The government in any presumably democratic country is expected to serve in the best interest of its citizens regardless of their difference in ethnic, income difference, social status, gender and religious affiliations. When the best interest of the public is at stake and when the government can no more rule in the olden ways, a revolution or a drastic level of reform becomes imperative.
The reforms that were triggered in this country are the direct outcome of a number of objective and subjective factors that necessitated multiple sets of reforms. What are the objective factors that ignited sector reforms in Ethiopia?
Gross miscarriage of justice in the courts of law, the proliferation of systematic and inhuman violation of human rights, wide spread theft, embezzlement of public financial resources, the nonchalance of the government in tolerating bad governance and rent seeking, visible gender disparity in the government nomenclature, galloping hyper inflation triggered by free riders in local and international trade, contraband, human trafficking and a myriad of other objective factors set the basis for the national reform package.
On the subjective side, rhetoric laden empty commitment to revolutionary democracy on the part of the ruling party, wide spread dissatisfaction by the most decisive sector of the youth which was also plunged into moral degradation, the prevalence of vigilante justice and ethnic based biases and rapid spread of the virus of hatred, propaganda barrage by so called activists over the social media all contributed to the subjective context for the need of a reform.
Besides, the battle of ideas between the reformists and loyalists of the status quo culminated in the urgency for reforms before the country is plunged into an irreversible chaos. Some sections of the social fabric of the Ethiopian society claim that they have caused the reform to surface up. The reality however shows that no specific political groups or activists can claim the sole proprietorship of the inception of the reforms.
These reforms could have never seen the light of day if they were not fully supported by the peoples of Ethiopia. Of course, it is difficult to conclude that the objectives of the reforms have already been met. Indeed far from it. There is still more to be desired. For one thing, the intelligentsia, both in the academia and in other public sectors, seems to opt for the strategy of wait and see or support the reform only when it is convenient for them. Others seem to be indifferent to the ongoing reforms limiting themselves to speculative views and recommendations they give while sitting on the fence.
The political parties have practically done nothing measurable to quell the public unrests while anti-reform elements are laboriously fishing in troubled waters to deform the reforms while remaining in their own idealistic cocoons. They are busy merging and remerging to get ready for the next national election.
It is fair enough that the parties are regrouping or merging but this can hardly be taken as an end in itself as they cannot expect peaceful election dished out to them on a clean plate at the expense of only government efforts. These parties should practically cross over to the public instead of limiting themselves to giving press briefings to the media. They need to approach the public at the grassroots level and show that they are for the people’s causes. The current reform belongs to every citizen but the government is doing only its part and cannot replace the efforts that are to be made by the CSOs, religious organizations, Ethiopians and citizens of Ethiopian origin in the Diaspora.
Indeed the provisions of the constitution should be respected, that is correct but the respect should come from every citizen and cannot be conditional. It has always been professed that the youth account for change, reform and progress but such natural traits of the Ethiopian youth have regrettably been usurped by those who were consciously been using the youth as baits for their political agenda through their mendacious propaganda that has already affected the future direction of peaceful youth development.
On the other hand, the legal essence of citizenship is being replaced by allegiance to ethnic exclusiveness paving the way for the possible balkanization of united Ethiopia. On the other hand, those who are engaged in money laundering, arms trafficking, smuggling of foreign and local currency into foreign lands, financing and instigating unrests are trying to deny the reform program of its economic basis. By and large, there is a protracted conspiracy that is geared towards total annihilation of the social values that have cemented the bond between the peoples of Ethiopia.
There is also a deliberate use of bad language and insults that are being heaped on the leaders of this country who labor with full tenacity to solidify the gains of these reforms. As the reform program is progressing with full momentum what is to be done to sustain it? First and foremost, all the stakeholders in the political system including the political parties, CSOs and religious organizations need to engage in a coordinated effort to urgently restore peace and stability in the country through a measurable range of actions owned by all social and political institutions.
The MPs in the parliament need to effectively discharge their responsibilities by mobilizing the electorate in their respective electoral colleges towards a meaningful contribution towards accelerating the reform process. Furthermore, sustaining the reform process is critical for the overall safety and security of the country.
Members of every community in the country need to organize themselves into public security units that work in effective collaboration with the police, the army and security forces to ascertain sustained peace in the entire country. Parents and care givers should take practical actions to keep their children in school and safeguard them from distractive peer group pressure that could seriously affect the morale of the school and college age children.
Public and private schools in the entire country should inculcate the importance of national peace into the minds of the young generation not only by educating their school children but also by establishing relevant school clubs that focus on peace and peace education. Scholars and researcher in the country need to conduct deeper and detailed studies on traditional mechanisms of resolving conflicts and come up with practical recommendations on how such mechanisms of conflict resolutions could be applied in modern Ethiopia.
It is very important to engage in total review of civic and ethical education for school children by focusing on the cardinal values of national unity of the peoples of this country. In addition, the reform program needs to be mainstreamed in all public and private institutions with systematic scheme of monitoring and evaluating the reform programs not only through practical implementation of the process but also by ensuring the sustainability and replicablity of the reforms.
It is to be stressed that the government of Ethiopia is not the sole owner of the reform program in Ethiopia. It is very important and probably critical that the entire peoples of Ethiopia exploit every available opportunity to own the reforms fight for their effective implementation before it is too late to worry.
Herald January 2/2019
SOLOMON DIBABA
