The up coming election and the road to victory for the Ethiopian people

By Amare B

A few months ago I wrote a short piece titled 'Bringing needed changes to Ethiopia: who and how?' I do believe it is still timely. But I leave it up to the reader to judge its timelines for himself/herself.

Now that we are closer to the long awaited Election Day I would like to reiterate some of salient points.

Let me address what I think the government and the opposition parties, and the people must do.

The government

Whether the government had taken a hard look at what Ethiopia has become since they took power or not, they have at least attempted to create a political atmosphere hitherto unseen in Ethiopia. The opposition parties should be proud of this achievement. The government could as well take pride for exhibiting the intestinal fortitude to entertain the truth that sooner or later they must come to a point where their true employer, the Ethiopian electorate, may, if it so chooses, vote them out of office, and that is okay.

The government must continue to make it clear that it will accept the voters' verdict gracefully, and that it wants to win clean and fair. To that effect, I hope the government issues a clear enforceable directive to the party functionaries �we are ready to win or lose in a clean election: no more intimidation, no more election marring�. It ONLY requires such a directive with a commitment to hold accountable those violating the directive.

In view of the recent reported incidents of election observers asked to leave the country one wonders about the government's commitment to free and fair election.

Opposition Parties

Since my last piece on the subject, it seems to me that the opposition parties have taken a commendable job in trying to forge alliances. They are fielding candidates in many regions. They know full well that they don't have enough number of candidates to win a majority in the parliament even assuming the election will be fair and clear.

So, they should not lose sight of the long-term goal of brining a true democracy. And this requires the hard work of organizing the citizenry. They should form and mobilize grassroots efforts to reach out to the millions of concerned citizens ready and able to bring about the needed improvements. I don't think there is a short cut or an easy substitute to this. A true and real social movement requires persistent collective actions in which the populace is alerted, educated and mobilized, over years and decades, to challenge the power-holders and the whole society to redress social problems or grievances, and restore critical social values of justice and equality.

The key here is determination and perseverance. They should not and ought not to think that if they did not win in this election, it is the end of the journey. It is not. They have already laid the foundation and it is simply a matter of continuing to build upon it. As I said in my earlier piece, depending on the actions of the government, the struggle would or would not be arduous. The outcome is certain: however long it will take the social movement will eventually succeed. So, my message to the opposition: Keep focussing on the long term, it is a cause worth fighting.

The People

'Thanks' to the years and years of exploitation and subjugation by ruthless leaders who shamelessly have taken the polite character of the people as weakness and 'stupidity', Ethiopia has a completely disillusioned citizenry, which understandably stays out of the political process. Ethiopia has no political culture to speak of. There is no trust in the political process, and the action of the government past and present it seems to me is one that fosters distrust.

Yet the people especially the educated segment of the society must take it upon itself as a duty to mobilize the people to go out and vote their conscience. Keep reinforcing the idea that their vote would certainly make a difference.

So long as the people go out and vote, they always win. It is only political parties who would lose or win in an election. But the people always win.