Ghelawdewos
Araia, Ph.D
April
10, 2010
Abstract: This article critically examines the
current politics in Ethiopia pertinent to the rule
of law, governance and the broad range of
philosophical foundations of justice. Above all,
the article discusses the ongoing pre-election
debates, and as a matter of interest to the
Institute of Development and Education for Africa
(IDEA, Inc.), the focus will be on the education
debate.
I
am using the word �pointers� not in the sense
of a benchmark or a roadmap but in its more humble
sense, meaning advice and how to go about and
fulfill it. It may sound ironic to extend advice
to unresponsive ruling clique in Ethiopia, but I
still would not mind doing it especially if it can
serve the purpose in warding off violence during
the May election of 2010. I am hoping that the
Meles government refrains from unleashing its
coercive apparatus against the opposition and
their supporters.
I
have been following the pre-election debates of
2010 between the opposition and the ruling EPRDF
party on Ethiopian Television, and not
withstanding my own cynicism with respect to
election outcomes in Ethiopia, I found the series
of debates (the first comprehensive debate; the
debate on good governance, health, and the one on
education) quite impressive and civil. But I say
this with a huge caveat to the reader: these tiny
and minuscule (and perhaps ephemeral and
transient) debates have taken place in the midst
of attacks unleashed by government forces against
the opposition that culminated in the murder of
Aregawi Gebreyohannes and the incarceration of
Birtukuan Medeksa, a member of the opposition who
should have participated in the ongoing debates.
These actions of the government, of course,
manifest the contradictory behavior of the ruling
elite and its guiding principle of zero-sum game.
The
State is generally defined as �the ability of
institutions which facilitate governance and
insure social control.� This definition,
however, could evoke controversy unless it is
redefined and simplified contextually. If we see
it in the context of ancient African sense of
justice (the concept of MAAT of Kemet that I will
deal with later), it would necessarily include
(and deliberately so) good governance; but if it
is defined in its purely statist or Machiavellian
conception of power, dominance, and coercion
through the final expressions of the State
(police, military, courts, and prisons) the
promises of democracy would undoubtedly be dashed
and dictatorship would prevail. Moreover, the
courts would lose their independent function and
rather become punitive institutions and not
justice platforms.
Ancient
Ethiopian history is replete with governance
equated with justice. Contemporary Ethiopia
(especially under the rule of the Derg and the
EPRDF), on the other hand, is racked by sever
injustice and human rights violations. What we
have now is cutthroat competition to wield state
power at any coast. In fact, there is a tremendous
obsession of power among Ethiopians and the wish
to control the state machinery. In one of the
first debates, for instance, one of the EPRDF
debaters accused the opposition of its objective
to seize state power and Beyene Petros, a leader
of Medrek (Forum), explicitly and in no uncertain
terms responded by saying, �it should be obvious
that we are indeed struggling for state power,�
which is true and indisputable. But he should have
added that the Medrek group is not solely aiming
at power for its own sake but rather intends to
utilize the state to overcome injustice and
redress wrong doings and also use key societal
values to reinforce good governance.
I
have stated in many of my previous works that the
government did not only trample over justice but
also clearly put itself in contradiction with the
larger Ethiopian society. This is mainly because
the officials at the top echelon of the EPRDF
government have been immersed in enriching
themselves while exhibiting the psychopathology of
dissociation from their own fellow Ethiopians. It
is for this apparent reason that the EPRDF was
unable to enjoy legitimacy and mandate from the
Ethiopian people.
Had
the Meles regime allowed a modicum of democratic
culture such as the pre-election debates, however,
it could have secured acceptance and recognition
not only as de facto government by the people but
also as de jure par excellence. But allowing free
debate only during elections is the highest form
of hypocrisy and, if at all, it could be
characterized as flagrantly counter-empirical
ideology of the EPRDF. If it were not for this
dual or smokescreen nature of the EPRDF, the
government could have been in a better position to
listen to the people; would have allowed extensive
freedom of speech; and could have permitted the
use of the free media by the people. Above all, it
could have respected independent media to
entertain news and views and let a powerful medium
propagate a myriad of contending ideas. On the
contrary, the government suppressed independent or
potentially critical media like Addis Neger and
its editors, including Abiye Teklemariam, had to
flee for their lives.
My
exhortation may not deflect the omen anticipating
threat to the opposition, openly declared by the
Prime Minister. I am only hoping that the string
of curses that have bewitched Ethiopia in the last
two decades would end and would not recur as a
relapsing fever of yet another horrendous
atrocity.
