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Gratification
and Gratitude for the Reemergence of Pan-Ethiopian
Agenda
&
Discerning
the Invisible Hand in Ethiopian Politics: Special
Message to PM Abiye Ahmed
Ghelawdewos
Araia, PhD
May 26, 2018
The
main title of the article is pretty much clear;
the companion title, however, is not quite obvious
and intelligible, but I will make it
comprehensible to the reader when I delve into the
current Ethiopian politics. As always, I will try
to be objective and fair in my overall analysis
and investigative discourse pertaining to the
recent political change in Ethiopia.
I
am extremely elated that Ethiopia once again
managed to come out successfully from the
relatively destabilizing and recalcitrant
movements and disturbances in the Amhara and
Oromia regional states and ethnic strife in the
Oromia-Somali regions.
Some Ethiopian observers, including the
opposition in the Diaspora portrayed the movements
(and some even claimed they were behind it) as
peoples’ uprisings (Ye Hizb Amets) but as I have
noted and reasoned in my previous works,
peoples’ uprisings do not destroy and burn
public and private property, and most of all do
not attack by singling out one Ethiopian ethnic
group, namely the Tigrayans who were residing in
the Amhara and Oromia regional states. Any
movement that is geared toward attacking innocent
people who belong to a certain ethnic group could
not be defined as peoples’ uprising; on the
contrary, it is anti-people and it could
dangerously contribute to ethnic civil war and
ethnic cleansing. The movements were imbued with
ethnic hatred, and as a result Ethiopia was on the
verge of a civil war; a civil war deliberately
engineered by anti-Ethiopia forces, (most of these
were ex-Derg [former military Government] members)
who unashamedly advocated a Rwanda-type massacre
or pogrom against Tigrayans. Ironically, these
devil incarnates based their agenda on the
‘fertile ground’ of ethnic politics that have
mushroomed in Ethiopia following the
ethnic/language demarcation of the nine regional
states. The EPRDF, of course, did not
intentionally divide up Ethiopia into mono-ethnic
entities in order to foment divisiveness among
Ethiopians and govern the country by the old adage
of ‘divide and rule’. The ruling party, in
fact, wanted to restructure Ethiopia in a federal
system that, in turn, respects the equality and
autonomy of the various nationalities that make up
Ethiopia, in spite of its
erroneous regrouping the various strata of
Ethiopians into ‘nations’, ‘nationalities’
and ‘peoples’. I do believe that Ethiopia is a
nation-state that constitutes nationalities or
linguistic groups, and the country is the sum
total of the collective diverse nationalities;
evidently each nationality in Ethiopia is known as
‘Ethiopian’, and incidentally the overarching
Ethiopian common identity was forged by thousands
of years of interaction and integration within the
body politic of the Ethiopian nation. Following
this logical deduction thus, we must say
‘Ethiopian People’ and not ‘Ethiopian
peoples’.
