By Dagnachew Teklu, APA correspondent in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The price of chicken in Ethiopia is up by 100% this week while the country is gearing up to celebrate the Ethiopian NewYear-Enkutatash (gift of jewels) on Thursday.
Ethiopia, which follows its own calendar, will officially celebrate its New Year (2001) on Thursday-11 September 2008.
However, the price of various commodities remains a challenge for the majority of the people, particularly for the poor who constitute around 40% of the estimated population of 80 million.
However, only the price of chicken has dince Monday registered a dramatic increase of 100%. The new price is $8, when it was only $4 a few days ago.
“We are really confused as to what to do. The price of chicken has become almost equal to a price of sheep. This is really worrying,” Almaz Mitiku, 45 told APA.
Like Mitiku, many people are complaining about the sudden rise in the price of chicken for the New Year holiday.
“This is a New Year and the end of our New Millennium celebrations. That is why these merchants are making things expensive. The government should do something to control the market. How can I pay $10 for a chicken?” Meheret Bekalu complained.
She said that she was considering buying meat for the holiday if the situation continues like this until Wednesday evening, the eve of the New Year.
Chicken is one of Ethiopia’s traditional foods along with raw meat. “Many people have been forced this time to buy chicken due to the rising price of meat. That is why these chicken merchants have also increased the price by 100%, which is a bad omen for this New Year,” Bekalu said.
One kilogram of meat currently costs between $6 and $7 in many parts of the country, when it was $4 less than a month ago.
“We have no alternative for the New Year. The prices of both chicken and meat are up by 50 and 100 per cent respectively. We are really confused as to what to buy,” Tesema Mamo, 67, and a retired man told APA.
For the majority of Ethiopians, it is a must to have raw meat at home for the holiday, as people have the habit of eating raw meat in normal days.
However, the rising cost of food still continues to be the major challenge for the majority of the poor people.
The government is distributing subsidized wheat, edible oil and other food items for the poor in many districts in the country.
Ethiopia will also end its yearlong celebrations of its New Millennium, which was declared by the African Union as an African Millennium, which has been celebrated in and outside the country for the past 12 months.
Based on the Orthodox Julian Calendar, which is different from the Western or Gregorian calendar, the new Ethiopian year of 2001 begins on September 11, 2008.
On Wednesday 10 September 2008 (on the eve of its new year-2001), Ethiopia will officially end its New Millennium celebrations with various ceremonies across the country.
The Ethiopian calendar consists of 12 months of 30 days and the 13th month, called Pagume, has only five or six days depending on whether or not it is a leap year.
The Ethiopian calendar is seven years and eight months behind the Western calendar.
Enkutatash, which means “gift of jewels,” occurs in September with the clearing of the skies following three months of heavy rains.
The highland fields, covered with Meskal daisies, become golden. Meskerem (September) is a month of celebrations in which Ethiopians transition from the old to the new, expressing their hopes and dreams of the future.
On the first day of the New Year (Enkutatash), children usually in groups of five to ten visit their neighbors, wishing them a happy New Year. They sing a New Year song with cultural drums, who in return give out various gifts to the visitors.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Yes! the up coming new year is a holiday for racist and hodam members and supporters of TPLF along with the crime orchastrators leaders of TPLF, while the up coming holiday is a disaster for many million ethiopians who can not afford to buy almost nothing to celebrate the holiday as they used to be back 17 years ago.
Now lets stop leaking our lips everytime we hear the non-stop attrocities of weyane, instead lets stop the weyane criminals from continuing thier daily crimes against our people.
So there is not going to be a better time to engage our self with the best fighting party like Ginbot 7 if we really angry about the non-stop crimes of weyane……
Lets join the fighters of Ginbot 7 with our support in money, time, skill, labor and everything possible….
