Reports are leaking; apparently and as expected determining the status of Addis Ababa has dominated the National Dialogue Convention. Walking out on the Assembly isn’t an option. That would be a gross misunderstanding of the cardinal objectives of the Forum. Consider this as the Papal Conclave convened in the Sistine Chapel to elect a New Pope. You are locked up until you come up with resolutions. If necessary Professor Mesfin might as well have the Hall fitted with a dual chimney to enable the delegates to release white or black smoke depending on the outcome. The reason I am saying this…these past weeks I have come to learn the towering significance of the Convention. We need to make the best of it.
I believe the delegates are sufficiently briefed on the modus-operandi of the convention. When it comes to Addis, no view should be silenced and all conventional wisdom should be put up to light. No room should be left to presumptions and no red-line should be drawn.
In all honesty and fairness we should quit treating Article 49/5 of the FDRE Constitution as the counterpart of Article 17 of the infamous Wuchale treaty. I mean the Constitutional provision conferring ‘special interest’ on Oromia Regional State relative to the Federal Capital City. We are talking about municipal law here however supreme the legislation is.
I mean after all one could reasonably argue that sub-article 5 is simply a statement of fact and we should simply take judicial notice of the location of the City, nothing more nothing less. Bottom-line according to Article 49 the City is self-governed by its residents and its residents alone! As a Federal subject City and an enclave bordering Oromia, it could negotiate with the Regional State regarding services and administrative issues. As a result the map of the Regional State should keep clear of the enclave. This is one viable option.
From another perspective one could highlight the phrase ‘…arising from the location of Addis Ababa within the State of Oromia’ and argue that Addis isn’t like a Vatican enclave of Rome but Rome itself-meaning Addis is Oromia. I know the superseding official Amharic version which reads ‘አዲሰ አበባ በኦሮሚያ ክልል መሀል የሚገኝ በመሆኑ ‘ makes the latter argument a little weak. The Amharic version talks of geographical coordinates of a Federal territory, doesn’t it? All the same this is another option that could reasonably hold water.
Broader Repercussions of Hosting a Regional Capital
A distinct manifestation of the exclusively federal designation of Addis and Dire-dawa is the revised Family Law. Unlike natives of the Regional States Addis and Dire residents have their own exclusive Family Law.
It always makes me wonder. Employees of Oromia Bureaus are residents of Addis, no doubt about that and naturally as residents of a Federal City they are subject to and governed by the Federal family law. Guess what? Elected Deputies of Caaffe Oromia are not subjects of their own law. Isn’t this a sad irony? Not being able to be governed by the law you have passed? Wouldn’t this defeat the motifs of Federalism? Denying Oromos their Constitutional right to be governed by a family law that embodies the distinct traditions and values of the Oromo nation? Just to make Addis the Capital of the Regional State? I know all the lame counter arguments by heart and they are skin deep.
For administrative convenience the central location of Addis to all the Zones of Oromia is undeniable. There is another added advantage as well. Finfine is neutral. You know what I mean? An Arsi feels as much at home as a Wollege. A Boren can call it home as well as a Selale. But the downside to choosing Addis as the Capital of Oromia shouldn’t be understated. You can see the Regional offices are literally grafted on the city and they aren’t absorbed into the throbbing life of the City dynamics (I am strictly speaking of the Offices). After nearly three decades they look like consulate outposts and not homegrown institutions of the City. Sometimes I wish Oromia could boast of its very own exclusive Capital like Mekelle, Bahr-Dar or Hawasa. Imagine what Ade Adanech could have done with it!
Bonding with the Soul of a City to call it one’s own
Every city and long established towns have a unique distinctive vibe about them that distinguishes them from one another.
That is how they come to rear their own sons and daughters. You know something in the line of Bishoftu which has squarely defined Tesfaye Gebre-ab and the Guya families. For a visitor or a new settler, it is just like Mojo or Metahara or even Welenciti but for the late Gebre-ab everything else comes after Bishoftu. Debebe Seifu lends Yirgalem a wistfully soothing old garrison town nostalgia which harbors inexhaustible memories; Jarso Kirubel’s Addis is almost a walking breathing entity with its own soul. We all know about New Yorkers, Muscovites and Londoners and how their personality is shaped by their respective Cities.
Cities are created and nurtured by its sons and daughters. As a matter of fact the attachment is more pronounced in Amharic and Oromifa-የ…..ልጅ፡፡ They are spiritually built from bottom up. Otherwise, as Ato Meles would have put it, any eucalyptus tree on Yeka hill isn’t any different from the one at a meadow around Fitche town.
Cities are owned by the composition of its people and not by any kind of title deeds. Its metropolitan high culture emanates from its melting pot nature. For instance, Addis has its own peculiar breed of Oromos who would like to stay that way. They know they are Oromos yet they know they are Addis Oromos and for the most part at least their loyalty is to the City at large. Look at it this way-being Becky Aba Dula Oromo is quite different from being Aba Dula Gemeda Oromo. Becky is AddisAbe’be. Aba Dula is Iteya-Arsi.
In like manner in terms of culture an Amharic speaking native of the City has got very little loyalty to the Amharic speaking provinces. This is simply God’s honest truth and everybody knows about it. I mean what is the point of pressing one’s presence on an unwilling host?
That is why Article 49 bestows ‘ownership’ of the City on its RESIDENTS and none other. The true fact of the matter is in the past three decades Addis has absorbed hundreds of thousands of Oromos and slowly but surely molded them into your typical Adisabe’be’ and not vice versa. In other words Oromia is losing its crème le crème elites to Addis free of charge. In spite of all the superficial grafting of Oromuma on Addis at the end of the day under our watch beginning from Mayor Adanech, prominent gumtu Oromos are transitioning into becoming your quintessential Adisabe’be. As the saying goes, if you cannot beat it you will join it. Period.
Bottom-line?
On the fate of Addis Ababa let the voice of its residents be heard above all others.
God Bless.
The writer can be reached via email : estefanoussamuel@yahoo.com
Part I of the article is available here
Editor’s Note: Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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The Ethiopian people need to get out from this ethnic nightmare as designed by TPLF. Otherwise, they need to rise agains the regime and demand change. This can not go on. Too much tasking and agonizing. Thanks to notorious TPLF design.
Addis Abeba originally belonged to the Harla people, the Gurages, the Amhara before the Oromo invasion in the 16th century. So it belongs to all Ethiopians. Otherwise, there is no country or Ethiopia if take out Addis Abeba as an Ethiopian city.