Solomon Gebre-Selassie
27 March 2009
opinion
Though Ethiopia is an ancient civilisation rich in indigenous culture and strong religious traditions, Solomon Gebre-Selassie suggests the security of the country is in jeopardy owing to the corruption surrounding national elections and politics.
Gebre-Selassie traces the recent history of Ethiopia's struggle for democratisation and social justice. Beginning with the nation's conflicting elite groups and the separation of Eritrea from Ethiopia, the author examines how various parties and policies have impeded democracy. With particular emphasis on the Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the affiliated Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Force (EPRDF), Gebre-Selassie seeks to uncover the root of Ethiopia's political issues while simultaneously acknowledging the success of the opposition in its quest for a democratic society.
Ethiopia is a country with over 3,000 years of recorded and oral history, and African civilisation. It is one of the few ancient civilisations that has its own scripts and indigenous culture. The obelisks at Axum, the castles at Gondar, the rock-hewn churches at Lalibela in the north of the country, and the Gadda democratic system among Ethiopia's southern people, are some of the examples of this indigenous culture. The country has been at the crossroads of ancient world culture, and near eastern religions such as Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are prominent within Ethiopian society.
During the late 19th century, Ethiopia avoided European colonialism by defeating the invading Italian army at Adowa in 1896. Forty years later, the Italian fascist army returned and managed to occupy the country for approximately five years, engulfing the nation with guerrilla warfare to gain control. The modern Ethiopian polity was built like any other polity through invasion and counter-invasion, commerce, and inter-marriage. The residue of these historical factors created major contradictions among Ethiopia's elite, the consequence of which appears to have sparked the separation of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1991 (de facto), and in 1993 (de jure), to form a separate government.
Opposition among the elite was exacerbated with the rise of a brutal military regime following the Ethiopian revolution of 1974. The revolution culminated in the overthrow of the Ethiopian monarchy and its last emperor, Emperor Haile Selassie. The military regime over-centralised an administration that was already centralised under the emperor, and triggered or perpetuated secessionist movements in some parts of the country. This belated attempt to implement a system of regional autonomy by loosening its centralist grip was disregarded, and more importantly, unaccompanied with the democratisation of the Ethiopian polity.
The failure of the Derg - military rulers of Ethiopia in power from 1975-1991 - to democratise Ethiopia and allow opposition parties to peacefully and legally operate in the country, was the major impediment that eventually caused the military group's defeat, and which continues to wreak havoc on contemporary Ethiopia. Not only is the country suffering from a democracy deficit, but also the historic famines that intermittently attack the country continue to claim innocent victims.
The military rulers' primary target was the leftist intellectual movement in Ethiopia. By brutally suppressing the Left - students, teachers, workers, youth and women - the Derg narrowed the political space to a confrontation between itself and ethno-nationalist forces, a confrontation that resulted in the Derg's demise. One of the larger leftist parties, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP), has now shed its Marxist ideology and operates among the opposition as a social democratic party.
The core group that was instrumental in the overthrow of the military rulers was the Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a group representing the third or fourth most populous indigenous group in Ethiopia (after the Oromo, Amhara and Somali). Drawing tremendous support from their Eritrean counterpart, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front - with whom they have since fallen out and fought two wars against after becoming separate governments - the TPLF did not have trouble routing and defeating a beleaguered military regime challenged from all directions.
The TPLF, a partisan force purportedly established to struggle for four million people among Ethiopia's 76 million people on the one hand, while subscribing to an Albanian brand of Marxism-Leninism on the other, has been operating between these bounds and the greater demand of the Ethiopian people for fundamental fairness, the rule of law, and democracy. To improve its image as an Ethiopianist force, the TPLF and other opposition groups created the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Force (EPRDF), an umbrella organisation consisting of former prisoners of war, among others. However, the main engine in this amalgam of sorts was the TPLF. Even 18 years after it assumed power, the regime still has not shed its partisan name of Tigrean People's Liberation Front, despite masquerading as an Ethiopianist force under the guise of the EPRDF.
Within Ethiopia today, the TPLF owns and operates several party businesses in key economic sectors. Construction, agri-business, printing presses and transportation are some of the key sectors the party dominates. Even some foreign non-governmental organisations have reported that they have been unduly pressured to operate in Tigrai (the region the ruling party hails from) in an unabashed partisan move. Unfortunately though not surprisingly, the people of the Tigrai region are not the beneficiaries of this corruption and nepotism. Those affiliated with the TPLF party - members, supporters and their families - are the only beneficiaries.
Although the cabinet of ministers under the TPLF reflects the indigenous backgrounds of Ethiopia in terms of representation, there have been increasing complaints that the TPLF has constructed a parallel government system in which its party and supporters wield all power behind the scenes in almost every ministry, board, department, office, and foreign embassy. In order to protect itself and its principles of corruption and exclusion, the TPLF has, since its inception, embarked upon implementing a dictatorial-state and terrorist path using state machinery. The army, security, police and mass media are employed to harass, jail, kill and assist in the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians in flagrant defiance of international norms of behaviour, and its own constitution.
At the root of the problems in Ethiopia is a constitution drafted and ratified without following democratic norms. Independent scholars such as Professor Theodore M. Vestal of Oklahoma State University in the US, suggest that 'the constitution is both nominal and fictive. Its provisions describe but do not limit government behavior and they do not correspond to actual government practice. There is no commitment to constitutionalism.'[1]
The TPLF itself has grossly failed to respect its own deficient constitution; the struggle during the past few years has been for the regime to respect the provisions in its own constitution rather than to initiate the re-drafting and ratification necessary to form a democratic constitution. To that effect, the regime has run four major national elections since it came to power: in 1992, 1995, 2000, and 2005. In each and every one of the elections, the regime has defrauded citizens, something acknowledged by foreign observers and citizens alike. The 2005 election was a bit more promising than all the others; this election will be discussed in detail later.
International observers, invited by the TPLF, declared that the 1992 elections had major irregularities. However, the US and other donors were quite content to continue with business, ignoring any profound discrepancies. The National Election Board, formed by individuals carefully selected by the TPLF, similarly certified the 1995 and 2000 elections to be 'free and fair', thus assuring a TPLF majority in parliament.
In the meantime, the Ethiopian population continued to gain momentum in its democratic struggle. Opposition political parties, including those both legal and banned, civic organisations, the Ethiopian diaspora, and other supporters strived for the country's democratisation and the establishment of the rule of law. The TPLF, aided and abetted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for its 'privatisation' efforts and for allegedly breaking the centralist and commandist control of the Derg economy, saw no reason to compromise.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
