Author: admin

Opposition political leaders should start shaping political dialogue by extolling the civic values of liberty, tolerance, transparency and development over ethnic identity. Getting the population out of poverty should take center stage. Ethiopia deserves a better political system than fatal obsession with ethnocentric federalism.

A democratic territorial-based federalism would ensure that individual and group rights are conferred based on residency and not ethnicity. In fact, this arrangement would be the best model to advance inclusive, equitable, and sustainable socio economic growth, democratization, and good governance; while at the same time, enhancing the stability and security of Ethiopians and the Ethiopian State.

Nearly three decades of its implementation has amply demonstrated that the Ethiopian Constitution has not bode well for our country. Its weakness has been made worse by its inbuilt mechanism of blocking amendments. A nation of over a hundred million people ought not be taken captive by a document put in place by an unscrupulous group, i.e., the TPLF and its accomplices.

If Ethiopia is going to have a decent post-conflict economic recovery, this mixing of business with politics, the ethnically centered enterprise empire-building, and few family-controlled conglomerates need to be reformed. The opportunity should not be missed.

Sadly, the world has different standards for Africa. There is a widespread doubt about whether the people of Africa are ready for democracy. A milieu of explanations has been put forward. Chief among them are that democratic norms and institutions have not developed and the majority of the populace is uneducated and apathetic about who is in power.