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This time next week, millions of voters will be
flocking to poling stations nationwide to cast their
votes. If someone unlawfully messes with the votes
or the counting, others may or may not hear of it.
Whatever is heard, it is going to be highly unlikely
to be discernable as to whether it is the truth or a
lie. This has become a “you can never tell the
truth” country.
This week, for example, the government, through its
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), announced that
it had no room for more observers from local
embassies or international organisations.
These people know the country and its politics as
well as the administration, both local and federal,
better than even many Ethiopians. They engage with
officials as they do with members of the public.
They also have political feelings and positions.
One of the government’s said reasons for excluding
these potential observers is outright funny.
“The government believes that signing a memorandum
of understanding on the ethics of observation with
each embassy and international organisation is
difficult to execute,” it said. “It would also
create unnecessary confusion in the process of
deploying many observation teams.”
This election is the single most important thing in
this country, and the government is too busy to sign
memoranda of understanding. Let it be.
An odd occurrence in the election season is also the
complaint of the incumbent over being harassed by
the opposition. The idea of the huge and powerful
incumbent being harassed and intimidated by a
weakling bunch of messy opposition parties sounds
funny. It is stuff for a political comedy, if this
had been a country with a developed entertainment
industry that was hungrily looking for story ideas.
It could be true. It could be otherwise. Who can
tell?
There were also controversies over the membership of
another deceased candidate, and the finger pointing
went both ways for his death. The incumbent even
labelled the opposition parties as “criminals” over
this. Now, who wants death, especially death that
could come in large numbers?
Pray this election comes and goes peacefully.
“Quid est veritas?” asked Pontius Pilate, not
knowing the answer had been given to him before he
had even asked the question.
Maybe a sign of democratic infancy in this country
is that people who were at the top at the beginning
are still there, and they want to stay there right
through to the end, even when they see that they are
making a lot of mistakes. This goes for all.
Meles Zenawi wants to
look after the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) for three decades even as
he claims he “will be there as long as my party
needs me, but I personally want to go.”
But what a reputation for a giant establishment that
finds itself clueless without the one and only Meles.
This able leader has descended to the level of
becoming a sheer bully who is bold enough to warn
people that he is only waiting for this election to
be over before, er . . .
This time the attack on the opposition has been
joined by the poor old professor, the ever grumbling
Mesfin Woldemariam (Prof), who has at last
diversified his beloved activity. He has been known
as a man bold enough to stand up to the regimes of
Emperor Hailesalssie I and Mengistu Hailemariam. He
has hardly changed during the two EPRDF dominated
decades.
His diversification, however, allowed him to
physically engage with his opponents. He even tasted
detention, following the fracas at the office of
Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, where
his cronies allegedly attempted to stage a coup.
In this mess and confusion, opposition leaders who
have fallen short on policy and ability to resolve
internal disputes have missed a few golden
opportunities in diverting attention from their
weaknesses and scoring some strong points against
the incumbent. Some of them have simply tried to
deny the development that has been achieved under
the Revolutionary Democrats. Others have found
themselves ungracefully admitting everything. None
have questioned the manner in which it has all been
achieved.
No opposition party can go far with the argument
that the economy has suffered under the EPRDF’s
leadership. They would be fighting against all local
and international data. The economy has been doing
fine, despite inflation, increasing trade
imbalances, and dwindling hard currency. They may
argue on grounds of flaws in the sustainability or
distribution of this growth, if not questioning its
source.
The new jobs that have been created at the expense
of taxpayers’ money, the development of Addis Abeba
and its ballooning debt, the postgraduate education
system that has allegedly been restricted to a
select few, and the millions of Birr that have been
raised by businesspeople for an already powerful
incumbent, all could have served as issues in the
electoral process.
If the opposition leaders had exploited all of these
issues in their favour, it would have helped them
turn the tables. But the way things are going, their
biggest hope is the latent hatred for the EPRDF. And
even that may not be around that much, anymore.
The incumbent, in its own headstrong way, has been
doing a lot of work to get genuine votes in its
favour. Meanwhile, opposition claims about creating
jobs, reducing tax, and developing the economy, if
elected, that is, have drawn more ridicule than
respect.
“Why care? These people are not worth supporting,”
many are heard arguing.
Many are only vocal supporters of the opposition.
And the opposition, dominated by older people with
stubborn ideas, have done little to earn the
support, which so far has been awarded to them.
But then, what is the fate of democracy in Ethiopia?
The EPRDF did not come to power in 1991 through
democratic elections. That is why it has the duty of
creating a truly enabling environment for democratic
development. It has failed to do that.
Its fear of losing a democratic election still
shows, even when the economy has grown and the
bureaucracy has improved. That is why different
voices need to be represented in Parliament, the
House of Federation, and the regional councils.
The kind of politics that the EPRDF promotes, such
as the suppression of intraparty differences in
public and the unanimity of votes demonstrated by
all EPRDFities’ hands going up or staying down
together in Parliament should end. Even the EPRDF
itself has to bring an end to that, if it wishes to
be the party of the future. |
