[አንድ ለቅዳሜ ] ሥልጣን እንጂ ተጠያቂነት የሌለበት “የእድገትና የትራንስፎርሜሽን ዕቅድ”
ኢሕአዴግ የምርጫ 2002 እፍረቱን ለማረሳሳት (ሊረሳ የሚችል ከሆነ) ብዙ ሙከራዎችን ማድረግ ነበረበት። የመጀመሪያው እና ትልቁም “የእድገት እና የትራንስፎርሜሽን ዕቅድ” ተብሎ የቀረበው ሰነድ ነው። ዕቅዱ በይዘቱም ሆነ በቅርጹ ሰፊ የሐሳብ ልውውጥን የሚጋብዝ ነው። እስካሁን በብዛት ትኩረት የተሰጠው ግን ዕቅዱ ሊሳካ የሚችል በመሆኑና ባለመሆኑ ላይ ነው። ዕቅዱ የሚሳካም ይሁን አለዚያም የማይፈጸም፣ የሰነዱ ፖለቲካዊ ፋይዳ ተገቢውን ትኩረት ያገኘ [...]
ኢሕአዴግ የምርጫ 2002 እፍረቱን ለማረሳሳት (ሊረሳ የሚችል ከሆነ) ብዙ ሙከራዎችን ማድረግ ነበረበት። የመጀመሪያው እና ትልቁም “የእድገት እና የትራንስፎርሜሽን ዕቅድ” ተብሎ የቀረበው ሰነድ ነው። ዕቅዱ በይዘቱም ሆነ በቅርጹ ሰፊ የሐሳብ ልውውጥን የሚጋብዝ ነው። እስካሁን በብዛት ትኩረት የተሰጠው ግን ዕቅዱ ሊሳካ የሚችል በመሆኑና ባለመሆኑ ላይ ነው። ዕቅዱ የሚሳካም ይሁን አለዚያም የማይፈጸም፣ የሰነዱ ፖለቲካዊ ፋይዳ ተገቢውን ትኩረት ያገኘ አልመሰለኝም። እንደ ሁልጊዜውም እጅ እጅ የሚለው ፕሮፓጋንዳም ብዙዎች ሰነዱን ጨርሶ ማንበብ ቀርቶ ወሬውንም ለመጥላት እንዲቸኩሉ አድርጓል። ሆኖም ዕቅዱ ወደድነውም ጠላነው የአገሪቱን ሕይወት በተለያየ መልኩ የሚነካ እንደመሆኑ መገለል ሳይሆን በጥልቀት መተቸት ይገባዋል እላለሁ።
በዚህ አጭር ጽሑፍ ልመልሳቸው እንደማልችል ባውቅም ጥቂት ጥያቄዎችን ልሰንዝር። ጥያቄዎቹ የውይይቱን ፈር ከማሳየት አልፈው ቀያጅ እንዳይሆኑ ምኞቴ ነው።
1. ዕቅዱ 2020ን (እንደ ኢትዮጵያ አቆጣጠር) እንደ መዳረሻው ታሳቢ ያደርጋል። ሰነዱ እንዲያውም ያለፉትን አምስት ዓመታትም (1997-2002) የዚሁ የረጅም ዘመን (ከ1997-2020 ያሉትን 24 ዓመታት) ዕቅድ “የመጀመሪያ አምስት ዓመት” ብሎ ይጠራል። እንዲህ ያለ የ24 ዓመት (በማጠጋጋት የሩብ ክፍለ ዘመን እንበለው) አገራዊ የልማት እቅድ እንዳለ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ያውቃልን? ምነው እቅዱ መኖሩና መጀመሩ ሳይበሰር ሁለተኛው የአምስት ዓመት እቅድ እንዲህ ተወራለት? ኢሕአዴግ ለምን የረጅም ዘመን ዕቅድ ኖረህ ተብሎ አይወቀስም፤ ይመሰገናል እንጂ። ጥያቄው ወዲህ ነው።
እንደ ኢትዮጵያ ከድህነት የመውጫውን ወሳኝ የመጀመሪያ እርምጃ የመራመድ ሸክም ላለባቸው አገሮች ይህን መሰል ዕቅዶች ቢሳኩም ሆነ ቢከሽፉ ውጤታቸው ለብዙው ዜጋ የሚተርፍ ነው። ስለዚህ እንደ ቻይና የሚልዮኖችን ሕይወት ለመገበር የሚፈቅድ “አብዮተኛ” አመራርንና አመለካከትን የሚታገስ ታሪካዊና ዓለም አቀፋዊ ሁኔታዎች መሟላት አለባቸው፤ አለዚያ ደግሞ ቢያንስ ዋና ዋና ፍላጎቶችን የሚወክሉ ቡድኖች ሌላው ቢቀር በመሠረታዊ ጭብጦችና ግቦች ላይ ሊመክሩበትና ሊስማሙበት የሚችሉበትን ከባቢ መፍጠር ያስፈልጋል።
