Mereja Forum

[Naga Tuma]

Several years ago, I came across on this forum a participant asking the following question: what form of federalism can Ethiopia have if "ethnic federalism" is abolished?

I quickly offered a rough idea that could be useful to see an alternative that may be better for functional governances or administrations. The idea is intuitive, not scientific.

Several days ago, I came across the following statement by DefendTheTruth: A country without a constitution would have been not worth of defending it and Ethiopia is not one of them, fortunately.

The moment I read the statement, the following question, which I later asked him, came to my mind: "... can you rationally define and characterize a constitution?"

After trying to answer the question, he came with hypothetical scenarios about the means (peaceful or violent) to change a constitution. I tried to address the hypothetical scenarios by writing the following statement: "One can at the same time be governed by the law of the land and demand peacefully a change or amendment of the existing constitution."

I am not sure if he has read and understood this statement, if he thinks it is not a valid statement, or if he thinks that, from my vantage point, it doesn't address the concern out of his hypothetical scenarios. He kept writing as if I did not address it.

This is not the first time he has made such fallacious claims, probably because of not reading or not understanding the writing on the wall. It has happened several months ago around the time of this coronavirus outbreak. I had to only quote for him what I had already written that contradicted what he later falsely alleged that I wrote.

These are not my main points here. My main point here is rather about defining, reforming, or affirming a constitution. After I asked for a definition of a constitution, the participant that goes by the name "Noble Amhara" went even more bitter using, among other words, "lover of evil."

I fail to understand what evil there is in asking for a definition of a constitution from someone who discussed a constitution. Years ago, I have been called "evil mind" on this forum or another forum. I don't know if that also came from the same character. I have been put to contemplate if there is any correlation between this character's expressions and some feedback from a personality test that I took years ago that said I have a rare detective ability. I paid no attention to it, thinking it is one of the common commercial flatteries.

I have long thought and continue to think that the primary source of Africa's development is the breakthroughs from its own brains.

So, as a lifetime student in general and a lifetime cursory student of history in particular, I can't help asking for the definition of a constitution as well as the history of Ethiopia's constitutions.

One of the great scientists of all time, Isaac Newton, said: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

If such great wisdom can be applied to Ethiopia's political leadership over more than a century, Adwa stands to be one of the greatest shoulders upon which many have been standing. Atse Menelik II and Ras Gobana, among others, have their historical places in preparing and carrying that shoulder.

If my limited reading serves me right, European missionary schools found a gateway into Ethiopia in the aftermath of the Ethiopian victory at Adwa. I do not know if any correlation between the two has been or can be established. If such a correlation is establishable, I do not think that it would be a farfetched hypothesis that there is a likelihood that the victory at Adwa may have been a causative factor for a search for the gateway.

If the initial intent for the search for the gateway was in good faith, has it helped lead the country that survived as an independent country in Africa to a better or worse internal political state? I do not have an answer to this question.

However, I can refer to some basic empirical data in recent decades. In one of the interviews that I heard Obbo Lencho Leta give to the Voice of America's Amharic Service after the change of government in Ethiopia circa 1991, he expressed that if it weren't for the civility of the Ethiopian people, the political environment of the time could have led to more alarming bloodletting in the country. I am paraphrasing the interview to the best of my recollection.

Nearly 30 years later, from what I have been reading from a distance, I can not tell whether the civility he observed when he came to the scene nearly 30 years ago is in a better or worse shape after so long. Is the country in need of healing seeing more healings or bloodlettings? The trajectory from then to now can be a simple yardstick by which to measure the general trend.

During a recent interview with journalist Sisay Agena, he said that he drafted the Transitional Government Charter of 1991. I have yet to comprehend how much of what was in the Charter got its way into the current constitution.

In the interview, he also said that he received his Bachelor's Degree from an American University.

If I am not mistaken, his Elementary and High School educations in Ethiopia were at missionary schools. If I remember correctly, this was also made clear in the recent interview.

I have never met him in person and the views I am expressing here are not for personal reasons but for national implications. His rational inclinations are among those I have respected.

However, in the likelihood that the search for the gateway for missionary schools in the aftermath of the victory at Adwa may not have been fully in good faith, it would go without saying that Obbo Lencho Leta is a glaring exhibit for the trajectory from the search for a gateway to the writing of the current constitution, which has been almost undoing the surviving country more than a century later.

In the event that there is any grain of truth in this theory, Obbo Lencho Leta ought to be the first person to distance himself, sooner than later, from the constitution that he pioneered instead of sticking it to his neck for the rest of history.

Evidently, the internal disparity in Ethiopia has led to a crop of activists on various levels. In my cursory observation, building a better country of all citizens for all citizens by standing on the shoulders of all the builders over the ages while maintaining and building on the prevailing civility goes a long way to solving the problem of disparity instead of exposing it for exploitations. Working for a democratic order instead of giving it slippery lip service goes a long way to solving the problem.

Over the years, some crop of activists has tried to work tirelessly to discredit both Atse Menelik and Ras Gobana instead of putting them on the balance of history for what they have been able to do and failed to do during their time. Even giants are at times prone to making uninformed or unlearned judgments during their times. On the account that they get all the heavy lifting by the angels and profess that the only way to God is through only them, even the Prophets may not be without faults. I have argued a long time ago that if Ras Gobana has to be subjected to lumpsum blame, he may be as Gobana of the Gun instead of as Gobana of the Book.

Studying and reforming or affirming the constitution through a democratic referendum will settle any ongoing debate about it. I was in the country when both the Charter and the constitution were made public. I was eligible as a mere citizen to express my views about it when it was adopted. However, I do not remember being invited as a mere citizen by any party to do so.

This process may take years or decades. Nonetheless, however long it takes, at least I think that it is the right thing to do.

[Aurorae Borealis]

Naga, You wrote ,

"One can at the same time be governed by the law of the land and demand peacefully a change or amendment of the existing constitution."

Most constitution have a mechanism to change or amend part of the constitution based on some of the articles within the constitution. But, doing away with changing Ethnic based constitution is abolishing the constitution all together. The demand to abolish the constitution predominantly, comes from one ethnic group among some multiple ethnic groups. However in Ethiopia, the people do not decide, the individuals in the government do. Abolishing the ethnic constitution, what type of substitution to the constitution would be made. I hope you guys are not going the no constitution, Eritrean way. I believe Ethiopia would be better off if it follows some kind of USA or Switzerland type of constitution. Other wise, Mengistu's Ethiopia will be the alternative. What ever constitution you have, if democratic procedures are not implemented, back to square one again. That is Africa. The bantus continent. BTW, do not take this as criticism, but you are a good writer even without a substantial theme or thesis to write about.