I am tired of hearing the same and outdated political view, which made us before scattered like sheep that has no shepherd and strove after wind from the so-called political leaders. When do we open our eyes and minds to recognize what went wrong and fix our mistakes? When do we stop the insanity (i.e. doing the same thing repeatedly and expect different result) running in our society and come to our sanity so as to change Ethiopia and ourselves? Are not we ashamed of living in a mass misery in 21st century? Can�t we listen silently to the mockeries (i.e. incapable of feeding ourselves in 21^st century) of our enemies? By the way, if we cannot help ourselves, who will help us? 

Why do we fail repeatedly?

As an Ethiopian, I always ask my self as to why we become a captive of backwardness, political insanity and other social problems for many years and still bound to suffer? What holds us from coming together and move the country to a better destiny?  Why all our attempts succumb to failure, especially, in the past three decades? There is no simple answer for the above-mentioned questions and persistent social problems of the country.

However, there are some visible reasons for the social instability and incessant sad events of the country:

1      The lack of compatibility between what we like ideally and what we can really accomplish based on the skill and knowledge we possess to make happened the desired result. In other words, we fail to figure out how to move from the old system to a new one while keeping the unity of the country intact. In our past journey, our educated people failed us to come with a bold and visionary response and slacken to look deeply for the secret what makes Ethiopia and what holds Ethiopians together as people for centuries.

2      The lack of profound knowledge what to do exactly in the country. That means we could not differentiate what is truly right from what appears to be right. We simply rushed to adopt the language and replicate the style of movements or governments with which they really have nothing in common to our way of life. In other words, we did not look a solution for our problems from the sea of our traditional values and culture. That means we ignore who we are and look an answer from alien ideology that cause us go astray and drive wedges between us. I hope our intellectuals will raise this issue in near future in large and throw a light about the impact of ignoring our culture and traditional values.

3      The last one is the personal cynical political ambition of political leaders-they put their personal interest above the imperative needs of the people.

I believe from combination of all the said reasons we can say that almost all the errors of our political behavior have emanated. Nothing illustrates this truth better than the unworkable political behavior we have adopted toward our solutions problem.

On the current government of Ethiopia

The current administration policy is not agreeable to the heart of many Ethiopians because it ignores the common experience and value of Ethiopian people and promotes rare differences. As the result, many Ethiopians started to doubt whether this government is standing for the unity and social progress of the country. The implementation of ethnic federalism, article 39 of the Constitution that allows separation, its stand on the question of access to the red sea and lastly the way it handles the border issue between Ethiopia and Eritrea are considered by many of us as an assault on the unity of the country and strike at our pride. I strongly believe it is, to us, against nature for Ethiopians to live with out access to our natural border, Red Sea.

Personally, I am always puzzled by the dangerous course of action of the government, whether it emanates from deliberate act or political naivet�. We know that every policy is framed based on national interest of a country. However, in our country the contrary is true. The policy introduced by the government becomes a base for our disarray and division rather than being for union. This shows the government�s lack of vision, which is the most important trait any leadership should have possessed for the best of the country.

At this time, the government has formulated and pursued policies it could not implement. It has neglected to practice policies, which might have succeeded. Thus, the government is forced to toil for vain because of its misguided policy. As the result our people are bounded to live in a constant misery.

My strong conviction is that, despite what ever is done in the past, still there is a room for all political organizations, including the government, to seat together and look for a solution and veer the wrong direction the country is heading now. We must leave all the past political insanity behind and follow the course of love and harmony. The government must open its door and give a chance to a political reconciliation. On the other hand, there must be a good willing from the opposition group to embrace the said solution if their love for the country is greater than their hate to the existing government. Then, we all Ethiopians can have a better chance to bring our country to revitalization and avert future calamities. I believe the only solution we have in our hand is sitting together and heal the past wounds and march on to our future dreams.

The unity of the country is on the brink of danger because of the government erroneous policy. It is not too late even now to reverse this dangerous policy if there is a good willing on the part of the ruling party. Please do not discolor the huge sacrifice that is paid by our fathers to keep the unity and freedom of the country we are enjoying now. We judge you [the current government] not by your ability to stay in power through convoluted means, but by what you do genuinely for the sake of the country. Thus, may Lord bestow you courage and good heart to abandon the lethal act you practicing for 18 years and seek the right path for the country.

On the opposition group of Ethiopia.

My critic goes heavily to the opposition group for not choosing their course wisely and lengthening the life of the undemocratic practice of the existing administration. My wish is always to see a better government in terms of guarding our unity, protecting our national interest and changing the sad situation we are facing now.

I would like to enumerate the main downsides of the so-called opposition group:

1      The truth is the harsh sentiment that is developed among different political organizations during the last 3 decades becomes the main obstacle for the creation of strong political organization that can handle the existing and future problems of the country. In other words, the methods and slogans of the opposition group have not only poisoned the relation between them but also blinded them to see the real problems of the country. They spend their golden time in envying and hindering each other. And yet, the dreary thing is, there is no hope to avoid this ill will in the future with in the coalition of the opposition group for the sake of the country.