In addition to that:
The best way to reduce the price of foods in Ethiopia and to maintain the whole inflation and to bring the best justice and democracy and to stop hearing other innocent death of Ethiopians, and to protect our sovereignty from enemies, to stop corruption of in various areas of Ethiopia, to silent the gossip village talkers and diaspora war mongers and character assassinators of EPRP and to stop angry about the DENKORO Hailu shawel group and its Diaspora remnants ,in general the best remedy to all problems of Ethiopia is just
TO GET RID OF THE WEYANE CRIMINAL GROUP BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE…
DEATH TO ALL WEYANE MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS……….
September 9th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
My wish for Ethiopian 2001 is, death to fascist meles zanawe and his family also his supporter
God bless the rest of Ethiopian people
September 9th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Dear Hagos,
I am surprised to read your comment. You have a Tigrean name and you sound “agent provocateur” than one concerned for the well-being of the people and the country. Man ! On a new year eve, a good Ethiopian will not call for a contribution to G7. He would rather send money to his relatives or to the poor.
G7 does not need money. It has enough loot from the previous Kiinnijjitt which was not careful. After all, what did they do with that money? They do not have accountants to keep their income and expenses. There is no clarity of objective and direction as to how the money is to be used. Proof of wastefulness and fraud abound in that organization. And now you are asking us for money. Go to hell, man.
Is the money to conduct war on the people you say cannot afford to buy chicken for the new year? Let alone chicken, people will have nothing to eat if G7 unleashs war as it promises. The good thing is this. It cannot do it. Law enforcement authorities are closing up on them. You just wait and see. Soon there will not be playing with fire.
By the way, do you know someone back home. At least send him/her a new year wish. Money won’t be bad too.
Bye.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
dear senedu i 100% agree with you about hagos araya banda shabia
he is here 24/7 to write his nonsens. and we are fed up with him
he knows haw to insult & wish bad for ppl thats all.
and blive me he have no money to send to his poor family and thats why
you see him here 24/7 with anger.
shame on you poor hagos. pls try to work hard. my heart gos to your poor family
September 9th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I wish my people perseverance and strength to endure these cockroaches for little bit longer ………exterminators are coming from the NORTH!!!!!!!! Go G7
Cheers!!!!
September 9th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
To B.52 or almaz balechira
You just commented 2 min. ago with many nick names including meles who is a name of your god father and who is known as the butcher of Ethiopia who is the most evil person worse than hitler that has been killing civilians in ethiopia and somalia…..
Your nick was: Shek Murad, two min. ago….so every two min. you change your nick while your rotten egg ill and stinky racist metality has not been remained the same and not been changing for ever….
I wish your mentality can change every two min. along with many other evil anti-human criminal and corrupted members of weyane…..
You come here using many nick names 24/7 but everyone can easily know you from your idiot and non sense comment along with your idiot grammar,
Changing your nick doesnt hide you, so if you are smart enough just change your facken idiot racist mentality along the basic english class with the basic ESL OR ESOL classes….
You come here using diffrent nick and insult people and you try to generalize people as if diffrent peopel are using the same nick while the fact is that you are using diffrent nick name with the same rotten egg racist metality….
look back what you have been writting so that you can eaily atleast know everyone can know you from ur idiot racist comment and ugly grammer…
you know I am not angry by you, but I am so angry that the peoeple( TPLF mafia groups)who are invading the respected ethiopian people in ethiopia have the same mentality with you…
doma ras hodam weyane…..first get out from you f. racisit mind….
any way my wish is death to all of the weyane members and idiot and racist and hodam supporters…..
death death death to all weyane’s
September 9th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
የገርማል አውሮፓ አገር እንኳን ዶሮ በ 10 ዶላር አይሸጥም
አይ ወያኔ!
September 9th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
To the one who wrote the following in relation to Amare Aregawi’s arrest,
“How is it possible for an individual who was ‘thrown out into the streets’ by the ruling party to get access to highly confidential information from one of the few powerful men of the ruling party? Kinfe was assassinated … As an independent publication would love to do, The Reporter never asked for investigation into the political murder of its news source, Mr. Kinfe, nor launched its own investigations’ imminent march into the capital of Eritrea, Asmara.”