Despite
the above grim scenario that reflects the current
Ethiopian reality, the pre-election debates are
positive contributions to civil society. In the
�good governance� debate, for instance, the
arguments and counterarguments of the EPRDF and
the Opposition were fair, substantive, and
balanced. In point of fact, Ato Gebru Asrat of
Medrek unequivocally addressed the unaccounted
source of income of corrupt government officials,
which is a common knowledge among Ethiopians.
Equally strong counter argument, however, was
directed to the opposition by the EPRDF and on
behalf of the latter, the panelist argued, �the
opposition need not only spell out the
shortcomings of the government; it should also
recognize its achievements.� This line of
argument is fair, especially if we want to make an
objective analysis of a given reality.
Part
I debate on education, unlike the previous
debates, was not impressive and was marred by
irrelevant pitched arguments. For instance, the
EPRDF representative Ato Demeke Mekonnen produced
a litany of statistical data pertaining to
educational development in Ethiopia, but he was
unable to substantiate his arguments on how the
EPRDF-induced educational transformation (as he
insinuated) impacted the Ethiopian society. His
colleague Ato Hailemariam Dessalegn was not of any
help either in reinforcing his comrade�s
presentation on education policy. In fact, he was
only emphatic on how the opposition has become an
obstacle to the educational process in the
country.
The
Kinijit representative, Ato Ayele Chemiso, was ok
in trying to deliberate what he calls
�target-oriented education� and he was also
trying to make distinction between �quantity�
and �quality� education but he keeps on saying
�quantity� in English instead of using the
Amharic word Bizat, as if all members of
the Ethiopian audience understand English.
The
EREPA representative Ato Asfaw Getachew seems
confident in his deliberations but at times he
made vainglorious assertions such as �EREPA has
a more advanced education policy than the EPRDF�
but he did not make any substantive statement to
support his argument. Declaratory and laudatory
phrases would be meaningless unless ones
educational policy is spelled out clearly.
Ato
Mesfin Mengistu of the Ethiopian Democratic Party
(EDP) was good in terms of exposing the lack of
auditing in the educational system, but he too
falls short of conveying relevant information with
respect to educational policy and development or
the lack thereof in Ethiopia.
Ato
Yacob Like of All Ethiopia Democratic Party (AEDP)
seems to have lost in rhetoric rather than
presenting education-related issues. He started
out with a fine premise of �the link between
education and development� but he completely
distracted himself by his emphasis on the negative
image of the EPRDF, not related to education. The
best strategy in any debating forum is to stick to
the topic.
Ato
Asrat Chale of Medrek (Forum) also started out
with a strong premise of the impact of �ideology
(�revolutionary democracy�) on education�
but he went astray by his irrelevant assertions
and as a result he missed the opportunity to
dissect the nature and characteristics of
education in Ethiopia.
Part
II of education debate was by far profound given
the issues debated and the deliberations made by
the panelists. Although, as we shall see later,
the philosophy of education in-depth was not
raised, the overall exchanges of arguments are to
be commended.
Ato
Demeke again was more emphatic on figures and
numbers rather than quality of education, which
incidentally was the focus of Part II debate on
education, especially on the side of the
opposition panel. He tried to defend his mantra of
�Ethiopia�s miracle in educational
development� by claiming that the UN admired
Ethiopia�s success and countries like Japan and
Nigeria have asked �what the Ethiopian secret�
could be in education. He even claimed that
Ethiopia has produced 300,000 teachers and in
response to the challenges directed against the
EPRDF on quality education, he retorted by saying
that higher institutions of learning like Addis
Ababa University have participated in the making
of the educational system and further emphasized
the reality surrounding quality education, and
argued, �that education is not a one time
project that is implemented but a process that
evolves in stages.� His contention is quite
logical but it does not adequately address the
cause for the lack of quality education in
Ethiopia.
Ato
Hailemariam continued from where Ato Demeke left
off but his rhetoric rather than substantive
argument diminished the relevant issues in
education. He first accused the opposition as
�pessimists who portray Ethiopia under EPRDF as
a dark spot,� and then bragged about the five
million strong EPRDF members who frightened and
threatened the opposition. He also added that
Ethiopia could now become exemplar [in education]
to other countries. His line of argument was
irrelevant
Both
EPRDF representatives in the debate on education
were relying heavily on numbers that could not be
easily verified or validated. Ato Hailemariam, for
instance, said, �Currently there is 95% student
participation at elementary school levels� but
there is no supporting evidence for that in any
neutral educational periodicals and/or UNESCO
findings. He also tried to support his argument
vis-�-vis the opposition�s concern of the
problem of using Latin scripts when in fact there
is a readymade Ethiopic or Geez (now they call it
Saba) alphabet. He is of the opinion that the
people must choose whether they want to use Latin
or Geez and his argument is well taken, but the
implication is that students at the local schools
in the respective regional states are learning in
their mother tongue.