ለየዋህ ተመልካች ኢሕአዴግ ሁለቱንም ጽንፎች (የማኦንም ሆነ የአገራዊ መግባባትን መንገድ) ያልመረጠ ይመስላል። ላይ ላዩን ስለ ብሔራዊ መግባባት ቢሰብክም ይህን የ25 ዓመታት አገራዊ ዕቅድ መተግበር ሲጀምር ለስሙ እንኳን ሰፊ የውይይት መድረክ (ድርጅቱ የሌሎችን ሐሳብ ፈጽሞ የማያስተናግድ ከመሆኑ አንጻር ውይይቱን ድራማ ልንለው እንችላለን) መጥራት አላስፈለገውም። እርግጥ አሁን “የፓርቲዎች የጋራ ምክር ቤት” በሚል የሰበሰባቸውን ካብ አይገባ ድንጋይ የሆኑ ፓርቲዎች ሰብስቦ በዕቅዱ ላይ አስተያየት ስጡ ብሎ ሲጋብዛቸው ታይቷል። እንግዲህ በቃ አገር መከረበት ማለት ነው። በተቃራኒው ግን ኢሕአዴግ የማኦን (የቻይናን) አርአያ በመከተል ቁም ነገር ያለው ተቃራኒ ሐሳብ ሊያቀርቡ የሚችሉ ግለሰቦችን፣ ብድኖችን እና ማኅበራዊ/ሲቪል ተቋማት የሚያገል፣ የሚያርቅ እና ባስ ሲልም የሚያጠፋ ስልት ቀይሶ ተግባር ላይ አውሏል።
የዕቅዱ ስኬት አንድም በጉልበት በመፈጸሙ ከሚያስከፍለው ፈርጀ ብዙ ዋጋ፣ አለዚያም ወሳኝ ፍላጎቶችን የሚያስማማ መሠረት በማጣቱ/በማግኘቱ ከሚከተለው ውጤት ጋራ መያያዙ የግድ ነው። ዕቅዱ የማን ነው? የኢሕአዴግ፣ የመንግሥት፣ የአገር/የሕዝብ…? በ1997 ምርጫ ማግስት ይህን የሩብ ምዕተ ዓመት ዕቅድ አጽድቀው መተግበር መጀመራቸውን እየነገሩን ነው። እንዴት ያለ ድንቅ የጊዜ አመራረጥ ነው? በተለይ ብሔራዊ መግባባት ለሚያሻው ይህን መሰል ዕቅድ! በድጋሚ ዕቅዱ የማን ነው?
ይህን መሰል አገራዊ እቅዶች ተራ የቁጥር ግብ በማስቀመጥ የሚጠናቀቁ አይደሉም። ከዚያ በፊት ልንፈጥረው የምንፈልገው ማኅበረሰብ ምንነት/ማንነት ከታሪኩና ከተጨባጭ ሁኔታው በመነሳት መተንተኑን ይጠይቃል። ትምህርት ማስፋፋት አንድ ጥሩ ጉዳይ ነው፤ ግን የትምህርቱን ይዘትና ግብ መወሰን በመጨረሻ የፖለቲካ ውሳኔ መሆኑ ባይካሄድም የካድሬ ጨዋታም አይደለም። ለምሳሌ ስለ ትምህርት ጥራት ብዙ ይባላል። አሁን ደግሞ 70/30 የሚለው ሐሳብን መጥቷል። ለመሆኑ ይህ ሁሉ ሐሳብ ትምህርታችን አገራዊ ስር የለውም፤ ወደ ስሩ መመለስ አለበት የሚለውን ጥያቄ ተመልክቶታል? እንግዲህ የረጅም ዘመን አገራዊ ዕቅድ ሲነደፍ እንዲህ አይነት መሠረታዊ ጥያቄዎች ባይመለሱ እንኳን መነሣት አለባቸው ለማለት ነው። በድጋሚ ዕቅዱ የማን ነው?
2. የዕቅዱ ውጤት ምን ሊሆን ይችላል? ይህ “ዕቅዱ ሊሳካ ይችላል አይችልም?” ከሚለው ጠባብ ጥያቄ በመሠረቱ የተለየና የበለጠም አስፈላጊ ይመስለኛል። ዕቅዱ በወሳኝ መልኩ (ከ70 በመቶ ባላነሰ) ተሳካ እንበል። ይህ ለአገሪቱ ፖለቲካዊ፣ ኢኮኖሚያዊ፣ ማኅበራዊና ባህላዊ ሕይወት ምን ማለት ነው? በተቃራኒው ዕቅዱ ሳይሳካ ቢቀርስ ምን አገራዊ ጣጣ ያመጣል? ጣጣው ወዴት ሊወስደን ይችላል?
