Prime Minister Abiy has been compared to notable leaders like Barack Obama, the first black American president, the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa who is also credited with having led the African people in South Africa in a successful fight against apartheid and Former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev who is credited for his openness and reorientation of the Soviet strategic aims which led to the end of the cold war, among others.

Abiy who was born in western Ethiopia, joined the resistance movement against the regime of the former leader Mengistu Haile Mariam as a teenager before enlisting in the army where he quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He later served at the cyber-intelligence service before getting into politics and rising through the ranks of the Oromo faction of the EPRDF.

His achievements in only five months are not only unprecedented at least in the region in Africa where peace and stability has been elusive for many decades but also commendable for a young Democracy like that of Ethiopia. His pacifistic leadership style that has been hailed both at home and abroad has given optimism and a renewed hope to a region once ravaged by war.

The 41 year Old Abiy took over a country that was in the brink of a major economic catastrophe on April 2 2018 from Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe who resigned surprisingly after a series of protests by various interest groups mainly led by the youth who represent about 70% of the population and who have been desperate for a paradigm shift from the repressive leadership that has seen the country degenerate to become one  of  the poorest and least economically capable of giving jobs to its mainly young population some of whom have  graduated but  are without jobs.

He quickly embarked on one of the most ambitious reform agendas ever with a remarkable speed and scale starting with the release of thousands of political prisoners including a British national by the name Andargachew Tsege who was on death row for four years for alleged terrorism charges and apologising for heavy handedness and torture by the government officials and promising change for the better.  He proceeded to fire the head of prison services after allegations of torture on the prisoners. He also removed the names of three opposition parties from the list of terrorist organisations. Abiy further lifted the unpopular state of emergency which earned him favour and eased discontentment especially among the youth and other political opponents who were feeling disenfranchised by the limitations to freedom. He has also liberalised the media which had been stifled by the previous regimes for fear of criticism.

On the economic front, he has begun the privatisation of major government owned cooperations  including state owned Ethiopian Airlines  and state run telecoms which will be open to private domestic and foreign investment. Many other sectors such are meant to follow suit except for the finance sector which may be privatised only after the country stabilises and comes out of its current volatile situation partly caused by a severe foreign currency shortage which almost brought the country to its knees.

The situation has however been improved by an intervention by Abiy after he secured a 3 billion Dollar aid package from the AUE, part of which (1 billion) has already been injected into the economy to ease the shortage. He has also made a remarkable and bold move of extending a hand of peace to the neighbouring countries, notably Eritrea with whom Ethiopia has had a 20 year diplomatic stand off after a two-year war between the two countries that killed at least two thousand people and injured a score of others.

All these reforms have not been popular with the entire nation, especially the peace deal with Eritrea which has caused a lot of the minority groups such as the Irob people who are unhappy about the decision to normalise relationships with people they see only as enemies. Infact the botched terrorist attack on the 23rd of June 2018 at a pro Abiy rally at the vast Meske Square in Addis Ababa at which 2 people died and many others were injured was allegedly carried out by hardliner minority who are discontent with some of the reforms he has put in place.

The recent incident which took place in Shashemene , in which a person was hung upside down from a tree by a local mob after rumour circulated that he had carried a bomb at a rally to mark the return to Ethiopia of activist Jawar Mohammed  and the killing of 23 people following ethnic violence targeting minorities in Oromo heartland on the outskirts of Addis Ababa are clear signs of rising ethnic tensions which have  drawn criticism from  many quarters  who see Abiy’s failure to address security challenges and sectarian violence as something that might hinder his efforts for reconciliation, inclusion, national unity and healing.”

Even the large aid package from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been seen by some critics as a wrong move that would amount to Abiy not only siding with Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf crisis, but also subscribing to some form of participation in the power game in the region which may taint the image of the country and compromise his role as one of the most Democratic and independent leaders in Africa. With only five months in power, one can only hope that he will finish what he has started and become the true face of a new Democratic Africa lead by young visionary leaders that will steer Africa to achieve its full potential and reclaim its titled that has long been denied, “the richest continent on planet earth.” This dream however may be dead on arrival if Ethiopians of good will from all ethnic groups do not rally behind him to form a unified and all-inclusive Ethiopia.

The talks, held at De Santis Piazza office in Torino in early April was part of Konteh and his delegations visit to engage both business and political leaders in Italy.

Those part of the delegation included Ambassador Baryoh, the Consul General of Sierra Leone in Northern Italy, Mr. Alessandro Rosso, the Head of Chancery of the Sierra Leone embassy in Germany, Mr. David Gbenjeh, and the Acting Director of Investment Promotion, SLIEPA, Mr. Victor Bangura.

In the bilateral talks, Konteh explained that he led the team to Italy to introduce and promote key investment and trade opportunities in key economic sectors to Italian businesses, and Torino in particular.

