Political space in Ethiopia: A historical perspective
Political space is a realm in which opinions are exchanged between persons and persons, person and the public or the public and the government. According to Jurgan Habermess, it is a space where citizens could participate politically in their community through rational critical discourse. Moreover, political space is a sphere where people come together to form a public whose reason would work as a check to the state. Generally speaking, political space is a sphere where citizens, individually or in group, participate in all affairs of their country that directly or in-directly affect/influence them.
Citizens use different means to participate in the socio-political and socio-economic affairs of their country. They may participate directly, through their representatives, through the media such as press, journals, electronic media, associations etc. Hence, political space is said to be narrowing when government prohibits citizens to participate in the socio-political and socio-economic affairs of their country through banning freedoms of association, press, speech, petition, demonstration etc.
In order to rationally judge whether political space in Ethiopia is widening or narrowing, let’s see the issue from the historical perspective beginning from the 1955 revised constitution of the Empire of Ethiopia onwards.
Article 4 of the Revised constitution of the Empire of Ethiopia (1955) states that "By virtue of His Imperial Blood, as well as by the anointing which He has received, the person of the Emperor is sacred, His dignity is inviolable and His power in disputable. He is consequently, entitled to all the honor due to Him in accordance with tradition and the present constitution. Any one so bold as to seek to injure the Emperor will be punished”.
Moreover, Article 62/a of the constitution claims that no one has the right to accuse or blame the emperor whether as per the constitution or in traditional practices. All the Ethiopian nations, nationalities and people as well as their property; and all the natural resources of the nation were sovereign properties of the Emperor.
Let alone political participation, Ethiopians did not have the right to own their labour and their products. They were forced to do what the local lords ordered them to do. Denial of order of local lords was liable to punishment. Generally speaking, citizens did not have the right to speak, petition, and freedom of association, press etc. Their day-to-day activities were, rather, dependent on the wills of the Emperor or local administrators. Hence, no one can speak about the political space during the era of Emperor. There was no fertile ground for citizens to participate in the socio-political affairs of the country.
And the dictatorial military regime known as Dergue ruled the country for almost 14 years without a constitution. In those years citizens were mercilessly killed with-out any court order and their property was plundered. In general, the country generally entered a period of extreme shock and chaos.
In 1987 the Dergue adopted a constitution under the slogan of “Ethiopia first”. Article 2/1 of the constitution stipulates that “the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a unitary state in which all nationalities live in equality.” One may easily understand that there was no room for multi-party system under the unitary forms of government. Establishment of political parties during the Dergue military rule was unthinkable. Although Article 2 of the so-called constitution read that “All nationalities live in equality”, all the Ethiopian nations, nationalities and peoples equally suffered and were equally undermined. They were also equally deprived of their fundamental human and democratic rights.
Moreover, Articles 5 of the same constitution ordered that “Organs of the state, mass organizations, other associations, officers thereof and every individual shall observe socialist legality.”
This article prohibited citizens’ right of conscience. No one was allowed even to think out of the socialist ideology and socialist principles. Thus, citizens did not have freedoms of thought, press, association and assembly. After all, citizens did not have the right to own their property, including their lives. They were forced to sell their products at the price set by the government. There was no free flow of ideas and materials in the country.
The Dergue regime was “a dark age” for all the Ethiopian nations, nationalities, and peoples where citizens were arbitrarily killed here and there without court order, the mass was extremely exploited and oppressed, human and democratic rights were severely violated, citizens were forced to flee the country to escape from the then oppression etc. Therefore, no one can speak of political space during this regime. Citizens have the worst nightmare of the era of the military regime for they still have uncured political, social, economic, psychological, physical etc scars of that nastiest regime.
The Dergue regime was dismantled through a bitter struggle of the Ethiopian nations, nationalities, and peoples who paid incalculable sacrifice in due course.
After the downfall of the tyrannical Dergue regime, Ethiopia entered a new era of democracy where the sovereign political power of the nation resides in the hands of the Ethiopian nations, nationalities and peoples, the supremacy of the law is realized and respected, human and democratic rights of citizens are recognized and respected, independent justice system is established etc.
Before labeling whether political space in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is widening or narrowing, let’s rationally see the objective situations of the nation.
The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is the supreme law of the land, according to Article 9/1of the constitution. The sovereign power of the nation resides in the hands of the Ethiopian Nations, Nationalities and Peoples. Their sovereignty is expressed through their representatives elected in accordance with the law and through their direct democratic participation.
Freedom of religion, belief and opinion is ensured according to Article 27 of the Constitution. Moreover, rights of thought, opinion and expression are constitutionally ensured. Article 29/2 of the constitution states that every one has the right to freedom of expression without any interference. This right includes freedoms to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, or in print, in the form of art or through any media of his/her choice.
Furthermore, freedoms of press, other mass media and artistic creativity are guaranteed. Freedom of press, according to Article 29/3 of the constitution, includes prohibition of censorship and access to information of public interest. Moreover, the Proclamation to provide for freedom of the mass media and access to information 590/2008 strengthens Article 29 of the constitution. Article 4/3 of the proclamation states that all public bodies shall have regard to the right of the mass media in fulfilling its public function to seek, receive and impart news or information, express opinions or criticism on various issues or participate in the process of forming public opinion through other means. Every one has the right of access to information according to this proclamation.
