During the past two weeks or so we heard a lot of debates and controversies as well as conjectures on several media outlets about what will happen now that the sixth general election has been postponed. It is only the myopic who do not clearly see the threat of the new corona virus taking foothold in our country threatening the very survival of the nation, let alone allow us to embark on such extremely important public event such as an election!
Given that the global crisis has been growing in expansion and intensity, few countries could claim to be exempt from such predicament. And the economic fallouts are so overwhelming that each and every family across the world would somehow be affected. The UN has warned that this is bound to be even more painful for already poor economies such as ours which depend almost entirely on the ‘development cooperation’ of other countries.
What is more, even for Ethiopia’s trade, travel and tourism sectors to survive, let alone flourish, the vibrant involvement of the outside world is indispensable. And if these nations have their own internal issues, the negative impact is unavoidable. The livelihoods of millions of families in our country face unprecedented challenges and the gains of the past years will risk to be reversed.
We may not be in a position to gauge the
exact extent of our loss due to such global crisis. We may not know what implications the medical crisis would present. There are yet no tangible and reliable projections regarding the spread of the virus in our country as the nature of the virus is still under scrutiny with frequent variations confusing even the scientists. We do not know how many people could be exposed in what time frame and how many casualties could be prospected.
Besides, as long as we have no mechanisms of testing a good number of the population (it is an issue of resources) and as long as the number of citizens being forcefully repatriated is not counted, we cannot calculate the exact situation in which the country could find itself. All these are very complex and difficult issues that are bound to keep very busy the government, let alone allow it to embark on a campaign of preparations for something of the complication and engagement of a crucial general election!
After all, the country could not and did not even carry out the long planned population and housing census due to an issue of priorities and other related conditions.
Despite the fact that the country was undergoing a particularly delicate transition period from what used to be an authoritarian one party government to hopefully a more diversified, more democratic system, this new latest development has resulted to be an even more compelling issue because in many ways it can present a serious
challenge to the very survival of the country. The imperative to address it adequately and promptly is clear. The country cannot risk being overwhelmed by an uncontrolled health crisis and one does not need to be a scientist to figure out such probability.
At the same time, there are those who fear that there is this tangible threat that ‘the train of change’ filled with so many aspirations on the part of millions, could suddenly suffer a halt or derailment given the highly ‘toxic rhetoric’ that we hear from certain political circles these days. It would be naïve to totally exclude every probability. And this is becoming an extra challenge for the incumbent. It needs to deal with security and public order matters over and above the efforts geared to halt the spread of Covid 19.
So it would be appropriate to pose the question: what should be the immediate priorities of the government and the country as a whole? In a way these ‘flares of cheap talk’, these ‘shots in the dark’ so to say, have been diverting the attention of the public and even government from the need to pay attention on the number one priority of the government and the public: fighting the Covid pandemic. Before we find ourselves in a late war footing on the virus, we must
realize that every moment is precious as time is a huge factor in such battle against a fast spreading vicious virus.
At a time when the entire world is battling the Covid disaster with all its resources, it is tragic that some ‘politicians’ of ours are heard fiddling with useless polemics on elections now, at any cost. Others are heard prospecting a more delirious idea of what they call ‘a transitional government’ whose formula no one knows about! This sounds very much like a prescription for interminable chaos in a country where political parties look like the loose neighbourhood self-help associations that group to look for their communities’ welfare. At times, it becomes very difficult to figure out what sort of understanding these parties have of their country’s reality on the ground and what the global situation is like. At others, one doubts about the real intention or plans of these parties. Their quest for fulfilling their personal or groups’ aspirations seems to transpire from the past records of these ‘politicians’.
It sounds absurd to sustain that a community of more than a hundred political parties could sit down across a table and decide the day to day activities of government, and all this in a country where political maturity governed by well accepted rules is a rarity! This is totally unheard of especially in a country where the multiplicity of interests is irreconcilable and the tradition of civilized discussion nonexistent, and where the rules of the game change continuously.
From the extremist views of a number of politicians who seem to live in a utopian circle
to those who do not even have an idea of how governments can function, there is a sad state of affairs when we attempt to talk about ‘Ethiopian politicians’.
Moreover, there are some parties who do not even accept that there is a country called Ethiopia because they have convinced themselves that they can have a share of power only by creating some sort of division that would blackmail the status quo and twist the hands of the incumbent. These parochial elements just try to pull out their ‘ethnic card’ and continue to threaten the federal government that they do not recognize it once its legal mandate expires in early October. It is really beyond any imagination to still find political parties that still doubt or put in discussion the very existence of a nation called Ethiopia because it does not satisfy their long aspired desire to constitute ‘a government of their own’.
These are some of the forces that are now observed ‘claiming recognition’ and ‘attention’ in the political discourse of the country. It appears that they care little about their words that they do not even want to consider what would happen next. Their ego extends to the acceptance of any loss of lives or destruction that could follow any potential conflict. How can we take for granted so many conditions while we propose certain theories at this level?
What is perplexing is that they seem to show no interest in learning from the examples of neighbouring countries where because of certain ‘political disagreements’ the lives of millions have been lost following complete havoc. It is clear that
if we listen to such elements, the destiny of our nation as well would not be any different from those we see in chaos. The fact that Ethiopia is even a more complex and larger country could make the crisis even more devastating than the ones observed in certain ‘failed states’. This may sound like a doomsday scenario, but it does not take to be geniuses to depict this eventuality if we do not keep track of what some political elements, some with ‘certain unidentified missions’ may have in their mind.
There are people who suspect that these forces may have ‘sponsorship’ from some unfriendly groups! We have no means of knowing about it, yet. After all we know we live in a very complex geopolitical environment where things are volatile and dangerous.
Meanwhile, Ethiopians need to live their day to day life beyond and above the ambitions of these political parties led in certain cases by self-proclaimed politicians who have a track record of making certain dangerous, inconsistent and incoherent statements. There are even people who argue that a few of these may even deserve to be ‘questioned seriously’ about the way they freely campaign with toxic rhetoric suggesting all forms of government.
Indeed, in certain circumstances it is troubling to see that these elements are allowed to freely sow their ‘seeds of venom’ on the docile Ethiopian population who they seem determined to use as their ‘prey or their ladder’ towards a form of a very probable tyranny! Ethiopians deserve better
The Ethiopian Herald May 17/2020
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