UNESCO�s
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010, however,
contradicts the EPRDF�s claim of a huge
enrollment of school children and the effective
use of ethnic languages. According to this
up-to-date UNESCO document (525 pages long) this
is how Ethiopia is evaluated:
Children
from the poorest 20% of households dominate the
out-of-school populations in many countries and
are far less likely than higher-income children
ever to enroll. To take one example, around
three-quarters of children from the poorest 20% of
households in Ethiopia are not in school. Of
these, over half are not expected to enter school.1
The
above UNESCO finding is also reinforced by another
finding that has to do with the lack of effective
learning in the Ethiopian schools:
In
Ethiopia and Guatemala, children were in class and
learning for a third of the time schools were
officially open (DeStefano and Elaheebocus,
2009; Dowd, 2009)2
On
the other hand, despite the pitfalls of lack of
access to schools of poor Ethiopian children and
poor learning time by those who are already in
schools, the overall growth in enrollment
especially with respect to lessening the gap
between the genders redeems the EPRDF:
In
countries at low levels of enrolment, such as
Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Yemen, moves towards
gender parity from a low starting point have
helped generate large increases in primary
enrolment.3
But
with respect to the use of local languages
mentioned above, contrary to EPRDF�s claims, the
UNESCO Report clearly shows that local languages
in fact were not used in some districts:
In
Ethiopia, a 2008 study of grade 3 students in
Woliso district found that 36% could not read a
single word in Afan Oromo, the local language.
(DeStefano and Elaheebocus, 2009).4
On
the other hand, in order to be fair, we need to
acknowledge some of EPRDF�s achievements in
education. The UNESCO Report states, �Some
countries with large out-of-school populations in
1999 have made major advances; examples include
Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, the United Republic
of Tanzania, and Zambia. Ethiopia and the United
Republic of Tanzania each reduced out-of-school
numbers by over 3 million between 1999 and
2007.�5
The
EPRDF debater throughout the debate has tried to
portray the opposition as incompetent and by
implication incapable of leading the country.
Competency in leadership is controversial and a
whole gamut of criteria needs to be considered to
really come up with a satisfactory definition of
leadership. But at least there is a general
consensus that leadership entails commitment,
vision, professional critical knowledge, and
experience. And without bias to any of the
contending groups in Ethiopia, I believe Medrek
meets the criteria of leadership enumerated above.
A Significant number of the Medrek leadership has
either commitment and vision or experience and
critical knowledge. By Ethiopian standard and by
all measure, compared to other opposition groups,
Medrek has the highest number of Ph.D.s, including
Hailu Araya, Negasso Gidada, Merara Gudina, Beyene
Petros, and Buhe Hussien etc.
Ato
Ayele Chamiso of Kinijit made a real come back
from his relative weakness in part I of the
debate. He underscored the central role of
teachers, which he calls the �pillars of
education� and appealed for the urgency of
salary increment for the teachers in order to make
advances in educational improvement. He also
suggested that 7th and 8th
grade students should learn in English so that
they can prepare better for 9-12 secondary
education. Moreover, he argued that the college
preparatory prerequisite for 12th
graders should not be based on political pressure.
By and large, Ato Ayele was in much better shape.
Ato
Asfaw Getachew of EREPA too was by far better in
challenging the EPRDF than in the first round of
the debate on education. He seems to have concrete
statistical data especially on teacher competency
and quality education. He said that 90% of
teachers are fresh undergraduates and out of 5200
teachers, 3000 of them hold BA degrees and the
rest have MA and Ph.D. He further argued that
Ethiopia was at the very tail, numbering 84 out of
100 countries in children education.
Ato
Asfaw�s analysis is plausible especially if we
consider the 75% out of the 20% poor households
children that are unable to enroll and that have
already been cited above.
Ato
Mesfin Mengistu of EDP attempted to show that the
use of information technology in Ethiopia is very
weak; that expansion of schools without quality
education is useless and as a result Ethiopia will
not meet the Millennium Development Goals in
education. Irrespective of the special
circumstances surrounding education in Ethiopia,
however, the deadline for the Millennium will not
be realized by most developing countries, and this
shortcoming would not be unique to Ethiopia and
other countries because it is a much more complex
scenario that has to do with history, economic
conditions, and global relations.
