• Before anything else, I would like to express my highest appreciation to His Excellency Hailemariam Desalegn, for his exemplary step in voluntarily stepping down and transferring his power to be part of the solution for the instability that has gripped the country in recent years; for believing that a new leadership is better suited to tackle these problems; for prioritizing the dignity of the country and the country’s national interests in a manner that can set precedence for our continent.
• It is a historical day for our country. In our long history, we have been given so many opportunities at different junctures to chart a new political beginning. Many of them passed without us taking advantage of them. This transfer of power is another historical opportunity to start a new chapter. Therefore, it is important that we make use of it appropriately with the spirit of utmost responsibility.
• We are lucky; we have a beautiful country and a proud history. We know our beginnings. We are great people that have a history that has traversed many centuries. Our unity can be an example to the world. It has vanquished our enemies; protected our sovereignty and brought us to this day becoming an example for other people struggling for their independence.
• Our identity is built in such a way that it is inseparable; it is threaded in a manner that cannot be untangled. It is integrated out of love. The Amhara have sacrificed in Karra Marra for our country’s sovereignty – becoming intermingled with its soil. The Tigrayans have sacrificed in Metema saying, take my neck before my country and become intermingled with its soil. The Oromo have given his chest on the mountains of Adwa to protect the country’s sovereignty and have intermingled with the soils of Adwa.
• The Somali, the Sidama, the Benishangul, the Walaita, the Gambella, the Gurage, the Afar, the Silte, the Kambata, the Hadiya, the Harari, and all other peoples of Ethiopia have fallen saying my death before Badme and intermingled with its soil.
• As one Ethiopian father said, “While alive, we are humans; upon passing, we become soil and hence become country.” You will find the precious bodies of every Ethiopian from every corner of the country become soil in another part of the country. We Ethiopians, while alive, we are Ethiopians; when we die, we become Ethiopia.
• Ethiopia is a country for all of us and it is our common house. In one country, there will inevitably be differences in opinion. Differences in opinion are not curses. When we are able to listen to each other despite our differences and engage in principled discourse, our differences return dividends in the form of blessings. In a fight over ideas, there are solutions. There is strength in cooperation. When we team up, we become stronger. There is no problem that unity cannot resolve. Because it builds a nation. The sentiment that “I rather die than see my idea not win” destroys families, let alone nations. What we have is one Ethiopia. Above any political thought, national unity is supreme. We need to however underline that national unity doesn’t mean oneness. Our unity needs to be one that embraces our diversity and highlights our multinational identity.
• We Ethiopians need and also deserve democracy. Democracy is not for us an alien idea. When it was foreign to many peoples and countries, we lived under and governed by our democratic Gadaa system becoming an example to the world. Today, for us building democracy is an existential matter—than it is to any other country.
• Democracy is unthinkable without freedom. Freedom is not a gift doled out to people by a government. Rather a gift of nature to everyone that emanates from our human dignity. We need to respect all human and democratic rights, especially to free expression, assembly and organization, by upholding the constitution that emerged from this understanding of freedom. The rights of all our citizens to take part in all structures and at all levels in a democratic manner need to be fully realized.
• In both ways, the democracy that we yearn for cannot become a reality. In democratic governance, the supremacy of the law needs to be established. One wisdom that we need not forget while trying to ensure the supremacy of the law is that our people are not looking simply for the presence of laws but also the realization of justice. The enforcement of the law need not be divorced from justice. What our people are striving for isn’t a dry law but rather a system of laws conceived within justice, that stands for justice. What the people are looking for are neutral and non-partisan law enforcement officers that are loyal to the law and those that jealously guard the rights of citizens.
• The law must rule us all equitably. When it does, the law protects for all of us the dignity that emanates from our humanity. By comprehending this truth, we shall fill the gap in the administration of justice by making the necessary reforms (improvements) so that democracy will flourish in our country; so that freedom and justice shall reign; so that the supremacy of the law becomes a reality.
