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Why take the long walk to power? Democracy, what is
that? Merera Gudina (PhD), Beyene Petros (Prof) and
other scholarly political naives have spent a longer
time to get elected than the Tigray People’s
Liberation Front (TPLF) – later the Ethiopian
People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) –
spent fighting the Derg.
The liberation war (as rebels want to call it when
they get wild and start shooting) is out of tune.
Even the African Union no longer recognises those
that come to power by means of force, unless that
power is a democratic one.
So what do they do? Do it the right way, run
campaigns, and try to get elected. Well, a certain
economist has preferred to remain more traditional.
“There is only one thing that will bring the EPRDF
down – force,” he declared.
He has tried politics only once for a few months,
and he found that he did not make it to power.
Rather he went to jail, the kind of jail where if
you say “sorry” you get out.
Not everyone is in jail. The professors have
continued lecturing in college and experimenting
with politics in the field. But the two worlds of
academia and field politics are not mixing.
In fact, Merera has been so good at it in college
that he has been elected to run his department for a
second time, he said. If only political elections
were that easy.
It might feel frustrating to be a parliamentarian
for all these years and be of no use other than
warming your seat.
Alec Baldwin, a popular Hollywood actor, will quit
acting once his contract expires, he recently said.
His reason is that, all his life, none of his films
have become box office hits, and that meant he was
mediocre. He may change this if the Oscar visits him
for his latest film, “It’s Complicated.”
And that is the point here in Ethiopian politics.
They have to be clear with their targets. Is it to
see themselves in power in their lifetimes or to
create mind space for opposition politics in
Ethiopia or to gradually weaken the EPRDF, or is it
just to run their own shows for as long as they
last? Let them choose a feasible target based on
which their supporters will track their performance
records.
During the last election, Brehanu Nega and his ilk
easily got away with their refusal to join
Parliament and take over Addis Abeba. “What is the
point, if the EPRDF is not going to let them have a
voice in Parliament, Everybody said, and if they are
to practically disable them from running Addis Abeba
using the authority at the Federal Government
level?”
All that was truly happening, and it would have
served as good evidence for all their claims if they
had given it a chance by taking those seats as well
as the keys to Addis Abeba. But they chose to run,
and just like that they struck away the dreams and
hopes of their numerous supporters. That was a
disservice to the entire opposition movement.
A young politician who found himself at odds with
Beyene told a newspaper that his objective was to
beat the EPRDF, Good luck!
So let them all come up with clear and concise
objectives and tell how they are going to achieve
their objectives. Let them also change the same old
words which they always utter, revealing the
application of the same old strategies or even the
absence of one. They should not go far to learn
politics. They should look at the EPRDF. It is true,
there will be many people who will vote for
opposition members no matter what. But that is no
guarantee, enough. |
