By Samuel Estefanous
The recent acrimony between Civil Societies and the government of FDRE was expected. Actually the honeymoon lasted way longer than customary under the circumstances. Sooner or later, CSOs were bound to fall out of favor with the government.
The symmetry of purpose and vision jointly declared in so lofty words at the beginning of the Transition was sincere but certainly a naivety of the grandest scale. No government welcomes the slightest encroachment on its territory-nah, not in Africa. In my mind I have no doubt the government cemented the partnership until the outcome of 6th General Election was conclusively determined and the war in Tigray was settled on favorable terms.
After that the government was like ‘aren’t you overstaying your welcome? You know we are effectively retiring Fifth Columnists, if you know what is good for you, beat it now!’ They kinda did, too, didn’t they? I mean the ‘flight’ of the Civil Societies Organizations leadership was dramatic if not a bit suspect – so much for putting up a fight to the bitter end, anyway.
1 – The Unique case of the Justice and Legal Affairs Advisory Council (JLAAC)
In the heat of the transition disco season( around the mid of 2018) close to 200 legal professional volunteers marshaled by 13 distinguished human right advocacy lieutenants approached the government to overhaul the justice system reform program of the country- pro bono.
They literally hijacked the mandate of legitimately established justice sector reform institutes duly established by the pertinent organs of the government. Apparently the Council was ‘established’ by the then Attorney General but its composition, structure, working procedure, role, mandate, responsibility, accountability, reporting, review and oversight system are- let us put it this way- left much to be desired. I know the counter argument almost by heart- that it would eventually turn over the draft legislations and the studies initiated to the AG office. Be that as it may, the Council needed to be established just the same.
I mean even a ‘Presidential Council on Fitness’ has a semblance of legal entity lending due meaning and purpose to its activities. At any rate, most of us came to know of JLAAC’s existence when it was granted audience with the Premier and the high profile jurists briefed him on the ranges of legal reforms they had intended to undertake -from introducing fresh perspectives on laws regarding CSOs to revising the Commercial Code. The Chief Executive’s gratitude was very emotional. It was said that such a level of civic duty was rarely seen or heard of. I had totally concurred and to a certain extent I still do.
One of their pet projects was fundamentally rewriting the proclamation governing Charities and Civil Societies Organizations. That was indeed a spectacular achievement par excellence. I mean the 30/70 ratio (maximum administrative cost deductible from the fund) was revised, the Classifications of Charities and Societies was rendered irrelevant, NGOs were designated as the fruits of exercising the Constitutional Right to Organize just like trade unions, CSOs are entitled to become ‘traders’, just about anybody or entity, foreign domiciled or local, could finance CSOs. Honestly, with such a level of deregulation even Western NGOs may envy us, though our African brethren might consider the reforms ‘creepy’.
2 – Foreign Agent Clause
If you ask me I don’t think the government knew what it was signing up for when it adopted the amendment. I am not saying it was duped or something but I just don’t think it was prepared to shoulder the effects of such sweeping liberalization. In the absence of a separate domain of law pertaining to public disclosure statutes, any entity anywhere in the world can finance and control a local CSO as it wishes and there is little the Agency could do to stop it. You see, as things stand now CSOs aren’t licensed; they are just registered and the Agency’s role is reduced to that of an office of a Notary.
I wouldn’t deny that in emerging democracies, CSOs are for all intents and purposes the 5th branch of government after the media. They are capable of effecting regime change as they did in the Ukraine and Georgia. They are potent forces to reckon with. One has only to study what is going on in Georgia today- immediately after the government suspended its accession negotiation with the EU, major Squares in Tbilisi were flooded by protesters waving all sorts of banners. The EU being such a generous donor to East European emerging democracies, reciprocally and in all fairness it wants to have some kind of leverage to influence government if not as it wishes to the extent it is capable of. No wonder the youthful Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhdize , has bitterly declared they are better off without any kind of generosity from the EU.
I don’t think the government of Georgia is going to cave in, though. I think it had its lesson from its own past experience as well as that of its neighbor up north. Autocratic or otherwise governments of former USSR Republics were among the worst who had suffered at the hands of CSOs incubated and let loose on them by George Soros. Obviously they cannot altogether dissolve the CSOs- that is a right reserved to the State of Eritrea and North Korea- but they have developed a legislative antidote to keep them on tight leash- A Foreign Agent Clause.
3 – A Rollback is Inevitable
The Civil Societies Organization Agency (ACSO) is given just three months to decide on the fate of the CSOs it suspended a couple of days ago. The blacklisted CSOs cannot afford to stay closed for that long and I am positive they are going to press the Agency to revoke their registration as soon as possible. Yes to revoke. You know why, because they will have the right to prefer judicial recourse seeking reinstatement. Given the unmitigated protection extended to CSOs by the revised proclamation, the Court has little room to favor the government and is certain to decree reinstatement.
What is the government going to do? Of course invoke the legacy of Ato Meles! So that piece of legislation is the problem, is that it? We will deal with the arch country wreckers from our own ranks who were behind the amendment later, for now pass a note to the House Speaker to reintroduce Proclamation number 621/2009 without so much as altering a word from the preamble.
God Bless.
The writer could be reached at : estefanoussamuel@yahoo.com
Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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