The fruits of May 28

                                                                                                                     Desta Hailu

Only few days are left before the 26^th anniversary of ‘May 28’ is celebrated. Today there is peace in Ethiopia. There is justice; and a democratic order is built. And when the the event that has brought these things is celebrated, it will be by commemorating big historical events in the run up to the date. As it can be recalled, after the downfall of the military 'Derg' regime, many naysayers were predicting many bad things about Ethiopia. They said that Ethiopia will face the fate of Somalia and Yugoslavia; it is inevitable that the country will disintegrate like those countries. But, what come after has been total opposite to what they “predicted”.

Through the sapient path the transitional government and EPRDF took the country through, they have saved the country from disintegration. In addition to this, they have also laid the basis that enabled the country to be a benchmark for economic growth. There is no need to debate the fact that all this is the outcome of ‘May 28’ victory.

It also cannot be debated that Ethiopia has recorded huge growth for the past 26 years in terms of guaranteeing peace, recording development and building democracy. For this, the sound political path the country follows should be mentioned. It is not only about the political path, but also the constitutional democracy and development provisions that are stipulated on the constitution that should also be mentioned. As the constitution was prepared/ratified with the participation of the whole people of the country, the provisions stipulated on the constitution had huge role in bringing national consensus.

The presence of a government that is committed to the implementation of those provisions has helped hasten the country’s success in building a democratic system and in entering into an orbit of rapid development. The FDRE constitution clearly states that the country should try to achieve fair economic objectives. To achieve these objectives, the government has formulated and is implementing a mechanism where citizens fairly benefit from the country’s accumulated wealth. Regions that have been trailing in terms of development are now benefiting more from the development by getting special support from the government. The constitution has clearly given guarantee to these rights.

The 1987 E.C ratified constitution also states that the government shall have the responsibility to control land and natural resources in the name of the people and utilize them for their common good and development. Not only this. The constitution also stipulates that every citizen shall be entitled, within the limits of the country's resources, to food, clean water, shelter, health, education and security of pension.

With this, the right to hold private property, which was scrapped during the Derg regime, was protected with the new constitution. More importantly, the constitution clearly states that land is the common wealth of the Ethiopian people. It has laid the issue of common benefit of the people when it comes to land on a firm basis. In relation to this, the document stipulates that the right to own the natural resource is of the government and the peoples' alone. Ethiopia’s farmers and pastorals right to use land freely has also got constitutional guarantee.  Today any Ethiopian citizens have an equal opportunity to enter any economic activity and chose any line of work for a living. The right of every citizen to get public service is also protected by the constitution.

All these are the fruits of ‘May 28’. The dictatorial military regime was demolished for good by the struggle the whole nation, nationalities and people of Ethiopia waged against it. The dictatorial regime is died never to come back. After its demise, every Ethiopians has gained many successes in every sector in the past years. Their life has been changed. It is not expected that they will look lightly to anyone that tries to disturb this.

We have come to see that the living condition of people have the right to improve their economic conditions as per the constitution's provisions. We have also seen that citizens are ensured popular participation at all levels in the preparation of development policies and programs of the country. As the main aim of the development activity is to fulfill the growth and basic interest of citizens, common understanding has been reached that the policies and international agreements the government enters into should protect the benefit of its people. Citizens have also the right to equally use public service. The FDRE constitution has also given guarantee to the country's nation, nationalities and people that have been lagging behind in the economy as a result to not getting fair economical and social opportunity under previous regimes. As a result, in addition to ensuring fair development activity, the government is giving them special support to enable them utilize their optimal capacity. The support mainly focus on capacity building. It also includes building government administration, and strengthening the manpower.

When the ‘May 28’ fruits are seen (the constitution's economic and social provisions) in general, they indicate the importance of building a common economic community that is based on consent, rule of law, equality, common benefit. They also indicate the importance of bringing rapid and fair development that is led by free economic system by ensuring citizen's right to generate personal wealth and involve in the line of work of their choosing.

This shows how much they are important in boosting peoples’ development capacity and in nation building. It is easy to understand from the constitution's provision that ensuring citizens’ ownership of development and fair benefit should be the main objective of the development activities. Ensuring the regions’ opportunity to grow equally and giving special support are key issue when it comes to ensuring a common political and economic community that is aimed to be built in this country. The constitution's various provisions show that building national economy with own capability and consent is important for the country’s lasting peace, development and democracy. 

The constitution clearly states that development is an issue of human right. It is also clearly stated that the main objective of the development activity is to improve the livelihood of citizens. It is obvious how much important development agenda is to the country. And understanding its huge importance, the Ethiopian government is working tirelessly to ensure rapid development for the country.

The command economic system that was the working economic system for years under Derg has changed, and a free market system was put in its place. It has made its aim to free the country from poverty and backwardness by making the country’s economy free market and ensuring rapid development. By following market led economic system, it has made sure investment and trade policies are formulated and implemented.  The main role of the government in the economy is to coordinate and lead various development forces. In addition to this, its role include providing infrastructure, developing manpower, providing public service, creating suitable condition for the private sector, closing down rent-seeking sources and getting involved in development works that are not done by the private sector. 

In relation to this, laws and procedures that were formulated to halt the direct involvement of the private sector under previous regimes were scrapped. In order to create suitable condition for internal and foreign investors, the trade and investment policies have changed fundamentally. Other measures have been taken at various times as well. As its known, unregulated economic system don’t have the capacity to bring rapid, sustainable and broad-based development, in fact it is believed that it pushes the public and government resources towards rent-seeking.

Thus, following a free market system where the government play an irreplaceable economic role follows a mechanism where on one hand productive investment is expanded, while on the other hand the government itself enters in development activities that the market cannot answer in a sound manner. As result to this, the government is undertaking huge investment on infrastructure and on human resource in order to stop market deficiency and related rent-seeking sources – and this is going strongly. These all are the fruits of 'May 28'.