Rationalizing the need for change in the EPRDF leadership

By Bereket Gebru

In a February, 2016 report entitled “Ethiopia’s Great Run: the growth acceleration and how to pace it,” the World Bank stated “Ethiopia is a unique country and its economic growth strategy is no exception.” The report enthused:

  

Which economic strategy did the Ethiopian government pursue? In brief, economic strategy focused on promoting agriculture and industrialization while delivering substantial public infrastructure investment supported by heterodox macro-financial policies. Overall, there was substantial government intervention in many aspects of the economy. Ethiopia’s economic strategy was unique. It differed markedly from other strategies, such as the recommendations of the Growth Commission (2008) as well as the experience of other fast growing African countries. Although it was inspired by the East Asian development state model and shares a few common features, economic strategy also differed from this model both in conception and outcomes.

This complement by the World Bank pays tribute to the unique economic strategy Ethiopia has adopted in its march towards development. Although the level of success the strategy has bestowed upon the country is proof enough of its effectiveness and clever design, an appreciation from a third party is always reassuring.

Another Ethiopian legal design that has enjoyed great review by scholars is the constitution. I have come across scholars with the staunchest of opposition to the EPRDF single out the constitution as an exceptional document even by international standards. There is a wide agreement among scholars that the Ethiopian constitution is one of the most democratic constitutions around the world.

With the foreign policy, industrial strategy and agricultural strategy documents of the country proving to be well designed, sketching out the best policies does not seem to be one of the problems that Ethiopia has. The various social, economic and political achievements the country has enjoyed in the past decade and half is a testament to that reality.    

A few years onwards, however, the quality of social service has taken a dip. Popular frustration has been increasing sharply in recent years with a greater perception of injustice in social service delivery. Recent reports regarding the low implementation of some of the mega projects that were expected to change the lives of a large number of Ethiopians is an instance of such a case.

Considering the policies that drove the rapid economic growth of the country and ensured the social benefits of a large section of the population have largely been in place with a few adjustments to bolster their effectiveness, the low level of implementation is so bizarre. However, the sustainability of the sound policies indicates that the low level of implementation has to do with the people carrying out and overseeing the implementation process. That brings the issue of leadership in the ruling party EPRDF to the forefront of the current unrest in the country.

It has been a few years now that the Ethiopian people have been complaining about EPRDF low, middle and high level leaders using public office for personal gain. The popular perception of corruption and embezzlement by party appointees soared in these years. In the meantime, the party did not actively follow through such allegations and bring the culprits to justice. This condition raised the popular frustration and made the people feel like they have nowhere to turn to. This acute lack of belief in the system pushed people to the edge and prompted them to take things in their own hands in some parts of the country.

The EPRDF party leaders have conceded that the sense of social service that has been the hallmark of their identity has been eroded in recent years. Instead of putting the interests of the people first, leaders have in recent times opted for their personal gains even at the expense of the society.

The party’s long tradition of hectic evaluation that crosses the borders of member parties was, according to senior leaders, weakened in recent years as each party stayed within its own limits. As a result, the check and balance mechanism of the party that stood the taste of time was jeopardized with each member party dealing with its own case only.

Consequently, parties have developed a tendency to cover up the injustice and corruption committed by their members in nationality. The umbrella party EPRDF, in turn, has developed a new culture of letting unethical and even illegal conduct by members slide as the former check and balance mechanism of cross party evaluation has been weakened. As was identified by the party’s 10^th year convention last year, rent seeking behavior and the lack of good governance have become the main threats challenging the party’s credibility along with the country’s unity and path to development.  

Despite the glaring instances of popular frustration towards such developments, the party did not pinch itself to wake up to the reality on its own. The burst of fury from the Ethiopian people, however, threw the recent trends of letting things slide out the window and forced the party to be alert once again. The result was that member parties went back to the application of the old mechanisms that withstood the challenges of the natural selection of mechanisms. Accordingly, the border lines of coalition parties faded once again to get to the bottom of the problem at hand and set the record straight.

With a major glitch in the party’s conduct leading to popular disappointment, however, the party needs to fix the problem and ensure the accountability of those who hid behind nationality to promote their own interests through the use of public office. That calls for a serious session of evaluation to be followed by a change of policy.

The evaluation would help identify those who are capable of carrying out their responsibilities in holding a certain public office. Those that just hang on to party membership as the wild card for becoming a public administrator would, according to the new policy, make way for someone qualified enough regardless of political membership. Such a measure would help filter out those who use the party for political appointment and not for public service. Subsequently, the party would be left with leaders who care more about public service, allowing the party to reclaim its identity, credibility and social acceptance.