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"LEADERSHIP,
NOT ETHIOPIA IN QUESTION:A RESPONSE TO IDANG ALIBI OF THE DAILY TRUST, NIGERIA''
By: Tolossa Gofta Kassane, Ph.D., December 27, 2002 "We are
leaders one and all, A: BACKGROUND Following the publication of "Ethiopia:An embarrassment to Africa'' in the Daily Trust of Nigeria[Idang Alibi: http://allafrica.com/stories/200211300144.html] which then was posted on several news outlets, Ethiopians, including myself, have been responding in the ways we see it fit on an individual basis. It is clear that we were angry by the timing of this particular article given hunger is ravaging our country, as we are feeling the pressure of what can be done and also the stigma of having to live with a paradoxical identities of ours:The contrasting imagery of Ethiopia as the land of civilizations, beauty, and richness versus where hunger and famine have constructed her imagery in contemporary world community. We are angry that one among us by the name Idang Alibi of a Nigerian/African origin has taken a swipe at us at our very time of need as Assefa Abebe has rightly captured in his letter to the Editor, [http://www.ethiopiafirst.com/news2002/Dec/Reply_to_Idang_Alibi.html]] highlighting what Ethiopia had done for Africa which Alibi had conveniently forgotten. In my commentary in Ethioforum some time ago, I tried to understand the writer, to discern his motives and his underlying messages with some degree of rationality. My assessment was that Alibi may not have an evil intention after all, but rather that his criticism was misdirected. I thought he should have focused on leadership, instead of Ethiopia which implies the people of Ethiopia at large. Indeed, I argued that the current crises of HIV/AIDS epidemic and the an unprecedented level of hunger/famine stocking Ethiopia should be understood in the context of Ethiopia not having leaders that could have prevented the man-made cyclical tragedies we are accustomed to. How did I come to this conclusion? The answer is that research by European/internationally reputable scientists and Ethiopians/Africans clearly indicate that famine is the failure of a political system, it is the result of bad governance and of the lack of durable peace. One recalls that India before decolonization was rocked by similar cycles of famine, but since independence under the Congress Party, India has successfully overcome famine and hunger,earning herself a reputation of the ''world's largest democracy.'' And yet, India has a population of over a billion people, several times that of Ethiopia. India's climate is similar to ours. Egypt and Sudan live off the riches of Ethiopian soil, carried over from the Ethiopian highlands by the River Nile. It is in this spirit that even Europeans and American officials are also challenging the story of famine as presented by Meles in the context of the 'bad weather' discourse [http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1440625 , http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/12/07/ethiopia.food.ap] Given this is the obvious fact, why did Idang Alibi miss the crucial missing link between famine and governance? In fact, why did the writer miss that bad governance and the mentality of servitude have bankrupted the whole African continent? I think this is a ''catch 22'', as the English would say:Here is Alibi sentimentalizing/evoking the greatness of the historic Ethiopia and yet labeling the current Ethiopia an ''embarrassment to Africa.'' After my commentary appeared in the Ethioforum discussion, several individuals approached me to expand on the notion of leadership to provide an enlightened argument for what appeared to be lacking in Idang Alibi's piece. I refused to undertake this task until Dr.Araya Amsalu's offline similar message from the Ethiopian National Congress, ENC. Let me reproduce the commentary that led to this piece: "This is a very interesting article, apparently written with a considerable degree of empathy for and affinity with Ethiopia and Ethiopians by a knowledgeable African. It is written at a very emotive time and consequently the angry tone of the underlying messages is understandable. However, there are several issues that need distinguishing. I wish to highlight some of these issues. First, how is leadership defined to appeal to 'Ethiopian leaders' to start to think; think of their country, people and of Africa? Yes, we know Ethiopia has this appalling circular cycle of hunger and famine which is degrading, to say the least. But, where should an objective analysis of African leadership put Ethiopia visa vice, say Nigeria whose oil wealth/riches sit in the private pockets and in western bank accounts? First back to the issue of leadership. To appeal to Ethiopian leadership/leaders, one needs to define the essence of leadership/a leader in a proper manner. In