3. ዕቅዱ የሩብ ምዕተ ዓመት የመሆኑን ያህል የአገሪቱን ሁለንተናዊ ሕይወት የሚያካትት አይደለም። እርግጥ ይህ በኢኮኖሚ ልማቱ ላይ ያተኮረ ሆኖ ሌሎች አጠቃላዩን ስእል የተሟላ የሚያደርጉ ተጓዳኝ እቅዶች አሉ ወይም በዝርዝር ይመጣሉ ከተባለ ጥያቄው ሌላ ይሆናል። 167 ገጾች ያሉትን ይህን ሰነድ ሳነብ የታዘብኩት አንድ ቁም ነገር ጸሐፊዎቹ ርእይ (ቪዥንን) ከዕቅድ (ፕላን) ጋራ የማምታታት ችግር እንደተጠናወታቸው ነው። ሰነዱ በአመዛኙ በቁሳዊ ልማት ላይ ያተኮረ ነው። ዕቅዱ በውጤቱም ሆነ በአፈጻጸም ሒደቱ በአገሪቱ “መንፈሳዊ/ባህላዊ” ሕይወት ላይ የሚያስከትለው ተጽእኖ ምንድን ሊሆን ይችላል?
4. የዚህ “አገራዊ ዕቅድ” ሰነድ አደገኛ ድክመት አንዳችም የተጠያቂነት መርህ የሚያነሳ አለመሆኑ ነው። በአንድ በኩል ዕቅዱ ቁልፍ ባለጉዳዮች ተሳትፈውበት የተቀረጸ ባለመሆኑ “አገራዊ” ለመባል ያለው እድል የተመናመነ ነው። ይህም ዕቅዱን የኢሕአዴግ ብቻ ያደርገዋል። አስቂኙ ነገር ሰነዱም ሆነ የሰነዱ ባለቤት የሆነው ኢሕአዴግ በአገሪቱን ላይ ከፍተኛ ተጽእኖ ሊፈጥር የሚችለውን ይህን ዕቅድ ለመፈጸም ያስችላል ያለውን ሥልጣን እና ሀብት ሁሉ እንደተፈቀደ ሲቆጥር አንድም የተጠያቂነት ልጓም አያበጅም።
ለመሆኑ ይህ ዕቅድ ባይሳካ ተጠያቂ የሚሆነው ማነው? ለምሳሌ ኢሕአዴግ በሥልጣን ላይ ያለው በምርጫ አሸንፎ ነው እንበል። አሁን ያቀረበልንን ዕቅድ ማሳካት ቢሳነው ለባከነው ጊዜ፣ ሀብት ወዘተ ተጠያቂ ይሆናል? ተጠያቂ የሚሆንበት አሠራር አለ? ወይስ እስከዛሬ እንደሚደረገው ምን እንዳልተፈጠረ ተቆጥሮ ስለተገኘው ድል ብቻ እየተዘመረ ሌላ ዕቅድ ይቀርባል?
ሰነዱ የገንዘብና ኢኮኖሚ ልማት ሚኒስትር እና የማዕከላዊ ስታትስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ የተለመደ ግምገማቸውን እንደሚሠሩ ከማተት በቀር የዕቅዱን አፈጻጸም የሚገመግም ገለልተኛ አካል እንደሚኖር አይጠቁምም። ይህ ማለት ኢሕአዴግ ራሱ ያወጣውን ፈተና፣ ራሱ መልሶ፣ ራሱ ነጥብ ሰጥቶ፣ ራሱን ይሸልማል እንደማለት ነው።
5. በመጨረሻ አንድ የዋሕ ጥያቄ፤ የሰነዱ ደራሲ(ዎች) (እነ)ማን ናቸው? ይህን ማወቅ ስለሰነዱ ብዙ የሚነግረን ነገር ይኖራል። ሰነዱ ምን አይነት ውይይት እንደሚመጥነውም በቀላሉ ለመወሰን ያግዛል። ከጅምሩ የአዘጋጆቹ ማንነት እንደ አገር ምሥጢር የተያዘለት ዕቅድ አፈጻጸሙ ግልጽነት እና ተጠያቂነትን ይላበሳል ብሎ ማመን እንዴት መታደል ነው?!
በነገራችን ላይ
ቢቢሲ ለረሃብተኞች የተሰበሰበ ገንዘብ “ለመሣሪያ መግዣ ውሏል” በማለት ባቀረበው ዘገባ የተሳሳተ ትርጉም/ስሜት በሚሰጥ መልኩ ስሙ ተነስቷል ያለውን ባንድ ኤድ እና መስራቹን ቦብ ግለዶፍን ይቅርታ ጠይቋል። ታዲያ ይህን ተከትሎ የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥትም እኔም ይቅርታ መጠየቅ አለብኝ ሲል መግለጫ አውጥቷል። አልፎም ቢቢሲ ብቻ ሳይሆን ሒዩማን ራይትስ ዎችን (ኤች.አር.ደብሊው) የመሳሰሉ ስሙን በክፉ የሚያነሱ ሁሉ ይቅርታ እንዲጠይቁት ተማጽኗል፣ አሳስቧል።
ዓመቱ መንግሥት ይቅርታ እየተጠየቀ እርሱም ይቅርታ እየሰጠ የሚያልፍበት ሊሆን ነው ማለት ነው። ግን የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት መግለጫ አንድ ነገር በአባሪነት አያይዞ መላክ ነበረበት፤ ይቅርታ ጠያቂዎቹ ቢቢሲ እና ኤች.አር.ደብሊው የሚፈርሙበትን የይቅርታ ደብዳቤ አርቅቆ መላክ ነበረበት።
የቢቢሲው የአፍሪካ ኤዲተር ማርቲን ፕላውት እና የሰብአዊ መብት ተሟጋቹ ድርጅት ሐላፊዎች/ሪፖርት ጸሐፊዎች የሚፈርሙት የይቅርታ መጠየቂያ ደብዳቤ ምን እንደሚል መገመት መቼም ቀላል ነው። ይቅር ባዩ መንግሥታችን! ዓለም ሁሉ አጥፊ እና ይቅርታ ጠያቂ፤ አንተ ደግሞ ጻድቅ እና ይቅርታ ሰጪ ነህ።
all-know syndrome,as always!!
