BY MENGESHA AMARE
The reform Ethiopia launched three years ago has been accompanied with a number of ups and downs through remarkable achievements. Of the trying aspects at national level, the confrontation among political parties and from within has been a tough aspect to be cited.
Taking advantage of the reform, a number of political parties—either individually or forming coalitions—have been working hard to sustain and advance the objectives of their political platforms. There are also others who act otherwise.
Yes, the way in which the country is right now trekking has become the main vehicle for political activism and many are properly exploiting the opportunity the reform has offered them.
It is well recognized that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D) has recurrently called on political parties to merge and become more powerful in dealing with a range of challenges in political life. However, most of them have run activities in a scattered manner.
Some have made synergy and designed interventions that are congruent with the national agenda of the country assuming that they would lead the nation in future. This is a good trend to be well nurtured, but some could hardly devise lasting solutions to the problems created even among members themselves.
According to Dr. Aregawi Berhe, political parties in Ethiopia contribute to the vicious cycles of political violence. They have also played some crucial roles in the de-escalation of such violence; hence they have to discharge responsibilities as properly as possible since Ethiopia is above the interests and desires of individuals or political groups.
“So long as all parties are serving the general public and are running towards administering the same nation with its people, they have to be role models in nurturing co-existence and fraternity; even cultivate the culture of solving problems using round table discussion. This has to be well exercised among themselves first, ” he opined.
Given the widened political landscape, political parties are expected to come up with clear manifesto and programs to win public confidence. The design and implementation of conducting democratic elections free from political violence is highly desirable, he added.
Ato Girma Bekele, Chairperson, Hibir Ethiopia Democratic party said internal party disagreements can be addressed based on the rules and regulations incorporated in the bylaws of the respective parties. They have to develop consensus on various issues that help them bring about a difference in all aspects. The very problem that is challenging every political party is lack of follow up and meticulous inspection of issues.
Besides, all the regulations of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia have been well complied with, and members should have a say instead of being monopolized by only some members. Most importantly, no need for external bodies interference to run activities and even to end internal disputes. It is true that codes of conduct regulate the behavior of various stakeholders during the electoral process, including political parties, the media, election observers and traditional leaders, among others. They can contribute to set the ground rules for a conducive and peaceful electoral environment.
Since the political landscape is widened though not as required the government has to work hard to support and strengthen democratic institutions and practices by strengthening political parties, civic organizations and parliaments, safeguarding elections, and promoting citizen participation, openness and accountability in government, Girma added.
According to Girma, as a democratic approach requires transparent regulations and procedures, political parties are expected to work hand in glove for the effectiveness of an election process respecting the five pillars: preparatory activities, campaigning and information dissemination, voting, counting and dispute resolution.
According to Dr. Aregawi, political competitions are conflicting ones by their very nature, and if not well managed can lead to violence. As political parties are crucial actors in political processes, it is vital to understand the roles they play in escalating or de-escalating political violence. Hence, since political parties are indispensable actors in holding fair, free and democratic elections, they have to well bridge their differences and in and out to contribute a lot to the development of the nation.
In the context of our country, beyond the divisive issue of elections, political parties have resorted to violence when their members disagree during competitive political processes such as parliamentary debates and street demonstrations.
For instance, the disagreement between the previous EPRDF, which had ruled Ethiopia since 1991 and its successor—the new Prosperity Party—is a case in point in this regard.
PP was made a coalition among parties. This coalition has four parties representing the Oromia, Amhara, Tigray and Southern Ethiopia regions. But the then dominant party TPLF has been against the reform.
Following the 2018 watershed year for the country and the resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn, Abiy Ahmed was appointed prime minister, and he called for peace and unity and economic prosperity, and he released tens of thousands of political prisoners.
The collapse of the EPRDF meant the demise of the TPLF. Not surprisingly, it reacted badly to Abiy’s reforms. These tensions came to a head when Ethiopia’s House of Peoples Representatives postponed the national elections due to COVID-19.
