The end of Kinijit and the urgent need for a new leadership in the Ethiopian political landscape
Zekarias Ezra
December 14, 2007
I have no intention to summarize the news and the facts which we all have witnessed regarding the dwindling importance of Kinjit. Anyone with open mind can clearly see the writing in the wall. Kinjit, as we know it, as a viable political party is dead and dead for good.
Just a few months back, while Kinjit’s leaders were in Kality prison, their imprisonment was a raison d'etre for the Diaspora politicians to stage demonstrations in the streets of major cities in Europe and N America demanding the prisoners release and pleading to whoever is willing to listen that the EPRDF government is a brutal dictatorship.
On the days following the pardon of the Kinjit leaders, many Diaspora politicians were understandably positively giddy with euphoric joy. I certainly was much happier than I'd been in years, but not so much from the stunning pardon process itself as from a feeling that some light finally had made its way into a very dark cave. That, in and of itself, was worth celebrating.
Yet, it would be simple-minded to think that the pardoned Kinjit leaders would forthwith bring about a much-awaited change to the political discourse of Ethiopia. A careful glimpse of their actions (leaving aside the structural shortcomings of the current government) following the 2005 elections would show self-centeredness and political immaturity.
Barely a month after their release, the wave of euphoria came crashing down when humanity made contact with REALITY. Bickering, double-crossing, and back-biting (sadly an entrenched Ethiopian culture) have become the staples in the banquet of Diaspora politics. Of course, the first fatal error in moral and political judgment was made when these so-called ‘sage’ leaders have decided they have to pay homage to the Diaspora politicians; totally discounting the home front they so desperately ‘crave’ to lead.
How about paying a visit to the families of those who have lost their lives in the aftermath of the 2005 election? How about celebrating the dawn of the millennium with the people who had voted en masse for them? Here in lies, brothers and sisters, the lack of political astuteness and judgment of a historic proportion on the part of Kinjit leaders.
It is a sad state of affair to witness a crumbling of a major political party which a few years back had a promising future. Oh, yes, it would have been a much needed impetus to the democratic struggle in Ethiopia had Kinjit succeeded as a formidable alternative opposition political party. But it is no more! So, new leaders must arise, who can read the situation with all its limitations, but who nonetheless look beyond, forming a national strategy that can bring political transformation.
The real issues confronting the nation are obvious and many. Aside from all the talk and the visible skewed growth, the government has not delivered the goods, the goods that matters to ordinary citizens. The government knows it and the citizens know it too. It is indeed true that the resemblance of democratic activity has been widely observed in the Ethiopian political map for quite some time now. Yet, the most frequent encounter that the ordinary citizen has with democracy is not through political activity. Rather, it is in day to day contact with public administrations at local, regional and federal levels where that encounter gives evidence of efficiency, responsiveness and accountability resulting in the confidence in the democratic process as a means of service as well as a political and ethical system.
To the people’s utter dismay, the public is experiencing opaqueness, insularity, inefficiency and arrogance resulting in almost zero confidence in the government (and now in the current leadership of the opposition parties), and thus in the ideal of a democratic system in general.
The government, to its credit, is scrabbling to introduce administrative changes at all levels. But, administrative reform does not simply mean a quest for professional excellence, or efficiency, or customer satisfaction, essential though those qualities are; it is in fact very vital to strengthening public confidence in democracy as an answerable system for delivering many of the essentials of life, for helping to advance freedom, social and economic progress and security, and lifting up the people from abject poverty.
It is hard to effect a lasting and durable change with the same old methods with the same old functionaries who are too invested in the status quo, which is what EPRDF is trying to do. The Bible teaches a great wisdom on this point. Let us read it together. “Nobody sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on to an old coat, for the patch will pull away from the coat and the hole will be worse than ever. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins - otherwise the skins burst, the wine is spilt and the skins are ruined. But they put new wine into new skins and both are preserved." (Matthews 9:17).
The rise of a new leadership is thus a necessity for Ethiopia. It is therefore incumbent upon the current leaders both in government and the opposition parties to recognize this truth and courageously choose to ‘die’ rather than to let the country ‘die’. They both need to work together to pave the way for new generation of leaders to blossom. My call to all the young generation of Ethiopians is to rise with determination to radically change the course of Ethiopian history.
