Ethiopia is swiftly changing and the changes are for the good of the country and its peoples as a nation. The country is still undertaking various institutional reform measures for better outcomes and to the satisfaction of its peoples. Responding to the demands of the public, major reforms underway across the board include democracy, security and justice sectors. As part of the reforms, the country is still in various activities of reshuffling, restructuring and amending legislations, and so on.
Appointment of officials is also another area the reforms are addressing. For instance, by now half of the ministerial posts in the government have been taken by women. Experts of various fields, regardless of party affiliations, have currently been working in government and/or appointed to different committees. When we come to the area of diplomacy, after ending the state of war Ethiopia had with Eritrea for almost two decades, Ethiopia has initiated other diplomatic moves that are now bearing fruits in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
As part of institutional reform measures, the country is also in the process of reforming the way it should handle diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has completed its organizational reform measures so as to fit itself to the present demands of the country in the diplomatic area. As a major departure to the government’s old practice, the ministry is striving towards new goal-oriented operating system.
The other change, that can be described as a fundamental one is related to the appointments of Ethiopian diplomats abroad. As per the change, new deployments of ambassadors or other diplomats will rely on professionalism and diplomatic skill. Likewise, the responsibility assigned to them will also be equally changed and solely be to promote Ethiopia’s interests. The two fundamental changes can be considered as a major departure from the old practice.
Because, until now, what the government used to appoint to diplomatic positions were mainly incompetent people for the job. In fact, as a basic norm, the ruling party and the government used to employ diplomatic appointments as system of isolating their interparty critics or favoring old guards to enjoy leisure times and money abroad, though the party and the government structures were fully aware of the fact that nation gets little or no results from them.
We can even recall the incalculable damages made by the kind of persons particularly in view of the big wedge that had created between Ethiopia and its beloved sons and daughters in the Diaspora. Those ugly pasts will shortly be over as the country has now opted for merit-based diplomacy. The peoples to be appointed on diplomatic missions from now on wards would be highly qualified. As a departure also, they will not be required other than serving their nation.
Thus, ambassadors and diplomats appointed from now on wards should not compromise the national interest at the expense of political partisanship, like in the past. They should be very clear that their appointments were necessitated after all by the pressing demands for fostering peace, democracy and development; ensuring and promoting citizens’ rights, interests and prestige abroad; and improving consular services they render for citizens and foreign nationals.
The new appointments, in short, will be expected to facilitate Ethiopia’s leap forward for better political, economic and social future.
The Ethiopian Herald, December 21/2018
