ADDIS ABABA – The merger of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is crucial to ensure rule of law and to realize sound representation of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia, politicians and scholar so remarked.
Last Saturday, the Executive Committee of EPRDF approved the merger of coalition members so as to be a unified national party. EPRDF Executive Committee member Tesfaye Beljge told Addis Zemen Daily that the merger is important to ensure the rights and interests of the people as per enshrined in the constitution.
As to him, forming a single party would enable the ruling coalition to stabilize the nation by avoiding internal disagreements. The merger will help to give due respect to the culture, language and values of the nations, nationalities and peoples of the country.
He noted that the merger is intended to strengthen the party in more participatory and cooperative manner by drawing the experiences of coalition member party: Southern Peoples’ Democratic Movement (SPDM).
Before SPDM was established as a unified party, the 21 member political organizations under a coalition were used to in struggle with one another. Recognizing that challenge, the organization brought to roundtable and agreed to merge into a single party. The 21 organizations that were formed in a liberation front structure along with their 21 central committees were merged to make up the ruling regional single party with its unified central committee.
The merger enabled SPDM to be a single party that has capably ruled the regional state to economic and good governance improvement despite some challenges, Tesfaye said. The merger was based on a thorough study document on the formation of a unified national party to strengthen party structure, Party Democratic System Building Center Study and Research Coordinator, Temesgen Burka (PhD) said.
Accordingly, an experience has been drawn from the Southern Peoples Democratic Movement (SPDM), a sister party that has been ruling SNNPs state embracing several ethnic-based political parties in big tent, according to Tesfaye.
The multiethnic nature of the state is a big experience to the upcoming single party to wisely handle diversities as SPDM did, he indicated. He also noted that the merger will help to honor the cultures, languages and values of the nations, nationalities and peoples of the country.
He noted that the merger would respect the rights of nation, nationalities and peoples to elect and to be elected via their direct or indirect participation.Some say such merger would harm the rights of nationalities however forming a single party would give due respect to them while recognizing the existence and rights of individuals by incorporating various thoughts under a single umbrella, Assistant Professor Anbese Fura, a law lecturer at Hawassa University believed.
Forming a united party is for strength not for weakness and discrimination, he said adding that most of the developed countries including US have low number of parties but strengthened with diverse thought for a single goal, respecting rights and building democracy.
It is not only EPRDF, several ruling parties in various federalist countries such as India, Switzerland and Belgium are united national parties, according to Temesgen. EPRDF as liberation front has not been able to achieve the major goal of the people stated in the supreme law of the country cited as ‘realizing a united sociopolitical and economic society,’ he pointed out.
On the other hand, the constitution does not prevent such unity; rather it conveys that the people will harmoniously work to form a united sociopolitical society, Anbese said. The merger would strengthen the party at least by avoiding political discrimination of allied parties and calming down the political rivalry between sisters parties, he believed.
Moreover, the merger would help the people to be ruled by a united party that works for national prosperity in a participatory manner, he said. Therefore, it would help to avoid discriminative political culture of the country and advance cooperation between political organizations and others, he noted.
Oromo Federalist Congress Party Chairperson Prof. Merera Gudina believed that the merger would assist the nation and its people to revitalize democracy through providing relevant response to the public claims.The party ought to exert extra efforts to solve public grievances related to economic and political claims. It is also the duty of the ruling party to capacitate institutions to undertake fair and free election, he believed.
Therefore, the merger might help the party in this regard through ensuring common consensus within itself and with the people, he said. A diverse political interest can be entertained in a single party by assigning representatives, Anbese said. What’s more, promoting individualism would enable the government to ensure rule of law departing from any kind of ethnic bias that induce ethnic affiliation in sheltering criminals, he noted.
As a ruling party, EPRDF’s merger will have significant example to other ethnic parties to evaluate their structure and policy, according to him. It has some lesson to other ethnic based parties to try such merger would help to give due respect and fighting for the rights of citizens from all nationalities, he suggested.
The single united party will have important role in showcasing how to run for election based on notion than ethnic or other affiliations, he believed. Therefore, promoting individualistic political structure would help the nation to improve its human and democratic rights and economic prosperity via avoiding ethnic favoritism in illegal activities, he mentioned.
The Ethiopian Herald, November 19/2019
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