Isn’t the above information self contradictory? You wondered as to how Amare, as a thrown person by the ruling party, was able to get information from Kinfe, one of the few powerful men of the ruling party. In you note you have admitted that Kinfe was assassinated because he disavowed his loyalty to Meles Zenawi. So, if that is the case, isn’t it possible and reasonable for Kinfe to pass on information to Amare as a person who was thrown away by the ruling party?
I accept you criticism on Amare in relation to his failure to investigate the political murder of its news source, Mr. Kinfe. However, your question on how Amare was able to get news sources from Kinfe was clearly groundless and self contradictory.
Cheers,
Abebe.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:26 am
ከወያኔ ይሻላል ሱማሌ::ህዝቡ በኑሮ ወድነት ሊያልቅ ነው::ይህ የሚያሳየው የአስተዳደር ብቃት ማነስ ነው::እንዲህ አይነት ሁኔታዎች ሲፈጠሩ መሪዎች በገዛ ፍቃዳቸው ሪዛይን ያደርጋሉ::በአርጀንቲና በቅርቡም ፓኪስታን..የመሳሰሉትን መጥቀስ ይቻላል::ሌላው ቢቀር መለስና የመሃይማን ስብስብ ካቢኔው መበተን አለባቸው::ከፖለቲካው ሙሉ በሙሉ መወገድ አለባቸው ::ከዚያም የሽግግር መንግስት ተመስርቶ አገሪትዋ በተማሩ ና በሚያውቁ ሰዎች መመራት ይኖርባታል:እኔ ብቻ ነኝ የማውቀው ብሎ አንባገነን መሆን ትርፉ ህዝብን እንደዚህ ማሰቃየት ነው::አሜርካን ውስጥ የ ፔትሮል ዋጋ ጭማሪ ቢኖር ህዝቡ እያወገዘ ያለው መሪውን ነው::መሪውም ህጉን ጠብቆ ከስልጣኑ ይሰናበታል::በምዬ ኢትዮጵያ ግን የምናየው የተለየ ነው ::ምንም ተፈጠረ ምን እኔነኝ እንዲህ ያረኩት ከኔ በላይ ሰው የለም :የሚቃወም ካለ ወደ እስር ቤት ማጋዝ :እንዲህ እየተደረገ ምኑን ነው ለውጥ የሚመጣው?እና እባካችሁ..ወያኔዎች መታገል እና አገር ማስተዳደር ለየ ቅል ናቸው::ጎበዝ ጎሬላ ፋይተሮች ነበራችሁችሁ በዚህ እናምናለን:ነገር ግን አገር ማሰተዳደሩ ላይ ሞታችሁዋል የላችሁም::ተሃድሶ ያስፈልጋችሁዋል::እነደ መለስ አይነቱን መሃይም በሙሉ አስወግዳችሁ ከዘመኑ ጋር የሚሄዱ በትምህርታቸው በሰል ያሉ ሰዎችን መተካት ይኖርባችሁዋል::
September 10th, 2008 at 2:21 am
ወይ ኑሮ ወይ ኑሮ በዘመነ ወያኔ በዘመነ ዝንጀሮ እንክዋን ዶሮ የለም ሽሮ ::ወታደራዊ ዲሞክራሲ በደደቢት ተቀምሮ:ዘረኝነት ከሮ:ውሸት ተቆፍሮ:እርዳታው ተሰፍሮ:ዶላሩ በጉዋሮ: ህዝቡ የሚበላው አሮ : ኪሱ ጠሮ:ነጋዴው ከሰሮ:ካድሬው ከብሮ:ምርጫው ተጭበርበሮ :የመለስ ሆድ አክሎ ማሰሮ:የሃዜብ ዳሌ ሆኖ የ ከርከሮ:ምስኪን ኢትዮጵያዊ ከሰራው ተባሮ:በየ ሜዳው ተዘርሮ: ሲያሰማ ሮሮ..ወይ ኑሮ ወይ ኑሮ በዘመነ ወያኔ በዘመነ ዝንጀሮ
September 10th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
i know mr rwanda you are in power in this room.
so pls give us a break. and also dont delet our sweet comment thank-u