One of the great wisdom that our forefathers developed and used to resolve issues is using age old idioms in trying to make issues understandable before trying to seek the solution for the issues at hand.
I grew up listening to people using the saying “namni mana tokko ijaaru citaa wal hinsaamu”.
It means, "those who are building the same hut shouldn’t compete on the straw that is to be used to cover the hut", literally speaking.
It is clear that the world as a whole is getting smaller and smaller with the advent of modern times, and with that much more interdependent than it was before in the whole of human history today. If one part of this interdependent world may fail then the rest will also fail with that, if it may not completely fail, then it will definitely get much weaker as the consequence of the failing part. This can easily be seen, among others today, on how a failing financial institution of a given country may consequently pull the rest in the other part of the world with it and bring them into an abyss with it, in a sort of a domino-effect manner, in essence.
The same is also true on the other side, namely if a part wants to grow strong within the interdependent fabric, then it should pull the rest of the parts along with itself, else it can’t succeed to get strong effectively.
This is what is reflected by our ancestors’ wisdom that has been delivered to us as a base of wisdom. They didn’t need to wait until the much touted globalization would arrive and show us in practice today how such observation is practically valid and could be accepted as a general truth to gain such a wisdom and deploy it for their daily lives.
Since I listened to Obbo Lemma Megerssa’s VOA interview about his recently revealed departure with his own party line of policy issues the above mentioned idiom sprung to my mind. Obbo Lemma stressed in all of his answers that he is the opinion that his party needs first and foremost to work for the interest of the Oromo people before engaging itself for the interest of the others. He could be correct but the puzzling part of this claim is where to draw the line between the two, where does the Oromo interest stop and that of the rest in the country begin? We can also ask the other way round: where does the interest of Ethiopia end and that of the Oromos begin? In my limited understanding the two are most probably not so easily separable. The Oromo people can’t get to a glory without the rest in the country also enjoying the same opportunity.
Probably this understanding could also be the underlying reason why Europe decided to come under a single umbrella and opted to coordinate and consolidate their efforts towards their own individual countries development, thereby trying to overcome the differences that plunged Europe just over half a century ago into the worst human tragedy the world has ever seen before.
It seems that to me now Obbo Lemma is not yet convinced that we share the same destiny and as such we should compete with each other in our respective efforts to develop ourselves, in our own ways, in his view. If that is the case, I am puzzled about how that is supposed to work. It is possible that Obbo Lemma began, like many other OPDO members, his political career by first subscribing to the OLF line of thinking that Oromos are enslaved in Ethiopia and needed to be liberated and finally be an independent country. This line of thinking has also bumped itself into a dead-end, because no one could ever say where to draw the physical boundary in Ethiopia between the territories of those who were purportedly enslaved and the enslavers.
Even after giving up on the idea of liberating one part of the country from the rest it seems that some thinking part of the old days are still lingering in the heads of some political actors.
I also heard Obbo Lemma trying to stress about bringing economic development to the region his party is ruling. That is great, Sir. But do you mind to tell us about how you are going to bring in an economic prosperity to your region without liberalizing the economic regulations accordingly? If you would claim your intention is liberalizing the economy, then you should also be mindful that you need to open the border not only within Ethiopia but also for those beyond the border and attract those who can come with their capital and invest into your region. Today’s maxim is simply there is no economic prosperity without investment and there is no investment unless you open your border and embrace those who could come with their capitals with an open arm. So, here also needless to state that instead of competing with each other cooperating with each other is the right way forward, in my view at least.
All in all I failed to understand the maturity and validity of the logic you are using to substantiate your rebelling against your own party line, Sir, if I may share my view here.