Thank you Mesfin, You raised very important issues at the right time!!
Dear Mesfin,
Most of the time,I appreciate your point of view. But today, I feel that you are writing against the government not us a journalist.
The transformation plan is a bit ambitious but we have to contribute for our country’s development as much as possible. Where ever you go, there are people opposing the ruling party. But, when it comes to national issue, they work together.
BBC apologizes Bob Gildof for misleading the world about Ethiopian military officials. Its a paradox.
I wish to see AN back again. At last, We are humans, we all made mistakes…
Dear mesfin!
It is great article as usual. But I liked the last sentence.”ይቅር ባዩ መንግሥታችን! ዓለም ሁሉ አጥፊ እና ይቅርታ ጠያቂ፤ አንተ ደግሞ ጻድቅ እና ይቅርታ ሰጪ ነህ”።
What can describe Woyane more than this? You nailed it!!!
Thanks
Ohh Ethiopia Ohh my country ohh my people…when is God gonna hear our voice…please show love and mercy to each other…I heard some say THIS PEOPLE CAN’T LIVE ALONE AND CAN’T LIVE TOGETHER…what if you write something that motivates the people towards to the vision, then at least if it doesn’t happen you say i did my part…please don’t kill our hope…because the one we have is about to end…and if you keep telling us it is not going to happen…then what do you expect to happen…hope is what keeps as alive … lets just hope atleast 50 % of zis plan could work…God bless Ethiopia
Dear Ermi, Do you think that only hope brings what you aspire? You are telling this;please see Mesfin’s article critically. He says that the document to be criticized for the better development/future, in case we may have-I am afraid.
dear mele
u think i didn saw what this people had pomised for the past quarter of a century…i did…well i don’t think zer will be change for the next quarter also…so i just give up and am just hoping if they start working…coz am zis helpless creature who can do nothing…
These guys are no different from EPRDF cadres…..they write stuff for the sake of bullying what the government is doing. What matters to him is not what is going to happen to the nation, if this plan fails. He picked his pen thinking how to ridicule the government. Come to ur senses!!!!
Fact,
If the government’s plan is ridiculous(which it is), the right reaction is to ridicule it. That is how an engaged citizen shows one’s care to the nation. If you think that the criticism is unfair, engage the facts and the arguments Mesfin raised. Why do you come here if all what you are able to offer is repeating “unfair”, “biased”, “full of hatred” etc like a broken gramophone record? Or is that how you were taught to interpret and apply the 35th rule of Schopenhauer? Wait, forget I said that.
@Seife G,Ermi and “Fact”: I doubt if you read my article let alone try to understand the crux of my argument. The article don’t reject the noble idea of having a long term plan in any manner, rather calls for more discussion.If you consider such calls and consequent arguments otherwise, there cannot be a dialogue on the issue. I hope you are not trying to suffocate the discussion. “Hope” the saying goes “can can be caused by lack of information [among other things]“
@mesfin
since when EPDRF bring some idea for discussion…when ever they have an idea they approve it by them selves and tell the people to accept it whether they like it or not through their cadres…then if you try to ask some question … next day you will be anti government … and send to jail… so except wishing and praying so that this people could come to their mind and do something that could change this country…there is no discussion or review of plan … period
@Mesfin and Abiye,
I wonder if you guys can see a half full glass. All your articles so far are suffocated with negativity. What is wrong with you guys, sometimes it is good to say something positive for your country. It is very sad to see such resourceful persons like you trapped into the extreme politics. The five year Growth and Transformation Plan might be ambitious and it is not perfect. However, with all its drawbacks I think we need to applaud the government for setting a big vision for the nation. Besides, government has attempted to engage different sectors of the society and the conferences are prevailing. We need to have courage to give a credit where a credit is due. It is good to criticize the content of the plan but it is totally unfair to say the plan is ridiculous. It seems that we are unlucky to have unbiased professional journalists.
@Mesfin
Mesfine, I don’t think you read the five years Growth and Transformation Plan. All the issues you raised are discussed clearly and in detail in the document. It seems that you wrote the article out of emotion and hatred attitude towards the government.
@ Abiye Teklemariam
How can you tell if the plan is rediculous?. It seems that you are pre-judging that is not acceptable.
