Mereja.Forum

One of the glaring curse of identity politics is its lack of entertaining different policy alternatives and political views. Constituents are forced by the system to elect people who share ethnic identity than plausible policy alternatives that gears to accommodate ones' values . Such a system as we all know is introduced to the political realm by extremely narrow ethnic zealots whose main aim is to fatten their bank account at the expense of the people and the country they claim to represent.

Now all the air is suffocated with talks of election which gives no room for policy choices that could potentially lead the country out of its abject poverty and miserable human right abuse records. The master of identity politics is confined to its tiny region and ambivalent about whether it is to continue as part of the country it abused for 30 years. It is a sad reality that we as a nation are forced to live with.

"ቀጣዩ ምርጫም በብሔር ማንነት ላይ የተመሠረቱ ፓርቲዎች የበላይነትን ሊይዙ እንደሚችሉት በመጠቆም የሚናገሩት አስተያየት ሰጪዎች በማንነት ላይ የተመሠረቱ ጥቃቶችና እንዲሁም የደቡብ ክልል የክልልነት ጥያቄዎች የምርጫውን አዝማሚያ የሚያመላክቱ ናቸው ይላሉ፡፡ ስለዚህም በዚሁ ስሜት የፖሊሲ አማራጮች ፋይዳ ምንድነው በማለት ይጠይቃሉ፡፡"

"የኦሮሞ ነፃነት ግንባር (ኦነግ) ሊቀመንበር አቶ ዳውድ ኢብሳ፣ ለመራጮቻችሁ ምን የፖሊሲ አማራጮችን ይዛችሁ ነው ለምርጫው የምትዘጋጁት ሲባሉ፣ ‹‹እኛ እስከሚገባን ድረስ የፖሊሲ ጉዳዮች ለኦሮሞ ሕዝብ ሁለተኛ ናቸው፡፡ ከሕዝባችን ጋር ስንወያይ ነው የቆየነው፡፡ ለሕዝባችን ቀዳሚውና እጅግ ጠቃሚው ጉዳይ ቢኖር የራሳቸውን ተወካዮች መምረጥ ነው፡፡ የመንግሥት ሥልጣንን ሰላማዊ፣ ፍትሐዊና እውነተኛ በሆነ ምርጫ በተወካዮቻቸው በኩል በእጃቸው ማስገባት ነው፡፡ ሕዝባችንንም ለዚሁ ነው የምናዘጋጃቸው፤›› ብለው ነበር፡፡

https://www.ethiopianreporter.com/index ... icle/18114

A minority tribe such as TPLF is now limited to the 35 (6%) votes in the 547 house of reps. This group is now imagining a miracle to happen for it to control the federal power. By the very nature of the system of politics that the group introduced to the country, it made itself irrelevant since the power that it once wielded is snatched away. and the chief architects forced to relocate to Axum Hotel in Meqelle.

The fake Ethiopia’s new state building attempt through the fake ethnic federalism ideal became a near to unitary federation than being a devolutionary one. One of the chief markers of continued centralization is the TPLF's conception of ethnic based satellite Parties, which run the regional governments under the supervision of the Central Committee of TPLF. This brought wide range resentment and strengthened ethnic nationalism that now becomes the hurdle to a meaningful political dialogue. The shortest path to power has become demonizing those who are perceived to be others and habitually incite conflicts that consume huge human lives and material resources. The question now is becoming what the election is all about?