However,
the EPRDF was unable to forecast the outcome or
consequence, or more specifically the negative
attributes of an ethnically divided Ethiopian
nation. I sensed the problem of ethnocentric
politics when I published my debut book in 1995,
and this is how I advanced my thesis then:
The TGE’s
policy of Kilil and self-determination is
commendable, but the consequence of fragmentation
as a result of new wave of ethnic political
consciousness, and the inability of some minority
nationalities to become economically and
politically viable, would ultimately preoccupy
Ethiopians to otherwise unforeseen problem.1
Had
the EPRDF sensed the problem of ethnic-based
politics, as I did 23 years ago, Ethiopia would
never have encountered the very messy and
belligerent political culture that all of us have
witnessed during the 2015-2017 turmoil period in
Ethiopian history. On top of the ability to
predict outcomes of a given policy and/or
political program, it is of paramount importance
that Ethiopians begin to create their own
independent ideology or world outlook, because the
many alien ideologies, which were by and large
irrelevant to the larger Ethiopian society, have
had produced negative results amongst Ethiopian
political groupings. In relation to the idea of
evolving an independent ideology, I contributed an
article entitled “21st Ethiopian
Politics Should Be Reoriented Toward National
Reconciliation and a Home Grown Ideology,” and I
argued as follows:
Ethiopians must
no longer be guided by the old ideologies of the
liberal and radical, which are alien and
irrelevant to the larger society and begin rather
to formulate a new theoretical framework of what I
call “social constructivist” and begin to
study their history and culture, and ultimately
establish policies of their own, independent of
foreign influences. This does not mean, of course,
to reject anything foreign; Ethiopians must indeed
receive anything foreign, including technology
that benefits them; it is only to underscore the
importance of independence that could altogether
lead to creativity and a home grown ideology. The
social constructivist theory recognizes the
potential of individuals and groups as game
changers in society, not only by receiving ideas
from outside influences but also by methodically
and creatively evolving their own distinct
ideology that, in turn, sustains an independent
national mode of thinking.2
On
top of forging a home grown ideology, Ethiopians
should also rediscover their shared common history
and collective identity with diligence and a sense
of urgency. One of the contributing factors for
the present miserable ethnocentric values that, in
turn, fueled fratricidal skirmishes in some areas
of Ethiopia, was lack of knowledge of Ethiopian
history. Had Ethiopians in general and present
young generation in particular clearly understood
their history, s/he would have acquired a higher
form of thinking and broader scope that could have
transcended local and narrow nationality (or
tribal) outlooks. Once Ethiopians begin to
discover their history, they would automatically
grasp the essence of ancient and medieval
Ethiopian civilizations. Furthermore, they would
understand the pre-Aksum (Da’amat or Yeha) and
Aksumite civilizations; that of Lalibela rock-hewn
churches ingenuity; the magnificent Gondar
Castles; the Jimma Abba Jifar Kingdom and it’s
splendor palace; the Harar Emirate Kingdom and the
walled city of Harar; the Tona Wollamo Kingdom;
the Kaffa king (Kaffiňo Tato) with his six-member
council known as Mikricho;
the Oromo Gada democratic culture; and the
plethora of traditional political systems of the
Gambella, Beni-Shangul Gumuz; Afar, Somali, Sidama,
Guraghe, and other nationalities in the Debub
Regional State indeed belong to all Ethiopians;
they don’t only belong to all Ethiopians, but
they are also pride to other Africans in the
continent and the Diaspora.
Knowledge
and deep appreciation of Ethiopian history will
eventually enable Ethiopians to recapture some of
their values. The present generation especially is
divorced from the good and old values such as
ethics, collective and sharing norms, respecting
the elderly, extending help to the needy and
loving Ethiopia with patriotic zeal. We must
recover those great values in order to create not
only an economically robust Ethiopia but also a
healthy Ethiopian society as well, not to mention
an open public debate, an independent judiciary,
rule of law, and above all a constitution that
would become a working paper.
As
stated above, although some Ethiopian ethical
values have considerably diminished, and in some
cases eroded, the material and intellectual aspect
of our civilization, such as the standing ancient
monuments, our phonetic Geez alphabets, our
calendar, weaving, basketry, pottery, artistic and
symmetric design of costumes, and an array of
indigenous foods and herbal medicine etc are still
constant reminders of the Ethiopian collective
genius; they also symbolically propose that
Ethiopia is on the rise and a nation destined to
become the leader of Africa.
In
order to translate the symbolic proposition of
Ethiopian destiny, however, a collective and
united Ethiopian endeavor is required. In
anticipation of these collective ethos, I have
contributed some relevant articles in Amharic and
English: 1) ‘The Direction of Ethiopian
Political Atmosphere: The Historical Duty of the
Government, the Opposition Groups, and the People
(Amharic) and the link is www.africanidea.org/Ethiopian_Opposition_Historical_duty.pdf;
2) ‘Pan-Ethiopian Agenda Vs Sectarian
Ethnocentric Politics: www.africanidea.org/Pan_Ethiopian_Agenda.pdf.