በነገራችን ላይ.. you guys are getting so down professionally and morally. After some time you may be trapped to the level of senseless Elias Kifle. Take Care
@ Mesfin
The folllowing is very poor argument
‘የሰነዱ ደራሲ(ዎች) (እነ)ማን ናቸው? ይህን ማወቅ ስለሰነዱ ብዙ የሚነግረን ነገር ይኖራል። ሰነዱ ምን አይነት ውይይት እንደሚመጥነውም በቀላሉ ለመወሰን ያግዛል።
You have a big problm. If your ontention is really to review rthe plan why should you refer the people responsible. The case should be arguing ideas not people.
Another foolish idea
ከጅምሩ የአዘጋጆቹ ማንነት እንደ አገር ምሥጢር የተያዘለት ዕቅድ አፈጻጸሙ ግልጽነት እና ተጠያቂነትን ይላበሳል ብሎ ማመን እንዴት መታደል ነው?!
You should know this. The document was prepared by EPRDF. And beacause EPRDF as a party,believes in collective action there is no need to mention or refer the document as ”some one’s plan”.
Oh please Mesfin try to deal with some thing other than Ethiopian politics. It seems you are so lost.
Jose, ABD2, Wollo etc,
You can wrap up an old fish in a piece of paper and call it transformation plan but it’s still going to stink. This plan is based on an assumption that the country can grow more than the double figures it has registered in the past five years. This is called believing your own lies. Ethiopia has not grown in double digits in the said years. These were numbers fabricated to create “this is a dictatorship, but one that can feed its people” discourse and divert attention from the serious governance problems of the Meles administration. Every data that the government churned out(every single data) is suspect. The outputs and inputs of agricultural productivity numbers don’t add up. The high performance on MDG indicators was based on a very suspicious revision of the numbers of the past years and so on.
If a marathoner who has registered a best personal time of 2:30 says that he has run 2:15 and can do a 2:06, the response is going to be as Ethiopians would say “yemayimesel neger….”.
Yonas,
One sees half full glass when the glass is half full. This is an empty glass. How can I see hope in a government that outrageously fabricates economic data which is the most significant input of any development plan? How can I see hope in a government that outrageously fabricates election numbers? How can I see hope in a government that suppresses the public sphere? How can I see hope in government that kills people and shuns accountability? How can I see hope in an economic structure that incentivizes corruption and mafia-like networking with people strongly affiliated to EPRDF as the main connectors? How can I see hope in a leader who has accountability to no group or institution? How can I see hope in a leader who ruthlessly attack and humiliate people who oppose his way? How can I see hope in a system that relies as a source of its power on a heavily ethnicized military with corrupt generals at its top? How can I see hope in an education system that stifles creativity and hard work? In universities infiltrated by cadres? In higher learning institutions that produce people who do not know how to spell their names? You see I grew up in an Orthodox christian family believing in miracles. But even for a person of my background, hoping that this government will deliver miracles against the accumulated evidence is very hard. In fact hope-mongering in such circumstances is a total abdication of my obligations as a citizen.
I can see that you are desperate to discredit the writer,, singling out statements and ridiculing them is not a good argument either. Why don’t you follow the same course and jotted down your views about the ‘transformation plan’. What are its merits and whether it is realistic one (paper work is as good as the paper and the ink only). For your information most of the readers in this blog are not interested in scoring points for arguments,, unfortunately
@ Abiye
The problem is you, and other individuals who blamed the government for producing ”cooked data” failed to support your arguments with facts or figures. It seems that you are arguing only because you have political or ideological problems with the government, which is unacceptable (atleast I don’t expect from you as I remember some of your well analysed articles in your ex-newspaper).
Funnily some people (in other websites) tried to tell us the presence of people who eat trashes in Addis for disproving the claimed groth rate, which is senseless.
Actually I personally do not beleive in GDP as a good measure of economic growth and I don’t think that majority of the population especially the poor can be benefited from such growth. But I have no any ground to deny the growrh rate declared by the government as it is approved by IMF and WB. You may argue, like other people that these organizations do not gather their own data but wheather we like it or not they are the major sources of information whenver we are talking about countries growth, especially in the third world.
My point is you have to recognize for what’s there on the ground. But obviously we can agree that there are too much problems in the governance system of the country that need improement.
Usually the blue underlined links are there to be clicked through. In all of my articles on Ethiopian economy, there are a host of links to papers and articles which put doubts on the numbers. If you tell me, for example, why you think Stefan Dercon’s paper ought to be rejected, that will be a good point to start a fruitful discussion.
@Yonas: good for you to see a “half full” glass in the plan. Discussing the half empty, however, will only help your cause. You are reading an imaginary piece and responding as if reading my piece genuinely. “ኢሕአዴግ ለምን የረጅም ዘመን ዕቅድ ኖረህ ተብሎ አይወቀስም፤ ይመሰገናል እንጂ።” What do you call this statement? “Negativity” ?
Can you tell us few of the forums or occasions the government allowed independent discussion on the plan? If you consider the meeting at the millennium hall “engagements”, we are not on the same track.