Article 12/1 of the proclamation indicates that all persons have the right to seek, obtain and communicate any information held by public bodies, except provided by this proclamation. Moreover, Article 12/2 state that these rights shall include the right to be informed whether or not the public body holds a record containing the requested information and to obtain information from any public body by means of (1) inspection, taking extracts and notes, (2) certified copies of any records such public authority and (3) diskettes, floppies and other electronic mode or through print-outs where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device.
Rights of assembly, demonstration and petition are also constitutionally ensured according to Article 30 of the constitution. Likewise, every citizen has the right to freedom of association for any cause or purpose (article 31). Article 38 of the constitution also indicates that every Ethiopian national, without any discrimination based on color, race, nation, nationality, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion or status has the rights (1)to take part in the conduct of public affairs directly and through freely chosen representatives, (2) on attainment of 18 years of age , to vote in accordance with the law and(3)to vote and to be elected at periodic elections to any offices at any level of government.
Moreover, the rights of every one to be a member of his/her own will in political organization, labor union, trade organization or employers’ or professional association shall be respected if he/she meets the specific and general requirements stipulated by such an organization. According to Article 4 of the Political Parties Registration Proclamation 573/2008, every Ethiopian shall have the right to form a political party or to be a member of any political party. The independence of political parties in respect of their own affairs is guaranteed according to Article 16 of the proclamation. Moreover, political parties have the right to form Unions, Fronts and Coalitions as per articles 32, 34 and 35 respectively.
The government granted support to political parties in the forms of money, in kind and services. It grants support to political parties that have representation at Federal and State Houses for conducting their day-to-day activities. According to Article 42 of the proclamation, the government grants support to these political parties to be effected for election purposes for Federal or State Houses. These supports would also enable political parties to formulate their programs. Unfortunately, the Ethiopian opposition political parties are not in a position to bring about policy and strategy options.
Before the demise of the military regime, there was not a multi-party political system in Ethiopia. Currently, however, there are about 90 federal and regional/local political parties in the country. This is a new and promising political trend in the nation. So, is political space in Ethiopia widening or narrowing? The answer would definitely be widening.
There is also “Opposition Political Parties Day”, when the political parties summon and questioned senior government officials, including the Prime Minster. They present every question that they want to ask and these questions are directly transmitted to the general public through the government media. This is a unique experience in the political history of the country. From many angles, Political Space in Ethiopia is widening more than ever before.
Article 50/4 of the constitution also grants adequate political power to the lowest units of government to enable peoples to directly participate in the administration of such units.
These all indicate the utmost efforts of the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to strengthen the participation of citizens in all affairs of the nation either individually or in coordination with others.
However, there are certain quarters who claim that the political space in Ethiopia is narrowing. They associate their allegation to the Proclamation for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies in the one hand and the reification/deviation of the concept on the other hand.
The proclamation for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies is to enhance the nation’s development efforts through prevailing transparency and accountability of these Charities and Societies. Moreover, it strengthens the socio-political and socio-economic participation of citizens. It never prohibits political participation of citizens at any affair. Rather, it is issued to ensure the realization of citizens’ rights to association enshrined in the Constitution and to promulgate aid and facilitate the role of Charities and Societies in the overall development endeavors of the Ethiopian Peoples.
However, the proclamation prohibits political intervention of foreign Charities and Societies, which are formed under the laws of foreign countries; because the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is accountable and responsible to the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia, not to any one else. Moreover, there is no country in the world which allowed foreigners to participate in its internal political affairs.
On the other hand, these certain quarters intentionally reify and/or deviate the concept of Political Space. Whenever the government accuses certain members of political parties for their wrongdoings on the basis of proper legal procedures, they claim that political space is narrowing, and whenever the jury found the suspects guilty of the offences, they also associates the case with political space. One might wonder at the allegation of these disruptive opposition political parties. Anyway, this is the reality on the ground which these opposition parties follow though it is quite contrary to the essence and rationale of political space.
After all, when we speak about the essence of the political space in the country, it would definitely be only after the downfall of the Dergue regime. There was no room for political space in the history of the nation before 1991.
Surprisingly, most of the individuals or groups who claim that “political space in Ethiopia is narrowing” were senior officials of the tyrannical Dergue regime. They accuse the government of narrowing political space in spite of the fact that the constitution gives them unconditional right to association in what so ever fields they want. These are the senior officials of the Dergue who supported and run the red terror and massacred innocent citizens. It is irony that they blame the political space of the nation. The tyrannical regime ruled the nation with out constitution for 14 years, banned the right of citizens to association petition, assembly, demonstration, freedom of press, speech, expression, thought, religion, conscience etc, sow seeds of intolerance, hatred, prejudice and chauvinism, inequality between /among nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia. But some of these senior members blame the government that creates fertile ground for citizens’ active participation in the socio-political climate of the nation. In fact, this could be amazing to rational thinkers. Actually, their argument has nothing to do with the very essence of political space.
By and large, Ethiopian citizens have constitutional rights to participate in all affairs of the nation. After all, the government could not grant or deprive the constitutional rights of citizens. And though certain opposition political parties make groundless allegations, the objective reality on the ground speaks that nation political space is remarkably widening more than ever before.
Source: The Reporter.
VOA 13pm GMT
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