House endorses re-establishment proclamations for ENA, EPA

Nov 14, 2019; Addis Ababa: House of the Peoples’ Representatives of the FDRE endorsed two re-establishment proclamations for Ethiopian News Agency and for Ethiopian Press Agency after holding serious discussions on the bills.

Ato Abebe Godebo, representative of law, justice and democratic affairs standing committee; in his elaborations about endorsing the bills which he held during the 4^th regular session of the 5^th year tenure said, though the re-establishment proclamations were adopted earlier, the House’s lack of operational procedure held-back endorsement of the proclamations upon the salary and incentives for the bosses and experts of the two agencies.

He added, the House deemed it cost-effective with reference to time and related expenses to offer the responsibilities to the respective boards of the two agencies and only conduct supervision and monitoring tasks.

It is an appropriate action to improve the salary and incentives of the agencies in accordance to their media structure; considering their contributions for building the democratic order in the country and hoping they become more competent in the current media industry trend, the representative pointed.

Ato Abebe reminded, the endorsement of ENA’s proclamation will also fill the blank spaces in the former proclamation regarding the salary and incentives of the Director General and the Deputy Director of the agency.

Members of the House raised questions and forwarded suggestions regarding the forth-coming salary and incentives improvements of the two agencies. Questions were responded by the representative and suggestions too were welcomed by the representative and the concerned bodies.

After conducting extensive discussions and scrutinizing the proclamations, the House cast votes for endorsing the proclamations of the two agencies. Accordingly, the EPA proclamation was endorsed by a majority vote where 10 MPs resisted and 10 similar people abstained. Though the ENA’s proclamation was also resisted by 09 MPs and the other 12 abstained, the majority MPs endorsed it.