{"id":60629,"date":"2017-10-09T12:36:43","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T17:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ethiopanorama.com\/?p=60629"},"modified":"2017-10-09T12:45:14","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T17:45:14","slug":"60629","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethiopanorama.com\/?p=60629","title":{"rendered":"EPRDF and ANDM are responsible for the destruction of Lake Tana"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mesganaw Andualem<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Helpless Ethiopia\u2019s Biggest Lake, Lake Tana, covered with Water Hyacinth<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s only a fool\u2019s mind that would refer the TPLF Constitution (called Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia) to make an argument for the reasons of Lake Tana Crisis. But let us be fools once to play on their game and show what they are doing.<\/p>\n

As per the TPLF Constitution Article 51 (11), The Federal Government \u201cshall determine and administer the utilization of the waters or rivers and lakes linking two or more States or crossing the boundaries of the national territorial jurisdiction.\u201d Similarly, Article 55 states (a) the House of Representatives administers \u201cUtilization of land and other natural resources, of rivers and lakes crossing the boundaries of the national territorial jurisdiction or linking two or more States). These two bodies can only control the lake which is crossing or linking two or more states. In this sense, the Federal Government and the House of Representatives do not have business with Lake Tana as the lake is situated solely in the Amhara Regional State. But, to the contrary, Article 51(5) states that the Powers and Functions of the Federal Government is that: \u201cIt shall enact laws for the utilization and conservation of land and other natural resources, historical sites and objects.\u201d As of this article, the Federal Government\u2019s duty was to enact laws to conserve Lake Tana. But it did not. Article 97(5) states regional States \u201cshall levy and collect taxes on income from transport services rendered on waters within their territory.\u201d This leaves the Amhara Regional State to levy and collect taxes on Lake Tana transportation, fishery, and tourism. Besides collecting taxes, Article 52 (2d) defines, the Amhara Regional State shall \u201cadminister land and other natural resources in accordance with Federal laws.\u201d To protect Lake Tana, is therefore, the Regional State\u2019s duty, as is the duty of the Federal Government.<\/p>\n

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