In brief, what these two old articles and
the present article entail is that we Ethiopians
must be part of the energy that would shape the
future of Ethiopia and put the country on the
right track of history, and by doing so we will
successfully delineate the foundations of a united
and strong Ethiopia.
Discerning the
Invisible Hand in Ethiopian Politics: Special
Message to PM Abiye Ahmed
There
is no doubt that Dr. Abiye Ahmed is a jewel in the
crown in Ethiopian politics; a man of vision and a
committed leader; in a short two months period, he
stirred up and mobilized the Ethiopian people; he
was candid and frank in all his speeches, and his
audience in the Oromo/Somali region, Ambo, Tigray,
Gondar, Bahir Dar, Hawassa, Beni-Shangul Gumuz,
and Gambella seized the first opportunity to
express and address their concerns by directly
forwarding questions to the Prime Minister. This
kind of gathering of people to discuss political
and social issues never happened before in
Ethiopian modern history, and I believe, it would
have a deeper impact on the establishment of
democracy in Ethiopia and the enhancement of the
positive path of transformation that is already
taking place in the country. We have witnessed the
reawakening of Ethiopia, thanks in large measure
to the Ethiopian people and the dynamic leadership
of Dr. Abiye.
However,
as some people have thought and conjectured, PM
Abiye is not acting alone; after all he is the
byproduct of the EPRDF and in a parliamentary
system it is the ruling party that is the ultimate
decision maker, although the PM is the chair and
foremost spokesperson of his party. There is no
doubt that Dr. Abiye came up with openly-declared
determination in several public appearances and
mass conferences, but we should evaluate him and
his initiative (and the embodiment of his
speeches) in light of the policy-planning spectrum
of the EPRDF. What that means in a nutshell is
that the EPRDF is still the mover and shaker in
Ethiopian politics; the TPLF may not be as
dominant as it used to be but it has neither
retreated to Tigray nor completely relegated
itself from its role in the ruling party as some
naïve observers assessed current Ethiopian
politics.
The Invisible
Hand: What
does ‘invisible hand’ mean? Political
economists attribute ‘invisible hand’ to Adam
Smith, who first coined the phrase and reasoned,
“individuals acting to pursue their selfish
interests may unintentionally benefit society”;
the hand of these individual people is not
discernible or easily detected; hence, it is
invisible. Long after Adam Smith, economists came
up with their own interpretation of the invisible
hand to mean as unobservable market force that
automatically creates equilibrium for the
demand-supply nexus. That this is not true,
however, is evidently proved by the intermittent
episodes in the form of recession and/or
depression in capitalist societies.
PM
Abiye Ahmed, while lecturing his ministers (I will
separately discuss this later) have also used the
phrase ‘invisible and elusive’ with respect to
time consciousness. My ‘invisible hand’ is
completely different from that of Adam Smith and
Dr. Abiye’s; my ‘invisible hand’ pertains to
those ill-qualified cadres who have sheltered in
all government bureaucracies, ministries,
embassies, and other government institutions.
These ‘invisible hands’ are not known to the
general public but they exercise enormous powers
(sometimes unauthorized), especially in
emasculating the interests of citizens apparently
branded as opposition to the EPRDF, or they could
be independent thinkers who may have been critical
of the status quo; or intellectuals who were
generally perceived as dangerous to the EPRDF and
hence systematically avoided.
The
‘invisible hand’ outside Ethiopia constitute
employees in all Ethiopian embassies and they
serve as watch dogs to the appointed ambassadors;
they also serve, I am told, as bookkeepers of
black-listed Ethiopians who are either prohibited
to visit Ethiopia or are the multitude who were
denied the grant of “persons of Ethiopian origin
card”, popularly known in Amharic as Tewlede
Ethiopia. I have firsthand information on the Tewlede
Ethiopia conundrum and condemnation of
innocent Ethiopians who have resided abroad for
several decades and who wished to be granted the
dual citizenship. Under this kind of intricate
circumstance, some Ethiopians in the Diaspora have
become targets and victims of a double edged
sword; they are trapped between two invisible
hands: one that is already mentioned above and
managed by Ethiopians, and the other supervised by
foreigners (non-Ethiopians) and happens to be more
obscure than the first.
