Ethiopia’s Prime Minister on Democracy & Development – Interview

In an interview with Greg Mills of the Brenthurst Foundation, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali says democracy is not an abstract, imported concept for Ethiopia, but one that is important because historic differences make inclusiveness and co-existence critical in the country. He also calls for direct elections for Ethiopia’s leadership and says that without the rule of law, « the term democracy is just blah-blah, just jargon. »

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  Photo: Wikimedia

  A new light rail system is part of Addis Ababa’s infrastructure development.

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• guest column By Greg Mills

  Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali shares his predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn’s view that democracy is key to Africa because of the urgent need to meet seismic demographic changes.

  « I work seven days a week for $300 a month, » says Abiy Ahmed Ali from Menelik Palace, the Prime Minister’s official headquarters in the centre of Addis Ababa.

  « I am not getting rich, but I am not corrupted. I have a modest office, » he indicates down the red-carpeted hallway, making the point. « But I am interested in making change. »

  Dr Ahmed swept in as Prime Minister in April 2018, upsetting the established Tigrayan-dominated political order which had effectively ruled Ethiopia since the fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam’s Marxist-Leninist regime in May 1991. Abiy’s predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, had resigned in February 2018 because of what he personally described as his « failure to progress reforms ».

  Both Hailemariam and Abiy share the view that democracy is key to Africa because of the need to meet seismic demographic changes. As Hailemariam puts it: « Democracy is an existential issue for Ethiopia. There is no option but multi-partyism. »

  Both cite the pressures created by having 70 percent of Ethiopia’s population under the age of 30. « The median age [in Ethiopia] is falling to between 16-18, » notes Hailemariam. « Unless we have a truly democratic state, we will not be able to provide for them. »

  Not only should the government « appreciate the frustration young people have », he says, but it has to acknowledge that there « is no extra choice that authoritarian regimes give us over democracies in meeting these challenges ».

• Source:allafrica.com