Traditionally, corporations were responsible only to their owners; their primary objective was profit maximization. Corporations’ responsibility towards the community and the environment in which they operate was overlooked. Hence, Corporations’ responsibility towards the community and the environment, which is commonly known as corporate social responsibility, is a recent development in the area of corporate governance.

Ethiopia introduced a new Commercial Code in March 2021, replacing the Commercial Code of the Empire of Ethiopia Proclamation No. 166/1960 (the repealed Commercial Code) that governed business operations since 1960. Many factors necessitated the revision of the repealed Commercial Code, including the demand for responsible corporate management. In Ethiopia, the emergence of publicly held share companies and the rise in shareholders' demand to emphasize corporate management. The 1960 Ethiopian Commercial Code failed to provide an adequate legislative response to complex governance issues of the day. Consequently, the Federal government of Ethiopia introduced wide-ranging legal reforms as part of economic liberalization and modernization. However, the lack of up-to-date legal research and expert commentaries has remained a major challenge to adapt for practice and the judicial sector. This paper aims to uncover changes under the new Commercial Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Proclamation No. 1243/2021 (the FDRE Commercial Code) concerning the board of directors' composition, role, and accountability.

ባሳለፍነው ዓመት ኢትዮጵያ ላለፉት ስድስት አስር አመታት ስትጠቀምበት የነበረውን የንግድ ሕግ በማሻሻል በአዲሱ የንግድ ሕግ አዋጅ ቁጥር 1243/2013 ተክታለች፡፡ ለቀድሞ ንግድ ህግ መሻሻል የተለያዩ ምክንያቶች ቢጠቀሱም በሌላው ዓለም የተለመዱ እና ለንግዱ ማህበረሰቡ አስፈላጊ የሆኑ አዳዲስ የንግድ ማህበራትን ማካተት አንዱ እና ዋነኛው ነው፡፡ በቀድሞ የንግድ ህግ አንድ ነጋዴ ሊመሠርት የሚችለው የንግድ ማህበር ወይም ድርጅት ስድስት ዓይነት ሲሆን እነዚህም ተራ የሽርክና ማህበር (ordinary partnership)፣ የህብረት ሽርክና ማህበር (general partnership)፣ ሁለት ዓይነት ኃላፊነት ያለበት የሽርክና ማኅበር (limited Partnership)፣ የእሽሙር ሽርክና ማህበር (joint venture) ፣ የአክሲዮን ማህበር (share company) እና ኃላፊነቱ የተወሰነ የግል (private limited company) ማህበር ናቸው፡፡   

In an old English case [Richardson v. Melish, 2Bing. 228(251) Court of Common Pleas, England (1824)] Judge Burrough stated that public policy is “unruly horse and once you get astride to it, you do not know where it will carry you.”  This judge has sufficient reason for saying public policy is unruly horse: case law and scholars have tried to define public policy; but none succeeded in giving a concise, precise, and short definition. Its concept remains controversial.

Staling public money hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a Government’s ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice, discouraging foreign aid and investment, fundamentally distorts public policy and  leads to the misallocation of resources. What makes things worse is that the offence is usually committed by political parties.  Political parties are often seen as actors who abuse their powerful position to extort bribes, to supply members and followers with lucrative positions in the public sector, or to channel public resources into the hands of party leaders or supporters.  In this regard, the 2016 Republican Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson once made a statement, “We have been conditioned to think that only politicians can solve our problems. But at some point, maybe we will wake up and recognize that it was politicians who created our problems.”

This article critically analyzes the share company law provisions of the Ethiopian Commercial Code in light of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Principles of Corporate Governance. For convenience, it organizes and analyzes the share company law provisions corresponding with the structures of OECD Principles. The article identifies and demonstrates the loopholes and drawbacks of the share company law provisions that should be revisited and updated in light of the relevant OECD Principles of corporate governance. 

Introduction

The century we are living in is the age of information and communication technology. Increased use of these electronic communications improve the efficiency of commercial activities, enhances trade connections and allows new access opportunities for previously remote parties and markets, thus playing a fundamental role in promoting trade and economic development, both domestically and internationally.

The partnership between governments and the private sector for public infrastructure development is typically designated as Public Private Partnership. Globally, Public Private Partnerships are used as long-term contractual arrangements between public authorities and private entities for the development and delivery of public services, and they are implemented within an appropriate framework designed for that purpose.