Changing Our Priorities

According to what could be inferred from the various media outlets the situation in Ethiopia is getting better on one hand, while there is more distance to cover on the other. It is possible to say the nation is doing fairly well under the regime in office and what this means is the dye had been cast in such a way that, from this point on there is no reason why similar feats will not be repeated into the distant future. However, the only time the nation will take a breath is when what is accomplished currently is done in a much different fashion where nothing will interfere with its permanence. This will bring us back to the old battered track that we had been chugging through and having a democratic system somehow in the nation is crucial simply because anything that is done and achieved by a barrel of a gun could easily be undone if someone with a better hand takes charge of the situation. Moreover, such possibilities are rife even if it might take some time to see them materialize.

At the same time, there are a few things that are lagging behind, although they are very much weighty matters, because unless they are in place they could sidetrack the advancement the nation is attaining through hard work. Privatization is an issue that had come and gone and it should be looked at, and it might have to start from land reform if the government wants to get rid of some of the problems the nation is strapped with. The high cost of living has already made buying food very expensive and this might be because of several reasons as it was witnessed. There is a much higher demand abroad for what the farmers are producing in such a way that it is sucking out of the nation whatever is available, simply because it does not make sense to sell for a cheaper price when selling the produce for a higher price is possible. It is difficult to say how the government will correct this problem, although it can subsidize the grain, which would mean it can buy from the farmers at the market price and sell it to the consumers at a cheaper price, but that requires money and for the government to do that it would require to have the coffer of the oil producing nations.

One thing the government can do is to let the market do the correction and that can only be achieved by increasing the amount of grain, produce, and livestock that is produced in the nation. To do that there might be several methods to use and one of them is to make the existing farmers produce more, but the probable outcome is because of the method they are using that might not be possible, and if it is possible, to show some result it might require increasing the amount of land to be farmed, which will require opening new farms, which in its turn would require to clear wood, which as we know it will have an adverse effect on the environment and on the land itself. Alternatively, the government might play a leading role in starting private as well as governmental corporations that will work to introduce a large-scale modern farming. It will be much easier to clear land for such purpose since it will be possible to replant the trees somewhere else and that could be part of the responsibility of the new corporations, whether governmental or private in the long run and they could be held responsible for it. This project sounds to be difficult to undertake but it could be accomplished if there is enough commitment.

If this one is found to be difficult the other possibility is to come up with some workable solution to open the farming profession to the urban dwellers who might be able to do a much better job than their peasant counterparts. But to do that, the government that is incepted through Marxism ideology and have a dread seeing the urban people being benefited from the land of their own nation, and would rather see the people go without what they need and pass the problem to donor countries that had been clamoring about the nation’s need to introduce land reform needs changing to bring about some badly needed improvement. The measure that was taken had served its purpose, it had been almost 30 years since the countryside had been the master of its own destiny, and now it might be in a better position to be a tough competitor and it might not need the protection of a benevolent and concerned government. Not recognizing that is underselling the rural farmers. And it is always necessary to recognize that the existing government is doing a good job, because they are to an extent, since they have held the nation together, but people might have been better taken care of at the time of the Imperial regime too no matter how the arrangement had been unholy. For that matter, people were not doing bad at the time of the Derg either if something beyond their control had not happened, which was the collapse of the Soviet Union, the sole backer of the regime.

Hence, if it is looked at squarely we cannot help going back to telling the existing regime that they just happened to be available at the right time, the time being the fall of the Soviet Union and the right place, of course, that place being in the woods, armed. All it took was one individual who was in the center of what was happening to pave the way for them to take control. Everyone knows what happened after they took power; they wanted to put their seal on everything. Ethiopians who know them are calling them the cousins of the more robust Amharas that had deprived them a leading role for all those years, in fact, a few thousand years. As we know it, Atse Yohanes was also an accidental king like TPLF who took power simply because he just happened to get excessive cache of weapon for a service rendered. What this means is since these two groups hardly comprise one-third of the whole nation, it is not fair if the whole nation is bogged down with this never ending feud.

Therefore, events in the country are signaling that change is needed badly and that change will only come through democracy, and what that means is probably the nation needs some kind of a new start where the priorities are totally different. Now the priorities are the Amharas had been running the nation for almost 100 years and everything belongs to them, at least that is how they think, and they have to be in charge again at any cost. The passive Tigreans had gotten the opportunity and they have to leave their mark on everything, which include outdoing the Amharas and punishing them for what they did to them, and what is scary is their ambition might be between 150 and 200 years. In between, the nation that is struggling to call itself Ethiopia could suffer more, simply because these kinds of priorities should be put to rest for good if some kind of advancement is sought.

The new priority list should grow over time, and what that means is, at least for the time being what is on top is democracy, and land reform had been in the list too although it does not have a strong support yet and that support should originate from those who are in charge. What this will bring us back to is to the reality that the priority list requires a lot of work. What does the nation need? Is it shameful to talk about a high standard of living or a high level of education, which seems to be in the making? Even if there might not be good paying jobs waiting for those who will complete their education, at least if there is an open system whose priority is different from what it is now, they can become productive and will add on the list of the priorities and since they have education they might also have solutions. To finalize what had been started, everyone should work on new priorities for the nation, because what the Tigreans, the Amharas, or even the Oromos alone want based on ethnic line will not do any good to the nation. That is why we have to nurture new parties that have totally different visions that will lead us into the future we can only shape for ourselves.