In response to Getachew Mequanent’s observation

I have read Getachew Mequanent’s previous articles, I developed high regard to his open expression of opinions. Nevertheless, I have some disagreement to his recent observation of Ethiopia for the following reasons

1. Since he has mainly visited Gonder area, his observation should have focused on Gonder rather than generalizing the whole Ethiopia. I believe that regions do have powers to steer their economic and social developments to the direction of their choices provided that they work within the framework of the Ethiopian constitution

2. With all due respect to his observation, some of them are “rumors”. For instance, when he mentioned about crimes in the street, he said, “I heard that there were times when they [farmers] shot at each other on the streets.” Can he mention a country in the world where people do not shoot at each other on the streets? If he is making a point that crimes are prevalent and people are dieing from shot wounds every day, then I agree that the government has failed to prevent crimes and to protect its citizens. I hope he would have done some research to provide us with crime statistics. Again, I am not disputing his observation but I found it to be “rumor based” observation.

3. His observation about PM Meles. “Meles Zenawi is perhaps at the highest time of his political career. All the sensitivity about the length of his stay in power is absolutely nonsense at time when Ethiopia needs effective national leadership.” I agree PM Meles has turned Ethiopia into Economic power in East Africa. At least he paved the way to being the economic power of that region. But I disagree with the notion that, with all my appreciation and high regard to PM Meles, he should continue to stay in power. As a great leader as PM Meles is, I would consider him a failed PM of Ethiopia if he is not able to train his successors and effectively transfer power to the next PM. The greatness of a leader should not only be measured by his actions while in power but also by the legacies he left behind.

4. Another observation was his unclear and futile suggestions. He said, “I was concerned that some farmers were spending more time in the cities and spending their money on drinking…” If farmers choose to spend their money drinking, it is their prerogative. Of course, in a perfect society we don’t want farmers to drink their guts out. Considering, 85% of the Ethiopian population is peasant, can you imagine trying to impose quota on how much and when they can drink. This 85% of farmers are supporting the urban small scale industries. Farmers spending money in the city means increasing the circulation of money. If farmers are spending, merchants will continue to purchase furniture, build houses, and spend money on other necessity and luxury items which creates employment in urban areas. I am not saying that we should let farmers waste their time drinking and socializing but drinking is not a new phenomenon in Ethiopia. In a world of free economy, we are not going to keep the 85% of the population as farmers for the next centuries. With time and agricultural mechanization, hard working farmers will be rewarded and eventually the 85% will dwindle may be to less than 10%. For instance, as Getachew Mequanent might aware of that Canada and the USA have less than 7 % of their population as farmers. In free economy, market efficiency will be the correcting tools in screening successful and productive farmers. So I would say to Getachew Mequanent, do not worry about farmers spending their money drinking in the City. They are part of the free economy society. They are helping city businesses survive. To control crime, homelessness, poverty, and unemployment, we want farmers who share their profits with urbanities. Undeniably, Ethiopian agriculture is on the road to mechanized farming. That means this sector will eventual become more capital intensive and less labor intensive. For instance, a land that required 15 farmers to plough, it may require three farmers with mechanized farm. The question is, where would the twelve farmers go? This mechanization will result in ex-farmers flooding the big cities in search of employment. Hence, instead of worrying how to stop farmers spending their money drinking in the cities, I would spend my energy on how to accommodate farmers who potentially be migrating to the big cities in the future?

5. I am not an economist but his suggestions to promote economic development are colliding with each other. For instance, he said, “…educating people to use their newly acquired economic power for developmental purposes, such as keeping money in the bank, building houses that meet modern standards, …” My argument is on “keeping money in the bank”. As we know it the well-developed nations are discouraging saving by reducing the interest rates on savings. By this I mean, if the money is deposited in the bank, it reduces the “circulation of money”. For instance, a human body functions well if the circulation of blood is distributed evenly to the body. If the blood in the brain stops circulating, the blood clot will eventually kill the person. Imagine for a second, if all farmers choose to save their money in the bank, then what would happen to the economy? Just like the brain it will be dead. I disagree with Getachew Mequanent’s suggestion of saving money but rather investing since the time to invest is long over due.

6. Getachew Mequanent was also amazed by what was going on in hotels, restaurants, and night clubs. He said, “If you go to Gondar and return to Addis to find hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, etc., full of people (spending hundreds or thousands of Birr a night), you are very likely to wonder what exactly is happening in Ethiopian society.” Welcome to the free economy society. Unfortunately, in free economy, especially, at its early stage some people may become extremely rich and others poor. The fact is that trade laws, tax loop-holes, sophisticate business crime preventative laws, and others are not refined yet. This is the growing stage of a free economy. One can research on China, Russia, India, and other advancing nations who are producing a number of multi-millionaires every year. If you wonder what is happing in Ethiopia, my answer is an “economic boom.” Is it fair that some people are spending lavishly? No, but is it fair for some Hollywood actor to spend $100,000 birr for a single day hair-do? This is a free economy, if they can afford it let them be extravagant provide that the money is acquired legally and fairly.

