On The Same Page

If the people of the same country are on the same page, the outcome will be invigorating. From what is taking place in the country currently, there is a demarcation that is taking shape, and those in either side are highly focusing on two different things. One group is still focusing on grabbing power by any means available and the other group is talking about keeping the power it usurped at any cost. Again when the first group is too preoocupied with the political situation in the country, the second group is highly focused on the development of the nation, be it economically, education wise, infrastructure, health, rural development, the gradual introduction of democracy, industrialization, the overall getting ahead of the nation, and the list could be more. Anyone with their right mind, even if they might have nominal misgivings, they will definitely side with the second group because that is what the nation exactly needs presently and in the future.

But since it is natural that there are always two forces in many things, the yin and yang aspect, the coexistence of these two groups is believed to be translated in the future into something worthwhile, even if at times the price the nation has to pay might be high. The first taste of that high price was when the European donors decided to withhold close to $375 million in aid from the government’s budget, but their doing so with the understanding that it is the people that will carry the brunt had ameliorated a situation that could have been devastating. There is no reason why groups have to fight anymore in the nation to grab power when that issue had been settled once and for all and anyone that will hold power in the country in the future is any party that got the full support of the majority of the people, which means, at any cost, things are going to work democratically.

If we go to any democratic nation, we will not find the opposition party deadly set to snatch power from an existing administration, because things do not work like that in a democracy, with a few exceptions. Yet, the opposition parties in our country are playing a totally different role that does not have acceptance in a democracy. Or they might be in the process of heading toward the right direction, but for now what we are hearing from the opposition camp is the fact that they are not the ones who are running the government is bothering them a lot. That should not be the case though.

Having that kind of an outlook will mean that they have no respect for the general population that had put a government in office to represent it. Instead, their designated role should have been to demonstrate to this general electorate why they are better than the existing administration in office and they should wait until the electorate is convinced to give them that responsibility, and after that they will be in charge. Then it will be the job of the next opposition parties to demonstrate to the electorate that they are better than the administration that will be in office, and the changing of guard process will continue to be like that for a long time to come, that is until a better way of running a nation using a better system than democracy comes to the fore.

If key political figures start to ask questions like "how is it that the EPRDF, an organization that lacks popular support, has been able to rule Ethiopia for nearly fifteen years? This is a question that all citizens who want change should ask and attempt to answer." it means there is some misconception somewhere. Maybe this particular government might not be popular in the opposition camp for the obvious reason that the opposition wants to step into its shoes urgently. Here again, what we want to see and hear from the opposition camp is that they have understood the method of assuming power, and that power does not belong to them per se. It belongs to the people theoretically and to see that becomes a working reality is on the making. For now the party that might not be popular at one camp somehow had gotten the support of other camps and had made it back into office.

The appropriate question here is, are these governing bodies capable of running the country or not? Are there areas the country is suffering because of what they are doing or they are not doing? These are the questions the opposition should be concerned with, because no one is going to make it into office to serve the old purpose of grandiose or brazenly to tend to the interest of one group only. Everyone will be hard-pressed to say that the case had ever been like that. Anyone that will win election by a popular vote will have to have an agenda that has a qualified support from the electorate. If someone comes up and says I deserve to be the ruler of this land and its people by some unknown virtue, everyone will be uncomfortable and embarrassed because that kind of outlook does not have a place in this age and time.

What this means is modern day politicians will have to ask themselves, what can they do to the nation and to the public to deserve this authority. That is when they will get the answer and they will work on it. If the present administration is working hard to change the dreary situation of the country and showing results that are becoming more and more tangible by the day, there is no reason why they should not continue to run the country even if it is not going to please many of us. Usurping power by force is totally different from being bestowed that power willingly. From past experience whenever there were changes of administrations there had been visible weaknesses that everyone witnessed and it will take similar weaknesses to crop up to sway peoples’ outlook to give this administration a cold shoulder. No one should deserve the aversion of anyone for doing the right things and showing results, because the nation is making a comeback from the brink of a disaster by what the existing administration is doing.

However, if there is one way to outdo this administration is by outperforming it and to do that those who are going to replace it would have to offer a much better and a convincing deal. Some of the present day opposition parties do not seem to have what it takes, but they might develop that clout in the long run, no matter how long it will take, and it is only when they make it there that they will win the trust of the public. Other than that, their shooting in the dark would cause a serious pain if the struggling nation does not have friends that want to help it. This is attested by their recent determination to use carrot and a stick to make the already conforming administration to conform more, and the country should thank them and can have real use for it. One other good thing is some of us had to voice our concern about a possible lurking pitfall and it seems everyone is aware of it, and we do not have to be worried about it, because every community somehow has some bad apples that need to be straightened out so that they will not spoil the rest.

As a conclusion, some of us cannot help to remind anyone that wants to serve the nation at the government level, not to focus on the power grabbing aspect of the undertaking. Because the power eventually will become a means to an end, the end being the getting ahead of the nation, and it seems that except they have to be on their toes, which must be raising the hair of the opposition, the existing administration in office seems to understand that better than anyone else. We are hoping that the opposition will also display the same understanding eventually and that will be attested when they start to think and talk constructively, which is going lacking badly from any of the things they are doing currently.