Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Issayas Mekuria
19 February 2008
Jimma Palace, which was one of the resting spots of Emperor Haile Selassie I and the seat of his principals, is to be given to Radio Fana, the nation's first private multilingual national broadcaster.
Constructed in the 1940's by Tsehay Enqu, close confident of the late Emperor and administrator of the region, the palace is situated on the road from the town's airport to Ferenj Arada around Bosa Arat.
Currently, Wakjira Terfassa, Jimma Zone deputy administrator, lives in the Palace situated on a 1.5hct plot holding Gibe Hall, one of the largest assembly halls in the city.
"The palace has so far not been put towards productive purposes," said Kefyalew. "We have decided now to grant the palace to Radio Fana to open a studio in it."
A senior officer at Radio Fana confirmed to Fortune that the town administration is to provide the palace to a third party.
"Our technical staff will first assess the feasibility of the palace for radio broadcasting and submit its findings to the radio station. The board of Radio Fana then decides the fate of the request."
According to a radio engineer, the location of the palace is suitable for beaming signals as it lies atop a hill with access to Jimma's population.
After the fall of the Emperor, Tessema Belay (Colonel), administrator of Kefa, used to reside in the palace. Derg leader Mengistu Hailemariam was also claimed to have rested at the palace.
Following the ousting from power of the military regime in 1991, the defence armies controlled the compound.
The 15-room palace also has a neighbouring church, which is feared to disturb the broadcast.
According to a resident of the town, Junedin Sado, minister of Transport and Communications, who earlier was president of the Oromia Regional State, has consulted with residents of the town concerning the possible fate of the palace. The prudent choice in the minds of the town's officials was to make the palace a museum, library or guesthouse.
"It is not a wise decision to give the palace to Radio Fana while the city is suffering from lack of proper hotels for guests," says a resident of the town. The radio station is expected to take programmes from its main office in Addis Abeba and develop in-house content on local issues broadcasting 212 hours per week.
In addition to Jimma, Radio Fana this year has planned to broadcast from four other regional towns.
"We have requested to be granted spaces for studios in Awassa, Gondar and Harar," said a senior official of the station.
Fana has floated a tender to procure a one & two KW FM Transmitter with complete system studio equipments, on January 24, 2008. The tender closes on February 28, 2008.
Although the Mayor of Jimma said that Radio Fana would provide community radio service to city residents, an executive member of the station told Fortune that they are targeting commercial radio including in the other three expected towns.
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