Ethiopian Airlines Asked for Namibia's Cockpit and Its Boardroom. The Memo Leaked.

Namibia's government spent this week distancing itself from a leaked internal memo showing that Ethiopian Airlines Group proposed taking management control of key executive posts — chief executive, chief financial officer and maintenance leadership — in Namibia's planned national carrier, Namibia Air.

The Ministry of Works and Transport confirmed on Wednesday that it is in "analytical" and "technical" discussions with Ethiopian Airlines, said no binding agreement exists, and rejected the document itself.

"The Ministry wishes to unequivocally distance itself from the document currently circulating in the public domain," said Jonas Sheelongo, the ministry's executive director. "The Ministry does not recognise this document as an official, authorised or accurate reflection of its work, deliberations or positions."

The memo — first published by the Windhoek Observer — was Sheelongo's own briefing to Minister Veikko Nekundi after a Namibian delegation met Ethiopian Airlines executives in Addis Abeba on 21 and 22 August. According to it, Ethiopian reviewed Namibia's market study and countered with an operating model built on ATR 72-600 turboprops, plus training, maintenance and certification support, and projected five years of losses before Namibia Air reached viability.

Ethiopian told the delegation it was not prepared to commit to an equity stake at this stage, citing three existing continental partnerships. Any later equity investment, the memo said, would likely be tied to management control.

USCIS opens in Addis on 9 September

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services will open an international field office in Addis Abeba on 9 September, handling document verification, suspected-fraud investigations and DNA collection to establish family relationships — work previously done through coordination with the State Department.

It does not replace the embassy, which continues to issue immigrant visas. It follows the State Department's July decision to route routine African visa operations through regional hubs, with Addis Abeba one of 20 locations retaining routine visa services from 1 August.

Insurance

The Ethiopian Insurance Corporation reported total revenue of 18.6 billion birr for the fiscal year ended July, up 40%, and 98% of its annual target. Its share of the domestic insurance market rose to 34.5%, from 32.5%. The corporation's own report names limited public understanding of insurance products as the binding constraint on growth.

Kenya's deadline

Kenyan President William Ruto has ordered foreign nationals running small shops, street stalls and hawking businesses to close by Monday 7 September. "It cannot be that a person comes from China or elsewhere to be a hawker or open a small shop," he told traders at State House on 2 September.

The Local Content Bill, 2025, which Ruto has asked parliament to fast-track, would give the order statutory footing: barring non-citizens from small retail and street vending, requiring foreign firms in designated sectors to keep an 80% Kenyan workforce including senior management, a 60% domestic sourcing minimum, and 100% local sourcing for foreign-owned agricultural processors.

Sources: Birr Metrics — Ethiopian Airlines and Namibia Air · Birr Metrics — USCIS Addis office · Birr Metrics — EIC revenue · Birr Metrics — Kenya foreign traders