The Drive
One thing we are certain about is there is a new political movement in the country that is preparing itself for the next election, and there is not any better time than this to get started because the members will have ample time to evolve themselves into an opposition party to be reckoned with that being the popular demand. However, the genere of those that are joining hands is a little bit worrisome because it is not safe to be dependant on freedom fighters that have a pronounced plan about the future of their region and the country as a whole.
The same has happened on the previous election when a big number of people that are residing outside of Addis Ababa refused to vote for the then CUD, whose leaders are languishing in prison. The main reason for their declining to vote for CUD, knowing that EPRDF was going for a third term was not because the voters had a serious aversion toward the members of the CUD party. What could be inferred from their action is that the party was not a representative of the whole nation in the first place, even if it tried a window-dressing by sprinkling a few individuals to make the party look like a representative of the whole country.
It is difficult to blame the members of CUD per se since their track record avails them no one outside of their own staunch supporters, as it was witnessed where not many people wanted to have anything to do with them. The dreaded track record automatically deprived them the role of a major party even if they had succeeded in creating a coalition with other parties, because everyone knew they would have an unprecedented upper hand in the whole affair and what that would have meant was going back to the old days.
The ingenuity of OLF and Company is their spotting this exact shortfall. They knew that it will be very difficult for CUD to bring together the other ethnic groups and communities to work with them because they did not seem to want to share power firstly and secondly they were not apt to the hard work involved. What everyone understood was they were in such a hurry to take back the political power they had been in charge of for a century and from start to finish their effort was futile. The presumption was if they had a military backbone, they will not even wait for an election, and would take a major step to usurp the political control of the country from the party that is in charge now.
If there is one thing that will always play against them, it is the stand they have toward the other ethnic groups, where they had been oppressing them relentlessly for all those years, and everyone is certain they are not going to relent. Therefore, whenever they start talking about playing a national political role their past and present stand will automatically disqualify them, and the only political role they can play in the country is to join hands with other parties that are representatives of their region that are the majorities in the nation we know as Ethiopia and do their contribution into the nation building. This is their designated role come rain or shine, and everyone must be thanking them tacitly for their joining hands with their counterparts, which means there is no wasting time and resources, as well as, the nation is spared from vulnerability that could exploit such a gridlock.
Settling this nagging problem is crucial and will send a signal why the new political movement is so important in the country. The reason why those who have initiated the new political movement should be given the opportunity to run the nation that they are going to be a majority of is to get rid of such grievances, since there had been some oppressed ethnic groups. Consequently, one way of solving such a problem is to make them a master of their own destiny within the context of what we know as Ethiopia. The worry here is these groups had their own vision for a long time now and that is how they came into existence. Their agenda is not secret as most of them embrace the seceding of their region.
The question on everyone’s mind is giving them the opportunity to run the country will facilitate their ambition of becoming a break away region. However, if that is not what their priority is, most probably the grievous problem the nation is grappling with will be solved for good by voting this group into office and we will cross our fingers not to hear the term "oppression" as long as this newly formed group does not want to go into some kind of vengeance, which would be a definite red flag. We are seeing it in what TPLF is doing even if it is subtle to an extent, where the members of Tigrean communities are getting unprecedented advantage over the other groups, because they themselves had became in charge of the nation by the use of arms. Everyone wants to see that to go away as soon as possible and what should step in into its wake is going to be a democratically elected government.
The problem is, from every signal we are getting, TPLF is not going to give up power through election, and the reasons could vary. One of the reason could be as it was demonstrated there are not able parties to take charge of the nation’s affair, and we cannot deny that fact since the nation is in the process of building such an able party, although, to our dismay, we do not know which direction the effort will take. The second problem is even if there are parties that will meet the requirement, TPLF might not want to relinquish power for the obvious reasons, because the members of the party are going to give up all the privileges that they usurped by the barrel of a gun.
