Ethiopian Review has asked scholars and prominent individuals what 10 things they would do immediately if they are elected president or prime minister of Ethiopia. The following is by Dr Aklog Birara. (Click here to read what others wrote.)
If I had the privilege of serving the Ethiopian people as a leader
Ethiopia has a glorious history spanning over three thousand years. It is endowed with untapped and enormous natural resources, a wealth of diverse human capital, and varied cultural heritages that come from more than 80 ethnic groups. These potential assets convey a bright future for the country and its diverse population. The world community knows more about recurring famine than these substantial natural resource and human assets. The country’s poverty is largely human made, and can be corrected by the Ethiopian people. The question is how?
If I had the privilege of serving the Ethiopian people as a leader, I will initiate the following ten things as part of a process to harness the country’s natural and human resource capital with the objective of creating a solid institutional foundation for rapid, equitable and inclusive development in which everyone will be involved in and would benefit. My primary emphasis will be institution building and sustained participation of the Ethiopian people in building an integrated, mutually supportive and collaborative multi-national society.
1. I will call for a series and well-coordinated national conferences under the theme: Visioning Peace, Reconciliation, Harmony, Shared Growth and Development for the Ethiopian People. I will structure these conversational conferences demographically, with top-notch Ethiopian facilitators capable of energizing and enabling participants to talk to one another and to their government officials directly.
a)Wise elders (women and men) from each region vetted and nominated by their communities.
b)Youth representatives from secondary schools, colleges and universities vetted and nominated by their peers.
c) Girls and women from a cross-section of social and nationality groups.
d) Representatives of different college and university faculties throughout the country.
e) Representatives of business groups from all sectors and trades.
f) Representatives of faith groups.
g) Representatives of all political parties.
Each session will seek to stimulate open and frank conversations on vision for the future of the country, with special attention on the type of: geopolitical configuration of a multi-ethnic modern nation, a political system with accountability to citizens that they feel they deserve, an economic and social system that will harness peoples’ potential to the maximum, the education model they wish to see as part of the modernization process, the kind of complementarities and partnerships among the state, domestic private sector and foreign direct investment economic actors they want to see, their views and perceptions concerning the role of the Diaspora, options with regard to regional trade and economic integration and potential benefits that they feel would serve them and the country better. Findings will be distilled and shared with all of the Ethiopian people, and will serve as discussion points with Ethiopian political parties.
2. Ethiopia has always been run by strong persons or parties and not by institutions. The second priority for me will be to establish and confirm that all Ethiopian government institutions are and will be totally independent and free from political parties and ethnicity, durable and serve the needs of all of the Ethiopian people regardless of change in government. These will include the judiciary, military establishment, election board, civil service, all ministries and other key institutions. I will staff these institutions with the best and most competent and diverse individuals in the country, and will ensure that each key official is accountable to the public, and serves as a model for the rest of her/his team. These institutions will be totally de-politicized and de-ethnicized and will generate trust and confidence among citizens as the bedrock of Ethiopian society.
3. Ethiopian society has, for long, suffered from the absence of the rule of law and a political mechanism that ensures government accountability and integrity to citizens. The Ethiopian people deserve an effective and competent government capable of addressing the structural, policy, technological and cultural barriers that keep the Ethiopian people among the poorest in the world, and the country among the ten least developed. To do this, the government must be ready and willing to carryout needs reforms. An effective government is fundamental in the 21st century. A government can’t be effective unless it subjects itself to the same rules and regulations as the rest of society. Transparency and effectiveness in serving citizens occur when government officials are governed by the rule law, and when the political process is subject to public decisions that come from periodic fair, free, open, transparent and competitive elections. I will make sure that my government is held accountable for proper and ethical use of all public budgetary resources, including foreign aid. I will set-up an independent board consisting of representatives from segments of society identified in bullet one above to monitor and disclose to the public the extent to which the government is free from any form of corruption. Anyone identified as corrupt will be held accountable to the full extent of the law, and will be removed from official responsibilities and will be required to recompense.
4. I will convene a ministerial retreat with the most credible technical and professional advisors to review, assess and prepare a short, medium and long-term socioeconomic plan identifying key sector, program and investment priorities with the objective of meeting the immediate and urgent economic and social services needs of the Ethiopian people ; present a road map and provide active government leadership in establishing agric-based manufacturing and industrial capacity in sectors and sub-sectors in which the country has a comparative advantage; establish a transparent, open and stimulating regulatory framework and environment for the domestic private sector, including the Diaspora, to participate effectively; encourage foreign investors to form partnerships with Ethiopian entrepreneurs on a mutually beneficial basis; and negotiate with foreign governments reduce trade barriers and to open up their markets to Ethiopian exporters and urge countries.
