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Ezana Sehay 08/19/2018
The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was such visionary leader, who left an array of achievements, without whose leadership and strenuous effort wouldn’t have been achieved. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, is a saying widely recited in the English language. What’s more every language has its own version of the adage. The theme of the saying is that one often fails to appreciate or recognize some one or something’s importance or value until one loses him, her or it. In fact, the proverb has universal appeal; there isn’t one who takes parents, siblings, spouse, friends for granted only to feel sad or nostalgic when for one or another reason leave us. Same goes for public figures: political or religious leaders etc. That brings us to the current Ethiopian political ecosystem. What is going on in today’s Ethiopia doesn’t need explanation – but if needed, it’s closer to dystopia than utopia. The question that is relevant to the issue at hand is why It’s happening? The simple answer is lack of leadership. When PMM passed away 6 years ago, Ethiopians grieved like they missed one of their family members. They mourned his sudden and untimely departure at his political prime and prominence, not for the leadership vacuum that has been created. I was one of those who thought there won’t be a void in management; I believed the party [EPRDF] was capable of producing able leaders who would succeed Meles. Boy was I wrong! The man who assumed power soon after: Prime Minister Hailemariam has been proven to be a decent man but lacking political caliber. His indecisiveness and humility were a liability that set the stage for what is prevailing. Nevertheless, he deserves credit for owning his inadequacy and ceding power. But considering what has followed, his [PMH] departure is far from consolation. The man who replaced him, Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed, is a chameleon who keeps changing his tune based on his audience. Far from uniting [as claimed by his supporters and blue tooth analysts], his disregardful and esoteric speeches are dividing the people and pushing the country in to uncertain future.
Consequently, the conversation among the Ethiopian people, even those who never supported Meles, is a longing for his leadership. Can you blame them? Meles was a transforming leader who raised the level of human conduct of both the leading and those being led… who responded to fundamental hopes and expectations of his people. His unrelenting effort of seeking to reconstruct the political system of the country rather than simply operate with it was his legacy. Meles had a leadership skill – that ineffable, and sometimes magical quality that sets some men and women apart so that millions will follow them as they conjure up new visions and invite their fellow citizens to dream big and exciting dreams. Theodor Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States had courageous leaders like Meles in mind when he said: “It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood… who spends himself in a worthy cause, and who, at the best, knows in the end the triumphs of high achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” In his numerous interviews, Meles used to emphasized that, presidents or prime ministers are not chosen to seek popularity rather to provide leadership. There are times when the people must be told not what they want to hear [for political expediency] but what they have to know. Meles recognized that political capital is acquired to be spent in great causes for one’s country. He articulated that, when he proclaimed the commencement of the building of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam [GRD], all in a tone and with a voice that eschews harshness, celebrate the essential goodness of Ethiopians and spoke confidently and glowingly of what this superb nation can achieve when its people come together in the optimistic pursuit of great and defining national goals. With the guidance of Meles, EPRDF developed policies that made Ethiopia the envy of other nations: policies that build upon, for example, strong economic realization, maintenance of national security and stability and pragmatic diplomatic strategy, that spoke to the reality of national and regional challenge in the context of the limitless hope Ethiopia offers its people. Time is the ally of leaders, like Meles, who place the defence of principle ahead of the pursuit of popularity. And history has little time for the marginal roles played by the carpers and complainers and less for their opinion. History tends to focus on the builders, the deciders, the leaders – in education, health care, economic innovation, diplomacy – because they are the men and women whose contributions have shaped the destiny of their fellow citizens. Many argue that great, inexorable currents of history themselves – and not individual leaders – seal our fate. However, others beg to defer, saying humanity have observed that the right man/woman in the right place at the right time can completely change the course of history. I believe that to be true, because, I have seen it in Meles’s Ethiopia.
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