It has been a while since I quitted expressing my views on matters of public concern on Ethiopia through social media outlets for reasons I am not gonna let you know at this moment. Nonetheless, I cannot withstand the internal urge I felt in my heart to tell it loud to our unelected rulers why I will not celebrate Ginbot 20 with them at a time they are deafening us with their achievements. Here are my laundry lists of seven reasons:-
1. As a hopeful citizen of that unfortunate polity – Ethiopia – I truly believed on the first anniversary of Ginbot 20 that the ground is going to be laid for a new era of democratic order. By ‘democratic order’ I intend to convey no sophistication or sheer idealism: I mean a political order in which any citizen of Ethiopia could elect or run for any public office without being required to have hailed from a well-armed political group. After 23 anniversaries of Ginbot 20, I was proven wrong as strong personalities from the former rebels – TPLF – hold politico-economic power monopolistically. Hence the first reason Ginbot 20 doesn’t belong to me.
2. Growing up in Ethiopia, where availing equal opportunity to every citizen, was not the rule of the game, I believed that the Ginbot 20 rebels, who took control of governmental power on this fateful day, would lay the foundation for the ‘great equal society’ where merit, not the ethnic community to which you belong, determines your likelihood for achievements in most fronts of life. To the chagrin of many members of hitherto marginalized communities, the Ginbot 20 rebels gave us a hollow vocabulary of convenience – ‘nations and nationalities’ – but not genuine institutionalization of diversity and its constitutional protection. Though the gains in terms of granting language rights are no less achievements, in today’s Ethiopia, your ethnic origin still determines whether you would be, or would not be, trusted for vital governmental positions in the public sector. Hence another cause for feeling unenthusiastic about Ginbot 20.
3. When the Ginbot 20 rebels promised to their fellow citizens and the international community that they would bring to justice the Dergue officials, who perpetrated atrocious crimes on the young and brightest of the country in the name of Soviet-style socialist revolution during the years of the transitional government, I sheepishly thought that perhaps Ethiopians would no more grapple with the disease of impunity and it’s gonna be a new dawn for accountability of officials who are found in blatant breach of the social contract we entered with them as free citizens. I was proven wrong once again as security forces commanded by the FDRE Government slaughtered innocent Oromo students for exercising their natural right to organize demonstrations and petition government over any issues affecting their interest. The FDRE Government has so far not reported on a single measure it had taken against those security officers who unjustly and unlawfully killed, maimed and wounded the young and brightest children of the country. Hence another reason to distance oneself from Ginbot 20 celebration.
4. On the public relations document you (Ginbot 20 rebels) call the FDRE Constitution, you stipulated that “….ownership of rural and urban land…is exclusively vested in the State and in the peoples of Ethiopia” (Article 40 sub-article 3). We were confused a little bit about this property regime you bestowed upon us when we saw that you used a capital letter for State – i.e. for yourself – but wrote WE THE PEOPLE in small letter. If by ‘State’ you mean government, then you can only own our land with WE THE PEOPLE if we elect you freely to represent us. As we didn’t elect you so far because you repeatedly denied us the opportunity to do so, where did you get the agency to own our land on our behalf? Because of this simple lack of agency, you – the Ginbot 20 rebels – turned our land into your private domain and rewarded and punished Ethiopians with our own property based on their loyalty to your political views of the world. But honestly we were a little encouraged when we saw that you included a statement under Article 40 (3) that “[l]and is a common property of the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means of exchange.” However, we were disappointed when we saw your practice over the last 23 years that the idea of a ‘common property’ was a farce and the idea of ‘nations and nationalities’ was only a vocabulary of convenience, which in reality meant few ethno-elites anointed by you from not more than a dozen of the stocks forming the great Ethiopian society. If land was meant to be our ‘common property’ as you stipulated in the public relations document, then what is the point of killing, maiming and wounding students who petitioned that Oromo’s land shouldn’t be taken away without involving the true owners of the land encircling Finfinne. Ginbot 20 rebels! Can you hear me? How can I celebrate with you this fateful date while you continue to expropriate my brothers’ land, my sisters’ land at will in the name of brutal urban expansion scheme you call master plan. For you, it may be a master plan; but for us, it is an expropriation plan without prompt and adequate compensation.
5. Ginbot 20 rebels, let me remind you what you promised us in your public relations document once again: “….pursue policies which aim to expand job opportunities for the unemployed and the poor…” (Article 41 sub-article 6); let me tell you honestly that instead you encumbered us with policies that aim to expand securitization of governance, corruption in all its forms, inflation and an economic order that rewards few based on loyalty not entrepreneurship. While the students who recently demonstrated in Ambo, Nekemt, Robe, Finfinne, Adama and Haromaya expected ‘job opportunities’ from you based on the gentleman’s agreement you wrote on your public relations document, they, instead, got back brutal beatings and live ammunitions from your mindless police officers. Hence another reason Ginbot 20 belongs to you – the Ginbot 20 rebels – not me.
6. Let me remind you one last promise you wrote on the public relations document you gave us in the rainy months of 1994 in the name of a constitution. “The special interest of the State of Oromia in Addis Ababa…shall be respected. Particulars shall be determined by law” (Article 49 sub-article). We were disappointed to learn that you were partly intent of continuing the historical injustice perpetrated against Oromo communities in Finfinne and its surroundings when you preferred to deploy the IMPERIAL name Addis Ababa instead of the name its true children gave to that colorful city – Finfinne. Truth be told, we were also a little hopeful when you recognized Oromiyans ‘special interest’ over Finfinne. Now it has been a little over nineteen years since this promise was inserted in the public relations document. So where are the laws for determining the particulars about the ‘special interest’? Did you forget that you made such a promise? But we didn’t. I mean, are you a little obfuscated with the content of the phrase you coined – ‘special interest’? Go back to the promise spring board – your PR Document – you will find a general guideline, to say the least, that the phrase you are most afraid of right now – ‘special interest’ – cover such big issues as “provision of social services”, “utilization of natural resources and other similar matters” and “joint administrative matters arising from the location of [Finfinne] within the State of Oromia”. These are not my words but yours. I only urge you to mark your words and respect our legitimate expectations based on your words. So far, instead of marking these words, you are hatching out an expropriation plan to expand not the Finfinne we know but your “Addis Ababa”. Bullets have already been fired at innocent demonstrators and hundreds jailed for your expropriation plan. If you want me to celebrate Ginbot 20 with you stop the redistribution of wealth (mainly land) to your favorites in the name of urban expansion scheme.
7. On the first Ginbot 20, we hoped for a new era of freedom, in particular, the right to speak and write our mind without fear of anyone. At the earlier years of your rule, you were a little gracious as you tolerated some free expression. However, since the last eight years, when we are expecting more freedom as you mature in governance, we saw you increasingly muzzling views devoid of celebratory tone to your ear-deafening vocabularies like ‘developmental state’ ‘revolutionary democracy’ and ‘equality of nations and nationalities’. With more freedom comes free enterprise and ‘development’ you propagate about 24/7 in your media outlets. But it seems that you are not smart enough to understand this as you opted to pursue the policy of unfreedom. So give me a break from your Ginbot 20 celebration.
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