December 17, 2019 (Ezega.com) — The Prosperity Party will uphold the federal system as its governing principle based on the will of the Ethiopian public, an advisor to Prime Minister of Ethiopia has said
Dr. Alemu Sime, advisor to the Ethiopian Prime Minister on matters of democracy said those forces who exploited the resources of the nation for the last 27 years have appeared to be the guardians of Ethiopia’s federal system.
He said it is tantamount to moaning on the people of Ethiopia that the forces would strive for the federal system as the people of Ethiopia knew how the federal system looked like.
The Prime Minister’s advisor with the rank of a minister was referring to the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) which recently organized a forum on federalism themed “Rescuing the Ethiopian Federal System in Ethiopia” in Mekele city of northern Ethiopia.
He added: “The fake federal system that was practiced in Ethiopia over the last 27 years was highly centralized whereby regional administrations were denied freedom and could not even form their cabinet based on the constitution.”
“The eight political parties who formed the Prosperity Party are supporters and defenders of the federal system and those political groups who believe in federalism can join the party,” he said.
The minister further explained: “Members of the PP will strive to redesign the distorted federal system as they were at the forefront for the reform to happen. There is no party or individual in the Prosperity Party who doesn’t accept the federal system, Alemu said. A party which is expressing itself as guardian of the federal system in Ethiopia was at the forefront for all these problems to happen in the country.”
During the past 27 years of a federal system where TPLF was the master, regional governments were denied to participate in decision making of a federal issue and only one language served as an official language in the multilingual nation.
“No party within the Prosperity Party will demolish the federal system and replace it with a unitary government. The Ethiopian constitution does not allow for that to happen. The previous federal system was a fake one where a multi-party system and real elections were nonexistent.”
“The allied parties have fought for the true federalism to flourish in the country and that is why they are joining within the Prosperity Party for a common destiny,” he added.
Many people believe that the country’s ethnic-based federalism has remained internally inconsistent because ethnic groups do not live only in a discrete “homeland” territories, but are dispersed across the country. Nonnative ethnic minorities live within every ethnic homeland with little or no protection for their rights.
Ethiopia’s census lists more than 80 ethnic groups, but there are only nine ethnically-defined regional assemblies with rights for the officially-designated majority ethnic groups. The nonnative minorities are given special districts and rights to self-administration.
