How do we hold the government Accountable? Please know that am just raising my genuine concerns and kindly request a civil discussion. This Question has been bothering me for the past few weeks. Every government, if it claims to be democratic, has to have a check and balance system to ensure abuses and mishaps don’t transpire in the country. These check and balances are normally done in two ways; 1. within the government itself and 2. Through other institutions . When we come to our country Ethiopia, it’s an obvious fact that we are a one party system government, meaning the three organs of the government (legislative, executive and judiciary to some extent) are mostly members of the ruling party. Therefore, if the ruling party commits a certain violation, it’s difficult to assume the three houses will check and balance each other since they are all working for the same party. Other Means of holding the government Accountable are 1. Civil Societies Civil societies are normally thought to be the 4th branch of the government. But Proclamation 621/2009 bans all Civil societies that are working on human rights/ advocacy from operating in Ethiopia if they get more than 10% of their income from outside forces. Due to this controversial law almost all NGOs that were capable to challenge the government were forced to close. Currently I can boldly say there are no competent NGOs that are capable to stand up and challenge the government in case of ultra virus or any other violations . 2. Media Next to civil societies, it’s the media that is considered to be the 4th branch of the government. But our laws/ broadcasting, media and Anti terrorism/ are highly repressive to dissents and are only conducive if one wants to engage in issues that support development. That’s the reason why we as a country are following “developmental Journalism” 3. Opposition parties Another means of holding a government accountable is through opposition parties. But since our country has close to zero opposition, this solution has long gone down the drain. 4. Through Impositions by other countries When there is a human right violation, countries often intervene through different means including imposing sanctions. But since the world has become a Multi polar entity, poor countries like Ethiopia have the option to choose what country to do business with. Ethiopia chose china. Mind you the main foreign policy of china is “Never involve in countries internal affairs” meaning china is here for business and business only. Violation of any sort is not her concern at the moment. So, how do we hold our government accountable if it fails to live up to its promise of serving its people?
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 16:08:16 +0000
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