የኢትዮጵያ ዜጎች ለማህበራዊ ፍትህ /ኢ-ዜማ/ የብሔራዊ ሥራ አስፈፃሚ ኮሚቴ አባላትን መምረጡን አስታውቋል

3 Comments

1. Since there are 200 political parties the campaign has started , meaning the public especially students are trying to learn as much as they can about the 200 political parties during the summer time when schools are closed so the students start making up their minds who to vote for .

2. ፓርቲው ኢትዮጵያዊ መንፈስ እንዳለው ለማሳየት አባላቶቹ እና በአመራር ደረጃ የሚኖሩትም ሁሉን አቀፍ ማለትም በዜግነትና ኢትዮጵያዊነት እምነት ያለቸው ከሁሉም ብሔር የተወጣጡ መሆን ይኖርባቸዋል፡፡ የአባላት ምዝገባም ቡሁሉም ክልልና ወረዳ በተቀናጀ ሁኔታ መደረግ አለበት፡፡ በእርግጥ ፈተናና ጥንካሬ ቢጠይቅም የኢትዮጵያዊነት መገለጫ ስለሆነ ሁሉም በቁርጠኝነት ሊሰራ ይገባል፡፡

   ኢትዮጵያ ለዘላለም ትኑር!!

3. Re-revised . . .

   Call me stupid if you like, but I believe democratization of the country is unthinkable without internal democratization of the ruling coalition and opposition parties.

   Further to the serious problems that beset the workings of ODP, ADP, TPLF and SEPDC which include absolute centralism in each of them and in EPRDF as a coalition at the expense of democracy (please note that all of them have the word democracy in their names), the changes they have introduced in their internal workings such as leadership elections are minor.

   It is vital that ODP, ADP, TPLF and SEPDC adopt democracy in their organizational practices and opposition parties emulate the same. If they do not, any partner organization in EPRDF should take the initiative and change the course of political history in the country. When OPDO and ANDM metamorphosed to ODP and ADM, they were expected to introduce internal democracy and shame and blame TPLF; but they still have the chance to breathe life on themselves before the next federal and regional elections. I guess they will pick their leaders before the said elections.

   By internal democracy I mean implementing “free and democratic election to positions of responsibility in political organizations” required by Article 38 of the Constitution.

   Not only ODP, ADP, TPLF and SEPDC and EPRDF adopt this constitutional requirement, opposition political organizations should do the same as well.

   It is surprising how the internal workings and organizational structure of the opposition is similar to that of EPRDF. It all starts with the rank and file members who have nothing to say on any thing, then there is a central committee chosen from the rank and file and the executive committee hand picked from the central committee and finally a leader(s) elected by a small group of people in the executive committee. It is a copy of the so called communist-socialist party organizational structure and functioning adopted to our situation by the radical left in the 1970s and carried over to this day. A bad organizational heritage with no place today.

   How the Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice (ECSJ – ኢትዮጵያ ዜጎች ለማህበራዊ ፍትህ /ኢ-ዜማ/ elected its leaders is no mystery. It’s EPRDF style.

   I feel that the National Election Board has to make sure the constitutional requirement of “free and democratic elections to positions of responsibility in political parties” is met by every political organization in the country. In fact, it is incumbent upon the Board to see that this requirement is fully met. If it fails to make sure it is met, it might justifiably face criticism and even legal action for failing to discharge its constitutional responsibility. The consequence of such failure is devastating since democracy in the country begins with democratic practices within political organizations themselves. Undemocratic organization cannot respect democratic rights.

   Here is Article 38 in its entirety.

   The Right to Vote and to be Elected

   1. Every Ethiopian national, without any discrimination based on colour, race, nation, nationality, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion or other status, has the following rights:
   (a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly and through freely chosen representatives;
   (b) On the attainment of -18 years of age, to vote in accordance with law;
   (c) To vote and to be elected at periodic elections to any office at any level of government; elections shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall beheld by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors.
   2. The right of everyone to be a member of his own will in a political organization, labour union, trade organization, or employers’ or professional association shall be respected if he or she meets the special and general requirements stipulated by such organization.
   3. Elections to positions of responsibility within any of the organizations referred to under sub-Article 2 of this Article shall be conducted in a free and democratic manner.
   4. The provisions of sub-Articles 2 and 3 of this Article shall apply to civic organizations which significantly affect the public interest.

   The directly relevant sub-articles for our opinion are 2 and 3 which sanction that “elections to positions of responsibility within (political organizations) shall be conducted in a free and democratic manner.” Please note here that “positions of responsibility” is in plural which means all positions of responsibility without exception.

   It is questionable that EPRDF and its partner organizations ever met this constitutional requirement of “elections to positions of responsibility . . . in a free and democratic manner” in their decades of existence and practices. The same is true to opposition political organizations both in and out of the country. Now ኢ-ዜማ has repeated it. It’s time to change.

   As we know it, the leaders of ODP, ADP, SEPDC and TPLF are elected by a small number of people from the central committee of the respective organizations with little or no involvement of the rank and file members. This is not a call for the millions of members of these organizations to directly vote to “freely and democratically” elect their respective leaders but vote through reasonable and adequate number of representatives. For this to happen, they have to know who the candidates are and what they stand for which necessitates campaigns and discussions. In the meantime, the regular people will learn what the party stands for.

   Here is a concrete example to show the existing flaw. Sometime in November last year, less than forty people who form the central committee of TPLF (including some who were said to be no more in the committee) removed their leader and crowned another. Through what process was that done? Through evaluation (gemgema). Assuming that TPLF has a million members in Tigray, in the country and abroad, was there any mechanism by which the million strong participated to elect whom they call their leader? None whatsoever.

   – There was no leadership campaign among members and supporters in which candidates present what they will do if elected to lead the party.

   – There were no delegates (at least fifty thousand of them for a million members) who were to vote for the leader and back his plan at all stages of implementation and support him in case the top leadership is not happy with what he is doing. Technology has made such kind of voting possible.

   – Nobody knew what the leader elected in closed doors plans to do. Not party members, not supporters, not the Tigray people.

   – The process was like an appointment of a civil servant whose tenure is dependent on evaluation of his immediate superior. No wonder these guys do not want to leave office because they confuse their position with a position of a civil servant. A civil servant leaves office when he-she retires and they also expect to leave party position when they retire.

   This kind of “election” might have been reasonable during the civil war due to security concerns, but to maintain it for decades after security risk is removed is undemocratic and meaningless. It is a corrupt system that encourages loyalty to few groups of people rather than to millions of members of organizations and the entire population. Furthermore, it discourages the emergence of reformists with fresh ideas. If such system exists anywhere in the world, it might be only in China which is not a democratic country.

   The consequence of this in-party undemocratic practice is evident in how a prime minister is put in the highest office of the country. A small group of people from ODP, ADP, SEPDC and TPLF that form the executive committee of EPRDF elect their leader who then becomes the prime minster of the country. The other requirement to meet is election to the federal parliament in a remote local district by a few thousands of people. It is totally undemocratic. Neither the members of the organizations nor the entire population of the country has a say in this process.

   Again, the constitution says : “elections to positions of responsibility in political parties shall be conducted in a free and democratic manner.”

   Democratization of the country begins with internal democratization of organizations particularly within organizations which claim to be at the forefront of the on-going reform. ODP should show the way.

   It’s sad ኢ-ዜማ repeated the same mistake. And it happened before the eyes of the National Election Board. I expect the Board to reject ኢ-ዜማ’s application for registration because a constitutional requirement of internal party democracy is violated.

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