2      The truth is the opposition leaders are not selfless and determine to achieve the desired result of the Ethiopian people. They simply standup when they feel there is a suitable condition that goes with their interest, but vanish when that event succumb to produce what is expected. If that is the reality, I think it is our duty to tell them to desist their hands from being the vanguard of the Ethiopian people struggle.

3      The truth is the habit we are witnessing in the opposition camp is to paint Weyane as the source of all tribulations in the country at this time. To me this is a coward practice. Well, Weyane has its downsides & indeed implemented unnecessary and even dangerous policy that may dilute the Ethiopianness sentiment of the people. But still I cannot call Weyane the source of all turbulent we have now. I think the root cause is originated from all of us-from the way we think and try to implement. Why do not we pay an attention to the bitter divisions and mutual suspicions, which dominate our political and intellectual life? Why we pretend as if our problem is originated from somewhere, while we, ourselves is the real problem? To me this is really an attempt to prove that black is white and an excuse to escape from the existing reality. Personally, I want to hear how the opposition leaders intend to solve our problems in the country than cursing Weyane at this moment.

4      The truth is that in practice the opposition is working for the government by spewing full of venom-hate politics. Besides, the government deliberately engages them in wasteful and irrelevant issues so as to divert their attention from the main agenda of the people.  And still there is no any sign that opposition camp will come out from this unfortunate and unnecessary passage.  

5      The truth is the intent of opposition group to remove the current administration by force and replace by unknown one creates a negative impact on the people�s struggle for peaceful transformation. I think that kind of act is a path to destruction and we have a good lesson from the past. The military government replaced the emperor and then EPRDF replaced the Dergue government, but our social problem remains on the same scale, even deteriorated from time to time. WHY??? I think the solution we are looking is not in the field of replacing the current administration by any means. Our focus and effort must be diverted to another untried direction-political reconciliation.

 Our past experience has shown us that the old political organizations cannot deliver what the country and Ethiopian people are looking for. We are watching these political organizations for many years only to blossom, not to bear fruit. So we like seeing them to relinquish the leadership role they have in their hands to the new generation and the young ones can do it in a better and civilized way. They should stop the rubbish mentality "if we did not do it, things must go astray". If you cannot deliver what is expected, do not be a standing wall to those who march to do it with determination and good sprit. The best thing you can do is to stand behind the young ones to fill the gap in terms of feeding what you know and sharing your experience at a time you are needed to fulfill the mission you have started already. Truly I say to you if you do what I said earlier, your legacy will be great in history and your act will be praised forever.

My message to the opposition group is that our people judge you not by your selfish ambition to come to power, but by the noble thing you do for your country and your people. So come to your sense and examine how much you have traveled and toiled for nothing so far and change the course of the struggle so as to produce the right result.

Lastly, I heard repeatedly from many members of opposition group saying the new American administration will have a substantial impact on the policy of the Ethiopian government. This assumption is tantamount to ignoring the fact to see what American policy means. We know that the US policy is founded based on the national interest of the country. So having a faith on a foreign power to deliver us what we need is regrettable and untenable. Our history does not teach us the way we are trying to do. We are independent and we know the taste of freedom and our history demonstrates that we are the only people who remained the masters of our affairs in our beloved homeland while others were living under the yoke of colonialism

What is to be done?

Change is required. Our social problems are complex and shot through many contending tendencies and contradictions. Therefore, to mend the sad political tradition of the country, first we need a real change upon ourselves, and then that change can be a medicine to cure the chronic disease that is afflicting us for many decades. In other words, before we try departing the burden from the shoulder of the people, we have to mold first ourselves so as to fit to what it takes to make happened the change we are yearning for many years. Then many hands and brains can work together for one goal-to save Ethiopia.

Real change can be achieved only if we ignore the trivial and march on toward human noble ideals. The change we are looking for should bring a fresh thinking and collective spirit among Ethiopians and should provide a base for hope:

v  The change we are seeking should bring unity and harmony in the country, not havoc and division among us, which is a road to Samson destruction-mutual destruction.

v  The change we are looking should bring a political reconciliation among different political groups, not more feud and rivalry, which is altogether useless

v  The change we are looking should usher a new era, not more gloomy prospects, which is the enemy of our future and the very existence of the country.

Who does not yearn for the day when our problems will be a thing of past? How ever, the problem is the hate politics bug infects us and inflicted us to go off track. So we need to alter the course of this event and move to a happy beginning for our people who desire to live and thrive in a better Ethiopia.

The reason we are suffering is not because we have no medicine in our hands, but because we choose not to swallow it. If we have the willing and the courage, the first and for most we can do is emancipating ourselves from being a slave of old tenets and develop a willing to move from the comfort zone we are dwelling now and face the inevitable struggle for the better destiny of the country. As I said earlier, I am always in favor of a political reconciliation among the opposition group because that�s the only tool we have to overcome the monumental challenges we are facing now. To implement this, we need some one (�TILK SEW�) who can go with this mantra selflessly to dry the wells of all political cynicism that has surfaced within us for many years.   

Before I finish, I would emphasize Ethiopia�s present need is not havoc but restoration and allow the opportunity not fall again from our hands.

May God bless Ethiopia!

May long live the unity of Ethiopia!

Haile Desta

February 12, 2009