Spiraling the foundation of Ethiopian renaissance (P-I)

By Tesfaye Hailu

Historical records show that Ethiopia was pioneer in civilization in the ancient times. Its people were so powerful and innovative. They even minted their own currency. The Axumite Kingdom, for instance, was a major player in commerce between Roman Empires and ancient India in the 4^th century. It was one of the four great powers of the time along with Persia, Rome and China in the third century. There are living witnesses to the greatness of ancient civilizations in Ethiopia, among others, the Axum Obelisk, the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and the Fasil Castles in Gonder , are world wonders. Moreover, Ethiopia is the only African country with its own Alphabet and calendar.

Sadly enough, creativity has declined very much in succeeding generations; till date, we are entirely dependent on food and drinks of their making - such as injera, bread, Araki, Tela, Tej etc. I mean, there has been little effort to add values either for consumption or commercial purposes. The purpose of this article is not to enumerate the list of past glories. The writer tries to illuminate on the commitment required us of to recover the lost glory — renaissance.

Ethiopia as we speak today is far behind than in its Golden Age. It is no more powerful. It has lost its fame and glory. It is no more on equal footing with Japan, China India and others. While they have skyrocketed, Ethiopia sank into deep-seated crisis lasting for many centuries and breeding internal upheavals, poverty, backwardness, wretchedness, injustices, hunger, diseases and agonies.

I believe this must invoke strong emotions in us, Ethiopians, as we are heading to the renaissance of this nation. Seeing the strategic importance of its geo-politics, outsiders were taking advantage of the internal political upheavals. As there was no choice for dissidents to advance their causes, they had to be in hiding places elsewhere where they had to be provided with the support of logistics to commit atrocities. And the sole political choice for the then government was to defeat insurgents through military means though that did not stop elements—who were politically and culturally suppressed, from counter-offensive.

Nations, nationalities and peoples of were deprived of their rights to administer themselves. Power was in the hands of central government in both the emperor and Derg eras. There was no political will and commitment to resolving disputes in sustainable manner. The older of the day was monolithic political ideology that promoted totalitarian. And this led to continued infighting. If Ethiopia had utilized the resources it squandered over the millennia, the country would have been at least one of the major economies and democracies.

For a country which is home to over 80 nations and nationalities, only the language and culture of the rulers was in use. And as time went, the degree of suppression reached such an extent where it would not be irreversible. In country where political upheavals and instability are rampant, it was hardly possible to think of investment. One could not pull resources in country where instability prevailed. So, this led to the 1991 change of government which ushered in parliamentary democracy. Tributes to the true sons and daughters of Ethiopia who sacrificed themselves to eliminate the suppression of political and cultural rights — the major reasons for the protracted civil wars that exhausted the country's human and material resources, a new era has ushered in to foster political pluralism.

Now, Ethiopia is turning the page in the third Millennium where it has created national consensus to make headway in making massive mobilizations for the Ethiopian renaissance. Peace, democracy and development have taken center stage. The political and cultural rights of nations and nationalities have gained constitutional basis. In fact, it is the enjoyment of political and socioeconomic rights by nations, nationalities and peoples as stipulated in the constitution that healed past wounds and created renewed interest in Ethiopian renaissance. Today, the overriding perception in Ethiopia is to defeat the arch enemy poverty and its attendant social ills.

Ethiopia has laid down a constitutional framework wherein the Ethiopian political struggle operates in peaceful and civilized manner. The Constitution grants supreme power to nations and nationalities where they have affirmed their commitment to rectifying historically unjust relationships through promoting shared interests. Ethiopia has adopted a federal system granting autonomous administration to nations and nationalities. Accordingly, nine regional governments and two city administrations have constituted the federal arrangement. And equitable wealth distributions are made to regional governments by the House of the Federation which comprises representatives from nations, nationalities and peoples.

Today, nations and nationalities are feeling more Ethiopians than ever before. This is so because they are free to promote their history, culture and language. Moreover, they are administered by the representatives of their choice. This has created confidence and trust among them to building a political community founded on the rule of law, ensuring a lasting peace, guaranteeing a democratic order, and advancing economic and social development.

Present-day Ethiopia is making headway to change its spoiled image: abject poverty, backwardness, political instability, hunger were the features of the country. Multiparty democracy is in the making where quite a lot of political parties have emerged.