5. I will ensure that all ministers and other key government officials are information technology friendly and savvy. The Internet is one of the most democratizing and enabling technologies in the world today. The Ethiopian people deserve to have access to and optimal use of the Internet and other technologies to improve their lives. It is a vital tool to gain knowledge, information, markets and networks. It is indispensable for our society. One of my government’s priorities will be to make the internet available to all schools, and to implement a low cost internet system for use by millions of Ethiopians throughout the country. I will seek financing for this program from foreign foundations and the Diaspora. My government will approach government and non-government organizations, foundations and academic institutions familiar with the technology and persuade them to provide technical guidance and expertise in launching the technology to Ethiopian conditions and culture. I intend to make this
6. The Nile Basin Initiative of 1999 had offered riparian states an opportunity to share the waters of the Nile equitably and fairly to advance their economies. Ethiopia has a legitimate right to utilize a substantial part of the waters that originate from its lands. My government will take the initiative to call on member states of the Nile Basin Initiative to implement the agreed protocol urgently. A major priority of my government will be to use Ethiopia’s water resources to the fullest by building irrigation systems and hydroelectric power for industrial use and for rural and urban electrification. Implementation of the Nile Basin Initiative will be part of my government’s strategy.
7. Ethiopia is among the most aid dependent countries in the world, with total aid this year amounting to over US$ 2 billion and remittances estimated between US$2 to US$2.5 billion per annum. It is not entirely clear from the evidence gathered that the Ethiopian people are getting the maximum value from these resources. There is every indication that the majority of citizens do not have any clue how funds are used and the economic and social priorities for which they are used. For example, the country continues to suffer from food insecurity. There are indications of inadequate or no social services in health, sanitation, safe drinking water, access to education for certain segments of society, including girls and remote communities. There is a high level of disparity and inequality in the provision of services. The almost paternalistic type of top-down government model has not responded to the needs of the population. In light of this, I plan to invite the most experienced and competent Ethiopians with knowledge and experience in development to review aid effectiveness and come up with a set of recommendations that will optimize all aid resources with a view of strengthening productivity, self-reliance and the growth of the domestic private sector. These recommendations will be shared with the Ethiopian people and with the donor community.
8. I will invite all political parties, including those outside the country, to a national round table dialogue session to discuss and reach a consensus on the critical problems facing the country and on the potential options going forward. Political parties cannot simply go on accusing one another and not hold themselves accountable for solutions. I will use data from 1 above in these sessions are reminders to participants what representatives of the Ethiopian people hope, aspire and expect from their government and from political parties. I will use the sessions as a mechanism to persuade the 90 plus political parties to consolidate themselves to three or four, and to move from ethnic-based political processes to national-based political competition.
9.I will organize a truly free, fair, open, transparent and competitive election with domestic and international observers throughout the country. I will devote budgetary resources to allow sufficient air time for all political parties to use the state media to debate and to share their visions for the country unencumbered.
10. I will establish an expert group to study and review the land tenure system and come-up with a set of reform proposals that will enable Ethiopia to achieve food self-sufficiency within 15 years, and expand its agric-based manufacturing, industrial and export potential. The expert group will be asked to examine various options from best practices around the globe, taking Ethiopia’s history, culture, and development practices and limitations into account. This same group will be asked to assess the conditions, benefits, costs and potential damages to communities and the environment of land leases approved by the previous government, with a view of renegotiating the terms and conditions so that affected communities and the Ethiopian people would gain from the agreements.
(Dr Aklog Birara is an economist with the World Bank. He can be reached at [email protected])
By Elias Kifle
On Sunday, Netsanet LeEthiopia Radio in Washington DC conducted an interview with me and Ato Neamin Zeleke on the Feb. 22 Eritrean worldwide march where Ethiopians plan to join them. Click below to listen (forward to 15:00):
[podcast]http://www.ethiopianreview.info/audio/Netsanet LeEthiopia-14Feb2010.mp3[/podcast]
Also on Sunday, Ethiopian Review’s Paltalk Room held a discussion on the same topic where over 200 participants took part. Guests included Ato Sileshi Tilahun, EPPF representative in U.K.; Ato Fekade Shewakena, writer and commentator; Ato Neamin Zeleke, activist, writer and commentator; and Dr Berhe Habte-Giorgis, professor of Business Administration, Rowan University, New Jersey.
Ethiopian Review has asked scholars and prominent individuals what 10 things they would do immediately if they are elected president or prime minister of Ethiopia. The following is By Dr Solomon Negash. (Click here to read what others wrote.)
If I were the president or prime minister of Ethiopia I will do the following:
1) Term limit: quit my position after one term to establish the practice of term limit.
2) Food: promote a strategy to end the chronic famine. Establish a mechanism to feed everyone in Ethiopia.
3) Economy: move the agrarian economy from subsistence farming to large scale farming. Expand manufacturing, financial, and service industries. Increase exports.
4) Education: Increase the rigor, quality, and access of education.
5) National pride: increase national unity through common history and goal.
6) Dependency on foreign aid: become self sufficient.
7) Information Technology: open Internet access; use the Internet as economic facilitator and engine.
8) Health: increase basic health access.
9) Middle income family: develop a strategy to create a vibrant middle income family.
10) Diaspora: encourage an atmosphere of collaboration between Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia everywhere.
(Dr Solomon Negash is Associate Professor of Information Systems at Kennesaw State University,
Kennesaw, Georgia, USA. He can be reached at [email protected])
By Alemayehu G. Mariam
It has been said that Africa’s natural resources — oil, diamonds, minerals — have often proven to be sources of woe, suffering and misery than wealth, prosperity and progress for the people of the continent. What should have been a blessing for Africa’s poor has become a curse of corruption, malfeasance and bad governance. Could Africa’s new found wealth in farmlands prove to be a curse once again? If so, how could it be averted?
Last week, Ghanaian Vice President John Mahama contended that transparency, public accountability and scrutiny are necessary to ensure the proper use of natural resources in Africa. Speaking to an international conference in Accra on the public’s right of access to official information, Mahama announced that “information on all contracts on the oil find [in Ghana] would be made known to the citizenry for public scrutiny.” He explained that “Lack of access to information will create a gulf of confidence between government and the governed, breed mistrust, suspicion, corruption and lack of faith in the building blocks of democracy… It is against this background that the government of Ghana has started publishing all information on contracts on our oil find.” Mahama praised Ghana’s media for its dogged investigative role in promoting transparency and accountability in government contracting. He topped off his speech by declaring that “legitimate governments would not withhold information from the citizenry.” Ex-President Jimmy Carter praised Ghana’s effort at transparency, and reported that “President Mills also told [him] a third of the [oil] revenue will be put away for posterity, a third will be invested into education to benefit future leaders and a third will go directly into national treasury for current expenses.”
Recent oil and gas exploration deals in Ghana have been mired in serious allegations of corruption and criminality. In 2007, Ghana announced it had discovered offshore oil reserves with the potential to produce more than 2 billion barrels of oil by 2030. In 2004, the Ghanaian government signed an oil exploration agreement with various companies whose activities are now under official scrutiny. Last March, the newly-elected President John Evans Atta Mills pledged to make public all past and future gas and oil exploration agreements.
There are many disturbing questions surrounding the 2004 oil exploration agreements. The fact that the government concluded the complex agreements with the companies in weeks has raised questions about the thoroughness of the negotiating process. The agreements, concluded without parliamentary approval or formal cabinet-level review, have led to allegations of cover-ups. More red flags were raised when it came to public light that certain key players in the oil deals had close association with the former president John Kufuor, but little or not prior experience in the oil business. One of the co-owners of the company awarded an exploration contract was a physician in the U.S. who was later appointed ambassador in various European capitals by Kufuor. Little is known about the identities of the individuals or the financial backers of the companies who received the sole-source exploration contracts. Few details are available to the public on production and distribution rights, payments to the government and share transfer agreements between investors and the various companies involved. One of Ghana’s leading media outlets commented: “The sweetheart deals in the oil sector, which spotted powerful oil barons, whose footprints leads to the office of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, is about to turn sour… with the ‘Kufour boys’ about to face 25 criminal charges, [for actions] bordering on criminality [including] blatant falsification of public records in a mad rush to control Ghana’s black gold…”
Transparency and effective public access to information on official decisions and the decision-making processes used to reach them are cornerstones of international law and the constitutions of most countries. Article 13 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (2003) [ratified by Ethiopia on November 27, 2007] requires signatories to ensure “transparency and effective public access to information”. Article IV of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Resolution on the Adoption of Principles on Freedom of Expression (2002), provides that “Public bodies hold information not for themselves but as custodians of the public good and everyone has a right to access this information, subject only to clearly defined rules established by law.” Article 29 (3) (b) of the “Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia” guarantees an all-inclusive duty of disclosure of official information that meets the test of “public interest”: “Freedom of the press shall specifically include the following… (b) access to information of public interest.” Article 29 is bolstered by Article 12 (“Functions and Accountability of Government”), which sweepingly mandates: “The activities of government shall be undertaken in a manner which is open and transparent to the public…”
For the past couple of years, there have been many questions raised concerning the Ethiopian dictatorship’s numerous foreign “investment” deals involving millions of hectares of farmland[1] and a border agreement with the Sudan[2]. Except for those who secretly concluded the so-called farmland “leases” or sales, or signed the border “demarcation” agreement with the Sudan, the negotiation processes and the complete text of the agreements remain shrouded in a veil of secrecy behind a dense fog of official cover-ups, hush-ups and whitewashes. None of the deals and agreements have been subject to public scrutiny. However, there is sufficient evidence gathered by independent sources which raises many disturbing questions about the negotiation process and the terms and conditions of the farmland and borderland deals.