Therefore, the question rests on what we all agree to be the right course to follow. Moreover, we have to ask questions as to what our pretexts will be to put another administration in office. Is it to bring to an end to the oppression of ethnic groups that is still prevalent even if it might no be as flagrant as it used to be under the earlier administrations? Is it to relieve the nation from being under siege by a small, armed minority who could be enriching themselves at the expense of others? Is it because what they are doing to the nation is not enough and bringing in a new administration could avail better advantages? Or it is the course of line we want the country to follow in the future, by becoming a democratic nation, and adhering to all the democratic requirements?
Once we get over these questions, what is going to glare at us is the failure of not having a better alternative than to depend on freedom fighters that could take advantage of the nation’s vulnerability. What will relive us from this fear and worry, of course, is becoming familiar with the improved agenda of those who have formed Alliance for Democracy and Freedom party. Is it possible that they still entertain the possibility of going it alone if the situation permits it or they are working on a new vision and agenda for the whole country? Is it their sole responsibly to come up with a vision and agenda or it is also the responsibly of the citizens to say what they want exactly and participate in the nation building?
Because, the duty of these groups or any other group that will win the vote to go into office is to put to work what the public envisions. It is not an ascribed right like it used to be. Yet, any group will get the priority if it can demonstrate that if given the opportunity, their input will put the nation and its inhabitants forward. There is also the fact that if a big majority of members of a given region want secession, it seems that there is not going to be anything that will stop them from attaining it if they execute their wishes properly and vehemently. But if anyone wants to hijack any system or region by taking advantage of vulnerabilities when so many people are not in a position to make an informed decision, then others could intervene because such undertakings would overtly or covertly be based on personal interest and ambition, and it would not be beneficial for the community as well as for the overall nation.
Therefore, we are all hoping that AFD is in to put a good fight to bring democracy in Ethiopia and to do so, it is obvious that they will have to make a lot of sacrifices that definitely would be beneficial for everyone currently and in the future. There is a huge difference when a whole nation works for one purpose and goal, and when the whole nation is hold hostage and is directing most of its energy and focus to change such a situation. If the present administration is preaching that the nation does not need democracy and those who are well positioned should not be disturbed, there is going to be a conflict of outlook, because unless there is something wrong, it is the will and the wish of the majority in any country that should be observed.
The same has happened on the previous election when a big number of people that are residing outside of Addis Ababa refused to vote for the then CUD, whose leaders are languishing in prison. The main reason for their declining to vote for CUD, knowing that EPRDF was going for a third term was not because the voters had a serious aversion toward the members of the CUD party. What could be inferred from their action is that the party was not a representative of the whole nation in the first place, even if it tried a window-dressing by sprinkling a few individuals to make the party look like a representative of the whole country.
It is difficult to blame the members of CUD per se since their track record avails them no one outside of their own staunch supporters, as it was witnessed where not many people wanted to have anything to do with them. The dreaded track record automatically deprived them the role of a major party even if they had succeeded in creating a coalition with other parties, because everyone knew they would have an unprecedented upper hand in the whole affair and what that would have meant was going back to the old days.
The ingenuity of OLF and Company is their spotting this exact shortfall. They knew that it will be very difficult for CUD to bring together the other ethnic groups and communities to work with them because they did not seem to want to share power firstly and secondly they were not apt to the hard work involved. What everyone understood was they were in such a hurry to take back the political power they had been in charge of for a century and from start to finish their effort was futile. The presumption was if they had a military backbone, they will not even wait for an election, and would take a major step to usurp the political control of the country from the party that is in charge now.
If there is one thing that will always play against them, it is the stand they have toward the other ethnic groups, where they had been oppressing them relentlessly for all those years, and everyone is certain they are not going to relent. Therefore, whenever they start talking about playing a national political role their past and present stand will automatically disqualify them, and the only political role they can play in the country is to join hands with other parties that are representatives of their region that are the majorities in the nation we know as Ethiopia and do their contribution into the nation building. This is their designated role come rain or shine, and everyone must be thanking them tacitly for their joining hands with their counterparts, which means there is no wasting time and resources, as well as, the nation is spared from vulnerability that could exploit such a gridlock.