In
addition to the invisible hand, most Ethiopian
embassies are enclosures detached from Ethiopians;
they are in fact very much like medieval
fortresses, and as a result far from serving as
conduit between the Ethiopian citizens (and people
of Ethiopian descent in the Diaspora) and the
Ethiopian Government, they seemed to have opted to
deliberately avoid Ethiopians, including those who
even proposed projects and/or scholarly works for
the development of Ethiopia.
But
of all Ethiopian embassies, the Ethiopian Embassy
to the United Kingdom is exception to the rule and
far from employing the invisible hand and
enclosure walls, it was very transparent, engaged
Ethiopians in London and its surroundings in
cultural events and gatherings for rising funds
for the Renaissance Dam; and most importantly, the
embassy has done a superb job by reaching out
investors and have them invest in Ethiopia. I
suggest that the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs seriously consider the exemplar role of
its embassy in London and use it as a model for
other dormant Ethiopian embassies around the
world.
As
indicated above, while the Ethiopian Embassy in
the UK wrought an impressive performance, other
embassies for the most part have played a negative
role by alienating Ethiopian intellectuals, but I
have no knowledge whether these embassies were
given a directive from the Ethiopian Government to
act in such a way as to play a counterproductive
role. Given this sad affair and complicated
scenario, I have come to suspect that my draft
proposal addressed to the newly established
government and Dr. Abiye (dated April 26, 2018 and
entitled Education
and Knowledge-based Economy in the Ethiopian,
African, and Global Contexts) may have been
lost in the “proper channel” that I have tried
to send it over to PM Abiye Ahmed, and to this day
I have no knowledge whether the Government has
received the draft proposal or not.
Special Message
to PM Abiye Ahmed: In
this section of the paper, I am going to use the
first and third persons in addressing the PM, and
this, incidentally, is my two penny-worth advice
to the Prime Minister, as enumerated below:
1.
In
regards to your destiny to become a leader of
Ethiopia, as per your mother’s prophesy, you
should understand that your premiership and
Ethiopia’s rise and preeminence are inextricably
woven together. However, you are a spot in the
larger canvas that represents Ethiopia, but you
could be an effective vehicle along with your
colleagues (or comrades if you will) in uplifting
Ethiopia.
2.
Your
leadership style so far is impressive; you are
open and transparent, and you have exhibited the
kernel of Ethiopia’s humility and humbleness
reflected in your interaction with the people at
street level and at grassroots level.
Nevertheless, although human beings in general and
Ethiopians in particular are good by nature, you
must watch out for monsters masquerading in the
midst of good Ethiopians; wherever you go,
security should be imperative (or applied as a
necessary evil); it should not be too tight, for
it isolates you from the people and it should not
be too lax for it will tempt the monsters to use
the propitious moment for their evil deeds.
3.
With
respect to your workshop-style lecture to your
Ministers: There is no doubt that many people will
appreciate your initiative and admire your ability
in explaining the many themes like ‘developing
personal integrity’, ‘openness’, ‘tone
setting’, ‘time consciousness’, ‘time
management tips’, ‘truth’ and ‘vision’
that are part and parcel of your lecture.
Regarding ‘opportune time’ with your
translation as ‘time as luck’ (Gizie
Ende Edil), I kind agree with you, but I make
distinction between ‘chance’ and ‘luck’;
the former connotes auspicious moments and
coincidences; the latter may imply predestination
and/or preordination. Long time ago, the brilliant
Niccolo Machiavelli saw fortuna
(chance or luck in Italian) as an important
element in politics; contextually speaking, thus,
I wish Dr. Abiye most of luck and I don’t want
him to stumble into a wholly unpredictable
situation.
