Ethiopia’s NEB – No way to give 2ed chance to Addis Ababa councillors
Feb 11, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — According to the Ethiopian The Reporter, the Ethiopian Prime Minister pledged to hand over the Addis Ababa Council to the elected councillors, but the electoral body indicated it can’t give the electees a second chance for registration because the file is now transferred to the parliament.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised electees of the Addis Ababa City Council hand over of the city administration if the majority of them expressed willingness to take over the power. The premier told the ad hoc committee members of the electees to come up with a document attesting the expressed willingness of at least 70 elected councillors.
Meanwhile, the Office of the National Electoral Board (NEB) decided not to consider the issue of extending a deadline for the registration of elected councillors of the Addis Ababa City Council.
Tesfaye Mengesha, head of the Office of the NEB, told The Reporter that his office had been examining a request to extend the deadline before presenting the case to board members. “And the office found out that the request couldn’t be tabled before the board members because the board had already reported on the failed attempt to take over the city to parliament,” he said, adding that the board, too, had given the elected councillors enough chance.
There is little the board could change since the case was now in the hand of parliament and, knowing this fact, the office refused to present the request to the board, Tesfaye said.
It is to be recalled that an ad hoc committee that claimed to represent the elected councillors of the city council had asked the board to extend the deadline for registration.
Last week, the Prime Minister told Parliament that the government wanted to have elected councillors run the city. “The government tried to get the international community involved in the issue in a way that electees were urged to take over the administration.
“The National Electoral Board also went some extra mile and called on the electees to register with it and take over the city. All these attempts were, however, futile,” Meles said.
Members of the ad hoc committee and the elected councillors are expected to hold a meeting today in the Municipal Hall.
(The Reporter/ST)