The Tigray State government then decided to go ahead with a local poll. This was a clear violation of the decision taken by the federal government.
The confrontation began when the front attacked the national army base. Tensions reached new heights this time. The federal government has made a number of attempts to settle differences including using traditional conflict resolution methods such as the elderly, religious leaders as well as opinion leaders to start a political dialogue with the party.
Instead the party continued disturbing the nation at any cost. Many have been commenting on such a stubborn stance of parties instead of alleviating problems via close talk.
Asked about political parties’ disagreement, Andargachew Tsigie said that the objective of most political parties is under question as they are not working properly for the general public and the country exploiting the opportunity they reform has offered them. According to him, some opposition leaders were trying to persuade Abiy to strike a deal with the TPLF to bring them back into the fold.
Most political parties have given priority to amassing underserved profits at the expense of the mass instead of providing the society with options to enjoy alternatives.
Even some were acting as a formal government and provoked the society to create chaos and turmoil; this indicates that they are simply power monger ones. If they developed a sense of belongingness to the society and the nation, they would come together and discuss as there are a number of issues that need to be given priorities.
“Ethiopia has seen dramatic political changes this year, but significant challenges remain. As there was no experience with party politics prior to our generation, the general public especially the youth are interested in following political parties with no clearly defined manifesto and national agenda,” he said.
Andargachew stated that the upcoming election is going to be a historic milestone for Ethiopia and its people as it would open all doors for fueling a number of change efforts across the nation, and would be a viable weapon to defeat the entire hurdles and trying facets stemmed from hatred politics sown for almost half century in the country.
As stipulated in Premier’s Book of second version, the Prosperity party is a motor that can drive the development, progress and growth wheel of the country well in the future. Hence, providing a vote for PP is instrumental in lifting this country from the grip of poverty and tumultuous scenario it has found in.
Regardless of the party that is going to win the election via a free and fair channel, the elected representatives have to well exercise the legislative, executive and judicial powers as per the procedures stipulated in the constitution.
The party system may be changing, the contributors to this volume argue, but party government is likely to be the central form of democratic governments for some time to come.
Despite its claims to be an effective revolutionary instrument to advance the interests of marginalized ethnic groups, EPRDF has always been a hodgepodge of ethnic groups that served the interests of its most dominant member, the TPLF, and ruled Ethiopia with an iron-fist for nearly three decades.
Over the past three decades, the party pitted one group against another to stay in power. Such authoritarian politics eliminated the conditions for collective politics and foreclosed the emergence of a viable and credible political organization that could offer a serious alternative.
In doing so, the party made sure that it remains the only political formation with the capacity to resolve the country’s many deep-rooted problems.
As in the case of Ethiopia, parties forming pre-electoral coalitions may avoid detailed predefinition of policies given the uncertainty about electoral results and the risk of displeasing voters with compromises made between parties with different identities. But on the other hand, such pre-electoral agreements involve a more direct mandate than post electoral agreements, and for this reason they may imply a stronger sense of commitment. Further analysis should then also give more extensive consideration to the effects of varying sizes of parliamentary support, from supermajorities to minority governments.
A more specific focus on this would include the analysis of support agreements between coalition parties and opposition parties on single issues or packages of issues. Although it is more than 25 years since political parties argued that opposition parties can be well placed to influence policy, systematic empirical results to test this proposition are only beginning to appear.
According to the National Security Affairs Consultant of the Office of the Prime Minister, Gedu Andargachew, political parties can easily express their ideas and communicate with their respective supporters and discuss a number of issues about the election, even election campaigns can be conducted.
As to Gedu, although political parties have been the main vehicles of mass politics, they have most of the time spent nagging within and cross party dimensions, which doesn’t bear fruit.
The good thing is most of the political parties have addressed problems created among themselves to actively participate in the upcoming elections by identifying situations causing political violence and getting their roots dried in advance, he commented.
The Ethiopian Herald April 2/2021