Settling this nagging problem is crucial and will send a signal why the new political movement is so important in the country. The reason why those who have initiated the new political movement should be given the opportunity to run the nation that they are going to be a majority of is to get rid of such grievances, since there had been some oppressed ethnic groups. Consequently, one way of solving such a problem is to make them a master of their own destiny within the context of what we know as Ethiopia. The worry here is these groups had their own vision for a long time now and that is how they came into existence. Their agenda is not secret as most of them embrace the seceding of their region.
The question on everyone’s mind is giving them the opportunity to run the country will facilitate their ambition of becoming a break away region. However, if that is not what their priority is, most probably the grievous problem the nation is grappling with will be solved for good by voting this group into office and we will cross our fingers not to hear the term "oppression" as long as this newly formed group does not want to go into some kind of vengeance, which would be a definite red flag. We are seeing it in what TPLF is doing even if it is subtle to an extent, where the members of Tigrean communities are getting unprecedented advantage over the other groups, because they themselves had became in charge of the nation by the use of arms. Everyone wants to see that to go away as soon as possible and what should step in into its wake is going to be a democratically elected government.
The problem is, from every signal we are getting, TPLF is not going to give up power through election, and the reasons could vary. One of the reason could be as it was demonstrated there are not able parties to take charge of the nation’s affair, and we cannot deny that fact since the nation is in the process of building such an able party, although, to our dismay, we do not know which direction the effort will take. The second problem is even if there are parties that will meet the requirement, TPLF might not want to relinquish power for the obvious reasons, because the members of the party are going to give up all the privileges that they usurped by the barrel of a gun.
Therefore, the question rests on what we all agree to be the right course to follow. Moreover, we have to ask questions as to what our pretexts will be to put another administration in office. Is it to bring to an end to the oppression of ethnic groups that is still prevalent even if it might no be as flagrant as it used to be under the earlier administrations? Is it to relieve the nation from being under siege by a small, armed minority who could be enriching themselves at the expense of others? Is it because what they are doing to the nation is not enough and bringing in a new administration could avail better advantages? Or it is the course of line we want the country to follow in the future, by becoming a democratic nation, and adhering to all the democratic requirements?
Once we get over these questions, what is going to glare at us is the failure of not having a better alternative than to depend on freedom fighters that could take advantage of the nation’s vulnerability. What will relive us from this fear and worry, of course, is becoming familiar with the improved agenda of those who have formed Alliance for Democracy and Freedom party. Is it possible that they still entertain the possibility of going it alone if the situation permits it or they are working on a new vision and agenda for the whole country? Is it their sole responsibly to come up with a vision and agenda or it is also the responsibly of the citizens to say what they want exactly and participate in the nation building?
Because, the duty of these groups or any other group that will win the vote to go into office is to put to work what the public envisions. It is not an ascribed right like it used to be. Yet, any group will get the priority if it can demonstrate that if given the opportunity, their input will put the nation and its inhabitants forward. There is also the fact that if a big majority of members of a given region want secession, it seems that there is not going to be anything that will stop them from attaining it if they execute their wishes properly and vehemently. But if anyone wants to hijack any system or region by taking advantage of vulnerabilities when so many people are not in a position to make an informed decision, then others could intervene because such undertakings would overtly or covertly be based on personal interest and ambition, and it would not be beneficial for the community as well as for the overall nation.
Therefore, we are all hoping that AFD is in to put a good fight to bring democracy in Ethiopia and to do so, it is obvious that they will have to make a lot of sacrifices that definitely would be beneficial for everyone currently and in the future. There is a huge difference when a whole nation works for one purpose and goal, and when the whole nation is hold hostage and is directing most of its energy and focus to change such a situation. If the present administration is preaching that the nation does not need democracy and those who are well positioned should not be disturbed, there is going to be a conflict of outlook, because unless there is something wrong, it is the will and the wish of the majority in any country that should be observed.
posted by Ethio-Probe @ 5:02 PM
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