But through the whole process, something really stood out to Michael. He had originally complained to the authorities in a letter. When he finally got his letter back from the custom’s office with their final decision he counted 19 different signatures and notes on the back of his letter, the amount of different stops his request had made.

Just when Michael was marvelling at the labyrinthine customs’ procedure, the sixth conference of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was celebrating the same Customs Office as being one of the good practitioners of the Civil Service Reform.

In a 61 page report, which was handed out to conference attendees, the EPRDF held that a wide scope of civil service reforms took place in both government institutions as well as in regions and that these reforms would continue, focusing on promptness, transparency and accountability in service provision..

The ruling party, which has called similar conferences every two and half years since its rise to power, held the conference in Mekele for four consecutive days, beginning September 24, 2006. This year’s motto was the “emergence of good governance”.

This year’s conference, attended by 800 representatives of the four member parties of the EPRDF and 300 invited guests from Ethiopia and abroad, was held six months later than planned for what party members said was better preparation. Other than the invited scholars and businesses, what makes this year’s conference unique is the attendance by representatives of the ruling parties from China, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Yemen and South Africa.

Before the conference, the four political parties of the coalition of EPRDF - the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the South Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM) - were in a series of their own meetings.

Many expected that all these meetings would result in the incumbent party bringing a change to the policies based on the fact that the opposition parties suffered a series of blows during the May 2005 elections. Others hoped that there would be a change in the leadership as they noticed the EPRDF’s willingness towards including members from the younger generation in the appointment of ministers. Although the first issue is not addressed in the report, the latter seems to have been realized in the the four party meetings as well as in the EPRDF meeting.

For example after the ANDM meeting in Bahir Dar, six of the 13 executive committee members were replaced by new faces. The vice president, Bereket Simon (also Public Relation Advisor to the Prime Minister), was replaced by Tefera Walwa, minister of Capacity Building.

An executive member of ANDM told Fortune that these changes were not exclusive to his party, but that others were also doing the same based on EPRDF’s new direction of injecting new blood; it is also seen as EPRDF’s effort to recruit new party members. The party claimed that the number of its members has grown from the previous 700,000 members to the current four million.

In order to attract more members, especially younger ones, and satisfying the needs of the people, the sixth party conference discussed diversification issues based on an assessment of the last national election and the role of the private press for building democracy.

But even though the central focus of the conference’s report sticks to good governance, the first 19 pages of the report talked about economic issues, much like recent parliamentary reports to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.  The conference report then covers social services such as education and health.

The report repeatedly praises reported successes registered on the economic and social fronts, attributing them to the correct policy and strategy of the EPRDF; the report repeated that the main problem lies on implementation.

The report assesses the efforts of ensuring good governance through the division of executive, legislative and judicial bodies of government. However, it only compiled these views on five pages of the whole report.

The document does not clearly define what good governance means, but it nonetheless argues that bringing radical change in this area will play a decisive role in continuing development and ensuring peace within the country. The building of democratic institutions and democratic culture is pointed out as a means for the realization of good governance.

Demeke Achiso who gives courses on Ethiopian Politics and International Relations at the Political Science and International Relation Department of the Addis Abeba University defines good governance as the realization of what a government promises to the public.

He said that to bring about good governance, the government should have a transparent and accountable system as well as one that fights corruption and abuse of power. The report, which praised the efforts that are taken to ensure good governance in the last three years, blamed civil servants and the old traditional system of civil service for not enacting ongoing reforms.

The unwillingness of the civil servants for change reform due to their resistance for change dragged and political differences on change, the report says. said. Michael shared the ruling party’s point of view. However he blamed the government for recruiting unprofessional civil servants who did not deliver proper services from government institutions they served.

“Due to my work, I have travelled to many countries, but whenever I arrive back to Bole International Airport, everything turns to slow motion,” he said. “No one wants to take quick action; like they are frightened of being held accountable.”

A businessman in Addis Abeba, told Fortune that the behaviour of some of the civil servants forced him to ask himself who the servant was. He said that they hate to see customers come in for service.

“We are the ones who beg for a proper service,” he said.      

After reading the report, one can feel that the Revolutionary Democrats believe that if the civil service reform is implemented properly, it would solve the question raised concerning good governance. Some, such as Demeke, support the ruling party’s position, because for one to know whether a policy is successful or not, it should first be implemented properly.

For the coming years, the EPRDF has planned to advance civil service reform in federal institutions as well as begin implementation in kebeles and woredas. However, the EPRDF had previously prepared to execute similar reforms and broaden the base of the public participation on the councils of Kebeles and woredas, but this was never realized.

The plan also addresses some institutions that are directly accountable for the parliament; capacity building is a remedy for such institutions of National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, the Human Rights Commission and the office of the Auditor’s General.
 

The plan seems convincing to some scholars, including Demeke, who attended the conference as an invited guest. He said that the report convinced him and that he hoped that with these policies, the following years would be better than the previous ones.

However, many businesses approached by Fortune are frustrated with the ruling party schemes until the government solves its implementation problem. They planned to take their own measures to get through a civil service that still leaves a lot to be desired.

Indeed, after facing repetitive problems; Michael, the car importer, has planned to focus his new business of importing music instruments on air freight. This way he can use the supposedly more efficient Bole Airport Customs office. And maybe his letter will come back with less than 19 signatures.