At
Yacob Like in the second round reenergized himself
and he was more substantive than in the first
round. He stressed that quality education is
gained through process but he emphasized the lack
of a responding government. He also counter-argued
the EPRDF position on the use of local language
and clearly stated, �The use of local language
and/or Geez (Saba) should be decided by referendum
and not by imposition as the EPRDF did.� His
colleague Ato Getachew Bayafres was emphatic on
the lack of academic freedom in the academia and
said that Ethiopia would be one of the 28
countries that are not going to meet the
Millennium Development Goal.
Ato
Asrat Chale was a lot better in his deliberations
in the second round. He acknowledged EPRDF�s
measure to correct the problem of 10th
graders who need learning themselves but who were
hired as teachers. But he also challenged the
EPRDF regarding professional and technical
education and questioned the yardstick employed
for this type of education. He charged that
graduate students are selected not based on
competition but on political connection arranged
by the Ministry of Education, and further warned
that graduate studies in higher institutions of
learning could be questioned by international
accreditation. �Even the Senate,� Ato Asrat
alleges, �is selected by the university
president, which was the other way round in the
olden days; and the vice president selects the
Deans.� He concluded by saying, �if Medrek
assumes power, it won�t face shortage of
professionals and will not hold power in monopoly;
will pave the road to power via democratic and
peaceful means and not by casting stones.�
The
final part of the education debate began by
reactions from the EPRDF. Ato Demeke claimed that
the education system is debated within the EPRDF
and he repeated the praise Ethiopia got from the
UN and other countries. His colleague, At
Hailemariam, ever rhetorical, charged the
opposition and bluntly exclaimed, �one cannot
analyze things based on wrong information; the
EPRDF is not ashamed; it corrects its mistakes;
the EPRDF has scored quenching results [in
education]�.
The
Kinijit group retorted by emphasizing the lack of
quality control in the EPRDF; suggested that
diplomas and degree must be conferred based on
merit; teachers must not be discriminated against
and adult education must be reinstated. Ato
Merhaedit, by way of reinforcing his party�s
position, admonished that �Ethiopia should not
be the land of aimless children.�
The
EREPA representative raised the current
deterioration of quality education at Haremaya
University (formerly Alemaya University), which
was once a famous agriculture college supported by
Oklahoma State University. He said,
�Universities cannot be established by campaigns
alone and by placing corner stones to education�
during elections. He also stated, �Haile
Selassie�s time was dormancy; that of EPRDF is
extreme hyperbolic or chaotic anarchy.�
Ato
Mesfin Abebe of EDP simply said that his party has
better alternatives. �We shall depend on the
[building] capacity of Ethiopians;� �the EPRDF
has fielded at least 10 candidates in each
district and this is done by design so that the
EPRDF can hold on to power for a long time.�
This argument holds water especially if we see it
in the context of EPRDF�s �revolutionary
democracy� agenda and its emphasis on
�developmental state� that systematically
precludes other contending forces to seize power,
and on the contrary enables the status quo to
control the reins of power indefinitely, unless
unintended historical circumstances emerge.
Ato
Yacob of AEDP read a litany of his party program
objectives, including free market enterprise all
over Ethiopia; the elimination of illiteracy in a
short period of time; the implementation of
educational policy based on Ethiopian culture(s)
and natural resources; democracy and multiparty
system; education for work; and the augmentation
of sport.
Ato
Ayele Seyoum of Medrek uttered the last words in
the education debate and he focused on
alternatives improving educational policy,
especially the upgrading of quality education. He
also urged that post-graduates should not
encounter discrimination; there should be free
professional associations; educational
administrators should be independent of politics;
adult education must operate outside bureaucratic
bottlenecks; and he stated that the ill confidence
experienced by professionals is a shame.
Overall
the debates were productive and constructive given
the history of open democratic dialogue and the
lack thereof in Ethiopia. However, the format of
the debate, in which there was no moderator and
interactive audience as in symposium, leaves
Ethiopians to become idle spectators; it is all
left to the contending party representatives,
notwithstanding Hanna Temari and Samuel Kebede of
Ethiopian Television who were only time keepers
and idle watchers like the rest of us. If the
format was like a symposium presided over by a
moderator who is an educator by profession,
pertinent questions could have been forwarded to
the party panelists from the chair and from the
audience.