However
in regards to the ‘workshop-type lecture’, I
have some reservations: a) the lecture, without
doubt, is first of its kind in Ethiopian political
history, but sometimes it is necessary to keep
some original ideas within the inner circle and
doing so would not contravene transparency and/or
accountability; b) Dr Abiye has used high-flown
terms and concepts in explaining the themes of his
lecture and I have easily detected the confusion
from the facial expressions of some of the
ministers; some of them were taking notes; others
were simply sitting and listening. I have no
knowledge of the educational level (and
comprehension capacity) of the Ministers, but I
would advise that an educator should always try to
communicate with his/her students not the way s/he
understands
phenomenon but the way the students would
comprehend the essence of a lecture topic/theme;
an educator should always seriously consider the
compatibility of relevant and synchronized
knowledge with the recipient audience;
c) to the extent possible, our leaders,
including PM Abiye should address their audience
in Amharic without tainting it with English words.
This concern of mine was actually stated when I
tried to convey a message to the former PM
Hailemariam Desalegn as indicated below:
The majority of
educated Ethiopians (high school to advanced
degree levels) like to either speak in Amharic or
other Ethiopian languages bombarded with English
language (words) even when they address illiterate
peasants who don’t understand English at all. It
has become increasingly fashionable for urbanite
“educated” Ethiopians to use Guramayle
(English and Ethiopian languages) to exhibit that
they are civilized and modern, but in doing so
they have utterly disregarded the majority of
Ethiopian people, who apparently are uneducated.
They speak without due consideration of their
audience, and most importantly they seem to have
forgotten that the most sophisticated educated
people are those who communicate with their
audience in the language that the latter
understands. I watch Ethiopian TV nightly news
almost every day and I am dumbfounded to witness
that almost all journalists, members of
parliament, ministers, government bureaucrats,
regional state presidents etc speak in Guramayle.
For instance, the TV anchors in Amharic and other
Ethiopian languages almost always say
‘transformation’, ‘construction’,
‘investment’, ‘budget’ etc but they may
have inadvertently ignored their audience. Do they
think that the Ethiopian peasants understand those
English words? The transparency of PM Haile Maraim
Desalegn is to be admired, but I am afraid it
could be compromised by lack of effective
communication…I have no doubt in my mind that
the Ethiopian journalists and the PM are honest
people and they had no intention of deliberately
confusing Ethiopians, but since communication
proposes answering questions as well as explaining
and clarifying what the intended audience does not
already know, both the journalists and the PM have
an obligation to communicate with untainted
Amharic…Admittedly, sometimes, we all are tongue
tied when we express ourselves and we tend to
employ English words in order to overcome the
problem, but we must always bear in mind that we
must strive to instantly recover from our
incoherence and use the language that the people
understand.3
4.
Amending
the constitution: In my previous works, I have
repeatedly raised the problem associated with the
secession clause of Article 39 of the
Constitution. No country in the world, except for
the old Soviet Union, permits secession to its
component parts, and countries like the USA,
China, and Brazil strictly forbid secession and
emphasize rather on unity and indivisibility. All
three countries have autonomous states; all three
are united, big, and successful. “Bigger is
better” especially now when we countenance
fierce competition in the global market. Ethiopia
should follow the example of the above three
countries, but due to its unique history, the
country should preserve the current federal
structure that liberated hitherto forgotten and
oppressed nationalities. However, I am of the
opinion that the country’s nine regions must
gradually evolve from mono-ethnic
to multi-ethnic states like that of
Nigeria; let the nine regional states stay in
their present structure, but let other linguistic
Ethiopian groups also enjoy residence and business
engagement in all respective autonomous regions.
5.
