ACCUSING THE
GOVERNMENT OF IMPOVERISHING ITS PEOPLE?
By Mathza
On
poverty in the
disclosed that over 43 million Americans live below the poverty line. The
accompanying video footages were very graphic leaving the viewers dumb
founded how this could happen in the richest and most powerful and advanced
nation in the world. This show prompted me to write this article.
The Ethiopian oppositions, Diaspora and others have an endless variety of
devious means of discrediting and demonizing the EPRDF, especially the TPLF,
one of its components. Impoverishing the people is one of the endlessly
repeated accusations – implying the government has not
served the people and
that it has hampered development efforts, thereby denying the people to, at
least, maintain the prevailing level of poverty. Individuals and governments
with some knowledge of
embassies and representatives in
anything, they appreciate and support the government effort at improving the
lot of the people.
The accusers spin their allegations to make
African country experiencing poverty. I have, in my past
articles, explained
that poverty is common to most African countries. Here is what I wrote in
one of them:
“To accuse the TPLF of
impoverishing the people is nonsense. Most
African countries up to early 1970s were doing well. The oil crises in the
early and late 1970s brought havoc to non-oil producing countries. This and
other factors caused their economies to stagnate or decrease. As a result
most of them have been and are still experiencing poverty; they are poorer
than they were during early 1970s. Because of a combination of adverse
factors – including administrative system evolving from the feudal system,
high population growth, drought, wars, inadequate infrastructure, very low
level of development in general and lowest aid receipt per capita --
Ethiopia has been the hardest hit. For any one with some ideas of what it
takes to develop under such circumstances should be obvious that things
should get worse before they change for the better.”
This article is intended to expound the above
quotation. It is not, however,
my intention here to deal exhaustively and in detail with the myriads of
constraining factors that haunt the country. I will limit myself to briefly
deal with the following: archaic system of governance, anti-development
traditions, population growth and pressure, destruction of environment,
drought and global climatic change, inadequacy of resources, low level of
development and war and instability.
Archaic
System of Governance
Prior to the 1850s, the period known as the era of the Princes, the country
was divided into fiefdoms. It was
characterized by constant fighting for
domination at great sacrifice of the ordinary people. It was until 1974
followed by an absolute monarchy rule. It was after the monarchial rule was
reinstated that the problem of
selfish motives and policies and lack of farsightedness on the part of the
then governments – started and is still haunting us. During the Derg rule,
the institution and application of wrong policies and strategies contributed
to the destabilization of the country. EPRDF brought stability by
instituting ethnic-based federal system of government which
has the blessing
and support of most Ethiopians.
Whereas the other African countries were practicing modern governance left
behind by the colonialists,
feudal system. Early in the 20th century, exposure to modern way of life and
governance practically did not exist. There were no educated and experienced
persons to modernize the system. The evolution process that was started then
continues until present hampered by inadequacy of capability and capacity,
hence the priority given to capacity building.
The shortcomings in implementation of good government policies, mainly at
the grass-roots level where modern concept and thinking are lacking, are
results and good examples of inadequacy of skilled manpower
and standardized
working procedures. Decisions and actions, especially at the lower level,
are, most of the time, arbitrarily made and taken, some times at the whims
of individual civil servants. This, in part, is what probably happened in
the few instances where irregularities were observed
during the elections.
In short, the inherently slow process of modernization of governance has
been constraining and continues to constrain political, social and economic
development in the country.
Anti-Development
Traditions
cultures, traditions, etc. As in any society,
traditions and concepts as varied as the over 80 nationalities that
constitute it. The following are examples that negatively impact
development: individual destiny predetermined by God, no work done on saints
and angels days, gender discrimination, tolerating begging, wrong attitude
of people to work (especially menial work), tradition of giving bribe and
gifts to officials at every level and unaffordable expenses related to
weddings, funerals, etc. Under the circumstances, one cannot and should not
expect overnight change of such deep rooted
traditions, concepts and
attitude of people. Despite this, progress has been made
in this area. Rural
people are more receptive nowadays because of efforts made by the government
in introducing modern thinking and ways of doing things.
