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 Dejenie A. Lakew. (Click here to read what others wrote.)
If I have been given an opportunity to serve Ethiopia as a leader, I will accept it humbly but with great responsibility, declaring:
* Leadership is service ship but with vision.
* No person or group can declare he/it is more serving than others.
And determined to do the following:
1. Establish a political system that will be stable and hence will become a culture to all its citizens at all times:
a. Impose term limit (constitutional) for an elected leader with no more than two terms: no elected leader stays in office more than the tenure time allowed. Political systems are more stable, beneficial and progressive when they are cultures, than having a supposedly “strong“ leader or “leaders” at times.
b. Allow elections to be just free, deleting the term fair from free and fair.
c. Craft political parties that share power in the central government based on programs that are designed to work for all peoples of Ethiopia, not for a particular ethnic group or groups.
d. Make our country a melting pot.
2. Promote a cultural philosophy that promotes:
a. Tolerance (which for technical reasons I prefer it to be patience) and peaceful coexistence for the benefit of all.
b. Culture of debate to solve differences by peaceful means.
c. Healthy leaving of all citizens with some level or standard of a modern life: in using clean water, electricity, school, clinics or health centers.
3. Education is one of the most cardinal things that all societies take seriously and invest immensely on it. It is a guide that prompts a society where to go in the future, and helps to solve current problems. It is also equalizer on international plat forms. Therefore it is imperative to develop an education system that:
a. takes care of the returns on its investments — it’s learned citizens paying a better salary that matches the standards of living of the time; allowing financial or market systems so that these citizens can buy cars, homes and therefore they value and appreciate what their country provides to them and the country appreciates what they do to their fellow citizens.
b. facilitates and establishes conditions to the learning of all its citizens emphasizing the fact that learning is a privilege but at the same time a responsibility.
c. Oriented towards solving problems of its citizens and facilitating conditions to its citizens to have a decent and better life.
d. Engages higher learning institutes to produce trained citizens with global knowledge that cooperate and compete in global platforms.
e. Promotes research in higher learning institutes by establishing state of the art research centers that coordinate such activities within and from outside.
f. Helps in crafting policies for the central government based on findings and recommendations from research centers and higher learning institutes .
4. Policy of Economic Development: Establishing effective infra-structures of communications and transport. In this particular category, constructing high ways, railroads across the four corners of the country and developing effective information technologies that are vital and timely. Having access to red sea is as important as having a door to a house and it is therefore imperative that we have that access to the red sea.
Developing means to utilize the most abundant natural resources the country has : minerals, water, natural gas, oil, wind power, solar energy, etc. . To promote a free economy policy and encourage investments by its citizens and foreign nationals.
5. To develop a constitution that guarantees the rights of all its citizens — giving emphasis on the fact that to be a citizen is a privilege but with more responsibility.
6. To establish a judicial system that is completely independent and free from any political power and influence.
7. The boundaries of Ethiopia should not be put to constant delimitation. Therefore, it has to be settled once and for all in order future generations should not be burdened by what we left to them as unfinished business. Particularly I will use all legal means available so thatEthiopia regains its rightful share of the red sea: it is vital for both economic and political reasons. I read a saying in Arab tradition that a country with no sea outlet is like a house with no door, but a house with no door is just a bird nest and I do not want our country to be that, after losing its century standing long sea boundary.
8. Establish a press law that guarantees a complete freedom of expression. There will not be what is called political prisoner during my term of office.
9. Foreign Policy and diplomacy:
a. Diplomats are molecular representatives of the country and hence much is expected from them. Therefore these offices should have not only effective diplomats, but also effective personnel on things the country needs from that particular country in terms of culture, politics, education, investment.
b. Promoting peaceful coexistence with our neighbors, condemning governments who have confrontational stances and promote conflicts.
10. The military is one of the most important sections of the country with all its duties and responsibilities in safeguarding the peace and territorial integrity of the country, but should be neutral to everything that is political and its compositions of files and ranks should reflect the diversity of its citizens.
(Dr Dejenie A. Lakew is Associate Professor of Mathematics at Virginia Union University. He can be reached at [email protected])
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s main opposition coalition said on Wednesday that some of its candidates were being prevented at gunpoint from registering for national elections in May.
The eight-party coalition, Medrek, also said it had obtained a ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) newsletter calling on party officials to follow, photograph and document the movements ofopposition members.
“In a lot of areas we have faced serious problems,” Medrek spokesman Merera Gudina told a news conference.
“In some areas our candidates were turned back at gunpoint. A candidate’s driver was told to leave town immediately or his car would be burned,” he said.
The Horn of Africa country’s election will be the first since a government victory in 2005 was disputed by the opposition. About 200 street protesters were killed by security forces and the main opposition leaders imprisoned.
