Federalism instrumental in resolving disagreements
Gebre-Michael Asgedom
Temam AbaMecha and Halima Ousman are husband and wife. He said he has left his home town, Kibremengist, and started to live in Jigjiga. He is of the opinion that his travel to Jigjiga, due to merchandising businesses, has enabled him to be acquainted with Halima, marry her and rear up three children.
Halima was born in Jigjiga and she is working and living there. She said she had met Temam for the first time when he had come to her shop to buy some electronic items. She said his frequenting of her shop had enabled them to be acquainted more and live together as husband and wife.
Now they have got three children who are attending their education in the locality. She said her husband is a peaceful man and they are leading a blissful life. His being from Oromiya and her identity as an Ethiopian-Somali does not bar them from cohabitation and leading their family. She believes her family is tightly-woven and no serious disagreement has happened in their family.
Moreover, she said, her family has become tri-lingual. She has learned to speak Oromifa and her husband has also learned to communicate with her native tongue. Amazingly, all members of the family had learned to speak three languages including Oromifa and Amharic. They can communicate with either languages of their choice.
The intermingling of Oromifa and Somali cultures in their family has been an epitome of strong unity. They both have learned to respect their culture and their children have also got accustomed to the diversified culture of their family. She said, through years, their kids have learned from their family to respect others, become patient and tolerate all school kids who come from diversified communities.
Similarly, Ousman Ahmed shares the idea of Temam. He said he is currently living and working in Dewole area. However, many of his friends and relatives are living in Robe town, Bale Zone. He said he is earning his livelihood in Dewole from sale of second hand goods.
Until now, he said, he has been working with his Somali friends peacefully and harmoniously. They are used to deliver him various goods every week and they have become his number one business partners. He believes his trade will not get him anywhere without the contribution of his Somali partners and customers.
According to Ousman, Oromos and Ethio-Somalis have been living and working together. Both peoples have also got intermarried and temporary disagreements could not separate them. He believes temporary incident could not cause lasting rift between the two peoples.
Currently, there are thousands of Oromo individuals living in Somali region and lots of Somalis are also found in Oromia. There is friendly relation and warm trading activity between people on both sides. Oromos are selling numerous agricultural products to Somali region while Somalis are selling various fabrics, textiles and electronics (both first and second hand) to traders coming from Oromiya. Both peoples have been living together since time immemorial. They have also intermixed and intermarried.
In addition, Harer is known to be the town of peace and tolerance where all people have been living peacefully. The same holds true to all localities in Somali region. No xenophobia and apathy to other people. Somali people are known for their hospitality and easy way of life. Frankly speaking, both peoples are the owners of established tradition of tolerance and peaceful coexistence. People believe this invaluable asset should be secured and nurtured for generations to come.
In line with this, while chairing a meeting attended by leaders of Oromiya and Somalia States on October 04/2017, Prime Minister Haile-Mmariam Dessalegn had said that the Constitution of Ethiopia and the Federal system of administration being exercised by Ethiopia has enabled citizens to further strengthen their assets of tolerance and peaceful co-existence. And ongoing efforts should be exerted to sustain the culture of peaceful co-existence.
Ethiopia is home to over 80 nations and nationalities which have distinct languages, traditions and interests. The Constitution of Ethiopia, which laid down the federal system of the country, has enshrined a number of fundamental principles to decentralize power, equitably share resources and respect human and democratic rights (including the right to self-rule, learning and being adjudicated in one’s native tongue as well as advancing language and culture).
In this regard, the Constitution is serving as a major means of securing peace and resolving conflict. It has already quashed sources violent conflicts that used to exist three decades ago; prevented violent conflicts and established more constructive relations between states, peoples and groups (conflict resolution is “a more comprehensive term which implies that the deep-rooted sources of conflict are addressed and transformed”. However, researchers on conflict resolution have pointed out that the resolution of a conflict does not finish with the end of violence).
Besides, as a major instrument of conflict resolution, federalism is known to be an ideology of shared-rule and self-rule, granting autonomy and empowering people with joint decision-making. Its values focus on the recognition of diversity, mutual respect, reciprocity and general will to cooperate and live together.
History has witnessed most conflicts usually evolve as a result of negligence by the majority population and they can take many different forms, either as a struggle for independence or as an asymmetrical form of warfare through terrorist and guerrilla acts. Hence, the very substance of federalism can offer a solution to iron out such conflicts, in which territorially concentrated minority nations demand recognition, autonomy and representation in central institutions.
And federalism as recognition of diversity has been enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution. As has been applied until, now, it can serve as a judicious means of conflict resolution (if the conflict is about the recognition of diversity, territorial autonomy and power-sharing).
In line with federalism, (beside wise solution to the conflict between different identities), the current trend of constitutionalism in Ethiopia highlights the important of cooperation, veto rights and proportional representation. Hence, rather than favoring one over the other, federalism has been guiding citizens to avoid conflict with each other over territory, economic resources, autonomy, and power at regional and federal level.
To this end, it has put in place best institutional architecture to strengthen peace and set new peaceful patterns of interaction (this is why federalist theory and constitutionalism, which focuses on power-sharing among different nations within one state).
Astonishingly, critics of multi-national federalism usually fail to note that the major federal failures that had happened in some countries had occurred due to sham or pseudo-federations; in several cases, they were forced together. They were often, in practice, tightly centralized states. They lacked democracy. As a result, unlike the Ethiopian federalism, their governments were unrepresentative of their populations, and that there was no possibility of dialogue or cooperation among their different national communities.
The theoretical justification for federalism, or decentralization, is based on the combination of shared rule and self-rule. Accordingly, federalism in Ethiopia is offering the potential to retain the territorial integrity of the state while providing some form of self-governance for numerous nations and nationalities (like in Southern Peoples State). Thus, the practical application of federalism emphasizes the merits of federalism as a guarantor of peace.
Despite all the challenges, federalism in Ethiopia is a concrete manifestation of the right to internal self-determination of specific communities in multi-national states. A federal structure of the state has the potential to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of all nationalities for self-government and protection of their distinct cultural and religious identities, while at the same time guaranteeing equal participation of all communities and citizens in the political and economic affairs of the country as a whole.
Thus, federalism in Ethiopia is providing multi-layered political structure that facilitates conflict prevention and its proactive resolution, parallel to flourishing unity and diversity. Currently, the federal idea in Ethiopia is conceived as a pillar of national consensus, unity, diversity and development (conveyed by the image of checks and balances between unity and diversity, autonomy and sovereignty). So, federalism comes into play as a reasonable design for a political system that secures social unity and political stability within all regional states.
Currently, seeing the merits of decentralized system of administration ushered in by federalism in their respective localities, millions of citizens like Temam and Ousman are expressing their approval to the current system of administration. They said they agree on the system of administration being exercised by Ethiopia. However, they are voicing their dissatisfaction that the speed and quality of service in various offices is not to the level they expected.
Hence, they are of the opinion that the government should strive to strengthen institutions and enhance the quality of service they provide. Particularly, the current system should be supported by expansion of desirable public services and prevalence of good governance.