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ADDIS ABABA – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has delivered on important promises in his 2018 inauguration speech, the academics said.
“The government will carry out a radical reform to guarantee democracy, freedom, justice and the rule of law.” This is one of the promises the prime minister made three years ago to parliament.
The only way to guarantee human dignity is to uphold the rule of law, and the prime minister promised that his government will make more efforts than at any other time to enforce peace, security and freedom of expression.
The reformist leader’s promises had been practically fulfilled when thousands of prisoners, including prominent politicians and journalists, were released, as well as political parties and people who were in exile returned home, said law scholar Sisay Mengiste (PhD) .
He told The Ethiopian Herald that the amendment of laws, including the anti-terrorism law, proclamations by civic organizations and the media are strong evidence of the realization of the reform promises that enabled organizations to avoid extrajudicial arrest.
The formation of the Prosperity party by merging the previous coalition and other allied parties was an important step in reducing the power struggle between the coalition members and teaching a lesson to other competing parties to form a similar party incorporating various ethnic groups but gathered under the umbrella of the notion of affiliation. , like Sisay.
The reform helped civic organizations and allowed them to resume their role in fighting for freedom of expression, assembly and association, lawyer and human rights defender Amha Mekonnen.
Amha, who is also Director General of Lawyers for the Human Rights Organization, said that today several civic organizations have been reborn after having suffered greatly at the hands of the former TPLF-dominated government for their active role in the 2005 general elections.
The law passed after the 2005 general elections deprived the organizations by exposing them for financial shortages, stopping the coalition in various schemes and allowing the government to interfere in their activities, he said.
Therefore, the amendment to the proclamation of the establishment of civic organizations has removed all these obstacles, so now they are consolidating their capacity for coalition building, he said.
According to Amha, the prevalence of such organizations is crucial to realizing reform and ensuring reliable democracy through active public participation.
The government shows its commitment to revitalizing these organizations, but the public must actively participate in the activities of these organizations to curb the problems, he recommended.
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“The country has been going through various problems so the reform may not solve all the problems overnight,” Sisay said.
The main obstacles to reform were incidents of conflict caused by the now defunct TPLF and other anti-peace elements. It could take some time to silence the weapons fired by these entities, Sisay said, adding that a national dialogue is imperative to ensure sustainable peace through reconciliation.
“Academics are preparing proposals to amend the constitution which is also one of the sources of conflicting issues at this time.”
Amending the limitations of the constitution with the active participation of all stakeholders is important to ensure lasting peace and human rights, Amha suggested.
On the other hand, some incidents need the political commitment of the government and other parties to be resolved. However, in some cases, security people who have an old mentality are still participating in the violation of human rights, he noted.
“Currently, the main human rights violators are not state actors. We continue to urge the government to play its part in keeping the people safe and bringing these abusers to court.”
The prime minister has asked people to cooperate with the government to avoid conflict by providing information. Yesterday he wrote on his official Facebook page that unity and cooperation are the keys to catching human rights abusers and bringing them before the law.
The Ethiopian Herald April 2, 2021