@ABD/2: can you please share parts of the document discussing the issues I raised “clearly and in detail?” Which page, and paragraph? Quote it please.In case you have a different copy than handed to donors and tabled for the local cadres, let’s have it and enrich our dialogue.
Knowing individuals behind such plans is tantamount to grasp the nature or vision of the document. A middle level cadre and an accomplished economist can produce fairly similar document. However, their assumptions, methodologies and analysis cannot be the same. Therefore, in such instances knowing individuals behind can provide half the answer to some questions. I don’t want to waste my time, for example, on reading a document produced by a kebele cadre to train his peers. If the document is believed to be written by Meles to train kebele cadres, I will be more interested.
fyi, there is a place called “gray” between love and hate of once government. I doubt if yours deserve even to be hated.
None of you (Yoni, ADB/s, Yonas, “Fact” and ermi) however are trying to answer my questions. Who owns this plan? Who are the authors? What is the accountability mechanism?Is EPRDF taking the responsibility if it fails? Who will evaluate, when and how?
Save the preaching and smearing based on flawed questions of morality, “unbiased professional” standard etc for another time/place.
Fact
You say the writer of the article is no different from EPRDF cadre. At the same time you assert that his intent is simply to bully the government. I don’t see any comparison between cadres who are parrots of EPRDF and a commentator who is really critical of EPRDF. The big problem with EPRDF and its supporters is that they resent opposition. They think that their way is always the best. This kind of mentality can kill the nation. So, don’t be scared of criticism. If you think you can challenge the writer, tell us your counter arguments and tackle the issues raised. Show us how the writer got it all wrong on the merits.
@ Mesfin, Let me try to answer your questions in my understanding.
The plan belongs to EPRDF, written by PM Meles Zenawi(as economist and leader), and many other assistant(You may call them Cadre). If the plan fails, I don’t expect accountability for three reasons;
1. Its a development plan that’s never tried in our country before.
2. There are many countries and individuals working against this plan.
3. EPRDF didn’t work enough to establish independent institutional base like (Police, Courts and military)
Since the plan mentions clear targets for the coming five years anyone can evaluate it.
If we compromise the elite and the politician interest towards the development of our country, for sure we can achieve what’s written on paper.
EPRDF (Pros)
1. Transformation plan, timely election, growth in GDP, release of Birtikan Mideksa, Peace for the region, ethnic equality…
EPRDF (Cons)
2. Governmental control/influence on police, court,TV( Better say ETV)and radio channels; use public property for Party(EPRDF) purpose(“Yekesarin lekesar!!!”); Criteria of selection for all vacant positions is loyalty not educational quality…
Oppositions(Pros)
Criticizing government, optional future government for the people…
Oppositions(Cons)
Forgetting they have responsibilities to build the country, Personal interest than institutional/Country development, sometimes destroy national interest to overthrow government….
Once again, May God help us to compromise the elite and the politician interest towards the our country development.
Dear mesfin,
Thank you for posting ‘and lekidame’. And, I appreciate your patience for reading woyane’s confusing : so called “transformation” paper.If I were you, I would never do it. Unless, I am obligated to do so like that of ‘government servants’.
To speak honestly, Meles & co. do not have the legitimacy and the moral strength to make key decisions that would bring about fully-fledged socio economic benefits to the Ethiopian people.
Rather, they are creating another confusion propaganda for the next five or more years. Forget about accountability, vision, a soundstrategic plan, participatory leadership, responsibility,compromisation, etc .
These will never be on meles agenda unless
Ethiopians stand up for their rights by all available meanses. And drive out Meles on the shoulder of our innocent people.
Then the country may get another opportunity to design a structure that would help for everyone to put forth his/her maximum potential, unlike the current ethnic-blinded, ruthless group.
Yonas,
I for one do not support such sexed-up slogans of which main and only purpose is catching the people in euphoric hallucination. We want something sincere and practically meaningful,, not an ‘opium’ just to pass by the day. Don’t forget your boss has been on the driver seat for the past 20 years telling such fairy tales,, and adding to the misry of the Ethiopian people (this may not include you, lol)
I became late to read this interesting piece of Mesfineeee. As I am happy to note his points, I am satisfied by his choice of the language. I admit that it is not to my interest to write this particular comment in English. May be it is the program installed, my PC do not support to post my comment in our own language. As usual after reading the main article back and forth, went down to the comments. In there, I learned that with little exception, probably none at all, critics to the author of the article do not seem to be interested to comment on the substance he presented. The critics do not either elaborate the issue at hand or show how Mesfine missed a point or misinterpreted things.
While I was reading his article I jotted down salient points. If you find them worthy have a look. In as far as I am concerned; I wish if the points are made issues around which the commentaries focus.
Mesfineeee
1] Called the owner of the plan to think seriously if they need their plan to be fruitful. The points that show his call include:
A) His laminating the danger of the propaganda on the plan by making the people, over whom the EPRDF cadres are constantly battering, reluctant and uninterested on it,
B) His warning on the danger inherently found in the attempt to apply the plan with force,
C) His encouragement of citizens to engage them with deep concern on the analysis of the plan than becoming indifference to it as it will have any way impact on the life of the people.