7. Religious expansion. I do admire his openness on this very sensitive issue. My take on this issue is that the government should completely stay out of it unless people are forced, bribed, or coerced to become the followers of a given religion. Moreover, as long as children are not deprived of their rights to education and freedom of expression under the names of religion, the government should not cross the religious line. In addition, as long as religious expansion is done according to the laws of the land, it will be up to the believers to decide what religion best fulfill their spiritual needs. As sensitive as it is, our government must refrain from meddling in religious affairs. The job of the government is neither to keep a tap on number of worshipers nor to keep the balance between various religion believers.

8. The Amharic language was also the subject of Getachew’s observation. He said, “It is sad to see the continued aglicalization of the Amharic language…” Even though his observation may be true, the blame should not be laid squarely on the government. I disagree with Getachew’s suggestion that “the EPRDF government has a responsibility to issue directives to require immediately every public, private and non-governmental organization to translate its English business into good and proper Amharic.” Businesses should not be told how to name and spell their business names. It should be left up to the businesses. If customers feel that the name of a business in not appropriate, they have a choice to stop dealing with that business. The government should not dictate how business should be named but customers do through their pockets. Furthermore, controlling the names of businesses should not be the responsibility of the federal government but municipalities since many businesses are starting at municipal level. What the government should do, however, is to invest more money into our children’s education so they become proud Ethiopians; proud of their language, culture, and land. Otherwise, the federal government should not be involved in such Mickey-mouse could-be problems when there are other pressing issues.

I do agree, however, on the following observations since Getachew Mequanent has actually seen them on Ethiopian TV and experienced them.

1. On politics. He said, “After the news came the televised election debate, organized by the Ethiopian television and Ethiopian Press Agency. So, the hosts would tell opposition representatives to hurry up and do quick speeches (in two to three minutes). Then came the turn of EPRDF officials (four or five of them), who appeared very relaxed and took as much time as they wanted to make long rhetoric.” Without knowing what the oppositions and the EPRDF debaters agreed prior to the debate and believing the time allocation should be distributed equally, I concur with Getachew Mequanent that in this case the oppositions are treated unfairly. Corrections must be made by the Ethiopian Television and Ethiopian Press Agency. As to the appearance of the EPRDF officials, I would rather see a politician speaking with confidence that timid politician. Allowing oppositions to speak on an open media even for a few minutes is an indication of “there is a light at the end of the tunnel.” Something is better than nothing. Having a few minutes exposure is opening the way to the true democracy in the future. Oppositions must take advantage of those few minutes no matter how unfairly they are allocated. I believe that a true democracy will not be experienced by our generations but rather by the next generations and that depends on the government’s investment on educating our children on the value of democratic rights and obligations.

2. I agree that “EPRDF should allocate sufficient budget to allow MPs keep in touch with their constituents. Allowing them to travel once a year is not enough.”

3. I strongly agree with Getachew’s last comments, “If opposition members or supporters go around Woreda offices and Kebeles during special occasions (New Year, for example) to thank EPRDF officials for their hard work (many work hard) and say good wishes, this will do a lot to influence the political environment (positively). If you are in Gondar, Afar, Gamballa or anywhere, you better adopt your own style of politics. Beyene Petros, Lidetu Ayalew and others can yell at Meles Zenawi in the parliament. If you imitate this (yell at Woreda officials), your will be in big trouble. You may find my explanations here too elementary, but they are practical.” I believe that there is truth to it, if oppositions in Woredas or Kebeles tried to imitate their leaders in Addis, they will be in big trouble since they have no exposure to public media as the respectable Beyene Petros, Lidetu Ayalew and others do. If they need to succeed, they must out smart EPRDF, politically.

Most of Getachew Mequanents’ observations are, with all due respect, reflect the negative aspects of his experiences. I hope that he would write on the positive and encouraging observations of his experience in the future.

We should thrive for suggestions, ideas, observations, and opinions to excel in all spheres of development. Having said that we need to understand the jurisdiction of Ethiopian municipalities, regions, and federal governments’ before pointing a figure on failures of the federal government.

All in all, Getachew Mequanent’s observations are educational and reminders of what are happening in Ethiopia, particularly in Gonder. I hope the ruling and opposition parties learn some valuable lessons from it. Since the observation is mainly focusing on Gonder, I do hope that the Gonder Regional Administration gives due attention to the unemployed youth and the neglected elders.

To sum up: my main point for criticizing his observations is that the positive economical, social, and political gains are ignored and every failure is blamed on the federal government. This is an indication of the federal government’s failure to explain the jurisdictions of the federal, regional, and municipal governments to the public. I hope that the federal government can educate the public as to what the responsibilities and accountabilities of each level of government are. For instance, is controlling crime the responsibility of federal, regional, or municipal governments, what about unemployment? Not too many Ethiopians know the responsibilities of the federal, regional, and municipal governments are. If we do not know that, we cannot criticize the federal government. Hence, once the responsibilities of each government are known to the public, then with confidence we can criticize the responsible government and hold it accountable for any mismanagement or misappropriation.

Haile B.

03/24/08