this regard, I read someone defining the essence of leaders as he/she who ''must be able to stand before us and confidently express an attractive image of the future-and must be able to believe that they have the ability to take us there.'' As mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, J.F..Kennedy---, just to mention, but a few, had amply demonstrated, leaders ''inspire a shared vision, enable others to act and model the way'' in pursuit of what is good for all! Now, let us put these fundamental concepts in the Ethiopian context and appraise the political Mafioso that assumed power in Ethiopia. From our recent past and current political situations in Ethiopia, only the late Emperor Haileselassie measures up to any of the above criterion if we were to disregard some aspects of his administration's weaknesses and the last years of his reign which were marred by the tragedy of famine and death. So, my reply to our African friend is that the 'Ethiopian leaders' referred to in this touching article are non-existent, by definition. Hence, the embarrassments that are rightly outlined in the article! Second, how does Ethiopia compare with the rest of Africa? I have already mentioned the ANC and its leader, Nelson Mandela as qualifying under the criteria I use for leadership. There are a few others who may be in between, but I am not sure if Nigeria's is one of them despite no death from hunger. What then? Ethiopia's leaders are yet to be born to lead this beautiful and potentially rich country, to make her the proud of all her children and of all Africans who see in Ethiopia the sense of independence and of the source of classical human civilization. Finally, a minor correction:There are still wars in every corner of Ethiopia and in fact, a significant contributing factor to the current crises! I do not know of any other African country where multiples of 'fronts' claim to be in operation except in Ethiopia. Therefore, Ethiopia's remedy lies in healing all these wounds under the leadership that can ''inspire a shared vision, enable all Ethiopians to act in unison and can model the way forward.'' I am afraid, up until such time, we may witness many more tragedies revisiting us!'' The central element of my argument is that Ethiopia's artificial problems arise from the absence of leaders of a meaningful standing. I am pleased that an Eritrean has chipped in with similar views, castigating the Shaebia regime for its failure[Milkias Mihretab Yohannes: http://dekialula.com/articles/ethiopia_eritrea_embarassment_to_africa.html], alongside the TPLF led ethno-apartheid regime in Ethiopia. This is a very good development as it is an early indication of African intellectuals taking an informed shared views on our common problems on governance. I shall return to this angle of discussion at the latter part of this piece. Back to Idang Alibi's story. Alibi under some emotive language has attacked the wrong party for the right reason:Ethiopia for recurring famine tragedy. The guilty party is Ethiopian rulers who see their self-centered class or whatever interests over the national interest of Ethiopia. It is the failure of a political machinery which is the root cause of our man-made tragedies. Hence, it is fitting that Alibi's naive approach was rebuked, including by Nigerians[ please refer to articles by Adony Tsebaye and Akah Nkem[http://allafrica.com/stories/200212190682.html, http://allafrica.com/stories/200212200048.html] Other interesting articles on similar issue are by Gebrehiwot Hagos [in Ethio-media] and Fekade's ''I am crying no more.'' Setting the background, follow-up and my own participation in context as outlined above, I now move on to the substantive issue of what sort of leaders Ethiopia needs to overcome the humiliating exposure that we are in. In this context, I wish to refer to the poem at the beginning of this commentary. The poem is from the ''best-selling book'' on leadership, "The Challenge of Leadership'', and it puts that leadership is a ''calling''-a national call in the service of others in the context of working for the good of all. This is what distinguishes genuine leaders from "merchants in the trade'', so to speak! How can we acquire these kind of leaders of virtues who are visionaries and enablers of us all? I suggest a twin-track approach: Looking in our own composite cultures for clues on wisdoms in humane leadership and marrying them up with the best that modernity can provide, in Professor Messay's expression, attaining modernity through ''The virtues of Assorted Leadership'' with an appreciation that "The resolution of the conflict [modernity vs tradition] is none other than the evolutionary process'', [http://www.addistribune.com/Archives/2002/12/20-12-02/The.htm] Accepting this as a workable paradigm, I wish to observe that Ethiopian cultures have several examples of marrying