Population
Growth and Pressure
Before the advent of the availability of and access to medical treatment the
growth of population was checked by skirmishes, wars,
pestilence and
drought. By around mid-1900s when the population was perhaps 10 to 15
million, a small part of the population in the capital and other large towns
had access to medical facilities. The mortality rate started to fall and
life expectancy began to rise. Thanks to the expansion of health coverage
and despite HIV-AIDS, population exploded from 53.5 million in 1994 (1994
census) to over 77.4 million in 2005 (Demographic, Social and Economic
Indicators of the State of World Population 2005 Report), a whopping
increase of 44.7% over an 11 year period. This surge of population is the
major source of
What the oppositions and their supporters cannot deny is that many of the
constraints the country is facing are directly or indirectly
related to this
high population growth. Whatever additional GDP is created
is used to feed
the 2 million people added every year, resulting in stagnating GDP per
capita. This fact shows that the accusation is simply and
purely a lie. They
would have made more sense had they accused the government for creating
conditions for high growth rates through the provision of widespread public
health facilities. Some of the constraints related to population growth are
apparent in the remaining part of the article.
Destruction
of Environment
Increasing population meant more food. In the absence of modern technology,
this necessitated extending land use to grow the additional food needed
every year and less and less resort to the practice of fallow, resulting in
over-worked land. As most of the farmlands were already being
used by
people, the farmers had to resort to areas that were never cultivated
before, including marginal, hilly, sloppy and grazing areas as well as
clearing forest or wooded areas. As a result of
population pressure farm
plots shrank in size. Trees were cut without
replacement for use as fuel and
for house building, bringing down the forest cover from 40% to a mere 3% in
the last century. Rain and wind eroded and degraded the exposed land. Crop
yields continued to dwindle. This has been and still is disaster in the
making.
The above process in the making during the last century and beyond brought
about the situation where the country cannot feed itself. How one can
attribute this natural phenomenon to TPLF or EPRDF is beyond rational
thinking. With limited resources the government has
been trying to mitigate
and halt the impact of such hostile environment by organizing and mobilizing
farmers in the prevention of further soil erosion and rehabilitation of
denuded areas through terracing, forestation and reforestation, water
harvesting and conservation, irrigation, better methods of cultivation, etc.
One can see a lot of evidence of these activities in the country
side
although, understandably, much more remains to be done.
Drought
and Global Climatic Change
Drought is not a new phenomenon in
centuries. The destruction of the environment referred to above has been
worsening it. It is increasing in intensity and expanding the area under its
grip. Areas that never experienced drought are now its victims. It is
occurring at shorter time intervals partly because of the global climatic
change, the rise in atmospheric temperature. It is these realities that
increased the number of people depending on food aid, not EPRDF or TPLF that
the anti-EPRDF repeatedly try to hoodwink us to
believe. There is
practically nothing the government can do short of what it is doing under
Destruction of Environment above unless scientist come up with miracle
technology that could control and equitably distribute rainfall according to
needs.
Inadequacy
of Resources
Despite its natural and human resources,
the poorest countries in the world. Its priorities are countless. Its
skilled manpower and financial resources are very
limited. Implementation of
policies, programs and projects are adversely affected
by lack or inadequate
expertise in practically all fields. The priority given to capacity
building, already referred to above, is expected to
improve this scarcity.
In regard to finance, rampant poverty does not allow
the country to raise
enough income commensurate to its development needs. The same applies to
savings. Because of its large population the number of people needing
assistance is multiple that of those of other African countries facing
similar problems. Like other poor countries, it supplements its inherently
limited financial use through aid. Although development aid has risen
substantially in the last couple of years it is no where
near the highly
exaggerated level that the oppositions and their likes have been stating.