According to a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the official reports of the dictatorship with respect to the magnitude of the land deals lacks credibility[3]:
In Ethiopia, for example, enquiries at the state-level Oromia investment promotion agency found evidence of some 22 proposed or actual land deals, of which 9 were over 1,000 ha, in addition to the 148 recorded at the national investment promotion agency. It is possible to speculate that state-level agencies in other Ethiopian states may also have records of additional projects, and that some land acquisitions may not have been recorded at all…. For example, in Ethiopia information about the land size of many deals proposed or concluded in 2008 was missing….
There is further evidence to suggest official under-recording and misclassification to conceal the true nature and scope of the land “leases” or sales. The FAO/IFAD report states: “An investment by German company Flora EcoPower in Ethiopia was reported to involve 13,000 ha (hectare), while it is recorded at the Ethiopian investment promotion agency for 3,800 ha only.” Moreover, the dictatorship intentionally misclassifies the lands “leased” or sold to the foreign “investors” as vacant “wastelands” (that is unoccupied by anyone or just wilderness) in an effort to conceal the fact that inhabited lands are part of a grand land giveaway scheme to foreign “investors”. The FAO/IFAD report specifically points out:
In Ethiopia, for example, all land allocations recorded at the national investment promotion agency are classified as involving “wastelands” with no pre-existing users. But this formal classification is open to question, in a country with a population of about 75 million, the vast majority of whom live in rural areas. Evidence collected by in-country research suggests that at least some of the lands allocated to investors in the Benishangul Gumuz and Afar regions were previously being used for shifting cultivation and dry-season grazing, respectively.
On May 21, 2008, Meles Zenawi publicly described his agreement with Omar al-Bashir as follows:
We, Ethiopia and Sudan, have signed an agreement not to displace any single individual from both sides to whom the demarcation benefits…We have given back this land, which was occupied in 1996. This land before 1996 belonged to Sudanese farmers. There is no single individual displaced at the border as it is being reported by some media.
Zenawi insists on keeping the actual Agreement shrouded in absolute secrecy. There is no reason whatsoever why the border Agreement should not be made public in its entirety. If the Agreement is made public, it will either provide support to Zenawi’s claims or negate them, demonstrating that he is misrepresenting facts. The cloak of secrecy surrounding this Agreement raises many questions: Why isn’t the text of the formal Agreement between the two countries available for public scrutiny? What are the specific terms and conditions concerning the border demarcation lines and the rights of individuals living along the border made public since that would be the best evidence of the vicarious representation of them made by Zenawi? Why wasn’t the Agreement ratified by the “House of Peoples’ Representatives” as mandated by the Article 55, section 12 (“House of Peoples’ Representatives… shall ratify international agreements concluded by the executive.”) of the “Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia”? What conceivable “national security” exceptions apply to an Agreement which has been a subject of public commentary and explanation by the head of the dictatorship? What conceivable justification exists to keep secret an Agreement that merely marks the international borders of the two countries and protects the rights of the population in the border?
The simple point is that the runaway farmland and borderland giveaway deals need to be publicly scrutinized to ensure transparency (detect corruption and criminality) and to make certain that private interests (sweetheart deals) have not overtaken the public interest, or secret deals are not made to harm the Ethiopian national interest.
Mr. Zenawi: TEAR DOWN THE STONEWALL OF SECRECY AROUND YOUR FARMLAND AND BORDERLAND DEALS!” The Ethiopian people have a right to know, and you have a compulsory legal duty to ensure that they have “access to information of public interest.” (See, “Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,” Article 29 (3) (b) and Article 12, section (1) (“government activities must be open and transparent to the public); Article 13 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (2003) [ratified by Ethiopia on November 27, 2007].)
“Legitimate governments would not withhold information from their citizenry.” Ghanaian Vice President John Mahama
(Alemayehu G. Mariam, is a professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles. He writes a regular blog on The Huffington Post, huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ and his commentaries appear regularly on pambazuka.org, allafrica.com, newamericamedia.org and other sites.)
