The Best Teacher Is the Best Student
By: Solomon Inquai
Many self-appointed critics share one fundamental flaw. They are not prepared to learn or find what the reality is. Language alone does not make one a respected critique. A Critique is a professional person who could either build or destroy. But, one thing he must have. He must have his facts and should base his comments on a thorough knowledge of what he is writing a critique about. Unless something is fundamentally wrong with him he does not start with the intent to undermine. The critique is a responsible professional.
One cannot read everything that appears in the ever-growing web sites about Ethiopia. Volume of out-put aside however most of it is not worth the paper it is written on and thus a waste of time. I read Dr. Ghelawdewos Araya’s article,” Political Critique and the Development of Ethiopia.” Primarily because a friend pointed-out that I do figure in it.
I am often tickled by the holier than thou attitude of many of those in Diaspora. They act as faultfinders, and have no shame to criticize what is happening in Ethiopia irrespective. They are never ready to learn, or to try to find-out what exactly is taking place at home, let alone come home and be counted. Perhaps it is asking too much to expect them to come home and be counted. But they ought to know that what makes Ethiopia, is what the people are doing for themselves here at home, and not what those in Diaspora wish or think. The best thing for those in Diaspora to day is to come home and find-out what is taking place in Ethiopia. Finally dialogue and not confrontation is the way forward. This means being objective in everything we write or say about the country. Objectivity calls for an open mind and thus making it ones duty to find everything there is to know about the state of affairs in the country, before uttering a word.
Now let me return to the work of Dr. Ghelawdewos Araya. If he has read what I wrote, and I think he did, I have not said that there is no famine or food deficit. To say so would have been to deny the obvious. There are and there will continue to be people who have food deficit even in the best of years. This however does not mean that people have to be brought into feeding camps. All I said was that they are and will continue to be assisted in the dignity of their home. Camps are debilitating and an assault on the dignity of peoples. They are dehumanizing and on affront to the pride of the people. The EPRDF as a popularly elected government takes its responsibility seriously. It is doing everything possible to combat poverty. It will not allow feeding camps to return as long as the people vote it to power. There is no need to philosophies or mince works to appreciate what has been achieved in the ten years since the fall of the Derg. We have not had camps and we shall not have them ever.
This is not Meles’ government. This is a popularly elected government. Whether Dr. Ghelawdewos and the like accept it is immaterial. It is a government elected in an open and free and fair election, witnessed by all who cared. The Ethiopian people do not have to have their decision rubber stamped by the likes of Dr. Ghelawdewos.
The underlying spirit of Dr. Ghelowdewos’ writing is that the government does not go beyond slogans and writing papers. Such an attitude is either a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of the government, or total ignorance of the reality on the ground. Incidentally this type of writing has become the hallmark of many of those in Diaspora. They are not prepared to learn and appreciate that nothing could be accomplished by remote control and recrimination. One has to come home and live and work with and for the people to know the reality. Dr. Ghelawdewos piece of writing is replete with prescriptions which illustrate his ignorance of the reality in the country.
Ethiopian Unity:
The most vocal critique of the state of affairs in Ethiopia are the frustrated sudo-politicians or the ignorant lot who are not prepared to learn. Today Ethiopia is more united than at anytime in its long history. People are no more second class citizens in a country they call their own, as was the case during the imperial days and the days of the Derg. Unity based on equality and the free will of people is proving stronger and enduring irrespective of what vocal critiques at home and abroad think and they say. Development is the key to overcoming dependency and fostering self reliance. That is why the government’s top agenda is war against poverty. Incidentally the ESRDF is an arm of the government, and a small one at that. If you appreciate what it is doing it means you are beginning to appreciate what the government is doing. Similarly the Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) is rural centered. Government is appreciative of the fact that 85% of the people live off the land. It appreciates that over all development is impossible without ensuring rural development. That is why agriculture, the main stay of the people, the focus of the development effort. This has two sides to it. First the government is working to insure national self-sufficiency in food to be followed by food security at the household level. Industry is also vital. Among other thing it creates employment and thus enhance the purchasing capacity of the landless, and the unemployed urban dwellers. ADLI is not mere paper work, it is being implemented. My advice to him and others is get hold of a copy of ADLI papers and read it carefully.
While at it I would like to say that I concur with him on the need for soil conservation. So far massive soil conservation work has been undertaken in the most degraded parts of the country, more specifically in Amhara and Tigray Regions. More remains to be done. After all Rome was not built in a day. I am not aware of Bekele Shifraw’s study or when it was conducted, but if one is interested one ought to come and see what has been achieved so far.
