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We need a vigilant Government
Amen Teferi
In what looked like a premature celebration of its success registered through the implementation of the “deep renewal” the EPRDF was in a mood of complacence. It had complacently declared the positive impact of its venture of self-scrutiny only shortly after to understand the preposterousness of its venture. No doubt the effort made so far in self-scrutiny has helped the EPRDF to get an eyehole through which it identifies its serious shortcomings that have been lacerating its hard-won victories. To that extent the past “deep renewal” exercises were useful and commendable. As the latest statement issued by the EPRDF executive committee has plainly indicated, it has to work hard to deal with issues that have pushed the panic button.
The government is convinced that the problems are far more complex and need lasting solutions. The problems we are facing now cannot be dealt with by setting curfew and deploying security forces where ever conflict and protest are simmering. Therefore, the government had no plans to permanently station security forces in the campuses or administrative borderlines where clashes are occurring.
Whiles investigations into the causes of the respective incidents continues, the federal government has opened a forum where leaders of university students, community elders, religious fathers and university authorities are to discuss on issues that triggered the clashes in the universities and localities concerned, the ruling party is engaged itself in self scrutiny to midwife lasting and durable solution to the current crisis. And I believe that this had greatly helped to achieve the current calm and peace.
Nonetheless, as the current situation is far from being satisfactory, rather worrying, both the United States and the European Union have expressed their concern about the deteriorating security situation in Ethiopia. The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has also admitted the security crisis and said it is working at a durable resolution. It is all the more worrying when we realize that the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is facing an internal crisis which has led Members of Parliament (MPs) to boycott.
As the statement issued by the EPRDF executive committee has clearly indicated the country is precariously slinging between two opposite destinies. It will replenish ones heart with hope to see a country that has been ravaged by civil war for decades registering a double digit economic growth and saddening to realize existence of an eminent danger that is hovering over this miraculous achievement that has predisposed Ethiopia to become a regional economic powerhouse.
Despite such internal political crisis Ethiopia is still seen as a security leader in the region. It is engaged in the fight against Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab. It is also in the forefront of peacekeeping, humanitarian and political efforts hoping to stabilize neighboring South Sudan.
On December 20/2017, a statement released from Ethiopia’s ruling party EPRDF ongoing executive committee meeting admitted that the party was facing a gradual and widening “mistrust” and “suspicion” among the four major parties that make up the EPRDF.
The statement further said that although the executive recognizes the reform it has taken in the last two years as encouraging, it admits that it was insufficient and reached at a consensus that the incomplete journey to reform has forced the party to start “sinking” together.
It also said the party has accepted that the recent violence in different parts of the country that claimed the lives of hundreds and left close to over half 600, 000 Ethiopians internally displaced, bringing the country to a brink of security crisis. This is due to the “weakness of the executive” and that the contribution of this weakness was “significant” in the current crisis that plagued the country.
A consensus was also reached among the members of the executive committee that although there were blames to be shared among the different hierarchies of the ruling party, the executive takes the lion’s share of blame for having gradually lost the public’s trust, focusing instead on “internal bickering”.
The statement affirms that a consensus was reached among the executive on future guideline to resolve the current crisis facing the country as a unified front and to “work hard together” to respond to the public’s demand for peace and democracy and to safeguard the federal arrangement of the country, which is under threat due to the recent crisis.
The executive meeting will go on discussing all these pressing issues and will bring its gathering to a “victorious end”, the statement claimed, adding the results of the meeting will be made public subsequently.
At any rate we have every reason to remain anxious. Earlier this week the United States had also expressed its worry at the deaths and asked the government to remedy it. The statement said, “We are troubled and saddened by reports of violence that has resulted in deaths and injuries in the town of Chelenko and at several universities over the past two days. We extend our condolences to the families and friends of the victims.”
We have also some reason to stay calm. EPRDF is a strong and visionary party that evicted Ethiopia from the quagmire of poverty. True it has lifted millions out of poverty, the number one enemy it has defined as such and had long vowed to combat.
Of course, some argue that insistence on the quantified narrative of the double digit growth does not correspond to the lived experience of many Ethiopians. But I know that would definitely be the case in any country that is coming out of the deep trenches of poverty. Hence, the argument forwarded by the detractors of the “quantified narrative of the double digit growth” does not ever sway my heart.
But to continue to propel the progress it has effected in the past two decades, EPRDF needs to be increasingly vigilant and agile. As the EU said “It is important that the Ethiopian government ensure the safety of all Ethiopian citizens, and hold accountable those responsible for violence.” It has taken some steps in this regards as the government spokesperson, Negeri Lenco, fortnight ago said “98 people were arrested in the Oromia region and five arrested in the Somali region.” The people of Ethiopia are eagerly waiting for the vigorous EPRDF that would come out of the decision made by the ongoing meeting of the central committee.
