DEMOCRATIC ERITREA

WHAT FORM OF GOVRNMENT?

(PATR II, BY EAIM)

 

    FEEDBACKS AND COMMENTS:

     “ That who does not pay attention to criticism, feedbacks, comments and is not ready to debate and argue his/her view points is not there to convince or get convinced, but to dominate and dictate and does not last long.” We thank the Eritreans who gave us their opinions either in private or in public. We take feedbacks and comments for the following reasons:

·        Help us to serve our readers better.

·       Help us to correct our mistakes

·       Help us to learn more from our readers.

·       Help us know our readers or audience better.

 Feedbacks, comments and critiques may be, argumentative, refutation, corrective measures presented with humility, patience, hotheaded, insults, advises, etc. We believe whatever the nature the way one presents them the receiving end should stay on message.

 POLITICAL POLIMECS OR ELUCIDATION OFA MESSAGE:

     Polemics is the art or practice of argumentative or controversy for the sack of refutation of errors or show disagreement on certain doctrine usually presented with patience and humility.        

 In the serious play of questions and answers, in the work of reciprocal elucidation, the rights of each person are immanent in the discussion. They depend only in the dialogue situation. The person asking the question is merely exercising the right that has been given to him: to remain unconvinced, to perceive a contradiction, to require more information, to emphasize different postulates, to point out faulty reasoning and so on. As for the person answering the question, he too exercises a right that does not go beyond the discussion itself: by the logic of his own discourse, he is tied to what he has said earlier, and by the acceptance of dialogue he is tied to the question of other.

  The polemicist, on the other hand, proceeds encased in privileges that he possesses in advance and will never agree to question. On principle, he possesses rights authorizing him to wage war and making that struggle a just understanding; the person he confronts is not a partner in search for the truth but an adversary, an enemy who is wrong, who is harmful, and whose very existence constitutes a threat.

         The EAIM tries to categories feedbacks and comments from these two angles and we try to respond having that in mind. In part one of our form of government issue we listed some factories which we think are important in discussing the form Eritreans we expect to craft. We understand and we read the form of governments practiced in other countries and we encourage others to do so, but we also have to see the peculiarity of our country Eritrea. We try to pin- point what we think is right and needs development, but not to mean others are wrong. It is in that context, we mentioned EDA in relation to decentralization. We would like to say also that when over 80% of Eritreans want change or to get rid of dictatorship, to characterize the relationship of the opposition and the public as “ oil and water” does not reflect the Eritrean political reality.  

     “ We have to develop political relationship with revolutionary political movements of Ethiopians in order the Eritrean revolution to show progress and succeed.” Said Yohannse Subhato in 1970.

  In our opinion  there is no question that revolutionary movement in Ethiopia helped the Eritrean political aspiration. Also we say democratic Ethiopia is a blessing for democratic Eritrea, but a nightmare for dictatorship. A party which mobilizes people on narrow nationalism and ethnic sentiment end up in riots by misleading its base. The federal republic of Ethiopia’s federalism is good reference to Eritrean politicians, indeed other countries form of governments, but we have to concentrate on the peculiar factors of Eritrea and Eritrean make up in trying to device our form of government.

    ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF A FEDERAL STATE COMPARED WITH A UNITARY STATE:

    ADVANTAGES;

·        MORE DEMOCRACY-sub division into smaller political unites makes state action clearer and more comprehensible, thus fostering active participation. Elections are held both for the national parliament and for the parliaments of the individual member states.

·       DISTRIBUTION OF POWER- Both federal and member states will have legislative-executive-judicial.

·        PROXIMITY TO TASKS- In a federation, public bodies are close to regional problems than in a unitary state. There is no remote forgotten province.

·       LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES- political parties have more opportunities to hold power and competition between parties.

·       BALANCE- mutual control, reciprocal consideration and the need to seek compromises prevent or at least hinder extreme positions. Federalism has balancing and thus stabilizing effect.

·        DIVERSITY- Many economic, political, cultural, etc centers develop.

·       COMPETITION- Competing of states with one another, make them more vital and avoids undesirable developments at the national level.

·       CITEZEN ORIENTATION- people enjoy more rapid access to the public authorities.