• For peace, the foundation is justice. Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is an inviolable unity built on our common understandings. Peace is our confidence in each other. Peace is our common journey that continued to this day through our coming together in unity. Peace is our path and our goal that allows us to solve disagreements and conflicts in a civilized manner.
• Regarding our foreign relations: Our country is the foundation of Pan-Africanism, the founder and seat of the African Union, the founder of many leading international organizations, and a country that plays a notable role in regional, continental, and global matters. This policy of ours built on common interest and common benefit, we will strengthen and continue with it. With our African brothers in generally and with our neighbors in particular, we will stand together in times of hardship as well as in times of happiness.
• With the government of Eritrea, we want from the bottom of our hearts that the disagreement that has reigned for years to come to an end. We would also discharge our responsibility. While expressing our readiness to resolve our differences through dialogue, I take this opportunity to call on the Eritrean government to take a similar stand not only for the sake of our common interest but also for the common blood relations between the peoples of the two countries.
• Dear women of Ethiopia, under numerous difficulties and testing conditions, you have built Ethiopia; you have made history; shaped generations; and brought us to this day. In your struggles, you have huge sacrifices so that we have a better country. Your struggle is a just struggle. Your struggle is a dignified and respectable struggle. Your struggle is our struggle. Even though the government has taken steps to ensure that benefits are accruing to women and recognize their all-rounded contribution to the progress of our country, we believe what we have done falls far short in comparison to that which has not been done.
• Dear our development partners those of you who have been assisting our efforts thus far in the areas of peace and development; we realize that you are close friends of our country. I am hopeful that you will continue to stand with us in the renewed efforts we are making to ensure the peace and development of our country.
• The coming time in Ethiopia will be a time of love and forgiveness. We desire our country to be one of justice, peace and freedom and where its citizens are interconnected with the unbreakable chord of humanity and brotherhood. This dream of ours will be a reality only if we wake up from our slumber and work diligently. It is good to have great hopes and wishes. However, our hopes and wishes are not enough on their own. It is incumbent upon us to work hard, to be diligent and to wage a relentless struggle.
• Many have also been martyred to give birth to our new democratic order. To develop our fledgling democracy, it is not necessary for us to pay any additional life and bodily sacrifices. In the past years, both as a nation of citizens and as a state, we have suffered great harm due to the shortcomings that are compounded because of the lack of a mature democratic system. The lives of many of our citizens have been cut short and many private and public properties have been destroyed. This, all of us should have averted and must have stopped.
• I ask a forgiveness from the bottom of my heart for the many advocates of freedom and justice and politicians and the many change-seeking youth whose lives were cut short before they were able to enjoy and have fun during the primes of their lives and for the many individuals and families who were exposed to both psychological and physical trauma during the past many years. Likewise, I would like to express my highest admiration and respect for the members of the security forces whose lives were lost to keep peace and in the line of duty in the service of their constitutional responsibility. I would like to take this opportunity to promise our people that we will devise solutions for the problems that led to these crises and make up to our people.
• From this day forward, we will look at political parties outside of EPRDF as competitors rather than enemies (opponents); their supporters as brothers and sisters who have alternative ideas and who love their country, and as a collection of citizens. Therefore, because there is an absolute desire on the part of the government to allow opposition parties to operate freely and create a conducive and fair and level playing field, we call on those of you who are struggling for peace and justice in various ways, to eschew, out of political foresightedness, out of love for country, and out of the principle of give and take, political thoughts and lines that undermine our unity and put our common good on danger and forfeit our national interests and benefits, and to assist our efforts to create a better political culture.
• To our farmers, those living off animal husbandry, those engaged in various occupations, to our country’s security forces, intellectuals, business people, residents of urban areas as well as those residing in the countryside, people of all trades, elders of the country, Muslims, Christians, Waaqefattas and all other compatriots, to nations, nationalities, and peoples living from north to south and from east to west,
• Let us all strive to develop a mature democracy. Let us diligently work to lift our country from the depth of poverty. Let us eliminate racism and discord from our country. Let us create an educated citizen that debates ideas based on reason.
The Ethiopian Herald April 2/2021
