Numerous scholars argue that western colonialism during the scramble for Africa mainly destroyed African institutions and replaced them with European ones. The time tested institutions of the local people of Africa were discarded through military power and the introduction of western education. As indicated by a British ruler in Nigeria in the nineteenth century, the goal of western education was to produce African men that resembled the British man in their values and outlooks. Considering the change in values that comes with higher education, the way people with such pedigree identify with westerners and the use of western values as the standard in political, economic and social life, their success is unassailable.
Of a few of the social and political institutions that have been left intact, it is only reasonable that some are in Ethiopia as it never bear the burdens of colonialism. The most notable of these institutions is the Gada system of the Oromo people. Often referred to as “Oromo Democracy,” Gada marks the presence of democratic values and institutions long before the term’s rise to prominence and its use as a stand of state rule in the twentieth century.
Just to give a national and international view on the meaning of the Gada system, I have chosen two definitions – one by an Ethiopian and another by a foreigner. It is the system of classes that succeed each other every eight years in assuming military, economic, political, and ritual responsibilities. Each gada class remains in power during a specific term that begins and ends with a formal transfer ceremony (Legesse, 1973). It is the system that organized the Oromo people in an all-encompassing democratic republic even before the few European pilgrims arrived from England on the shores of North America and only later built a democracy (Holcomb, 1993).
In a paper entitled: “Unique features of Oromo Gada governance system,” Endale Alemu Hora gave a conceptual description of the Gada system. Accordingly, he states:
It is a system that organizes the Oromo society into groups that assume different responsibilities in the society every eight years. There are five grades in a cycle of 40 years. The five grades in the cycle have names that vary slightly from region to region. There are Gada officials during each cycle with different responsibilities. The officials serve the society for eight years and then transfer their power to people in the next cycle. Gada system has guided the religious, social, political, and economic life of Oromo for many years. It has also served as a base of democratic and egalitarian political system. The Gada system is highly complex. Every eight years, political, military, judicial, legislative and ritual responsibilities are handed over among the male members of the society on the basis of age group. A group of men pass through a series of grades, and when their time comes, they take over the governing of their people for an eight year period.
In his paper entitled “Gada (Oromo Democracy): an example of classical African civilization,” Asafa Jalata (Ph.D.) indicated that it is not know when and how this system emerged. However, he went on to argue, “we know that it existed as a full-fledged system at the beginning of the sixteenth century.” He argues that during this century, the Oromo were under one gada administration. He then cites Lemmu Baissa as saying that the Gada government comprised a hierarchy of triple levels of government: the national, the regional and the local. At the pan-Oromo level, the national government was led by an elected luba council [leaders] formed from representatives of the major Oromo moieties, clan families and clans, under the presidency of the abbaa gadaa and his two deputies . . . The national leadership was responsible for such important matters as legislation and enforcement of general laws, handling issues of war and peace and coordinating the nation’s defense, management of intra-Oromo clan conflicts and dealing with non-Oromo people.
Endale Alemu Hora stated in his paper that Gada system has the principles of checks and balances (through periodic succession of every eight years), and division of power (among executive, legislative, and judicial branches), balanced opposition (among five parties), and power sharing between higher and lower administrative organs to prevent power from falling into the hands of despots. Other principles of the system included balanced representation of all clans, lineages, regions and confederacies, accountability of leaders, the settlement of disputes through reconciliation, and the respect for basic rights and liberties.
Endale claims that the Gada system possesses some prominent unique features when compared to western democracies. He identified the distribution of power across age groups as one of these distinctive features. In explaining this identifying characteristic, he remarked that western democracies are very deficient in the distribution of power across generations and age groups. He went on to argue that those who assume the position control most of the authority and wealth of the country. Further the young, poor and the elders are politically and economically marginalized in western democracies.
Another one of the distinctive features he pointed out is the testing period of elected leaders. He explains that the Gada system greatly believes in rigorous practical or actual testing of the candidates before they assume office unlike western democracy which in most cases exclusively relies on election. “The Gada grade not only defines the right and obligations of each classes but also initiations of and period of work and performances. The roles and rules attached to the age grade system are the most important elements that regulate the gada system. When one passes from one grade to the other, his roles and responsibilities in the community also changes, in such a way, an individual or group of individuals whom are assuming the office will be critically tested in the system.”
Endale argues that the Gada system provides for the oromo the political values of:
- the institutions for self-rule at central regional and local levels
- the right to participate in democratic self-rule at all levels
- the respect for basic rights and liberties including freedom of speech, and the right to own private property, and the right to debate public issues and reach compromise solutions
- the procedures for selection and peaceful change of leaders every eight years
- the accountability of leaders and the right to recall (buqisu) those who fail in responsibilities
- the concept of rule of law, seera-tuma chaffe
- a balanced representation of clans and lineages in gada offices
- the right to make laws and regulations through their own elected officials
- the settlement of disputes according to the law through neutral and impartial bodies and the concept of pluralism in participating in public affairs through five missensa or "parties"
Endale cited Asmarom Legesse as saying in his book entitled “Gada” that it is one of the most fascinating sociopolitical structures of Africa, and has influenced the lives of other neighboring peoples including the Sidama, Walayita, Konso, Gedi’o, Nyika, Nabdi, Maasai, etc. It is indeed a purely African system of social administration that set out to ensure the liberties and interests of all its members regardless of age and class.
As efforts towards the inscription of the Gada System on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity have been strengthened, the Oromo people, Ethiopians and Africans in general would be proud to showcase to the world that they possess their own local system of democracy that promotes equality among human kind fitted with the checks and balance to avoid its corruption.