Democracy Is Alive and Well in Ethiopia

OPINIONBy Yohannes Gebresellasie (PH.D.)

Over thirty million Ethiopians cast their votes to the parties they wish is but one demonstration where the people exercised their democratic rights

Since the downfall of the former dictatorial military regime and despite internal as well as external provocations and conspiracies, Ethiopia continues to maintain peace, stability and embark on civilized norms and values of democratization, good governance and sustainable development. From the very outset, the Ethiopian government formulated a constitution that guarantees equality of all Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of the nation.

The Ethiopian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of movement and expression etc. in all aspects, ways and means. Further, there are different independent newspapers with variety of views within the country expressing different social, economic and political views and addressing different issues. Also, there are different political parties operating with different political agendas.

Generally, the Ethiopian people have been enjoying peace, stability and the fruits of democratic values and norms since this current government came to power. It is to be recalled that these fundamental rights of citizens were absent during the former regimes. Recent election where over thirty million Ethiopians cast their votes to the parties they wish is but one demonstration where the Ethiopian people exercised their democratic rights and responsibilities.

As a result, during the recent election, local and international observers declared that the recent election was generally free, fair and democratic. Democratic nations follow rather strictly, only democratic and legal ways and means to resolve problems that may arise during social or political disagreements and that is the only trend that should be followed by any party members to resolve any problem that may arise and not through violence and/or anarchy. However, some extremist leadership from within and from their sanctuary in Europe and North America were busy and working hard to destroy every peaceful and democratic gains of the Ethiopian people thus far.

They have chosen violent ways and means instead of peaceful dialogue for achieving their only objective; i.e. to grasp power by any means including through violence and by creating confusion and anarchy within the country. Further, these extremist leaderships have made their number one priority to try to convince the international community that there is no democracy in Ethiopia or that the government is reversing the democratic process in Ethiopia and therefore, the international community should penalize the country by denying economic assistance etc. All these allegations by these extremists leadership against the government of Ethiopia is simply nonsense.

It is non-sense because democracy is a matter of survival and not a matter of choice to the Ethiopian people. More importantly, Ethiopians fought very hard against former dictatorial regimes to ensure democratization and good governance and that they have enjoyed these values over twenty years now. Also, the Ethiopian government fought rigorously for the prevalence, maintenance and development of peace, democracy and human rights in this country.

These rights that are entrenched in and guaranteed by the constitution are reinforced on a daily bases because democratic rights, human rights protection and respect for the dignity of the Ethiopian people is the number one priority of this government and will continue to be so in the future.

Therefore, international governmental and non-governmental organizations alike must not be mislead and must not be confused by some extremist leadership that have made their number one agenda knocking their doors in that regard. Instead, they should rest assured that democracy and human rights are alive and well and are here to stay because as mentioned earlier, these are matters of survival and not matters of choice because they are hard fought for.

Therefore, the government of Ethiopia will make sure that democracy, good governance and sustainable development are its number one priority. Also, international assistance and cooperation in that regard is imperative, rather indispensable to guarantee these fundamental mechanisms of human rights protection. Therefore, international governmental as well as non-governmental institutions alike must continue their assistance in that regard in order to reinforce those civilized values and norms they have cherished.

Regarding the rule of law, as is practised in any democratic nation, those who violate the law of the land and instigate violence, anarchy and other illegal activities cannot escape justice because no one is above the law. Therefore, those who opted for violence and destruction that instigate chaos and loss of human lives and destruction of public property must be accountable for their actions and can-not escape justice. As in any law abiding government, the Ethiopian government has the responsibility of securing law and order in order to protect its citizens from violent activities by bringing those culprits to justice. That is exactly what the government has been doing against extremist leadership and their followers here at home and abroad.

Democratic rights, due process of justice and good governance is well and sound in Ethiopia and is here to stay because that is why the Ethiopian people fought and paid a lot of scarifies for. There is no turning back on democracy in Ethiopia because the country is on the right track in that regard. On the other hand however, those who want to grasp power by any means including through violence are very busy lobbying and knocking at every governmental and non -governmental doors in order to mislead the international community on the current Ethiopian democratic process

They say among other things that democracy is going backwards in Ethiopia, the government is turning more and more to dictatorship and that there are no human rights protections, that opposition parties are under arrest simply for political reasons etc. The reality however is that Ethiopia has continued to embark on what it firmly believes in i.e. on democratization, good governance, on poverty alleviation and on sustainable development because these are again a matter of survival and not a matter of choice to the Ethiopian public at large. Therefore, the country will continue to advance following the right trend. The international community should not be mislead by few self serving hard core opposition parties who by and large are remnants of the previous dictatorial regimes and whose intentions are to bring back the old archaic and dictatorial system.

The Ethiopian people suffered enormously under the former brutal military regime for a very long time and do not have the intention to go back to that old system any more because they have had enough of it then. There is no turning back on those hard fought values and norms. No one should have any doubt on that and most importantly, no one must be misled by few opposition propagandists form within and the Diaspora.

Therefore, it is important that governmental and non-governmental organizations alike build confidence on the democratic process flourishing in Ethiopia and continue their cooperation and collaboration in order to further reinforce peace, stability and good governance in the country.

Source: AllAfrica