Have we been to Arba Minch, Soddo, Debre Tabor, Adowa, Asaita, Molale, Ambo, Wolliso, Jijiga, Gambella, to list only some ? How much has the past thirty years been fair and equitable to each of these in the development area, for example? Given the concept of equality, and the “biased history” perception of Ekulinet, which of these urban centers has had a better deal over the last 30 years, and indeed over the last 200 years ? It is not Debre Tabor or Molale for sure; it is not Asaita or Gambella ether. Where is the bias if Menz, the land of the ancestors of the Emperors, is still in rugs and its neglected people continue to compete with the monkeys and apes for survival ?
Please do not misunderstand my questions since I am not from Menz or from northern Shoa, for that matter; I have no kith and kin there, but that rugged and miserably poor area does not show that even the Imperial House had biases that favored its roots. Why, then, do people like Ekulinet and Fekade Shewakena refer to a biased past? Are we talking about what happened or about the books that have often flattered the rulers that also included nobles from many ethnic groups?
If one refers to the history of Ethiopia since about 1500, you see a lot of fighting and destruction, and finally people settling and mixing all over the country. Then came the Era of the Princes when Oromo Princes ruled Ethiopia for some 70 years, and then handed over power to Emperors who had blood from many ethnic groups in the country so that they really were not classifiable as Oromo, Amhara, Sidama or Gurage, to name some. Take Emperor Haile Selassie, for example: His grandfather is Dejzmach Wolde Michael Guddissa and his mother is a Gurage noblewoman. Hence, Emperor Haile Selassie himself had Amhara, Gurage and Oromo blood, if not more.
Most of the nobles of the Emperor’s era were also of mixed stock so that Ethiopia was ruled by people who had roots in several ethnic groups, and they, therefore, shared all the biases, if any, that today’s elite want to blindly associate with a specific social group.
Way back in 1484, we have a daughter of a southern Moslem noble – ruler of Dawaro – Queen Elleni marrying an Emperor who fathered several emperors that followed, in addition to ruling Ethiopia for over 30 years as viceroy. If I may suggest a reading, please read one or both books by M. Abir on Ethiopia, among others, for further enlightenment to see who has been doing what in those difficult days to remove the misplaced biases.
As for the wars, what do we know about feudal Europe ? How did Bismarck achieve the unity of the 39 states in the 19th century to create Germany ? How did Garibaldi and the Red Shirts operate to bring about the unity of Italy’s city-states in the 19th century ? What is so special about feudal Ethiopia ? Surely, they did not do it with conferences or round-table negotiations !
Now I come to Ekulinets’ article where he says: “After reading your article which puts OLF and the likes at the hard and red corner of the playing field and CUD at the soft and green corner.” I am not aware of any statement that does that. I have no such biases myself and I have roots in several social groups.
Indeed, I have great respect and admiration for OLF for its radical departure from its destructive past ( Woter, Assebot, Arba Gugu, Horo Gudru, etc) to come out and help organize an alliance that appears to stand for democracy. This is superb and any sensible Ethiopia must be delighted to see such development which we want to be real and strong. However, the Statutes fall far short of the requirements for a viable alliance between a CUD committed to a united, sovereign and democratic Ethiopia and others that have so strongly espoused secession and disintegration for some 3 decades. There is every reason for us to doubt when the statutes do not clearly come out on the basic foundations of an alliance between such strange bed-fellows.
Let me ignore structural and other relatively minor defects in the Statutes, and mention some glaring short-comings of the Statutes that I consider to be most fundamental for the parties to continue to work together with a common vision for Ethiopia:
There is no explicit commitment to uphold and defend the unity and sovereignty of a democratic Ethiopia.
No mention of a political system: Should we have a Parliamentary or a Presidential system ?
Should we have a Unitary system like UK or a Federal system like Germany or USA ?
Should we have an independent Constitutional Commission, or should we continue with the current mess of using an incompetent House of the Federation or its equivalent ? Our present sad predicament is made worse by the absence of such an institution, among many others.
Should we have effective Checks and Balances among the three branches of Government or should it all be left to chance or to individuals to abuse as in the current constitution ?
Should we have an independent-neutral national election board and an independent electoral law, and independent mass media ? These are topical issues since local elections are only a few months away !
Should we discuss a strategy for a redefinition of regions/provinces to further enhance respect for democratic and economic rights for all Ethiopians and effectively promote the prosperity of our Motherland, or should we doggedly stick to the TPLF feudal-type fabrications that are here to enhance its divide-and-rule agenda ? Is it sensible to insist that Oromia or any other region is here to stay as a political-administrative unit, as Abboma Olaana advocates, before even allowing the people or their elected representatives to freely express their voice, and, yet claim to be building a democratic system ?
Should we have separation/division of powers between the central and local governments ? The extent can be worked out in negotiations.
Should we have a Bill of Rights and an independent Human Rights Commission ?
Should we have a neutral police-defense force, and an independent civil service ?
Should we have universal suffrage in a multiparty democracy ?
Should we have a Constitution that embodies all agreed principles in 1-11 above?
These questions seek answers that will serve all political parties pf all political orientations equally well under a genuinely democratic system. Claiming to establish AFD without clear answers to these questions is, at best, wishful thinking since AFD will neither be credible nor viable.
A united, sovereign and democratic Ethiopia , a clearly-spelt out political system and structure of government, a democratic constitution that will ensure respect for rule of law, an electoral system that is free and fair and a multiparty system with universal suffrage are common and basic denominators for a truly democratic system of the type dreamt about by AFD.
If AFD is, indeed, committed to a united and democratic Ethiopia, it needs to pronounce itself urgently and unequivocally on these basic principles right at the beginning of its journey. Otherwise, the absence of these democratic principles will continue to feed suspicion about AFD and its members.
Surely, it does not make sense to go into a discussion of these principles after calling an all-inclusive conference without any agreement on what AFD itself stands for. If AFD is to have an effective negotiation with EPRDF and it if it is to be credible with the Ethiopian people and with the international community, it must come out with a joint declaration of these and related basic democratic principles in its revised Statutes. Democracy cannot be created in a vacuum or with the sort of vague statements in the Statutes !
Lastly, let me quote a very articulate article by Abboma Olaana in Ethiomedia this past week:
Abboma has put it very nicely though he has not been consistent in his article where he appears to want to deicide for our Oromo brothers and for Oromia, also grossly assuming that Oromia is inhabited by only Oromos; there are people from over 75 other ethnic groups residing in Oromia. That decision for Oromos is the opposite of what he says about democracy above !
Our people all over the country need to be free from the biases of the elite of all social groups to decide what they want, and that also holds for Oromia and our brothers in that region, or for others in other parts of the country. What the elite need to do is to create a level playing field to present their views freely, and then let the people exercise their sovereign right ! Otherwise, they cannot be any different from TPLF !
Further, it is not logical to insist that member parties of AFD have the same political program, but we have to insist that they have the same fundamental democratic principles to reflect their common vision for Ethiopia as in democratic countries in Europe or in USA or Canada. That is what is missing in the Statutes.
In other words, this is the same thing as saying that we need to agree on the basic democratic foundations for our political system and government structure as in Italy, USA, Great Britain, Sweden and other democratic states which all have democratic parties of various political orientations, but all of them will have to operate within those agreed democratic parameters. The same holds in a united and democratic Ethiopia, and it is those principles reflecting AFD’s common vision for Ethiopia that are absent in AFD’s Statutes.
By the way, if you reflect back on the history of South Africa since the 1990s, an assembly of some 27 communist, ethnic, racist, sectarian and democratic parties ( IFP, CP, SACP, ANC, etc.) cemented a democratic system and structure of government, culminating with the elections of April 1994, after first agreeing on the same set of principles that I have alluded to above in items 1 to 11.
The South Africans did that after long discussions that involved a Plenary Policy Council comprising party leaders to make the final decisions, a Planning Committee to facilitate and program the discussions, a Negotiating Council of 2 from each party to do the actual negotiations between parties, and several specialized and professional Technical Committees that received suggestions from all parties, integrated them and then passed them on to the Negotiating Council for negotiations. It took them several months, and that was a group that had bled itself and South Africa profusely for decades. Ethiopian political parties have no such history so that it should all be done much faster if there is the political will to move forward with the a common agenda for a united, sovereign and democratic Ethiopia.
Democracy needs a fertile ground to grow on and bear fruit, but that fertile ground has not been prepared in AFD’s Statutes. Therein lie the grounds for our suspicions! That commonality of vision will determine the success or failure of AFD and its seemingly democratic agenda.
