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Yohannes Aberra, PhD
October 11, 2020
Every soul in Ethiopia wants to spend as many nights as possible without the stressful thoughts of war and disintegration, except for the political cowboys who cannot make peace even with themselves. In Ethiopia, we have reached a stage where we focus our discussions on the interpretation of constitutional articles rather than on the caliber of our guns and bullets. Wasn’t this a blessing? Before there were no constitutional debates. Our debates were about irreconcilable ideologies and how to win wars. The irony is that we are taking so-called civilized debates about constitutional provisions in an aggressive way, similar to that of a war. In Ethiopia, it seems that we have different constitutions, not one constitution and different interpretations. If we have different constitutions, we have different countries and therefore there is no need to debate. If we have a constitution and we interpret the constituent articles differently, we are dealing with ideas, not swords. Since constitutions are human documents, they are not perfect; it is the Constitution of God.
A lot of bad things happened in Ethiopia that the Ministry of Peace was expected to solve. Many innocent people have died and their property has been destroyed. Minister Muferiat is visibly a very kind and energetic person who, unfortunately, has been involved in the obligations of the party chain of command, disabling her freedom of impartial actions. It was unusual to have a peace ministry when I first heard about it. If an institutional arrangement for peacebuilding is to exist, it cannot function adequately within the domain of partisan politics. Peacemaking requires the participation of stakeholders from all areas of political, economic and social life. A cabinet ministry is subject to the political ideology of the ruling party, which may restrict the possibility of collaborative work with other parties and individuals who do not subscribe to the ideology or program of the ruling party. Pacification cannot be partisan; it is broad-based and inclusive. For more than a year, Muferiat was given a huge peacemaking machinery, but her hands were tied behind her back by the partisan politics she was forced to adhere to by party statutes.
Ethiopia has reached a stage where solving the dangerous problem it faces has become the responsibility of none other than the Muferiat Ministry of Peace. I will not go into the issue of the expiration of the mandate of the Ministry. Despite the debate over the expiration of the mandate, Ethiopia needs something to keep the peace. For now, he didn’t see anyone but Muferiat and his team to take care of this. We cannot afford to walk away and postpone peacemaking until after the next election or for a provisional, or transitional manager, etc. It is so urgent that someone already equipped for it bears the historical responsibility.
Muferiat’s statement on restraint has come a little late, but it is much better than ever. He expressed his words with such care that neither side can feel hurt or offended. This is the art of reconciliation! A mediator cannot succeed by taking sides. Notoriously violent and aggressive “journalists” from a safe distance, were massacring Muferiat as a traitor and as a faction, who “revealed secret divisions” within the establishment for which he works. What Muferiat did was break the party chain and say and do what true peace expects of her. She realized, over time, that if Ethiopia disintegrates because her Ministry was too partisan and therefore non-functional history will have no mercy on her, not on the rest of the Arat-Kilo establishment. Both parties must help Muferiat to be an independent arbiter and save Ethiopia from impending disaster.
Editor’s Note: Views in the article reflect the views of the writer, not the borkena website.
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