THIS IS NOT OUR ELECTION

By Abba Magaal
abba_magaal@yahoo.com
May 12, 2004

The result of this election is a foregone conclusion. The EPRDF will win, not because it is the will of the people, but because the whole process is designed to lead only and only to that conclusion. The verdict about the fairness is already given. Human Rights Watch and others, and the OLF have come out and clarified the atmosphere in Oromia leading to this pseudo election. We do not have to wait for the result to come in to give our opinion. We cannot expect a dove to be hatched from a snake’s egg as the Amharic saying goes.

The question for the Oromos is not who would win the election or not. The question is not even whether this election would be free and fair. The question is whether in the first place it is our election or not. Just like the Ethio-Eritrean war was not our war, this election, even though it is about us, is not our election. Period. It is an election designed and implemented to legitimize the TPLF rule at the expense of the Oromo people. It is an election designed under the Woyane constitution. That is where the problem lies for us. This constitution was drafted in Dedebit, even before the TPLF came to power, given professional touch by the opportunist Fasil Nahom, and unilaterally enacted by the Woyane’s rubber stamp parliament, to legalize the TPLF rule and dominance. This constitution is not a pact between the people in Ethiopia. The people of Oromia did not participate in its creation, as a nation, and did not endorse it in any expressed free will. As a proud nation, the Oromo should not accept a legal document that will by and large determine its political life without participating in its very creation. We should be too proud of a nation to accept this. Moreover, the Oromo people should not accept a constitution which was created to sideline it and establish the dominance of the Tigrai Woyane over it. We should never lose sight of this as a nation; this is not our constitution. A constitution that is illegitimate from its birth cannot be rehabilitated, nor its defect be cured. It is illegitimate to its bone, no amount of amendment or politicking or time can cure it. For us, it is dead on arrival. By the same extension, an election that is designed under an illegitimate constitution cannot be our election.

True some Oromos out of frustration are participating in this election. But, even they should make it clear to their constituents that they are participating only to prove that the Woyane is not even capable of respecting its own constitution. It is understandable that sometimes it advisable to use reforms in order to advance ones own strategy. But we should never lose sight of the fact that this is not our constitution. We should never as Oromos be deluded or get excited by the election atmosphere created in the empire currently. We should recognize it for what it is. It is just political theatric conducted for the very purpose of elongating our bondage. President Bush had made it clear to its authoritarian allies that unless they democratize they would not get his administration’s support. Woyane as a perennial opportunist is jumping on this bandwagon and is trying to prove to them that there is democracy and election in Ethiopia. The truth is very far from this. There is neither democracy nor fair and free election in Ethiopia, and cannot even occur under the existing constitution.

Even though he may have said it for a different reason, Professor Mesfn was absolutely right when during the debate he said, “the constitution is not worth the paper it is written on.” This is how we should treat this Woyane constitution that they go to a great length to establish its legitimacy. Our focus should not only be to expose what the TPLF did in Oromia prior to this election, but it should also be focused on exposing the illegitimacy of the Woyane constitution. Let’s work in unison to bring about a day when all will be voting freely in an election under the legitimate constitution created by free will of the people. The woyane constitution should be cast to dust bin of history where it belongs.