What Went Right?

The May 2005 national elections in Ethiopia were a defining point for Ethiopian politics just as the events of September 11th were to American affairs.
 

In the aftermath of the elections and the events of June 2005, the host of BBC's popular programme HardTalk, Stephen Sacker, held interviews with both Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and opposition leader Hailu Shawel. This interview was shown to the public several times through the state TV, translated into Amharic. This was a time when emotions were running high among both government officials and the opposition camp.
 

In that interview, the host asked the Prime Minister what went wrong after the most highly anticipated elections in the history of Ethiopia. In his response, the Prime Minister said his party took a calculated risk. Just last week, I watched this interview from BBC's archive once more; I sat stunned for a few moments. The thing that struck me most was I had watched this interview dozens of times on the state media and on the BBC, but never before realised the sheer political brilliance of our Prime Minister.

Mr. Sacker could have asked "what went right?" and the answer would not have been the same. In retrospect, everyone of the public and the international community were victims of the greatest political hoax in African history.
 

Popular belief has it that our opposition leaders are educated elites that understand people's problems and could solve them if given the chance. They might even be politicians that represent the people. But they lack one thing: respect for their enemy.
 

Today's political science is not about accountability and standing for the people; it is about wining. And win the government did, in style. That is what I would argue the Prime Minister is successful in achieving.
 

His government was a darling to the west at the time and could have done without the elections of 2005 and still maintained the support it enjoyed in the eyes of many in the international community. The only weakness he might have seen was within the EPRDF itself, which was disillusioned at the time. The split within the TPLF in particular weakened the Prime Minister's support base. He may have anticipated that unless he provided a boost to his enemy so that they could pose a "clear and present danger," as he had often said, the survival of his government would have been in question. The only way he could regain the support from its own camp was to rally solidarity against an outside enemy. And what an enemy it created.
 

The logic may have been that the appearance of a threatening enemy would remind party members of what they have to lose, and thus bolster their loyalty.

CUD was a perfect candidate to achieve this objective.
 

Did the Prime Minister know what would happen?
 

Maybe not exactly, but he might have figured out that his party would come out stronger and more united, which is exactly what happened. The Prime Minister knew that his was a government without popular support from the people, and he also knew that the days of populist governments is over, not only in Africa, but in the greatest democracies of the world. The only way you can maintain a stable government is if you have a strong government. In order to have a strong government, you need to have a strong base before you work on other issues.
 

He knew that his enemies were not armed and that the only support they had was the support from people who wanted change. For that, lives were lost. These are people that died for a cause, and they should be respected.

But our opposition leaders have forgotten that people did not die for them, but for the ideals they represented. It is clear now that the Prime Minister's government came out stronger and emboldened after all these events, which is exactly the objective they set out to achieve. Everything went right. They created a strong party base and a strong government. And they maintained their international support.

I voted for our opposition leaders two years ago. Now I regret it. I also regret that they do not respect the lives lost for their ideals by staying united, learning from their mistakes and moving forward. Our opposition leaders may have been bright economists, physicians or engineers, but they were never bright politicians.
 

I congratulate our Prime Minister for the fruits of his labour; he deserves every bit to remain leader given that everything went right for him. If there were another election today, I would vote for his party.