Ginbot 20, Victory Day and The Denta (Dubamo) people

Meron Minale  05/19/09

I am glad that Ginbot 20 is heating up with an assortment of cultural songs of our nations and nationalities popping up now and then on our TV screens. Be this as it may, I tend to believe that a news item on the Deutche Welle Radio on May 12 should have crossed many people’s minds. It is about the Denta Nationality from Southern Ethiopia just only 230 KM south of Addis in Kamabata - Hadiya Zones.

I have known the problem these people have faced for so long. Out of curiosity, I collected diverse literature on the matter and now have several book chapters and journal articles narrating about the Denta (commonly called the Dubamo). The Nationalities in this part of Ethiopia include the Kembata, Hadiya, Denta (Dubamo), Donga, Tembaro and Alaba. All except the Denta (Dubamo) have been represented at all levels including the Houses of Peoples Representatives and the Federation.  I have known these, mostly rural, people struggling for recognition since the reign of the EPRDF government. It, by all accounts, is a dark spot in a government that otherwise has rightly promoted the rights of nations and nationalities in this diverse nation of ours. After all, history is on their side. The government ought to answer their demand or tell the world why the Denta are ignored /or do not deserve representation like their neighbours – the Donga, Tembarao, Kembata and Hadiya.

I would be forgiven if I suggest that the problem perhaps lies with interest groups who happen to be officials closer to the senior party or government leadership. I am afraid that these people tend to feed the Party, the Government and the concerned Houses with distorted information. The Party, the Houses and the Government should mind that these interest groups come from rival neighbouring nationalities that naturally feel insecure because of unhealthy historical rivalries. And never mind whoever does foul play, it is the central government and the EPRDF that the blame goes to.

Similar story can be found:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4246589,00.html.