Measured by dollar per capita, aid donation for development is still the
lowest in
expected to make as much progress as countries receiving much higher per
capita aid. Despite this, it has used the aid properly, including preparing
the ground work for accelerated development. The
donors can and do testify
to this.
Low
Level of Development
When African countries got independence they inherited not only well
functioning administrative systems that I referred to earlier but also
infrastructures, industries, modern farming, etc. All they had to do was to
maintain the existing facilities, improve and expand them, and diversify
development. Development in
skilled manpower at any level. It was a slow and an
agonizing process
because the then governments did not adopt policies conducive to development
as was, for example, done in
African countries. It has already done this with some and is on the verge of
passing others if the on-going development effort is pursued
without
interruption. It could have done better had it not been for the other
constraints dealt with in this article, many of them peculiar to
War
and Instability
Peace and stability are crucial preconditions for making progress in
democratization and development. Both have been affected
by war with
and the belligerency of liberation fronts and oppositions. Under such
conditions, the government cannot give its full attention to democratization
and development. Time and resources which should have been
allocated to
advance development were and are being diverted to thwart aggression,
fight
liberation fronts and foil foreign intrigues against the country. Current
measures taken by the Eritrean government against UNMEE indicate that we are
probably heading to another war with
likely be, in part, because of Eritrean government miscalculation based on
the instability brought about by the oppositions and their Diaspora
supporters.
Instability drives away tourists and foreign investors. Tourism and flow of
aid and foreign direct investment which had started upward
trends went down
hill during the Ethio-Eritrean war. Despite
opposition and Diaspora efforts
to stop aid flow to
the war. Unfortunately, the belligerency of the opposition in connection
with the elections has already some negative impact on the economy. If the
protracted political stand off is left to linger it could lead to a
situation similar to that of the war time, bleeding
the economy through
interrupting the flow of aid, foreign investment and tourism. This would
mean going through another cycle, making nonsense of the progress made so
far. The country cannot make sustainable progress with the peak-trough
cycle, with progress made during the peak to be annulled
during the trough.
Repetition of the cycle will damage the image of the country and surely
drive away foreign investors for a long time to come.
Conclusion
The above presentation shows that the allegation of impoverishing Ethiopians
is a lie. True, millions of people are suffering from poverty but this is
not the making of the government or of the EPRDF or of
the TPLF. This is
precisely why the government is in the process of implementing the country’s
Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP). SDPRP is
welcomed and supported by the development partners. What the oppositions
do
not want the people to know is the fact that, in contrast to their lies of
impoverishment, an increasing number of the rural people where 85% of the
population lives are improving their livelihood. A growing number of
successful farmers helped by thousands of agricultural extension agents have
demonstration plots which are being emulated by
farmers around them. The
country is dotted with circles of farming areas with the plots of the
successful farmers at their centers. The multiplier effect of this strategy
coupled with the training given to farmers in farmers training centers is
helping more and more farmers adopt and adapt improved methods of farming
using appropriate inputs that are substantially raising their productivity,
production and income. Such and other measures taken by the government in
the rural area are paying dividends. As a result, production of food crops
have doubled in the 1990s and is expected to increase by up to 100% over
last year during this meher season.
It is a matter of time before the above circles join their circumferences to
cover the farming areas of the country. In other words, most of the farmers
will come out of subsistence farming; join the successful farmers; and
become market-oriented farmers. While adopting market-oriented economy the
Chinese have been reported to have said a few Chinese
have to be rich before
all Chinese become rich. This is what is happening in
are improving their standard of living and becoming examples for others to
emulate so that, at the end of the day, all farmers will benefit. If this is
what the pathological liars meant by impoverishing the people, so be it.
Sooner or later every Ethiopian will come to know that
the opposition and
the Diaspora, not the ruling party, had been working hard to impoverish
Ethiopians by begging donors to deny the people aid that could reverse the
abject poverty in the country.