DISADVANTAGES;

·        COMPLICATED- As decisions are taken in different centers, interweaving of responsibilities is complex and sometimes hard for citizens to understand.

·       LACK OF UNIFORMITY- The federal autonomy necessarily means there are differences between the states. Diversity is the opposite of uniformity. 

·       TIME- CONSUMING- Decisions or consents from each state engage in lengthy negotiations to arrive at joint solutions. 

·       COSTLY-Running individual governments, parliaments and administrations in the federal and states is very expensive.

DECENRALIZATION: ADVANTAGES/ DISADVANTAGES; 

    The quest for decentralization should be derived from a desire for an effective form of civil governance. Decentralization should be a means to that end. There should be no political estrangement over this matter.

     ADVANTAGES;

·        Decentralization facilitates and stimulates local development.

·       Decentralization curbs concentration of power at the center.

·        Decentralization facilitates greater popular participation in governance.

·        Decentralization increases efficiency in determining service provisions.

·        Decentralization facilitates a better division of labor.

·        Decentralization helps in tailoring of solutions for local problems to local conditions.

·       Decentralization provides the opportunity for wider diversity of innovations.

  DISADVANTAGES:

·        Decentralization may increase inter-regional inequalities and widen economic disparity, due to having not uniform natural resources, land values, etc.

·         Decentralization can bring risk of power and resources capture by local elites.

·        Decentralization may encourage misuse of authority due to inadequate supervision.

·        Creates the potential for conflict between the local and national interest.

·        Represents more complex form of governance.

·       Migration of skilled work force from one locality to another might be hard and may lead to conflict.

  THE ERITREAN REALITY:

      The form of government in Eritrea has been and still is unitary form. Every colonial power has been administering Eritrea in almost the same way. The present dictatorial government made some changes with out the consent of the people. The Eritrean socio-economic reality today is—

·        There is wide economic development disparity. Highland Eritrea comparatively better than the lowland area.

·        Highlanders are more with modern work skills than lowlanders.

·        Educational and health facilities and institutions are more frequent in the highland area.

·        Factories and businesses are concentrated in the highland, mainly around Asmara. 

·        Highland areas highway connection is better than lowland areas.

           In our opinion, unitary form of government may be a minor factor to the above disparity of the Eritrean society. The major factors include:

·        Chain of colonial rule. Colonialists plan what is good and profitable for them and that is what colonized world society experienced. To focus and stay engaged in the highland might have been profitable for them.

·        Religion might have been a factor. Our colonial powers where Christians and because of that the highlanders might got greater pie.

·        Climate is anther factor. Our colonial powers might have been neglecting the lowland area because of the hot weather.

·        System of government. One should not expect much from colonial powers and dictatorship. They should rule thorough divide and rule in order to live longer and in so doing the highlanders might have been favored.

 WHAT IS THE SOLUTION:

    The lasting solution to such unfortunate consequences is to get rid of dictatorship and erect democratic system in Eritrea. Unitary form of governance has been there for years and we don’t think will allow us to narrow the gap and carry out good plans for the whole society. It is not also easy to say this form of government is suitable for Eritrea before the say of the people is heard, but some sort of decentralized form of government my be crafted with some adjustment. In our part one of this topic, we mentioned four types of decentralized form of government. Eritreans may want to try by selecting what is suitable for Eritrea from these four forms and adopt one as a solution. One has to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of form of government mentioned really fit in the Eritrean reality. In our opinion any form of government will not hinder or advance the right of nationalities. Form of government is there for compromise, give and take and to facilitate consensus. Right of nationalities is there to be implemented only in a democratic system of government. Some of the rights a certain nationality demands include:

·        Property right—which include land and territory.

·        Minority right.

·        Nationality language rights.

·         Nationality culture rights.

·        Recognition rights.

·        Political representation rights.

       Although the question of nationalities and form of government may overlap in certain issues, we have to deal with them as separate field of study and demand of the people in our endeavor for democracy. We will try to present a study on the question of nationalities and implementation in the future.

 

GLORY TO OUR MARTYRS            Comment at ama766@comcast.net

   WE STRUGGLE WE SUCCEED

EAIM (Not those who joined seven heaven)