Ethiopian MPs float idea to change Dawa administration status into region: Report
Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Dire Dawa city administration have floated the idea of upgrading the city into a region, the Addis Ababa based broadsheet newspaper Ethiopianreporter disclosed on Sunday.
Ethiopianreporter disclosed the MPs have also suggested incorporating the city into either Somali or Oromia regions. The suggestions were made during a joint session of the two houses of parliament on Wednesday which had convened to pass a new property tax law.
Ethiopianreporter further disclosed, Agegnehu Teshager, speaker of the Ethiopia House of Federation (HoF) and Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia Minister of Finance stated the HoF will solve the case in the future. Both officials didn’t give exact date when they expect the issue to be solved. They also didn’t give a clear mechanism to have the issue resolved.
Dire Dawa city is facing a serious budget shortage, caused for the most part by the city’s uncertain status, with the federal government imposing direct rule on the city since 2004. That has meant almost all tax revenues generated by the city go to the federal’s government, unlike regions where their tax revenues are shared between the federal and regional administrations.
