 seem to be losing the trust on a number of issues including on the status and ownership of Addis Ababa but it is now vowing to work with Ethiopians to continue the reform measure.){kind=link}
Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) seem to be losing the trust on a number of issues including on the status and ownership of Addis Ababa but it is now vowing to work with Ethiopians to continue the reform measure.
borkena
March 26,2019
As Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) is celebrating its 29th year anniversary on Tuesday, the party chairman, chairman to the ruling Coalition as well as prime minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed vows that his ethnic party will work with the rest of Ethiopians to ensure continuity of reform measures that have been taking place in the country since he took over the office of the prime Minister in April 2018.
ODP, as a party, has also issued a statement regarding the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the party.
“In the past years, the party has undertaken profound work so as to defend political, economic and social rights, and to attain the objectives for which Oromo people and Oromo freedom fighters fought, “said the party.
The party also said that efforts by what it called political merchants who are working to sabotage and obstruct “hope for change” is reversed, and ODP and the government that the party is leading has managed to ensure dependable peace both in the region and the country, claimed ODP.
The party also said that it will come up with “research based” policy response to address demands raised by Oromo people and people in the rest of the country in the order of priorities but the party did not mention as to which ones are priorities and which ones are not.
Compared to previous statements from the party, the one issued on Tuesday sounds a bit like a statement that intended to convey the message that the party oversees the country.
At the outset of the reform measures in the country, the leaders of ODP, particularly Lemma Megersa and Abiy Ahmed, and by implication the party they lead, ODP, was considered as a party with a progressive idea capable of transforming Ethiopia as a united and democratic country.
On March 7,2019 , the party came up with a position, and many seem to think that it is a position influenced by militant and radical Oromo ethno-nationalists, claiming ethnic Oromo ownership of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. The claim not only brought the party in a collision course, ideologically at least, with its allies in the ruling coalition but also it brought about tremendous loss of credibility, among Ethiopians, of “change leaders” including Abiy Ahmed.
In its latest meeting, Southern Ethiopia Peoples Democratic Movement (SEPDM), it one of the members of the ruling coalition, resolved that Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia and Africa, and belongs to residents of the city – a position that stands in stark opposition to ODP’s position on Addis Ababa.
Amhara Democratic Party has similar stand on the status and ownership of Addis Ababa. Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is yet to disclose its position on Addis Ababa.
___
Join the conversation. Like borkena on Facebook and get Ethiopian News updates regularly. As well, you may get Ethiopia News by following us on twitter @zborkena
Hummm. Even with supposedly good intentions ethnic based politics will never deliver the minimum requirements for justice and equality. When they state “Orommo people and people in the rest of the country” automatically and implicitly is territorial claim that the current Oromia region as diverse as it is only for Oromos. Then there is a call in the background for Oromo freedom fighters which happens also to be community that is in collision course with non Oromos in the region. If you want to work for the well being all Ethiopian including Oromos and you are at the helm of the country affairs, then you should start by fixing a broken and ficticius ethnic regions that alineate and confront Ethiopians along ethnic lines to justify your political existence and stop disfranchising and displacing millions of Ethiopians from their ansestral lands.Why is ethnic regions in a country every family does not escape multiple ethnic lineages needed in the first place if the intension is to work for all Ethiopian? Why are people to pick their paternal lineage over their maternal lineage to live in ethnic region with full benefits. How is possible an ethnic party is allowed to claim that the entire ethnic region belong to his ethnic group when there are millions of minorities living in the region?
There is no ethnicity based on a language. An Amharic speaker from Sheno has more in common with an Oromo speaker in Legetafo than an Amharic speaker from Gondar.
There is not a single ethnicity in Ethiopia which is not intermixed with another.
How can you fight for Oromo liberation when your uncle is married to a Tigre ?
I want to join odp at any position