The real challenge is not to destroy knjit and create ethnic parties or parties with narrow social bases. The real challenge is to create a post knjit political development to create a national party that is capable of effectively competing with the ruling coalition party. The creation of two national parties is the missing link to practise democratic choice and solve the following problems: a) bring transition from one party to another, 2) create separation of powers juridical and factually where the executive executes policy, the legislators legislate independently, and the judiciary judges without looking for executive license. 3) create freedom to express and freedom to associate with a vibrant promotion of civil society, 4) where minority right to dissent is protected by law, 5) rule of law, 6) build strong social capital, 7) fight corruption by a system where no official can stay in one position or one place more than 5 years without rotation and re-deployment to serve the public, 8) accountability so that never can governing be a means to accumulate economic power.
The creation of two functioning, competing parties that also enter into consultative processes by sharing a national direction together will be the best outcome that we hope will emerge in the post-knjit period. Ethiopia cannot afford many parties nor many ethnic- based parties. This will not bring freedom or development contrary to such claims. Democracy does not mean freedom or development. They are separate concepts. A democratic election can bring forces that do not believe in the freedom of citizens.
What Ethiopia and indeed much of Africa need is not to get many parties scrambling, scheming and fighting. What Africa needs is a few main political parties that can talk with each other, consult each other even when they compete and present their programmes and get elected on a platform that the electorate will hold them to account. All smaller parties can exist but the two main parties must be institutionalised and the people must get used to them.
9. Some Proposals to establish a framework for a workable political system
In 2008 the time should be used to create a broad consultative process to form unity and shared approach on how to prepare a fair and free election where two main strong national parties can be locked in a political dynamics to compete and consult, compete to consult and consult to compete. Whichever party comes will confront formidable challenges and it is not clear how much difference the parties can make. The most important value is to create a political system that creates predictable and sustainable ideological and political stability that all those who have differences agree to construct because this is what the country needs most as a public good to forge ahead and work well.
1. In principle all the political forces from those that rule currently and those that fight with arms should be encouraged to enter into a national conversation. All those that are fighting must be invited to join broad national consultation and encouraged to join nation wide parties or remain as minority parties with the opportunity to ally with at least two chosen national parties that can evolve through a deliberative participatory and patient process.
2. It will help hugely if the ruling party coalition can evolve into a national party and work to engage in consultation with all the parties to assist them to come up with a plan to form an opposition that is based on national citizen- based membership. If the ruling party invites and prepares the ground for a national consultative process and gives amnesty to all those that are currently pursuing their plans with violence against it, an important milestone would have been open. The broad framework must be consultation to create the terms and conditions for creating a national space for legitimate competition to circulate the persons and parties that can govern for a specified time.
3. The opposition parties should call congresses both at home and abroad to bring as many of the forces as possible to come under one minimum programme and form a broad people- based opposition party. Instead of engaging in the destructive response to mutual provocations, it is better to aim higher and look at the needs of the country and try to bring about how all engaged can contribute to the creation of a viable system.
4. There is a big role for civil society sand think tanks that should present programmes for uniting the fragmented opposition to present their recommendation to the parties and on that basis congresses should be held to chart the way forward and avoid risks and peacefully try to bring change. The political parties should seek independent advice from the country’s home grown thinking forces and should not fear independent advice.
5. If the political opposition cannot meet and organise conference, civil society groups and support groups should form pre- congress caucuses and plans to encourage the parties to do that which will stimulate the creation of a political system of competition based on consultation and not adversarial and brutal attacks against one another. They should reach out to as many of the forces as possible to bring them and hear their grievances and plans for shaping a future.
6. The message that was endorsed by 2005 election in supporting Knjit should be revived by a post knjit social movement to create a political system that promotes strong social capital and create a new political culture aimed at creating real participation by the people and accountability by making sure that two major parties function with the dialectical logic of consultation to compete, and compete to promote consultation to expand freedom and development for all in the country.
7. Appeal to all the political forces to realise the value of prioritising the people of Ethiopia, preventing to put their destiny away from harm’s way and enter into a broad concept where they learn to identify the common challenges and opportunities, interrogate their current actions that is bringing violence rather than an intelligent commerce with policies, internalise new values to be broad minded and begin a national conversation and institutionalise a system that can deliver freedom and development…