How deep will be EPRDF’s reform?

Tesfaye Lema

EPRDF said it will conduct a deep reform within the coming two months time so as to realize the renaissance of the country. There are however arguments whether the reform will be in a way to resolve the rife problems challenging the country.

In fact, the party has experiences in handling reforms. One of the major reforms that EPRDF had taken is the 2001 major changes. The argument was the fact that EPRDF had evaluated its journey from including the country’s 1998-2000 war with Eritrea. 

Following its separation from Ethiopia in 1993, Eritrean had illegally occupied some areas in northwestern and northeast in 1998 where Eritrea broke international laws and triggered the war by invading Ethiopia.

That reform has brought all the progresses in the country mainly in economic growth and social developments. All the policies: agriculture, industry, urban and foreign policies were designed and entered into action following that reform. Besides, the civil service reform and other major steps were taken. There tangible indications that witness the transformation of the entire situation in Ethiopia from the situation it was in 2001. 

EPRDF is the first party in the Ethiopian history in developing a proper multi-party governance system, which is one of the pillars of democracy. It has been working focusing mainly on modernizing Ethiopia via economic restructuring and democracy. There is hope that this country will ultimately get out of poverty through dynamic transformation.  Many economic analysts argued that the continued economic stagnation of the country for several decades has been reversing step by step in the past twenty five years as the country has been enjoying double digit economic growth.

The country has been attaining fast, sustainable and equitable economic growth that could foster its journey to renaissance. Under the slogan of making poverty a history, the country has been working hard and managed to attain double digit economic growth for the past thirteen consecutive years, which is witnessed by various international organizations and the Ethiopian people.  A considerable number of women and the youth have changed their lives participating in micro and small scale enterprise. 

It is evident that the country has been constructing a number of Mega projects including the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam. The completion of these projects   will speed up development leap forward. The rights of the public to access healthcare and education services are other major gains in those years.

Available documents indicate that there are more than 37 thousand health extension workers who usually engaged throughout the country boosting public access to health services. In the same token there are about 30 million citizens that have got education access in the country.

The housing program is another significant stride in those past years. In efforts exerted to address housing problems more than 136 thousand houses were built and transferred to the dwellers only in Addis Ababa. A significant number of houses are also built in all Regional States.

However, there are some shortcomings despite all these achievements. The current situation in Ethiopia has become a topical issue. The questions posed by public in different parts of the country in connection to good governance are so crucial.  The people praised the developments made so far but they have serious good governance problems. They need accountable and transparent service provision in all sectors.

They request the Ethiopian government to avoid its governance problems and enhance their economic benefits. Following those protests and even before the government has been attempting to resolve the problem but no tangible changes have achieved in this regard. The ruling party has now decided to make deep-rooted reform so as to meaningfully minimize corruption and rent collection practices; thereby, enhance good governance.

However, these public questions have taken by the enemies of the country who have been dreaming of destabilizing the country’s peace and jeopardize its fast economic development.

Those internal and external enemies have coupled with the terrorist groups and some chauvinist and rent collectors within the party and the government structures to divert the peaceful public question for good governance and improvement of their lives to a chaos and havoc.

The Council of Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) passed some important decisions this month that could meaningfully address the problems posed by the Ethiopian people. One of the major decisions is to conduct a deep reform within the party and the government structures. It will take appropriate majors up on individuals in its structure who have been cooperating with the Ethiopian chauvinist enemies who have been struggling to avert the federal system that nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia have build for the past fifteen years.

The Ethiopian people have confidence on the ruling party and realized its efforts to discharge its political responsibility through an inward looking when problems happened. It is possible for the party to significantly minimize the problems and enhance its achievements so as so that the public could be benefited.

This confidence has emanated from the very nature of the party and from the fundamental measures it had taken when it faced issues deviated from the normal move of the party. In this case, many Ethiopians could see the light at the end of the tunnel that EPRDF will strictly reform itself and realize the renaissance of the country.

The past twenty five years also witnessed that the country is in the right truck of development although there are problems in realizing good governance. Anyone who had the knowledge of the party’s history believes EPRDF, along with the Ethiopian people, will surely solve the problem of good governance step by step. As the same time, it will strengthen the struggle against poverty and make it a history. Despite all the intrinsic and extrinsic challenges, Ethiopia has sustained its forward move in all aspects: politically, economically and socially. This is another significant point for the Ethiopian people to strengthen its confidence on the party.

The other significant point is the fact that  the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front has identified its problems and decided to conduct a strict reform so that the efforts to ensure the renaissance of the country will be a reality. 

The Ethiopian opposition in the Diaspora coupled with some irresponsible groups at home continues to destabilize the country with violent revolution that could shock and awe the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front regime.

The Ethiopian public along with EPRDF officials and their ardent supporters express their beliefs that the country desperately needs economic growth and transformation that will elevate it from abject poverty and launch it to a middle-income status.

Therefore, reforming the ruling party and removing ineffective, corrupt individuals will surely pave the way for better management and democratization of the nations.

One compelling issue for the reform is the rising of using public power to personal interests. EPRDF need to reform itself and has to level its political and economic playing field so that everyone gets equal opportunity in the country.

The people in Ethiopia have been demanding economic justice, they demanded rooting out corruption and ensuring good governance.  Ethiopians will be complaining there are too many corporations, bad governance and rent collection activities in their respective administrative that have to be urgently addressed by the government.

The level of institutionalization of any political party can be defined by the adaptability, complexity, autonomy, and coherence of its organizations and structure.

Adaptability has been the strongest quality of the EPRDF in its half-a-century existence and quarter-a-century-rule; while maintaining its hitherto coherence remains to be the key challenge given the increase of its members from half a million to six million in just a decade.

The adaptability of a political party can be measured in three ways: chronological age: the longer a political party has been in existence, the more likely it is able to continue to exist in the future. According to Huntington, the probability that a political party which is hundred years old will survive one additional year is perhaps one hundred times greater than the probability that a one-year-old party will survive one additional year.

The success of a party to surmount the problem of peaceful succession and its ability to replace one set or generation of leaders with another tells the institutional adaptability of a party. This entails both intra-generation and inter-generation succession.

The historically unprecedented smooth power succession to PM Hailemariam Desalegn after the untimely death of the late PM Meles Zenawi is enormous in this regard.

The third and perhaps most fundamental measure of adaptability is a functional one. Since organizations are created to perform one particular function, they face a major crisis after the original function is no longer needed. A party that can successfully adapt itself to changed functions, that is able to change one constituency to the representation of another or to acquire power and then act like a governing party is more of an institution than one which cannot.

EPRDF has transformed in its scope and size. More importantly, the EPRDF has not only transformed from a guerrilla movement to a ruling party capable of governing such a diverse and difficult country but also proceeded into further tasks: addressing national questions and carrying out accelerated development and massive transformation at home, and bringing regional integration, maintaining regional stability and offering an alternative development model to the region and the continent.

We are witnessing that public angers and grievances are being exploited by the Ethiopian external enemies and their zombie local messengers.  These enemies are making an organized and concerted effort to foment trouble and rebellion all over the country.