Analysts say Medrek is the main threat to the 18-year-old government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, but the ruling party is still expected to win the May 23 poll. [ID:nL1641132]
The opposition says this is because they are harassed and jailed. The government says the opposition is trying to discredit the poll because it has no chance of winning.
Meles was hailed as part of a new generation of democratic African leaders in the 1990s but rights groups have increasingly criticised him for cracking down onopposition in sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous nation.
GATHERING EVIDENCE
Meles has agreed an electoral code of conduct with three opposition parties — two of which are dismissed by opponents as EPRDF aligned. Medrek refused to take part in talks saying crucial issues such as electoral board reform were left out.
Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal told Reuters the code outlined complaint procedures but the opposition had not yet used it to make allegations about being threatened at gunpoint.
“If they want to make the complaints officially they can, and they will be investigated,” Shimeles said. “Why haven’t they? Most of the complaints theopposition have made publicly so far have been proven to be false.”
Medrek described the EPRDF members newsletter it had obtained as an “election manual”.
“It describes us as anti-Ethiopia, anti-people, anti-peace, anti-development, all kinds of anti,” Merera said, showing the document in Amharic to the media.
Former Ethiopian President Negaso Gidada, who joined the opposition after falling out with Meles, said the newsletter tells ruling party officials to track opposition members.
“It tells them to get any kind of document in your hand from opposition parties in your area,” Negaso told Reuters. “And these documents could serve as evidence to be used against opposition leaders to accuse them and bring them to court.”
Ruling party spokesman, Hailemariam Desalegn, acknowledged that EPRDF members had been told to observe opposition members, but only to ensure they were not violating the code of conduct or provoking civil disobedience.
“The opposition always makes unfounded allegations against us,” Hailemariam told Reuters. “We need to ensure that if we accuse them, we have evidence.”
Candidates have five more days to register for the poll.
A couple of days ago, I came across postings of some self-indulgent exercises by “scholars and prominent individuals” and very many readers/visitors of Ethiopian Review Website. It seems to me that the ever enterprising Editor of the Ethiopian Review had sent out questions to Ethiopian “scholars and prominent individuals” and posted the same question sometimes last Week to the general reader, probably the 11th of February 2010 or there about. The invitation reads as follows: “Ethiopian Review invites readers to share with us what 10 things you will do immediately if you are elected as the president or prime minister of Ethiopia. Your ideas will help parties to formulate their political program in line with what the people want. We are also asking Ethiopian scholars and prominent individuals the same question.”
This form of invitation reminds of the type of questions one asks grade school children. And the purpose in such types of questions is not aimed to gather wisdom from the children, but to stimulate the imagination and cognition of children at that tender age, children who have very limited knowledge or experience of the world around them. I find it insulting to ask such questions of adult Ethiopians let alone Ethiopian “scholars and prominent individuals.” I am even more disappointed in the responses I read posted in that popular Website, even if there were some competent and less polarizing answers, such as that of Engineer Sioum Gebeyehou. The views of the “scholars and prominent individuals” thus posted did address in very superficial manner specific problems the state of Ethiopia and the Citizens of Ethiopia are facing currently. They also attempted to deal, rather clumsily, with problems that were historic problems that had emasculated a people for generations. It seems to me in reading such comments, one cannot avoid the haunting and nagging feeling that no one had really grasped the extent and form of real problems in Ethiopia, which seems to me ever to require a leader to implement very drastic and revolutionary solutions.
To begin with, the question is misleading in the sense that it leaves it to the reader to construct context for it. If one considers the current Ethiopian Government power structure, the “President” has no executive “power” to initiate or execute Governmental policies. He is just a figurehead, and thequestion should be reframed to reflect that existing constitutional reality and the response need be limited to the office of the Prime Minister and his power. The more appropriate question would have been a conditional premised question: “If you have leadership power, what ten things you will do immediately in Ethiopia?” We must understand that the current situation of Ethiopia is not limited to the inadequacy of the current Government or that of the immediate past, but the culmination of poor governance, decomposing culture, atrophying and ever dysfunctional familial relationship of centuries. The inertia that ever pulls us back every time we make some forward stride is enormous and overwhelming.
The way to fulfill our individual aspiration and our collective human purpose is to recognize and guarantee human rights universally not in its reduced form as an aspect of particular culture or as a reward for performance or as a privilege but as an inherent and fundamental attribute of being a person — a human being. A poignant observation by a great scholar of constitutional law succinctly illustrated the paradox between fundamental rights and guaranteed rights. Corwin, writing about the Constitution of the United States, stated that “the course of our constitutional development has been to reduce fundamental rights to rights guaranteed by the sovereign from the natural rights that they once were.” The concentration on ethics brings forth the correct state of mind of universalism without having to forgo our identity and our search for justice for a particular group of people.