Let us now urn to his recommendations for development. One of his recommendations is infrastructure development. Once more Dr. Gelawdewos either doesn’t know or is deliberately trying to project a distorted image of the county. One thing is true. The development of infrastructures has been neglected by previous governments and what little was done was restricted to few areas. What does he know how road building is organized in Ethiopia and what actually is taking place and at what financial outlay. The investment in road building is today the largest. It takes the lion’s share of national budget. Ethiopia has embarked on its largest road building exercise ever in history. The multi-billion road building work now underway is a ten year development exercise and there is no corner of the country it does not touch. Many international companies are working on it. Money for the purpose has come from government’s own coffers, loans from International Banks, grants from donors such as the European Union and other friendly counties. In addition every Region has its rural roads department. Already since the fall of the Derg thousands of kilometers of rural roads have been built. If one wants to know all one has to do is ask. Ignorance is not an excuse. The development in airports, telecommunication now underway is equally staggering. But, then if they are not ready to learn there is very little one can do but ignore the ignorant critiques.
Finally with regards to development work government is launching the PRSP, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. Following wide ranging consultations the paper is entering its final stages. The idea is to accelerate rural development and reduce poverty. Ethiopia is committed to the Spirit of International Communities Recommendations to reduce poverty by 50% by the year 2015. Can it be done? Is a question, but this does not prevent us from engaging in poverty reduction as we have done in the last ten years with gratifying results. Once more one needs to come home, take part in the ongoing consultation exercises and talk to the stakeholders. Then and only then can one start to grasp the spirit of PRSP. Dr. Ghelawdewos tries to sound constructive and has a number of prescriptions to cure what he sees as the country’s malady. The problem is that these are prescriptions written without first examining carefully the patient. All his work shows is utter ignorance disguised with suggestion of knowledge. My humble suggestion to him and all like him is come home and find out first.
One thing we can say of him is that he is well versed on forth coming conferences. He knows the time, date and place, plus the theme of what is to be discussed. Yet, as in everything else he is in the dark with Ethiopia’s position, unless he has deliberately chosen to be prescriptive irrespective. The ADF-III has just ended in Addis Ababa. Does he know what Ethiopians position visa vie to African Union is? Ethiopia, through its Prime Minister, argued that the HQ of United Africa should be in Addis Abeba. This took place in Libya amidst strong suggestions to the contrary. Finally the Prime Minister carried the day. He convinced his fellow statement that the HQ of the new United Africa be in Addis as was the case with the OAU. What is more Dr. Ghelawdewos does not seem to appreciate that Ethiopian is one of the leading champions of African Union. Ethiopia is committed to Regional Integration and African Union.
I would like o conclude this paper with one or two additional remarks on his political stance. Here as in the development issue he displays total ignorance. First and foremost the TPLF did not disintegrate only a dozen people have left the party. That is the prerogative of anyone who is not ready to abide by the established rules of the party. All the party could do is to invite him or her to come and engage in constructive dialogue. Those who refuse and instead try to foster dissent, their fate is to be thrown out of the party. That is what any party would do, and that is precisely what the TPLF has done. No reasonable person would conclude or suggest that the party has disintegrated because a few were kicked out.
It was the Indian sage Bhagavadgita who said; “Wisdom is prevented by ignorance and delusion is the result.” I have no interest to engage in philosophical polemics. However I was tickled by Dr. Ghelawdewos’ geographical ignorance. He does not even know where Dalol is. The treaty of 1908 states for the borderline to run 60 km from the coast and parallel to the coastline. Dalol is far inland and does not enter into the picture. The question of Zalambessa is one place that Eritrea is claiming. All we are saying is that it is Ethiopia has always been Ethiopia. Our government has presented solid evidence to prove Ethiopian claim to Zalambessa and other areas. We are asking justice and not or appeasement should be the guiding principle. We are saying that colonial boundary, i.e. the boundary agreed between Menelik II and the Italians is the only legal boundary. I wonder where he got the idea. But then he does not know and I am sure like all distracters and self-appointed critiques of Ethiopia, he does not try to know what exactly is happening. Had he tried to be a student he would not have written this paper. Let us admit that we do not know, and show readiness to learn. Then and only then can we write constructive criticism. There are many things we can write about, but only if we give-up cruising for the sake of gaining the support of the dissident groups and instead base our work on facts.
Finally I would like to add that this does not mean we have no problem. We do. Poverty is deeply entrenched and has its roots in the past. Past regimes had done little of any to flight poverty. The reality is not going to change overnight. The country has a long way to overcome poverty. But, We believe it is on the right track in its fight against poverty. Empowering the people to fight poverty and deprivation and to got hold of things is what is important. When people are empowered they are in control of the socio-economic and political future of the country. Yes, a lot has been done in the last ten years than in the previous one hundred years in all aspects of socio-economic and political endeavor. This however ought not be reason for complacency, but rather for renewed commitment and dedication to work even harder and with determination.
[Opinions in this article are solely that of the writer.]