up traditional wisdom/knowledge with the new/emerging virtues of 'modernity' through inter-generational arrangement as in the Gadda system in Oromo where three generations are lined up in the process of authority transferring [young-adult-elders/retiring class/group], the guarantee that society passes on the prestigious responsibility of being led to the group that is officially sanctioned to undertake the responsibility of governance through a legitimate process. Similarly, the notion of the elders and the wise [''wisdom comes with maturity in age''] as enablers of smooth transfer of a legitimate authority and wisdom to the succeeding generation is common to many Ethiopian groups such as the Amhara[ref:The concept of ''Shemagile/Azawoont Yemekerew''] and the complimentary attributes associated with being a ''learned person''[Ye-Temare ena Yetemeramere Yigdalegn, synonymous with saying I trust the ''Learned'', not 'I wish to be killed by the educated' as the 'literal' meaning may seem to imply]. B: LOOKING TO THE FUTURE So, what is the main purpose of my piece beyond elaborating on my earlier views on the difference between leaders and rulers and 'straightening' Alibi's ambiguous article in the right context of "Leadership, not Ethiopia in question - - -''? I am actually stating that we Ethiopians have potentially a golden opportunity that is provided to us by our rich cultures to ''right the wrong'' and to bury the bad news for good. We can look in our own traditional cultures for insights into good governance and can mingle it with that modernity avails to establish an all-inclusive system which is led by those who ''inspire a shared vision, enable others to act, and model the way '' in pursuit of what is good for all. I take this opportunity to appeal to all Ethiopians to work together, to work with differences and duality as long as the end product is establishing a system that treats all on an equal basis. By this coincidence may I urge everyone not to fall for Meles' trap of divide and ruin of which the latest one is inviting a selective list of 'national parties'[bear in mind that he is normalizing TPLF led ethnic fronts under the banner of 'EPRDF as a national party' while denying rights of representation to the rest opposed to him to weaken the up-coming all-party conference] to a meaningless debate for its own sake [OLF P/R, DEC14,02: http://www.oromoliberationfront.org/ , http://www.irinnews.org/Report.asp?ReportID=31368]! EDP and EDU should rethink what value Kifle Wodajo's divisive forum would add to the struggle of Ethiopians' to get rid of not a national party, but of the ethno-apartheid minority's dictatorship led by Meles Zenawi's TPLF. What matters is a free forum for all to present their programs to Ethiopian people free of coercion, not the Sheraton position restating of Meles&co while normalizing their genpcidal mission. Leadership quality is also measured by one's ability to handle complex situations appropriately and by an ability to rise above the trivial. I do hope that the EDP and EDU would avoid deliberate entrapments on the part of the ruling minority at this crucial period in Ethiopia's history. What Ethiopia needs as a matter of urgency is a leadership that can put difference aside and close ranks and focus on engaging the people directly with a view to people deciding who should be the next party or a coalition of parties to assume a constitutional mandate under the Supreme Constitution where the rule of the game is fully legitimate. Debating with Meles adds nothing to this equation apart from opening up an avenue for opportunists to play their usual divisive strategy that prolongs Ethiopia's agony and of our public humiliation, the kind of which we are currently reacting to. We cannot afford wasting our time in fake and mockery debates when millions are on the verge of death from HIV/AIDS, Hunger/Famine and when Ethiopia's higher education institutions are deliberately being dismantled using a pretext of students evaluating the 'worth' of their professors[ref: http://www.ethiomedia.com/perilous_fate.html, http://www.tigrai.org/News/Articles2002/AAUniversityUnderAttack.html] Therefore, as a final note of ending and in the spirit of the poem I have used at the start of this commentary, I wish to remind all that Ethiopia ''invites the talents of all her able children'' to provide an enlightened leadership and to pave the way by practical examples in our quest for the better future for all. By:Tolossa Gofta Kassane, Ph.D., December,2002. P.S. Since my last Appeal [http://www.tigrai.org/News/Articles2002/TolossaOnFamine.html] for establishing a neutral international Relief Coordinating Body, I am pleased to notice the following developments, among several other positive initiatives,: 1.THE ENC P/R, December 05, 2002[http://www.ethiopiannationalcongress.org/ Back to main page! |