Some of the scholars suggested some form of blanket amnesty to criminals that smells of the stench of protecting their own friends and maybe themselves from being tried for crimes committed during past governments or in the workings ofpolitical parties. As far as I am concerned, those who ask or suggest such solutions do not seem to respect individual lives of those who were victimized bypolitical leaders like Mengistu Hailemariam, Meles Zenawi et cetera. The first duty of every Ethiopian is to identify and bring to some form of formal process those leaders who had committed serious crimes of murder, torture, detention of Ethiopians due topolitical differences and struggle for power. In fact, I will include on that long list of offenders military commanders who sent their troops into battle without proper preparation and logistic support resulting in the unnecessary death and destruction of thousands of brave soldiers and weapon.
The model I would use would be a cross between the governmental structures and the relationship with the respective armies of the two countries namely Turkey and South Korea that I believe would serve my purpose, with adaptation to the unique culture andpolitical history of Ethiopia. I would implement the following ten policies vigorously, not just as Prime Minister but also as a “dictator” if need be willing to use force with full support of committed military forces.
1. Establish and enforce the ownership of land and also allow all forms of ownership of property based on freedom of individual rights of free trade. Property and wealth is the biological and moral foundation of all individual rights. Without the right to private property and private ownership of land there can be no solid respect for and safeguard of individualpolitical , civil and fundamental rights. Void all lease of Ethiopian land to foreigners (individuals or nations) for farming and mining purposes. No private ownership of Gold mines in Ethiopia by foreign interests.
2. Remove all international organizations such as the African Union, United Nations’ Agencies, and other international organizations, with the exception of medical missions, from Ethiopia. Reduce drastically the number of Embassies. Declare the Algiers Agreement of December 12, 2000, null and void. Withdraw any recognition of an independent Eritrea. Promote strong ties with selected foreign countries on mutual respect and benefits of trade and cultural exchanges. [The State of Israel should be on that list no matter what other countries would be involved in close relationships with Ethiopia.] Reviewall international relationships and international agreements. It is unconscionable for a poor country with extremely polarized social and economic structure in the local population to host very expensive international institutions and personnel. It is worse than being colonized having such international presence in an utterly poor country where no less than five million of its population are permanently in famine conditions year after year for more than thirty years, and whose budgetary expense is more than by half subsidized by foreign aid. No one denies the fact that there are very many honorable international civil servants working to help disadvantaged populations around the world and in Ethiopia, but they are wasting their good will and hard work on bad policies that had never worked since the establishment of theUnited Nations nearly seventy years ago.
3. Charge Meles Zenawi and his close associate with treason against the state of Ethiopia and for violations of the Constitutional rights of Ethiopians (who were murdered, incarcerated or tortured) under their supervision and power, and for allowing and participating in international conspiracy to destroy Ethiopia by landlocking it and ceding Ethiopian controlled territories to the Sudan and other neighboring states. Establish a Tribune to try especially all pastpolitical leaders in political parties and those individuals involved in both Red and White Terror during the reign of terror of Mengistu Hailemariam. Additional civilian process should be initiated to recover the hundreds of millions of dollars and other hard currencies and Gold stashed around the World by Officials who run REST and later EFFORT. Meles Zenawi, Azeb Mesfin, Abadi Zemu, Sebhat Nega, Mohammed Al’moudi and others being the primary targets of such investigation and court proceedings.
4. Initiate foundational “Cultural Revolution” that promotes personal hygiene. Force equality within inter-family relationships of members, respect and freedom of children, respect and equality of females. Ban all forms of corporal punishment to children whether by parents, guardians, or teachers. Implement forcefully through education and demonstration, and with the assistance of religious leaders, to reverse the population explosion by allowing only two children per married couple.
5. Arm each Ethiopian Family with weapon for defense, at least with a modern gun. The Husband and Wife team is of equal status and with equal access to the family gun. Every Ethiopian shall be trained in self-defense and the use of weapon starting at a young age. There is a risk in that a well armed population may resist drastic changes in its established ways and entrenched interests. Nevertheless, it is the measure of a popular government to be able to implement highly revolutionary but extremely important and necessary changes.
6. Outlaw all forms of sex based trades, trafficking in female and male children, prostitution, pimping et cetera, and close all brothels, bars and camouflaged sex industries. Sexual contact can only be allowed through legitimate marriage. Rape and all other crimes of fornication and adultery will be severely punished. The main reason for the population explosion and moral deterioration in Ethiopia is due to the fact that the Ethiopian family has lost control of the sexuality of its members. In turn the community has turned a blind eye to the unrestricted sexual indulgence of its members. Access to Ethiopian females has become dirt cheap; the Ethiopian male has lost his initiative to upgrade his worth in order to be attractive to the female, for he can now buy sex cheaply because of loose communal control of the sexuality of the members of such communities. No marriage under the age of eighteen will be allowed for both sexes. Modesty in dress and purity in body and soul is the moral guide for all Ethiopians.