Reforming
the Bureaucracy: This is going to be one of the
major challenges to Dr. Abiye and his nascent
government, for the bureaucracy is infested with
corrupt officials that have entrenched in there
for almost three decades. The problem of
corruption is not unique to Ethiopia; it is a
universal problem indeed. The problem with the
Ethiopian state machinery and bureaucracy is that
it is heavily influenced by patronage politics; a
patron-client relationship in which only loyal
EPRDF persons are appointed to the various
government offices, and as a result professionals
and intellectuals who are not loyal to the ruling
party (but who are loyal to their country) are
either ignored or systematically back burned by
the invisible hand.
6.
On
Ethno-nationalist Destabilizing Elements: It looks
now that the wave of ethnic hatred and the
movement of the destabilizing ethno-nationalists
have subsided and a pan-Ethiopian agenda and unity
of the Ethiopian people have gained currency. All
of a sudden, thanks to the reforms made and the
electrifying mobilization campaigns in an effort
to unify Ethiopians, the Ethiopian national
identity once more got prominence and its
preponderance will endure insofar we sustain
country-wide political and social programs.
However the recent Moyale disturbances and the
student confrontations at Gambella University are
good examples for us to reasonably argue that the
destabilizing ethno-nationalists are still lurking
behind. Ethiopians should always be alert and on
guard to combat the nasty elements who wish to
foment discord among the Ethiopian people; and in
order to be effective in the sustenance of
Ethiopian unity, every regional state should
organize militias for that purpose.
7.
Energizing
Public Conferences on Ethiopian Unity, African
Unity, and Ethiopia’s Place in the Global
Economy: Many conferences have already been held
surrounding Ethiopian unity or Ethiopiawinet, but
the emphasis should not be limited to uniting the
various ethnic groups; is should further aim at
changing the mindset of Ethiopians and further aim
at emancipating the narrow nationalists from the
shackles of sectarian ethnic politics and sinister
legacy of bigotry and hatred; it should also
transcend Ethiopian unity and advocate for the
necessity and significance of African unity via
trade and economic cooperation such as the new and
ambitious Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement
(AfCFTA). Beyond the AfCFTCA, Ethiopia should join
the chorus of current global market economy and
democracy, but it should carefully avoid the
consolidation of nomenclature capitalists.
Scholars in the academia should seize the moment
in dialectically revealing the new opportunities
in Ethiopia vis-à-vis the reality of
globalization. It is obvious that the current
transformative measures in Ethiopia involves a
change of intermediate vector (a direction or
magnitude that will have an impact on Ethiopia’s
future), but this by itself would not guarantee
Ethiopia’s independent and viable, as well as
competing status in the global economy, and that
is why Ethiopian scholars need to study and
research on the complexity of the globalized world
and formulate policies accordingly
8.
Refurbishing
our Historical Sites: The many historical sites
mentioned earlier are the living testaments of our
past civilizations and collective ethos; they are
powerful edifices reflecting unspoken embodiment,
and depending on necessity, our obligation is to
refurbish them intermittently. The Ethiopian
historical sites are many and variegated, but
suffice to mention some that need immediate
attention and renovation and these include some
monasteries in Tigray, including Gunda Gundie,
which is in bad shape, so much so even its own
monks abandoned it; some of the Gondar castles
that have turned into ghost abodes; the Jimma Abba
Jiffar palace that is dilapidated and parts of its
structure falling apart. If possible also, the
Ethiopian government in collaboration with the
Ethiopian people and UN agencies like UNESCO
should hire architects, archaeologists,
geologists, and antiquarians for a historic agenda
to raise and erect the fallen obelisk of Aksum,
which is 110 feet (33 meters)tall and weighing 520
tons (1.04 million pounds). The reconstruction and
erection of this massive obelisk will be the
symbolic and timely representation of a rising
Ethiopia.
9.
