[6] Following the defeat of the Ethiopian armies in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, he became a member of the Black Lions, but surrendered with Ras Imru Haile Selassie near the Gojeb River 19 December 1936.
Perham notes that his new role involved significant challenges: "It may well be imagined that it was hard work to build a new system of public finance upon the old medieval foundations, which were still cluttered up with the wreckage of the Italian structure."
Moreover, as the British advisers could not speak Amharic and most of the Ethiopians could not talk English, the proceedings were made more difficult by the need of interpreters, especially as few of the required standard were available.
This metal was used to mint a new coin to replace the Maria Theresa Thaler and East African shilling, which would decrease its dependence on the British and give Ethiopia some relief from the effects of the oppressive Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement.
[9] He died of cancer aged 71 in January 1979, in an Addis Ababa jail where he was imprisoned with other ministers and members of Haile Selassie's family.