On 20 May 2019 the BBC reported that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hosted a lavish fundraising dinner at Menelik’s palace in Addis Ababa as part of a push to raise about $1 billion for capital infrastructure under the Beautifying Sheger project.
About 300 business people and organisation representatives attended. Guests paid around $173,000 each for a seat, toured the palace, ate traditional food including raw meat and tej, and spoke with Abiy as he moved among the tables rather than sitting apart.
State media showed tuxedos and rose-covered tables while the project was described as cleaning rivers and building parks. Critics abroad and at home asked what it meant for an elected leader to raise elite money at palace prices while displacement and poverty stayed high.
Kept as governance archive, the BBC dinner file dates the most expensive public fundraising spectacle of Abiy Ahmed’s early Addis remaking campaign.
Sources: BBC News