Just a few months back, while Kinjit’s leaders were in Kality prison, their imprisonment was a raison d'etre for the Diaspora politicians to stage demonstrations in the streets of major cities in Europe and N America demanding the prisoners release and pleading to whoever is willing to listen that the EPRDF government is a brutal dictatorship.
On the days following the pardon of the Kinjit leaders, many Diaspora politicians were understandably positively giddy with euphoric joy. I certainly was much happier than I'd been in years, but not so much from the stunning pardon process itself as from a feeling that some light finally had made its way into a very dark cave. That, in and of itself, was worth celebrating.
Yet, it would be simple-minded to think that the pardoned Kinjit leaders would forthwith bring about a much-awaited change to the political discourse of Ethiopia. A careful glimpse of their actions (leaving aside the structural shortcomings of the current government) following the 2005 elections would show self-centeredness and political immaturity.
Barely a month after their release, the wave of euphoria came crashing down when humanity made contact with REALITY. Bickering, double-crossing, and back-biting (sadly an entrenched Ethiopian culture) have become the staples in the banquet of Diaspora politics. Of course, the first fatal error in moral and political judgment was made when these so-called ‘sage’ leaders have decided they have to pay homage to the Diaspora politicians; totally discounting the home front they so desperately ‘crave’ to lead.
How about paying a visit to the families of those who have lost their lives in the aftermath of the 2005 election? How about celebrating the dawn of the millennium with the people who had voted en masse for them? Here in lies, brothers and sisters, the lack of political astuteness and judgment of a historic proportion on the part of Kinjit leaders.
It is a sad state of affair to witness a crumbling of a major political party which a few years back had a promising future. Oh, yes, it would have been a much needed impetus to the democratic struggle in Ethiopia had Kinjit succeeded as a formidable alternative opposition political party. But it is no more! So, new leaders must arise, who can read the situation with all its limitations, but who nonetheless look beyond, forming a national strategy that can bring political transformation.
The real issues confronting the nation are obvious and many. Aside from all the talk and the visible skewed growth, the government has not delivered the goods, the goods that matters to ordinary citizens. The government knows it and the citizens know it too. It is indeed true that the resemblance of democratic activity has been widely observed in the Ethiopian political map for quite some time now. Yet, the most frequent encounter that the ordinary citizen has with democracy is not through political activity. Rather, it is in day to day contact with public administrations at local, regional and federal levels where that encounter gives evidence of efficiency, responsiveness and accountability resulting in the confidence in the democratic process as a means of service as well as a political and ethical system.
To the people’s utter dismay, the public is experiencing opaqueness, insularity, inefficiency and arrogance resulting in almost zero confidence in the government (and now in the current leadership of the opposition parties), and thus in the ideal of a democratic system in general.
The government, to its credit, is scrabbling to introduce administrative changes at all levels. But, administrative reform does not simply mean a quest for professional excellence, or efficiency, or customer satisfaction, essential though those qualities are; it is in fact very vital to strengthening public confidence in democracy as an answerable system for delivering many of the essentials of life, for helping to advance freedom, social and economic progress and security, and lifting up the people from abject poverty.
It is hard to effect a lasting and durable change with the same old methods with the same old functionaries who are too invested in the status quo, which is what EPRDF is trying to do. The Bible teaches a great wisdom on this point. Let us read it together. “Nobody sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on to an old coat, for the patch will pull away from the coat and the hole will be worse than ever. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins - otherwise the skins burst, the wine is spilt and the skins are ruined. But they put new wine into new skins and both are preserved." (Matthews 9:17).
The rise of a new leadership is thus a necessity for Ethiopia. It is therefore incumbent upon the current leaders both in government and the opposition parties to recognize this truth and courageously choose to ‘die’ rather than to let the country ‘die’. They both need to work together to pave the way for new generation of leaders to blossom. My call to all the young generation of Ethiopians is to rise with determination to radically change the course of Ethiopian history.
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