Ethiopia: Parliament's Dereliction of Duty

The broadcasting law is yet to be implemented to the letter and in the spirit it was promulgated despite its enactment by Parliament over 15 years ago. The explanation forwarded to justify this inexcusable failure is disappointing, to say the least.

Though the proclamation, which was re-enacted in 2007, entitles Ethiopian citizens to operate private television stations, the reasons given as to why no such license has been issued to date are still controversial. The latest rationale tabled by the Speaker of the House of Peoples' Representatives to defend the reluctance to license private television stations is that the issuance of such a license needed to be handled with prudence given the media's capacity to destroy a nation through their act. He added that licensing private investors to run a television was not something that one embarked on in licensing other businesses as it vested the government with a grave responsibility. This argument does not hold water. First of all, like any other business endeavor investors choose to carry on radio or television broadcasting for profit. Secondly, there simply does not exist any factor which validates the assumption that private broadcasters are liable to break the law. After all, as any business entity, they too undertake to abide by the constitution and other laws of the land when they are licensed and brought to justice when they break the law. Why should they alone be presumed to be guilty from the outset without sufficient cause? When we look back at the fifteen years that were wasted, we would not be mistaken to conclude that we would have been better not to enact the law at all than delay its implementation for unsatisfactory reasons. Actually it is the process of drafting and adopting a law which understandably takes time. But once it is passed everything necessary must be done to ensure that it is implemented immediately. This is the practice in other countries.

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