According to experts, federalism should be applied to créate national consensus and strengthen unity, instead of opening more gaps between persons.
After two decades of implementation, the political doctrine became a hot issue in the country, especially after the worsening of protests in some zones.
Thus, during the forum debate ‘Building federalism and democratic unity: opportunities and challenges’, organized by the Ministry of Federal and Pastoral Affairs, academicians and party members assured the current and its structure should be implemented balancing ethnic identity and Ethiopian citizenship to build unity of the nation.
In that sense, Asefa Fiseha, researcher of the subject at the University of Addis Abebak, considered that while promoting self-government and the distribution of functions, distributing power to different centers, federalism offers an opportunity to the political empowerment of citizens.
He also described it as a complex government system that needs a gradual process and continuous debates to reach the desired level.
In his opinión, the problema of Ethiopian federalism is that it puts more interest in ethnic identity than in shared identity.
The presence of a diversified society is not a problem by nature, the only way tio peace or to conflict is the method to handle that diversity, the structure and implementation of the political system and the strategies of governments, jhe added.
Protests over the last three years were the result of multiple factors, such as the absence of strong government institutions, the practical problema in the exercise of power among the regional states, the absence of merit in the political appointment and the influence of the governing coalition on institutions, referred Fiseha.
Seyfu Kinfe, member of the Chamber of Representatives of the Peoples (Parliament), declared for its part that Ethiopia is adequate to apply federalism, but authorities do not invest in those values of society that, by themselves are useful to build the nation under the federal system by strengthening the link between persons.
The Ethiopian citizenship should go hand in hand with ethnic identities and these should march without opposing national identity, in a slim balance that must be achieved, expressed Kinfe.
An important element to have in mind is that the federal system, if regions violate the rights of citizens, the government has even the authority to suspend the power of the region, recalled on his part Sisay Mengiste, Instructor of Federalism and Human Rights of the University of Oromia.
For Mulugeta Wuletaw, minister of the Federal State, the doctrine obtained significant success, but now it faces the challenges, especially in the regional states that abandon the sense of nation when they focus on their zone and nothing else.
Some 27 countries apply federalism and are the home to over 40 percent of world population; a big lesson can be extracted from those places, in order to balance citizenship and ethnic identity to create unity and pacific coexistence among persons, stressed the official.
For experts, it is essential in this aspect to raise awareness in the media, the political parties, civil societies and all interested parties, with the objective that everyone complies with their assigned responsibility.
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