The nation has held four successful national elections. Despite the blind critiques, Ethiopia's democracy is growing. Following the results of the May 23 parliamentary and state council elections where the ruling-EPRDF has won by sweeping victory, criticisms are mounting that Ethiopia is becoming a single party system. Such elements castigate EPRDF labeling it as a sellout for having won sweeping victory. It sounds ridiculous! EPRDF must not compromise public votes whatsoever! The electoral process was democratic, transparent, peaceful and credible to the public. It was a free and fair election with a level playing field for all contesting parties. The allegations that came out from inside or outside were intended just to discredit the elections. Political parties that lost the elections must look into themselves and prepare for the next elections.

With respect to looking inwards, it is worth mentioning to quote Chairman of EPRDF, Meles Zenawi, from his address to the residents of Addis Ababa and its surroundings who streamed to the streets at Masqal Square to congratulate the victory of EPRDF: “I would like to confirm to those who did not vote for us that we will work hard to study your reasons for not voting for us with the view to learning from them and correcting any shortcomings on our part. We will work day and night to obtain your support in the next election.”

In fact, interestingly, the forth round elections have seen some peculiar features. Most political parties abode by the electoral code of conduct; and, there were a lot of improvements in respecting the rule of the game and inter-party debates saw civility, respect and trust among them. More so, some parties expressed best wishes to the winning party. These were encouraging signs that must be strengthened in the future.

Here it must be emphasized that onwards political forces in Ethiopia must never oscillate between peaceful and violent avenue of political struggle. The Ethiopian people cannot be preached on the importance of peace for they know what living in upheavals would look like. We surely know the cost of violence and what it brings. Underlining this fact, Meles Zenawi noted: “I believe that the people of Ethiopia, beyond recognizing the efforts of the EPRDF and voting it into power have unequivocally sent a clear message to the opposition parties in our country. The clarion call of the Ethiopian peoples as made evident in this election is that they can not and will not subscribe to any politics of hate. It has ably shown that it chose those who have a vision of a better tomorrow over those who peddle revenge and discord. It has now made it abundantly clear that not a single life will be allowed to perish as a result of election violence.”

The fact that EPRDF has won by sweeping victory must not be confused with the dominance of a single party. EPRDF is not exception to winning successive elections and stays in power for a long time. The Social Democratic Labor Party of Sweden, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and some others are the longest serving political parties. So, the sweeping victory of the EPRDF, being the dominant party in Ethiopia should not be a surprise. And it must be clear that what is evolving in Ethiopia is a dominant party, not a single party.

Most important, the public is confident that the Ethiopian political culture is truly changing. Even if the differences of political parties on issues of federalism, land ownerships and unconditional right of nations and nationalities to self-determination, including secession appear to be so acute, peaceful struggle and debates are taking center stage. Predominantly, the heart and soul of the Ethiopian public is in peaceful struggle. It also appears that most opposition parties are making dramatic shift, tilting to peaceful avenue though political elites have not totally freed themselves from the old mentality of confrontation whenever political wrangling arises. Credit where credit is due –the public have seen the encouraging beginnings in sustained peace, democracy, development and more so—the light at the end of the tunnel, thus, placing confidence on EPRDF to lead the nation for another five years. To be honest, the Ethiopian public is quite happy with the performance of the EPRDF over the last five years. The incumbent government heeded to the call of Ethiopians during the celebration of the opening of the third Ethiopian millennium that the agenda of the new millennium have to be peace, prosperity, democracy and tolerance.

And retrospectively, if we regret the past and I believe we must do so, we have to invest in peace. In only two decades, we have seen huge returns of peace. Needless to say, the dramatic changes Ethiopia has seen are the outcomes of peace. The cost of conflict has taken a great toll in Ethiopia - the economic, the human, the political, the social, and let us not forgets the psychological. So many aspects of conflict have major economic consequences. So, must we wait for wars to vanish out of exhaustion or vanish because of debilitating economic and social woes?

In conclusion, political elites, research and higher learning institutions, schools, the elderly, the private sector, the Diaspora, the government, penitent bodies must put their heads together for durable peace in the country. If we assert that Ethiopia's past glory would have not been reversed, in the same analogy we have to guard the foundations we have laid down with utmost conviction, and maintain the current strides of Ethiopia, consolidating them in due course. This does not mean, however, that there are no challenges facing the country. How come! There are multitudes of problems. However, fundamentally, the country is on the right track in political perspective. The road we are following is the only option for us to mitigate the challenges confronting us now or in the future.

The strong foundations laid down are cornerstones for structural political and socioeconomic transformation and apparently to realize the Ethiopian Renaissance. Now it is time for Ethiopians and citizens of Ethiopian origins to extend assistance to the motherland, Ethiopia, for it an opportune moment to support the Five-year Growth and Transformation Plan, which the government has unveiled.