Also,
if educators were involved in the debate, as
moderators and as independent participants from
the audience, 1) they could have raised important
forms of curriculum inquiry related to educational
policy and development and they could have related
�a cluster of practical activities focusing on
conceiving, expressing, justifying and enacting
educational programs. Curriculum research involves
seeking and justifying the knowledge that is
relevant to the making of such voices. It is an
enterprise that involves undertaking formal
inquiry to generate relevant knowledge.�6 Curriculum
encompasses virtually every part of education and
Ethiopian educators who, in one form or another,
are involved in formulating education policy
should begin with shaping the curriculum and
everything else that contributes to the edifice of
education will follow suit. 2) They could have
discovered the comprehensive nature and
complimentary function of general education,
specialized education, exploratory education, and
enrichment education as pointed out by Daniel
Tanner and Laurel N. Tanner.7
3) Above all, the Ethiopian educators
in particular and the Ethiopian people in general
could have benefited if educators in the
interactive debate got a chance to present the
philosophical foundations of education
supplemented by forms of curriculum inquiry from
analytical to historical; from scientific to
phenomenological; and from theoretical to
hermeneutical.
Aims,
goals, and objectives, which are the kernel of
curriculum planning and development, must
seriously be considered but they could not be
realized if there is no responsive political
regime and a just system in place. For this, we
now retract to the pointers of justice and
galvanize the main themes of this paper.
The
debate culture in Ethiopia, if allowed to
flourish, per force must undergo a forward-moving
edge of cultural evolution. Unless we consider a
certain input of justice in our performance, our
initiative and action could derail a worthwhile
reflection. For this apparent reason, thus, I will
sojourn to the realm of ancient Egyptians and
Ethiopians and take the reader with me.
Ancient
Egyptian society was guided and governed by Maat,
a powerful concept that could mean justice, truth,
order, righteousness, harmony, balance, and
reciprocity. Because the Maatian value was deeply
entrenched in Egypt, the people and even the most
powerful pharaoh were obliged to follow Maat and
act accordingly. According to Maat, human beings
were created in the image of God and they are
dignified and no person is permitted to torture
and/or take away the life of other person. �No
where is the concept of human dignity and the
security of human life,� says Karenga, �more
clearly presented than in the Narrative of Djedi.
In the Narrative of Djedi, Djedi speaks Maat
(truth) to power when he tells Pharaoh Khufu who
is about to kill a prisoner that he must not kill
or use any person for an experiment. When the king
calls for a prisoner to use in a deadly
experiment, Djedi tells him: �Not to a human
being O� king. Surely, it is not permitted to do
such a thing to a noble flock of God.� His
ground for this, of course, is the ancient and
sacred Maatian teaching against killing and doing
harm to humans.�8
The
ancient Ethiopians, like ancient Egyptians, were
also governed by Fet�h(i), literally
meaning justice. A good example of the sense of
justice of ancient Ethiopians is found in Emperor
Ezana�s Victory Text:
I
have established this throne here in Shado by the
might of the Lord of Heaven, who has helped me and
given me sovereignty. May the Lord of Heaven make
strong my kingdom. And he has this day conquered
for me my enemy, may he conquer for me wheresoever
I go. An as he has this day conquered for me and
overthrown for me my enemy. [I will rule] the
people with righteousness and justice and will not
oppress them. And may they preserve this throne
which I have (established) for the Lord of Heaven
who has made me king and the earth which carries
it.�9
In
admiration of the ancient justice, inter alia,
of Ethiopians, Karenga says, �No African country
holds for African people on the Continent and the
Diaspora, the mystique and meaning that Ethiopia
has. It is a special land with religious,
cultural, and political meaning for Africans
everywhere and thus a continuous and core focus in
African Studies.�10
Ethiopians
must dig into their past and revive the ancient
justice systems and it is only when we have a just
system that we can really talk about democracy,
development, and many other related issues that
could propel Ethiopia forward.
Notes
- UNESCO,
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010, p.
61
- Ibid,
p. 114
- Ibid,
p. 64
- Ibid,
p. 112
- Ibid,
p. 56
- Edmond
C. Short, Forms of Curriculum Inquiry,
State University of New York Press, 1991
- Daniel
Tanner and Laurel N. Tanner, Curriculum:
Theory and Practice, Macmillan Publishing
Co. Inc., 1980
- Maulana
Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies, Third
Edition, University of Sankore Press, Los
Angeles, 2002, p. 246
- Ibid,
p. 102
- Ibid,
p. 103
All
Rights Reserved. Copyright � IDEA, Inc. 2010. Dr.
Ghelawdewos Araia can be contacted for educational
and constructive feedback via [email protected]
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