Our
Schools and Higher Institutions of Learning: of
all things humans innovated, education stands out
as the number one vehicle that plays a decisive
role in creating better men and women and better
societies; schools and higher institutions of
learning are not only the bastions of knowledge,
but they are also the liberators of the mind,
enhancers of further knowledge (knowledge is
infinite), and builders of a relatively advanced
culture; a culture not in the sense of customs,
traditions, and belief systems, but in its macro
sense that includes creativity, skills and
technology. Education in Ethiopia is as old as its
civilization of late antiquity and the first
schools were founded and administered by the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church; modern schools
mushroomed during the reign of Emperor Haile
Selassie; now, thanks to the EPRDF, primary and
secondary schools as well as universities
quadrupled in number; we have now 15, 137 kinder
gardens, 32,048 primary schools and close number
of secondary schools, and 50 universities
throughout Ethiopia. The challenge, however, is
whether these schools are equipped with textbooks,
laboratories, and other instructional
technologies; and above all, whether our schools
and universities are led by qualified teachers and
professors or not. If there are enough qualified
instructors, we will have a viable and successful
educational system; if on the other hand, we have
a dearth of qualified teachers our schools will
suffer enormously, and contrary to their mission
and objectives they will produce ill-qualified
students and Ethiopia will suffer. However, if
quality education is ensured and ascertained (and
it should be done at any cost), Ethiopia will be
on the right track and direction.
10.
Cost
of Living and the Ethiopian Poor: We all know that
the majority of Ethiopian people are poor and they
can’t afford the ever sky-rocketing cost of
living, and although Ethiopia is heading toward
creating a sizable middle class, in which case a
significant number of Ethiopians will be uplifted
from poverty, the current exaggerated cost of
living has shattered the living conditions of the
poor and negatively affected the lives of the
relatively better off Ethiopians as well. If
indeed Ethiopia is a developmental state, its
first task should be to govern the market and
regulate prices on behalf of the poor. Ethiopian
farmers are now producing more, but they were
unable to sell their produce themselves because
they were hijacked by middlemen and brokers, and
as a result they still lead a subsistence economy.
The Government should solve the problem of the
cost of living by simply following the old
business/economy model of supply and demand; the
Government should regulate exports and ensure that
there is abundant supply of goods and services
(especially food items) to satisfy the needs of
the poor; more supplies means more cheaper prices,
or at least affordable cost of living, and the
latter, of course, generates more demand. The
Government should also take necessary and serious
action against hoarders and merchants engaged in
underground transaction of market goods; the
latter not only contribute to market distortions,
but they also deprive the Government of its
legitimate collection of revenue.
In order to translate the proposed
programmatic issues into action and witness
efficacy of the various items I have enumerated
above, Ethiopia should undergo some sort of
cultural-revolution, in an effort to expedite the
development agenda and to prepare Ethiopians for
genuine democracy and good governance.
Finally, I like to remind all
Ethiopians who love their country of their solemn
duty to make Ethiopia a peaceful, stable,
successful, and bright spot shinning and radiating
to the whole continent of Africa; to meet the
requirements for Ethiopia’s success, commitment
would be the first and prime criterion, among many
other criteria, and I leave you with what Frantz
Fanon once said: “Each generation must, out of
relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill
it, or betray it.”4
References:
1.
Ghelawdewos
Araia, ETHIOPIA:
The Political Economy of Transition,
University Press of America, 1995, p. 166
2.
Ghelawdewos
Araia, “21st Ethiopian Politics
Should Be Reoriented Toward National
Reconciliation and a Home Grown Ideology”, June
28, 2013, www.africanidea.org/reorient_ethiopian_politics.html
3.
Ghelawdewos
Araia, “Language for Whose Audience in the
Ethiopian Context? A Message to PM Hailemariam
Desalegn”, June 30, 2013, www.africanidea.org/language_whose_audience.pdf;
also cited in Lou T. M. Kahssay, proposed
Language Reform for Ethiopia, Three Qua
Publishing, 2016, p. 79
4.
Frantz
Fanon, The
Wretched of the Earth, Grove Press Inc., New
York, p. 167
All Rights
Reserved © Copyright: Institute of Development
and Education for Africa (IDEA), 2018; Dr.
Ghelawdewos Araia can be contacted via dr.garaia@africanidea.org
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