The last 12 months are unique in the history of Ethiopia as it opens wide the door for dialogue marking the beginning of a new juncture in entertaining different political orientations.
Ethiopia has been implementing sweeping economic and political reforms since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed assumed power in April 2018.
A rapprochement with longtime rival Eritrea, the release of thousands of prisoners, and widening the political space by inviting exiled parties and removing rebel groups from the terrorists list are among the results of the political reform.
On Friday, a series of discussions about the reform, which was organized by the Office of the Prime Minister, kicked off in Addis Ababa with the aim of promoting the culture of discourse and reason.
In its last session held on Saturday, panelists drawn from the government, opposition, and activists presented their view idea about the successes and challenges of the ongoing political reform.
Lencho Leta of the Oromo Democratic Front, Muferiat Kamil from the Ministry of Peace, Hassen Moalin from Ogaden National Lebration Front, Abreha Desta from the Arena Tigray, and Yonatan Tesfaye a political analyst and activist, were the panelists.
The panelists agreed that the sweeping reforms have created opportunity for the country to start entertaining diversity in political orientation.
However, the panelists argued that the reform needs to be institutionalized in order to properly utilize the opportunity.
Lencho Leta, Chairperson of the Oromo Democratic Front said activities that aimed to nurture democratization need more attention in order to be strengthened.
He said that the government should clarify its activities for the public and improve the check and balance system for institutions to sustain the process.
Saying that democracy is a process that needs the active participation of the general public, he urged the government to engage the public at the grass root level.
Hasen Moalen from the Ogaden National Libration Front (ONLF) said that the democratic system that is emerging in Ethiopia needs ethical media practices.
ONLF was one of the groups that were designated as terrorist organizations and their names were removed from the terrorists list as part of the sweeping reforms.
Ginbot 7, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) are the groups that their names removed from terrorist group list.
Hasen said media that can improve the awareness of the public on ways of expressing belief and respecting opinions of others.
Abreha Desta Chairman of Arena Tigray for his part emphasized the need to free institution from political bias and political affiliation in order to deepen the emerging democratic practices.
For Yonatan Tesfaye a political analyst and activist, addressing the issue of unemployment is crucial to promote democracy in the country.
He said that unemployment combined with the low level of accommodating diversity of thoughts is leading the youth to express grievance thorough undemocratic way.
He suggested that creating huge amount of job opportunities and encouraging dialogue on the need to accommodate diversity will lead towards democracy.
Muferiyat Kamil, Minister of Peace explained about the government’s efforts in institutionalizing the reform and free institutions from political bias.
She mentioned as an instance the case of the Defense Forces, where a reform that aimed at creating an institution free from any political orientation.
The Minister affirmed that such efforts will continue on other governmental institutions as it is well aware that professionalism needs to be nurtured in order to sustain the sweeping reforms.