7. No Ethiopian female will be given an Ethiopian exit visa to work in Arab Countries or in the Middle East in general as domestic worker. All Ethiopian females in the Middle East will be removed and brought back to their home and provided with adequate means of living. It is established beyond any doubt that Arabs in general are the worst abusers of immigrant workers in the World. Especially the brutality and degenerate sexuality and misogynous culture of Arabs in general is horrendous and an affront to the decency of all Ethiopians Moslems and Christians alike, as was clearly recorded by the number of suicides and beheading or execution of Ethiopian females in the last twenty years.
8. Establish two new Capital Cities one in Northern Ethiopia (Bahr Dar or Gondar) and another in Southern Ethiopia (Assela or Bale). Addis Ababa will be considered as a “Historic City” and Free Trade Zone. The population of the City will be reduced to no more than half a million people, and the rest would have to be resettled elsewhere in Ethiopia. All of the Ministries and other Government Offices will be equally divided into two and removed and reestablished in the two New Capital Cities. I need not remind you the documented fact that Addis Ababa has underdeveloped the rest of Ethiopia because it had sucked over eighty percent of all available funding from international organizations and other nations, leaving next to nothing development funding to the rest of Ethiopia, for the last fifty years. It is immoral to have all the wealth poured in to developing Addis Ababa when Ethiopians within a stone throw are drinking bacteria infested muddy water, starving, and dying of treatable disease, and living in horribly unhygienic huts in shanty towns, no better than the congested nests of the colony of weaver birds.
9. Dissolve the current Killel system and ethnic language based “federal” political organization of the state of Ethiopia. I will enforce a new administrative structure that will be organized based on the small Woreda sized local administration structure. Ethiopia will have a unitary administrative internal structure. Ethnicity will have no role in such administration, and will only be recognized as a social and cultural reality. To date all of our leaders, past and present, bite more than they could chew, and as result we are now in such a state where we are writing self-indulgent elementary wishful thinking. Historically, Ethiopian administrators and civil servants may have succeeded in preserving the State of Ethiopia in an independent existence, but they failed miserably to develop the economic and civil involvement of the people of Ethiopia. Ethiopia remains the most primitive state in the World even though it had the luxury of never having been colonized and mostly left alone to its devices. It is incompetence and narrow vision, and fearful relationships of individual Ethiopians that led to our national sever stagnation.
10. Taking as model for excellence both the Continental and British (American) systems of education, establish and promote a new education system for Ethiopia by empowering communities to create and regulate their schools with close supervision of the Central Government’s Ministry of Education. Education will emphasize science and technology. Primary education up to Eighth grade will provide adequate and nutritious lunch services to all students.
There are several more policies that need be implemented by a responsible Ethiopian Leader and Government. I have only indicated in my ten points the most drastic but also the most needed policies.
Saint Gebriel Church of Ethiopians in Seattle regretfully announces the passing away of our Holy Father, His Eminence Archbishop Zena Markos, on February 13, 2010, in Seattle, Washington.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in perpetual peace.
Information regarding the funeral arrangement will be announced soon.
Out of state guests who would like to pay their last respect by coming to Seattle: Accommodations are available at Best Western Executive Inn in Downtown Seattle.
For reservations call 206.448.9444 (please mention Ezra Group)
Cost $69.00 per night
Numerous Ethiopian families in and around the greater Seattle area have indicated their willingness to open their homes to out of state visitors coming to attend the funeral service. Anyone who would like to stay with an Ethiopian family instead of a hotel, please contact the following organizers:
Ato Gashaw Anadrega: 206.330.8761
Ato Dagnaw Angaw: 206.271.1138
Visitors who need transportation from Sea-Tac airport to St. Gebriel Church please call the organizer:
Ato Muluneh Yohannes: 206.604.4835
For any information regarding the funeral arrangement please contact the organizing chairs:
Ato Ezra Teshome: 206.391.0326
Engineer Girmah Haile-Leul: 206.713.9403
For up-to-date information regarding the funeral service, please visit the Seattle Saint Gebriel official website at: www.st-gebriel.org
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])
CBS News presents a special report about the adoption scam in Ethiopia. The scam is being perpetrated by businesses affiliated with the ruling Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne). The adoption agencies pay hefty commissions to the notorious female gangster Azeb Mesfin, who is the wife of Ethiopia’s genocidal dictator Meles Zenawi. Watch below:
