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Alex Bekele
November 25, 2020
After 27 years of popular resistance to the tyranny of the EPDRF, the Ethiopians ousted the TPLF, the hegemonic power under the EPDRF’s cover, from power and accepted Abiy Ahmed as prime minister. His acceptance was based on his promise to end tyranny and usher in democratic governance in its place. To signal the direction in which he will rule, he released political prisoners, pardoned all political refugees and made peace with Eritrea. Yet he was hesitant to hold anyone accountable for 27 years of human rights abuses, mismanagement, and mind-boggling corruption. Ultimately, he pretended that the change the Ethiopian people fought for was against the individuals of the TPLF, not against their ideology and the constitution they imposed on us. Gradually, but certainly, it adopted the so-called TPLF constitution and the so-called Ethnic Federation. Subsequently, TPLF 2.0 continued with Abiy in command, the OLF hegemony replacing that of the TPLF. As so-called ethnic federalism was a cobweb veil for ethnic hegemony under the TPLF, it continued to be so under the so-called Prosperity Party. OLF decides; others follow. Chaos, destabilization, and excessive corruption resumed greatly revitalized. If all we get from our 29 1/2 years of experience with our so-called ethnic federalism is permanent chaos, massive dislocation, grotesque human rights abuses, and excessive corruption, it behooves us to reexamine what is wrong with that. In this article I will argue that the form and purpose in which it was introduced and practiced, the lack of consensus on the primacy of the Nation State, the imbalance in the distribution of power between Federal and Kilil, the democratic deficit in the system and the endless La call for autonomous regions are the problems of so-called ethnic federalism in which we languished for almost three decades.
Who introduced this concept of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia, how and for what purpose is determining its outcome for its subjects. It was introduced by the avowed Albanian communist: the TPLF. His goal was to liberate Tigrai from the state of Ethiopia and establish an independent state of Tigray. TPLF, due to the power vacuum created then, became an opportunistic ruler of Ethiopia, intending to develop Tigrai with the country’s vast resources. Hence, ethnic federalism was the result of two complementary motives: one is the inability of TPLF to unlearn its Stalinist dogma of the “right of nations and nationalities to self-determination up to and including secession.” Fresh out of the jungle, with no other governance experience, or substantial reading in the craft and jurisprudence of Western states, TPLF believed that this Stalinist dogma was the apparent solution to all the ills our country has. As they say, “when the only tool you have is a hammer, you start to think that the solution to every problem is a nail.” Hence that jaded and outdated Stalinist dogma became a constitutional mandate, making Ethiopia the only foolish country to constitutionalize secession. The second motive was to create a facade for TPLF hegemony. Under the cover of ethnic federalism, he created unconvincing organizations on behalf of some of the larger ethnic groups, with the TPLF acting as the putative guardian of all of them. In reality, neither these organizations nor their respective leaders were courageous advocates for their groups, rather they were chief implementers of what TPLF wanted to implement in their respective regions. In a word, they were puppets.
While these were the reasons, the way it was introduced was from above, by deception and imposition; the people of Ethiopia never had the opportunity and the freedom to deliberate on it directly, through a popular referendum, or indirectly, through their freely and fairly elected representative. The imposition came from a group that least believed in Ethiopia as a country and in the overriding need for a strong federal center to which all ethnic regions would swear allegiance. Indeed, the TPLF, with its plan to determine its hegemony, deliberately worked on all groups to have their primary allegiance to their ethnicities, and only then, to the nation, and even that while TPLF was in command. By weakening the notion of Ethiopia as a centripetal force of national unity that will hold the federation together, the TPLF, using its puppets, imposed its hegemony and rule through brute force and deception. What this essentially means is that the 27 years of experience we have with ethnic federalism under the TPLF is the ethnic tyranny of the TPLF elite group that terrorized, brutalized, smashed and plundered Ethiopia.
The other aspect is the merger of the state and the ruling party. As things stand, and as I indicated earlier, there is already a huge imbalance in the distribution of power between the federal state and the Kilils states. In order to wear down Ethiopia’s influence as a legitimate center of unity, TPLF has propagated over the 27 years of its reign only our differences and thus our allegiance to our ethnic identity. Add to this the strange fusion of party and state, the TPLF had become the core of the federal government, wielding absolute power. To maintain this hegemonic power, he built a huge military force in his region, which once out of power used it to threaten the federal government and neighboring regional states, and finally used to declare war on the federal government now. After accepting the ideology of the TPLF, the constitution and Kilil, the Oromo Prosperity Party wasted no time in training rounds and rounds of its own forces in an effort to dominate so-called Ethnic Federalism and impose its will on the other Kilils. Therefore, the lack of a strong and legitimate center that all Kilils look up to had created Kilils powerful enough to intimidate the Federal Government and other Kilils with impunity. The result is that, in its twenty-nine and a half years, ethnic federalism in Ethiopia has never become one. It has only become a misnomer for the ethnic tyranny of the dominant group.
The other problem with our so-called ethnic federalism is the perpetual instability it fosters. In a country like ours, where there are more than eighty linguistic groups, constitutionally guaranteeing the right to self-determination up to and including secession is a national nightmare. Dr. Abiy’s administration agreed with the constitutional rights of the Sidama people; Within weeks, when the Welayta people demanded the same, they were shot for silence. We have over seventy other minority groups, either to silence them by gunfire or to give random self-government. All this, before we get to the demands for secession that may soon emerge.
Last but not least, there is the democratic deficit suffered by so-called ethnic federalism in Ethiopia. As it was imposed by a very undemocratic group, in a flagrantly undemocratic way, it is also practically devoid of any democratic content. The problem is that a federal arrangement of government can only work where democracy thrives. It is a superior form, a more civilized form of government that presupposes the democratic participation of all the people under it, with equal access to the power and resources of the nation.
The reality is that none of the Kilils respect individual rights. For starters, there are many Ethiopians of mixed ethnicities who identify only as Ethiopians. For example, some of them do not want to disappoint their Amhara mothers by taking the identity of their Oromo or Tigrian fathers, and vice versa. This whole group is de facto stateless or second-class citizens in one of the Kilils. They live in constant fear of physical harm and lack of protection from the law. The others are minority groups that because of the language they speak do not belong to the Kilil group but to the neighbors, even though they have lived there for generations. In a democratic, ethnic or other federalism, all citizens of the federation are primarily citizens of the Federal State, and any infringement of their rights is a federal offense, seriously enforced by the federal government which is inherently stronger than all Kilil . Furthermore, all sub-units of a democratic federalism are more likely to have their own laws that guarantee the protection of these basic rights. In our so-called ethnic federalism, those who strongly demand their rights are the worst abusers of the rights of other minority groups within their Kilils. Unlike a democratic federalism, our Kilils under our so-called ethnic federalism are run as fiefdoms of the respective Kilil leaders.
And that? So, it’s time to re-examine our journey. From my previous argument, I hope I have convinced many of you that we never had ethnic federalism, but rather ethnic tyranny of this or that group. The bombastic phrase “ethnic federalism” is political jargon designed to mislead. If some system that you followed for almost thirty years didn’t get you to a better place, you should pause and think about whether there was a problem with the system or with you. In this spirit of self-examination, I call on Ethiopia’s elites for an inclusive national dialogue on the way forward. This dialogue should start with stakeholders from all regions and ethnic groups. If the regime in power can be a true facilitator of such a democratic process, so much the better. The point is, we start over and bring everything to the table, including our current constitution and government structure. Let’s create a forum where sincerely inquisitive and dispassionate discussions take place. When we achieve a general consensus, let us make two or three truly democratic proposals and let our people decide in a free and fair democratic process. Let’s stop the bleeding of our people.
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