Major cities in Oromia are administered in what is termed as "special
zone." Jimma and its surrounding is special zone; Addis Ababa and its
surrounding is special zone; Adama and its surrounding is special zone.
Now the federal government of Ethiopia is considering to create one for
Shashamane because, sources disclose, the city is becoming home for
''nations and nationalities'' and economically very significant to be
left for the regional government. In fact, the federal government wants
to take over the entire corridor of 25km between Hawasa and Shashamene.
And both Sidama Zone or SNNPR and Oromia have not been consulted yet.
The plan will land on table presumably after 2015 election and EPRDF
secures majority in the house that is already decided at the council of
ministers in their last successive meetings.
As a tradition,
top-down orders from the Government of Ethiopia (GoE), which is mostly
controlled and manipulated by the Tigrayan minority group TPLF, would
not be questioned by the regional states and the ruling regional
"allies." Any form of divergence from what the GoE says would not be
tolerated and often officials are intimidated. The Addis Ababa master plan
for example faced stiff resistance and after about months of
"mediation," the GoE via Addis Ababa city administration is bracing for
what is thought to be a potential escalation of dispute with Oromia when
the plan is once again put for test in January 2015. The exact terms
reached between Addis Ababa and Oromia with more arbrating than
mediating role of Federal officials will never be known until documents
are available for media and public. As to Diriba Kuma himself, he is
nervous because he wants to return back to Oromia with his little left
reputation. Aafter all Oromia is much formidable place for officials
than the federal government, and this master plan is not making things
easy for him. Again, he also wants to stay and turn things around, and
that would risk him for intimidation by GoE.
The word
‘’federalize’’ is only used in this context to describe the intention of
the Federal government. As it is dictated by the constitution and other
bylaws, federal government can't own land. However, the GoE acts as if
it owns everything in the empire amplifying the stark reality and
difference between what is on paper and what is being practiced. In
fact, the creation of special zones can be taken as a strategy of
weakening the regional governments by snatching economically viable and
productive areas, at the same time, strengthen the much talked about
TPLF’s economic empire.
Creating a special zone is not new thing
in developing countries. The noble motive of creating such geographic
and administrative demarcation is to facilitate development and ensure
smooth and dynamic rural-urban divide, and reduce the negative impacts
of emerging industries on the the environment and the society. However,
the case of Oromia is quite different, or perhaps as the source
indicates, disastrous.
In Addis Ababa, rampant mismanagement and
corruption of land is source of fortune for few and destitution for
most. Although rarely, this has been acknowledged by the city government
itself. The last wave of urban land grab was right after the 2005
election. The so called Land Bank was fabricated to ration land to
Tigrayans; following that campaign, Ex-Minister Ermisa Legese tells,
over 150000 Oromo farmers and their families were displaced in what is
now understood as systematic genocide. The second wave of land grab,
this time deep into Oromia, is an ongoing project since 2012 right
before Mele’s death. And many believe this Adds Ababa master plan
legitimizes what has been done under the radar for the last 10 years. We
should be afraid that It might take another 15 year but a complete
social and economic Abyssinianization of Jimma, Adama and Shashamane is
quite possible within this regime unless change is pending.
As
smooth as it looks from outside falsely to handle investment and
industries, the creation of special zone is an administrative hurdle
because it is a redundant procedure. Creating a zone within Zone,
society within society, economy within economy, is not sustainable and
fair. There are experiences from other federal countries how to develop
both social and economic sectors of the population without adversely
impacting the livelihood of the people and the ecology. And the best way
to do that is not to disconnect the rural surrounding from its urban
epicenter.
Special zone model is attentively and particularly
geared to be applied in Oromia as neither in Amhara nor in Tigray
regions that they have special zones in a way they are in the former. In
the later two regions, there are Mekele zone and Bahirdar zone but it
is only purely for economic reasons since they have a smooth and
consistent social transition from urban to rural settings. Without bold
social and economic policy changes, my source thinks, these cities such
as Jimma or Adama are administratively would soon be out of Oromia.
because of their economic and administrative model and their social mix,
which are not according to the interest of the Oromo people, just like
Addis Ababa.
Apart from serving as a new hotbed for corruption
and mismanagement, the new special zone around Shashamane and its link
with Hawasa is intended to create an ‘’atmosphere of cooperation’’
between the two regional states. The increasing hostility between
regional states were an intense topic during several federal security
meetings. Most of these disputes are over land and border. Tigrayan
controlled GoE, heavily influenced by Amhara individuals (not ANDM
persei), wants to check and demise the little autonomy of regional state
in pretext of ‘’creating one socioeconomic community’’ rhetoric of the
constitution thereby pleasing the assimilative and border-phobic motives
of some influential Amhara elites to restore their nostalgic interest
of the empire and at the same time ensuring the continuous economic
hegemony of Tigrayan minority.
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