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Had we been in any other dimension or reality under the
heavens, this particular period in time would have
been one of ecstasy and rejuvenation for those who
are political animals.
With just five months left until the upcoming general
elections, this is the time for new ideas, campaign
speeches, meets and greets, and uninterrupted access
to our politicians. They would appropriately be, in
this period, as full of political fire and
ideological enthusiasm as the public they are trying
to get to elect them.
The general elections are practically upon us. I for one
have yet to get my political hunger catered to.
Whatever side of the totem pole we stood on during
the last general elections in May 2005, the politics
of it all was riveting. The politicians were fired
up, so were the media and the people. We even
managed to get the world fired up for us.
As the luck of our draw would have it, all that was
shattered to smithereens. We have once again as a
public, regressed to disinterest, disenchantment and
general nonchalance. The politicians have stopped
including us in the discourse, and no one has
emerged to capture our minds and hearts and re-spark
that interest.
Neither those that retained power attempted to get the
power, nor those that gave that power got what they
wanted. Talk about a Catch 22, I like to call it
politics, Ethiopian style.
As Ethiopians and a public, we have a nasty little way of
learning from the past and always expecting the
worst. K’eem, or holding grudges, is what we
Ethiopians traditionally do best; we just do not
seem to like to let things go.
The buffet that is being offered at this year's general
elections holds none of the lustre and excitement of
the one in May 2005. The voting public is being
offered the exact same options that it has been
offered in the last 20 years of Ethiopian politics.
Most of the players are from the more recent
political arena. Whatever time they hail from or
whatever their political wrapping, for those of us
who are looking in on things, it does not really
give us much to pin our hopes on.
What has been plastered all over the front pages, on the
airwaves and screens of the public media of late,
just goes to show exactly what that political buffet
is really offering. I fear, if the voting public is
not cautious, there is a very high potential of
catching food poisoning from some of the food.
Meles Zenawi, Hailu Shawel, Lidetu Ayalew, and Ayele
Chamiso signed an agreement on the electoral code of
conduct.
I am sorry, what?
Siye Abraha is now the head of the most viable opposition
party in town, and is being attacked by the
Revolutionary Democrats’ political machinery as
being inappropriate and out for not so good ends.
I am sorry, what?
Does this not sound like some sort of Twilight Zone version
of what Ethiopian politics should really be? If
there was a lesson to be learned from the last
election's disaster, it is that the public is
yearning for something new. New faces, new voices,
new ways to present the ideas and figures they have
seen circulating in the political arena that they
have grown tired of.
Do their parties not have younger members to come forward
as their new faces? Is it really worth losing the
respect and vote of the public for the mere fact
that they will not step aside to let the younger
members of their own ideological classes rule?
What all the politicians that are currently in the
political arena are trying to do revolves purely
around the power game and nothing else. I say this
equally of all the key players. Politics in this
country is about life or death, literally.
I doubt very highly that any of the people that are
currently playing Ethiopian political roulette have
any inclination to die for the words and ideas they
are spewing. I highly doubt that any of them would
even take up arms to defend the country that they
are so desperately trying to lead, if some sort of
threat were to come its way.
But you see, that is what we deserve.
Ethiopia is now ready to free itself from the
shackles that are the remnants of imperial politics.
I for one am tired of trying to justify fighting a
system of government that was eradicated almost 40
years ago. The country has created a new society,
those of us in this generation do not care to
regress to fights of old with warriors of old who
have long hung up their swords and whose armour has
rusted.
I say it is time for the children of the crown to step
aside and let the unfortunate children of socialism
give the whole thing a go. They have had the stage
for close to four decades. It is only appropriate
that they give someone else a chance.
This is how things are supposed to work.
Their stepping aside will not be enough to form a solution
alone. The truth is, all the potential lies with the
energetic, young Ethiopians who are making their
presence felt in all walks of life all across the
country. They have to make a move, stand up and
claim what has become rightfully theirs.
What the new Ethiopia needs is a new politics sans
blood, gore, barracks and everything else that has
been with it thus far. |
