allAfrica.com: Ethiopia: Realising Justice Through Democracy (Page 1 of 1)

While the political scene has remained dangerously fractured, BEYENE PETROS LODAMO (MP, PROFESSOR) sees the way forward towards greater democracy through responsible and open dialogue.

In any modern society, a prerequisite for the livelihood of individuals, peoples and the environment that we reside in is the respect for and the enforcement of the rule of law and human rights. A guaranteed enforcement of these basic tenets and recourse to the due process of law, to make amends to the transgression of the rule of law and ensure a recompense for the aggrieved, can only be realised in a democratic society.

Therefore, it is my hope and wish that we can put our country on a democratic path, which, at least, is agreeable to the majority of the politically organised elements of the population. I believe that garnering the confidence of the highly fractious political groupings would pave way to a normal multiparty political discourse.

This may be achieved only if lack of trust and accommodation and intolerance give way to the spirit of national consensus building in the Ethiopian political landscape. As a prerequisite to this, we must dare to address the propriety of coexistence with political differences through face-to-face talks and negotiations. I am convinced that this is the only way to dispel the existing pathological mistrust between different groupings with diverse political persuasions and untenable agendas.

This would be a necessary step to wean away all groups with political agendas from belligerent tactics as a means of promoting their goals.

The ruling party's failure to cultivate the confidence of the nation's elite on its 'good intentions' in discharging national duty and its dismissive tactics in admitting mistakes have remained serious causes for the pervasive lack of trust that prevails within the informed sector of the population. I wish to see that the ruling party, the EPRDF, becomes conscious of this deficiency and takes appropriate measures to make the necessary amends.

On the whole, all and the EPRDF as well as its government in particular, must make an extra effort to bring all political forces of the country on board for peaceful parliamentary discourse. By so doing, free our country from the recurring problem of insurgencies that pursue the agendas of realising the rights of various constituencies. As a prerequisite for achieving this, politics of belligerence, arrogance and hate must give way to a civilised and sober discourse.

It will be absolutely essential for all Ethiopians to realise, by now, that no 'interest group' can dictate its agenda on another group and live in peace in this country where all of us must have an equal say.

I earnestly wish that, no matter how deeply convinced we may be, that our individual and/or collective political outlooks and visions for the country are the panacea for all its problems, we must realise the possibility of opposition to that outlook. Cognisant of such reality, which by the way is a universal phenomenon and not by any means peculiar to Ethiopia and Ethiopians, we must persevere to patiently pursue our goals in an incremental, but persistent manner.

Thus, in the new Millennium, I wish to see that all politically organised groups have realised that the way forward is through negotiation, accommodation, mutual reassurance and, above all, respect for each other. The self-righteous attitudes of some that ". . . theirs is the only solution to the nation's problems" and the void attitude of some others that ". . . they have a special custodian responsibility, more than all others, in defence of the sovereignty of the nation . . ." must be exposed and discarded.

I hope to see the new Millennium ushering in a new spirit that would allow us to guard against all sorts of such hypocritical attitudes. This will allow us to rationally, responsibly and patiently sort out internal political problems, a decisive measure needed for the creation of the necessary environment to put our country into a sustainable developmental path.

Furthermore, more than anything else, I desire to see the government coming out of the present nonchalant attitude towards planned population growth and effectively addressing the critical issue of population explosion. In tandem with this, the unfulfilled task in poverty reduction, food self-sufficiency, healthcare and universal education must be completed in the immediate future of the new Millennium.

If we succeed in these critical tasks, I am convinced that we can extricate the population from the centuries old abject poverty, ignorance, disease and deprivation. Thus, if we are capable of living up to this grandiose national task, there is good reason to believe that we can wholeheartedly envision a bright future for our country and its peoples and work hard with the view to creating a developed and prosperous nation that has a proper place amidst countries of honour and respect in the globalised world of today.

Happy Millennium!!!

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