BY MENGESHA AMARE
Contending claims are being reflected in Ethiopia: For and against federalism. In a multinational and multicultural county comprising quite heterogeneous society, federalism is considered to be the best system of administration to respectively address the socio-economic and political quests of citizens at all levels.
On the other hand, Ethnic conflicts prevailing in Ethiopia may be caused by the problems emanate from the ineffective implementation of ethnic federal arrangement in the country.
To effectively put in place this all-encompassing approach, elements of the nation or parts making the whole have to be given a well defined domain to govern in a proper manner without surpassing administrational or constitutional mandate.
Division of power is one the linchpin elements in the federal system in this regard. Article 46 (2) of the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia confirms this fact. This part stipulates that ‘states shall be delimited on the basis of the settlement patterns, language, identity and consent of the people concerned.” This shows that Ethiopia has embarked on an important experiment of creating a decentralized system of government comprising two spheres of government—the federal and provincial as the federal government is a comprehensive responsible body leaving regional states autonomous.
Article 51 (10) also stipulates that the federal government “Promotes, administers and controls air, rail and sea transport; postal, telecommunication services as well as highways linking more than two states.”
This sub-article vividly puts the mandates of the federal government and the rest of the activities either jointly adjudicated or exclusively left to the regional governments to be run.
“But in the name of the federal structure, the previous administration interfered and did a number of activities surpassing the authority of states themselves. This couldn’t be the idea of federalism at all. Besides, states were devoid of freedom and self-administration, but it has been put on a paper, it doesn’t have any purpose apart from being a paper tiger,” said Mehari Seyoum, a federalism lecturer at Semera University.
Article 51 (7) of the constitution also provides the federal government with opportunities to well administer without the interference or power overlap of the regional states citing that the federal government ‘Administers the National Bank, issues currency, borrows money, controls foreign exchange and circulation of money. It also enacts laws and regulations regarding borrowings by states from local sources.’
“In comparison with international practice, regional governments have been given considerable constitutional recognition. In many respects Ethiopia is a leader in the emerging role that local government is expected to play in entrenching democracy and promoting development,” Mehari added.
According to Mehari, Ethiopia is one of the decentralized countries in the world that have embarked on this route of strengthening regional governments as full spheres of administrations.
“It is also well recognized that federalism is a mode of political organization that unites separate states or other polities within an overarching in a way that allows each to maintain its own. Federal systems do this by requiring that basic policies be made and through negotiation in some form, so that all the members can share in making and executing decisions,” Mehari underscores.
True federalism has never been exercised in Ethiopia as the previous officials have predominantly followed a decayed political ideology and they themselves have accustomed to lie and commit fraud and treachery,” said Abate Kisho, former South Nations, Nationalities and People president.
Abate further said that the entrenched conspiracy and the long expertise the previous political leaders have mastered does have a serious repercussion to hinder the smooth practice of federalism in Ethiopia.
He further said that the remnants of the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) at every sector office are now becoming stumbling blocks against the proper implementation of federalism.
“Over the course of the nation’s history it is clear that there are many advantages to federalism such as many opportunities exist for citizens to directly influence policy decisions in their respective states or communities. However, the country has failed to garner such an appealing benefit due to the wrong implementation of the federal system earlier,” Abate elucidated.
He further said, “The deep transformation of federalism needs to be undergone in present times in Ethiopia as it would benefit the federal government and the constituent ones more. As a consequence, regional governments could be seen as genuine part of the picture.”
The constitutional recognition of regional governments as autonomous order of government, which is often directly linked to the federal level and responsible for an increasing number of policy fields as well as financial management, is a more recent phenomenon in countries entertaining federal system.
Furthermore, regional governments are the area of government which is naturally more open to the application of new instruments of governance because they are the levels closest to the citizens and grants direct participation to a higher degree.
Obviously, the existing regime in Ethiopia adopted ethnic federalism and redesigned the country along ethnic lines as soon as it took political power in 1991.
“Federalism, as an ideology, is a pragmatic term which refers to the sharing of power among autonomous units and is considered to advocate the values of ‘unity in diversity’,” said Mehari.
This entails that a federal system of government is one in which there is a division of power between one general and several regional authorities, each of which acts directly through their own administrative agencies.
“However, Ethiopia has never exercised true federalism over the last close to thirty years as the previous officials had predominantly been obsessed with getting citizens of the country clashed one another, nominating submissive cadres and propagating wrong narratives and lies against citizens,” he added.
According to Abate, the entrenched conspiracy and the wrong narratives by which the previous political leaders were well experienced has long been a severe stumbling block to hinder the country from applying true federalism.
The political ideology that was dominated by self-centeredness, ill-intended mission and futile attempts has resulted in a number of unrest and conflicts here and there in the country. All these disputes across the nation are the outcomes of the administration as it has failed to well put true federalism into action, he stated.
Since these officials focused on sowing the seeds of cruelty, suspicious, plundering and disintegration, the country has now been entangled with instability, tribal clash and recurrent conflicts.
He further said that the remnants of the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) at every sector office are now challenging the smooth flow of activities and attempting hold the reform back as they are working against the proper implementation of federalism.
As to him, the arrangement of the government up to the lowest structure has to be well scrutinized if we are to come up with true federalism, which helps all citizens of the county enjoy the fruits of democracy, peace and tranquility as well as equity at all corners.
As the irrelevant approaches and prejudiced treatment of the people which have spoiled the proper mental set up of the general public are rampant, the government has to get their roots dried.
Hence, all political parties including Prosperity have to work hard to implant true federalism well recognizing the fact that the wrong narrations and improper treatments of all nations and nationalities are causing the sluggish pace of the reform in the country. These sentiments must be done away with forever, Abate concluded.
The Ethiopian Herald 19 January 2021