2] questioned why certain aspects in the plan omitted, linked
A) Why the plan is linked with the already completed five year, while nothing has been said about it in the last five years?
B) The absence of basic grand national educational policy
C) Why the plan failed to consider the aspect of social development?
D) Why the accountability issue is ignored?
E) Why the EPRDF choose to alienate the body which may critically pose challenges to the plan for groups which proved themselves pathetic and sycophants whose appreciation and recommendations are pushed by survival consideration
3] Urged
A) Citizens to consider on the political significances of the plan
B) Broaden the discourse from question such as whether the plan will succeed or not to what the repercussions might be if the plan fails and succeed,
Can these points be soberly analyzed, interpreted and argued for or against by any one irrespective of his/her position? My answer is positive. But what I see here is not up to my expectation. For the time being I am running out of time. Tomorrow I shall digest the commentator’s appearance. But I can’t wait to tell that from the 23 comments too there are easily discernable trends about which something has to be said.
Regards!
እቅዱ ከመጀመሪያውም እንደማይሳካ ወያኔም ህዝቡም ያውቀዋል
የሚገርመው ግን ከቁጬ እቅድ ጋር አብራ የተለጠፈችው መልእክት ለቀጣዪ 20 አመት እንደሚገዙን መናገራቸው ነው
ስለዚ ለምን አቶ መለስ አንደኛውን ዘውድ አይጭኑም !!!
Well, i think mesfin and Abiye have a point. But I also think that both sound much more bitter than before. Their tone was always very engaging to EPRDF in the Addis Neger days, and now it is not so difficult to see that they do not feel that way anymore. And I think an EPRDFite reading their comments should, instead of trying to spew sensless remarks, read another thing. If these gentlemen, who were so restrained despite their actual opinions towards EPRDF, are put into such state, and if the gentelman who wrote a book about nonviolence struggle from jail, is now heading the organization that believes in getting rid of EPRDF by any means necessary, where are we heading? You know, no matter what you tell yourself, things never remain the same. And we should be a little less myopic!
I think whenever writing for posterity is posted it is expected that comments are following it. Practically comments have varied size, intention and presentation; level of articulation, depth and analysis; relevance and impacts. The purpose in general however must be to constructively contribute to the discourse. Having this in mind, I want to reflect on the comments on Mesfine’s article vis-à-vis the aforementioned aspects. Accordingly I have noted the following features:
Although there are as long as 35 lines considerable of the comments are short sized including single line comments. By intention, the comments constitute two groups. These are those which argue against the article and those in favor of it. In terms of their presentation no exceptional presentation approach is exhibited. After all, most of the comments are just for vent. Nothing is also promising in as far as the quality of articulation is considered. What is more dismaying is such issue like the GTP must have kindled deep analysis on the matter. But none of the commentaries deserve this level. It is a lofty duty to evaluate the extent of any impacts of the posted comments. This is because it requires knowing in advance how much the comment reached to the recipient and meticulously appraise the changes directly related to the commentary. Identifying the link of the comments and behavioral change is tough business. But it is easy at least to tell about the impacts of comments on those people reading them. For the time being I leave here my impressions about the commentaries. Well thought written comments provide new ideas on the topics under discussion to the readers. They also ignite reasonable curiosities and reaction. In the end they will promote fair discussion on the theme and broaden the discourse. This good side of blogging however requires a better preparation in advance by participants or at least readiness to learn fast.
So far critics on Mesfine’s article do not meet this general character that might be helpful to pursue the purpose of the blogging. Conversely they seemed to follow a different methodology. It is a methodology applied by men like FACT in the other posts of Addis Neger. After following the various comments on the different walls, I realized that some of the comments are oblivious to the point of discussion. Whether this is by design or not is difficult to tell. But even a passing reader can notice how such comments distract readers from the major point at hand. This is because not only the commentaries lack substance but also blurred the very points raised under the main article and stab it behind. Thus both readers and the author of the post will be stallen by the trivials now and then posted.
For instance look to Alem’s comment, it claim that Mesfin wrote his piece because he has syndrome (I think to the government). Seife also asked Addis Neger to ask apology as BBC did to Bob. He also insisted that all Ethiopians must work together for national cause. Both of them do not yield any thing serious and relevant to the topic.
Similarly, commentator like Fact accuses Mesfine for writing the article with intention to bully the government. I think Fact confused bulling with critics. The word bulling can not be employed for whatever a person like Mesfin may be able to do over a government like the EPRDF. Due to his failure to state exactly what he wanted to convey, one might be forced to ignore his point. So the relevance of his comment will be undermined. Look also the comment by Yonas. He wondered why AN people could not see the half full of the glass and capitalize on the weaknesses. But he could not make a single point to show if Mesfine’s idea is wrong. ABD and ABD2 also misdirect the discussion emptily urging not to call the government saying this or that. If the critics are following this pattern by design to suffocate the site, then it is them who are loosing in the end. But if they are doing it innocently to defend the cause of EPRDF as zealous supporter, I tell them reaching this end with this methodology to no avail. Therefore no matter one’s intention, if he planned to get attention then reasonably recommended to do it with high level. Seife’s last comment is better. Yet in his recommendation his soliciting of the elite and the politicians to compromise their interest still tends to divert the attention from the core points of the issue at hand. This sort of shying away from the fundamental issue might be interpreted as lack of information if not as ignorance.
