Ethiopia parliament picks Somali region VP as new speaker

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:45 pm

Ethiopia’s upper parliamentary chamber, the House of Federation (HoF), on Wednesday elected a new speaker following the resignation of Keria Ibrahim.

Aden Farah, a former vice-president of the Somali regional state, takes the speakership position that had been held by Keria for the past two years.

The new deputy speaker is Etsegent Mengistu replacing Mohammed Rashid. The big news from the sitting on Wednesday was the decision of the HoF to accept a constitutional inquiry report that allowed for the extension of the mandate of the federal and regional legislatures.

In other resolutions, the house also approved the postponement of the fourth national housing and population census due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The House decided the census, which was already postponed twice, to take place within two years after confirmation by relevant bodies that the pandemic will no longer cause damages.

(AFP)