosperity Party, that he could not locate anywhere in Piassa he used to visit. He gave that credit to the Prime Minister, Dr Abiy Ahmed and his predecessors.
Grand Hotel, Gambella
My Observation of Addis Ababa did not stop there. Gambella, our home state, is catching up as well. The Grand Hotel, which has more than 8 floors is the best Hotel in the City. It has a huge sitting area which can be a third of a football stadium. The air condition makes the Hotel seems like it is situated in the Ethiopian High lands.
You do not need a Bedele Beer, a cold Mango Juice or a bathe in Baro River to cool you down from Gambella’s boiling heat. Just getting inside the hotel is enough to stop you from getting dehydrated from Gambella’s extremely hot temperature.
The Baro Hotel, formerly Ethiopia Hotel, is second to Grand Hotel. The VIP rooms are wide and clean with a decent air condition relatively functioning similar to the air conditions in the western world. The hotel staff are nice and friendly. One of the benefits I got was that most patrons and customers of the hotel were my former colleagues or people I knew. As that was where I stayed after coming back from Lare, I had a chance of meeting friends or former colleagues who come to the hotel for tea, coffee or a beer.
I travelled around the Nuer Neighbourhood all the way to Yawi. I noticed a great change in Gambella
Beautiful Houses and Hotels in Gambella
town. Many Nuer, both at home and abroad, are contributing to the development of the city particularly in New Land and its surroundings.
With that I mean there are many nice houses, pensions and hotels. There is also ongoing construction of houses, pensions and hotels across Gambella. This is good for our region. We must love where we live and work to make it attractive like a garden of flowers to butterflies and bees.
However, there is one major problem right now the people of Gambella are facing which needs tackling especially by those in the leadership. This problem is the lack
cracked roads
of development especially on roads and health. They are a major concern everywhere throughout Gambella.
Whether you are driving to Nuer zone, Anyuak Zone or Mejeng Zone, there are cracks or potholes on every road including major and small ones even those leading to Gambella National and regional State Parliament. There are no exceptions. Gambella roads right now are craters on mountain tops. One would firmly vouch the region in Ethiopia is synonymous with poorer road network. And that does not make us look good in the eyes of other people from different parts of the country who comes to Gambella. There are good things Gambella has we could be identifiable for.
But the negative aspect makes us wonder if the region ever had a Minister for roads and transport and whether they are up to their tasks should they exist. Having that in mind, it is worth noting that these problems the people of gambella are facing today especially on health and transport is not to be blamed on the current leadership. Rather on incompetent government of former President Omot and his Vice Thankuey.
Omot did not do anything. His focus was to satisfy his Die Hard, GPLM thugs killing as many Nuer as could get making the current problem a lesser focus. That is why we found ourselves in this situation.
I travelled to Lare from Gambella town on a 4-wheel drive provided by some of the friends in the government. Eventhough I was confident on the skills of the drivers in Ethiopia, my kids were not as confident as I was.
Bad Roads
Imagine that was on a bus or a pick-up which many Gambellians use for travelling around between the Woredas and the city, my kids would be praying for their Lord all the time for the bus or pickup not to tip or rollover. They would be as nervous as hell travelling on cracked roads by a large vehicle.
The issue surrounding road network is still a work in progress where an oversight is paramount not only on the department of roads and transport but also on companies which bids for construction. Why are roads cracks? How did they build them is a question many of us would like to know.
Security wise, the region is somehow peaceful. Mrs Alemitu, the President of Gambella National and Regional State and her vice, Dr Gatluak are doing their best to break the bridge between the Nuer and the Anyuak. This is rightly so given the fact that murderers do not have a free ride like they used to under Omot and Thankuey.
The work being done regarding security of the region is a good sign. Nuer and Anyuak are same people who will always live together either in Ethiopia or in South Sudan.
If I could borrow the words of the former South African President who said South Africa is like a zebra for the white and the black population living in the rainbow nation, then Gambella is like a zebra for the Nuer and Anyuak.
In Lare, we live side by side with Anyuaks in Chotgur, Nyang Nyikual and Nyang Dujuok. The Anyuaks might have their own names of those areas. However, the point I am trying to make is that, even in the heat of violence where so many GPLM murders slaughter Nuer, those areas became protectorate of the Lare Woreda and people in there could not imagine living without the company of one another.
If you take the Anyuak or Nuer out, the areas will not look the same. The same is true to the former South African President. Zebra will die if white or black skin is out part of the reason why you see South Africa is standing tall and strong with all the ethnicities having the company of one another.
It is hard to fathom how Omot and his vice Thankuey could support a violence that exclusively derive to exterminate the Nuer Society against all wills. This could not succeed as we also saw the downfall of Apartheid which aimed and envisioned the extermination of the Black South Africans. That policy failed criminated and buried the same with Omot’s that deserve to be punished for his role in the violence.
The good thing for now is that ethnic violence does not get support from the Gambella Leadership.
Thank you for reading
Pel Chol is an Ethiopian from Gambella’s Lare Woreda but based in Australia
He could be reached at pcvisionmatters@gmail.com