In spite of the limitation of the commentaries, I prefer to have them than not. At least they have triggered Abiye to post a writing entitled “Why I See A Glass Empty” But there must be a crying demand for scaling it up.
ሰው እንዴት ለመቃዎም ብቻ ብዕሩን ያሾላል! የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት የነደፈው እቅድ በጣም የተጋነነ ሊሆን ይችላል ወይም ጭራሹኑ ተግባራዊ የማይሆን ሊሆንም ይችላል፡፡ ታዲያ ለአገር አሳቢ ነኝ ከሚል ቅን ዜጋ የሚጠበቀው ብእርን አሹሎ መሳደብ ነው? ወይስ አማራጭ እቅድ ማቅረብ፡፡ በርግጥ መቃወምን በራሱ እንደአንድ የሥራ መስክ ይዘው የሚተዳደሩበት እንዳሉ ይታወቃል፣ እነዚህ ሰዎች ፈጣር እንኳን በእትዮጵያ መንበረ ስልጣን በአካል ቢቀበል ከመቃወም ወደኋላ አይሉም ምክንያቱም ለነዚህ አይነት ሰዎች መቃዎም ወይ መተዳደሪያ ወይ የስልጣኔ ማሳያ አድርገው ስለሚያዩት፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ መንግስት ጥሩ ጥሩ ተግባሮች የመከወናቸውን ያክ ሊወገዙና ሊስተካከሉየሚገባቸው አያሌ ተግባራትም ተከናውነዋል እየተከናወኑም ነው፡፡ ይህን አሌ የሚል ያለ አይመስለኝም ዋናው ነገር ግን እነዚህ አሉታዊ ተግባራት የተከናወኑትና የሚከናወኑት በምን ምክንያት መሆኑን ከመረዳቱ ላይ ይመስለኛል ፡፡ እኔ በግሌ ተግባራቱ አገሪቱን ሆን ብሎ ለመጉዳት ተደርገዋል ብዬ አላምንም፡፡ ለኔ ትክክል ያልመሰሉኝ ተግባራት በመሪዎቹ አስተሳሰብ በጣም ጥሩና ላገር ልማት ጠቃሚ ሆነው ሊገኙ ስለሚችሉ ፡፡ ሊስተካከሉይገባቸዋል ከምላቸው ለምሳሌ በኢትዮጵያ አያሌ እቅዶች ታቅደው ሳይሳኩ የቀሩ አሉ መሪዎቹ ግን አንድም ጊዜ እቅዶቹ ለምን እንዳልተሳኩና ስህተት ከነበሩም ይህንኑ ገልጦ አያውቅም፣ ይህን መተቸት ይቻላል ነገር ግን ትችቱ ባስተማሪነት መልኩ እንጂ በስድብ ከሆነ መንግስት ወደእልህ ከማስገባት ውጪ ጥቅም አይኖረውም (መሪዎች መሪቢሆኑም ሰዎች መሆናቸውን በመገንዘብ)
በተረፈ እስት አንድ እኔ የማውቀውን ተቃዋሚ አስቡት፣ አፄ ኃይለ ስላሴን ይቃወም ነበር ፣ የዛን ስርአት ተቃራኒ የነበረውን የደርግንም ስርአት ተቃውሟል፣ የደርግን ስርአት በማስወገድ ስልጣን የያዘውን የአሁኑን መንግስትም ይቃወማል፣ ይኸ ሰው እድሜ ልኩን አንድም መንግስት ስያረካውና ሳያመሰግን መሞቱ አያሳዝንም?
@ Birhanu, I can not write critics and articles like Mesfin and Abiy and they can’t not analysis satellite images like me. But, we both can discuss on any topic.
@ Ethiopia; You have been one of the greatest nation in the past. You have your own alphabet, calendar, architecture, Religions, music…many more. Now, your people can’t feed them selves but they can fight; they can’t help but they can beg; Never colonized but isolated from the rest of the world. War is the way to gain/loose power. No one dare to learn from your past. The people is religious not spiritual.
1.”Tinkola, Muart, Metet, Selabi; Gebar, baria,shankila; banda, wenbede, joro; ketkach, buda…”
2. Rain fed agriculture, embracing football
low purchasing power of birr, difficult to get loan from banks, electric power cut, beggars on the street, oppositions fighting government, corruption,…
3.
4.
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Millions of draw back!!! So what? Who is responsible to build You, Ethiopia.
I knew politician can only make a plan and talk about it. The rest of the people have to implement and act accordingly. The government have to share power for elite/oppositions if they want to make this development and transformation true.
I believe, its hard to be a leader. Though, once you got the chance, don’t waste it. Its time for knowledge and ability than loyalty.