He said, under the New Direction of His Excellency, Sierra Lione President Julius Maada Bio, the country is interested in working closely with private sector investors as partners to diversify the economy and create wealth for its people.

He furthered stated that the West African country can be a better place to do business and that its untapped investment potentials speak to the economic development drive like that of Italy.

“Central to our development agenda is our flagship program: Human Capital Development, and we expect the private sector to contribute to skills development to achieve this agenda,” Konteh said.

He reiterated on the fiscal regimes put in place for businesses and that the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) can provide all the necessary facilitation services to investors to speedily actualize their investment because the country believes in trade and not aid.

SLIEPA Acting Director of Investment Promotion, Mr. Victor Bangura said the Government’s aggressive business reforms are geared towards creating the conducive environment for investment.

Further, he noted that the agency has dedicated its resources to provide investor aftercare as a key priority of the Agency.

Among others, he highlighted Key on-going reforms in the country such as the quicker time is taken and lesser cost paid for starting a business, protecting minority investors, the implementation of the National Land Policy to improve land acquisition processes for investors and harmonizing the fiscal regimes.

Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to Germany (also accredited to Italy and Austria), Dr. M’Baimba Lamin Baryoh underscored the diplomatic relationship between Sierra Leone and Italy and said his focus during his tour of duty is to deepen that relationship through trade and investment.

As part of that commitment, De Santis assigned Giulia Marcon – Manager for International Affairs sector as the focal person to liaise with the delegation to plan a visit to Sierra Leone with some Italian businesses later this year.

Responding to the delegation, De Santis said she was impressed with the level of development since the new government came into place.

” I am optimistic that both countries can do business together,” she said.

As part of that commitment, De Santis assigned Giulia Marcon – Manager for International Affairs sector as the focal person to liaise with the delegation to plan a visit to Sierra Leone with some Italian businesses later this year.

The delegation further engaged Dario Gallina, President Unione Industriale of Torino and the Mayor of the City of Torino, Her Worship, Chiara Appendino, where they discussed cooperation with a network of over 2,500 businesses.

This, besides the need to invest in Sierra Leone and also an exchange program with the Sierra Leone medical school; all showing their willingness to closely work with the government and the people of Sierra Leone on trade and investment.

The formation of this free trade area in Africa If ratified by all the 44 countries will become one of the world’s largest trading blocs and will create a single market of 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of more than $2 trillion. One of the key players who offered support to ensure the conceptualization of this continental agreement, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) states that cutting intra-African tariffs could bring $3.6 billion in welfare gains to the continent through a boost in production and cheaper goods. This lacked before when the continent had three separate trading bloc; Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa (COMESA), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and, the East African Community (EAC).

However, key players and the continents largest economies, South Africa and Nigeria were missing raising concerns about the pact; the two represent $700 billion — or one-third — of the $2.1 trillion in gross domestic product across all the 55 African countries. They argued they were still conducting internal negotiations on some protocols in the pact.

This agreement is also part of the AU’s Agenda 2063, a long-term plan for continent-wide political, social and economic integration and development and critics argue the single trading bloc will not work where individual sub-regional ones have failed but will rather build on previous trade gains and will result in the whole being larger than the sum of its parts.

Key Benefits

The pact will benefit Africa in at least six mutually reinforcing ways. First, it will generate the momentum for the creation of similar arrangements for the 11 countries (including two leading economies, Nigeria and South Africa).  It is also a much larger market whose free flow of goods and services will help to maintain economic growth at over 7 percent per year. At this rate, the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Africa is projected to reach $29 trillion by 2050, which would be equal to the current combined GDP of the EU and the US. With additional policies, such growth will contribute significantly to spreading prosperity and reducing poverty.

Additionally, the treaty will serve as an impetus for investment in Africa’s cross-border infrastructure. It is estimated that Africa needs to invest nearly $100 billion annually in infrastructure over the next decade. Less than half of this target is met currently. Also, the prospects for the larger markets and supporting infrastructure will spur industrial development.

This will not only create jobs but it will also have the added advantage of diversifying Africa’s economies that are largely dependent on raw materials. The associated technological development will lead to the creation of new industries.

Also, the signal of larger markets will help to stimulate trade in services. The first beneficiary is likely to be the financial sector, which will be able to lend to larger industrialists seeking to benefit from economies of scale. Such financial services will reinforce the increase in cross-border investments by emerging African firms that are serving as regional champions of industrial development.

By being part of larger markets, small African countries will no longer be restricted to producing their traditional products. With better policies and human resources, they can become the locus of new manufacturing operations that serve wider markets and finally by providing a single economic space with harmonized trade policies and a regulatory framework, the AfCFTA solves the problem of multiple memberships, rationalizes trade negotiations, reduces the cost of doing business, supports industrialization, and stimulates cross-border infrastructure projects.