Social Bailout

Ethiopians are accustomed to secluded governments. The gap between the hearts and minds of governments and those of the people has, for too long, been wide. Hence, social contracts remain fragile.

It has been as such, despite the fact that the ideological leanings of governments has been varied. It certainly is startling that a monarchy, a pseudo-socialist and a revolutionary democracy have all treated people in the same manner.

A coincidence, one day last week, reminded me of this connecting trait of Ethiopian governments. At the time I was surfing the Internet through my laptop computer, whilst simultaneously watching the prime time news on our national television.

On the news was Demeke Mekonnen, the deputy prime minister of Ethiopia, speaking about the multiple impacts of human trafficking on the nation and its people. He was speaking on the issue, I think, as chair of the newly established national committee to fight human trafficking.

My surf through the Internet, on the other hand, had landed me on a video of an interview on a Spanish television channel, with renowned African film director, and my favourite personality, Haile Gerima. The director of Sankofa and Teza, the grand African projects, was speaking about the migration of Ethiopians and Eritreans to the West and its possible impacts on their home countries. Haile explained migration as “an African phenomenon that is caused by the bankruptcy [in vision] of the political elite.”

Sitting in the middle of the two speeches, I implored if there could ever be any way that the two individuals, Demeke and Haile, could sit together and share ideas on the common objective of facilitating reverse migration. Unfortunately, they could not; the emotional distance between them is light years away. Whereas Demeke seems to worry about the symptoms, Haile empathises with the pain. What a saddening distance!

The event has shown me the cost of distant governments. I was shocked to see the gulf between ideology and reality.

Indeed, whether the Ethiopian political elite admits it or not, the major cause of migration and human trafficking in Africa, including Ethiopia, is the lack of a consensual, bottom-up economic and political vision that could infuse hope into the hearts of Africans. No one would choose to die in the waters of the oceans, if indeed there was hope on the mainland to capitalise on. And, that has a lot to do with the political elite.

The Ethiopian political elite have always been short of vision. It fails to articulate long-term goals for the economy, politics and social structure of the nation. What it often focuses on, rather, is having a short-term, opportunistic plan, in order to persuade people on its direction.

Its distance, both physically and emotionally, from the mass of the population disconnects it from popular perceptions. It deprives it of a solid social base. Hence, just like a foolish man, it dreams, implements and improvises alone.

This, slowly but surely, has bankrupted the vision of the nation. And a nation without vision has no way of impressing its citizens, or ultimately, convincing them to stay. Hence, mass migration and human trafficking prevails.

In an economic sense, having a vision involves a simultaneous act of expanding the pie. It also entails creating opportunities, fighting clientelism, reducing inequality and streamlining meritocracy.

It is this part of the national vision that many contemporary African governments, including that of Ethiopia, have failed to achieve. What remains surprising is the fact that the failure is happening, while the economic pie, expressed through gross domestic product (GDP), is rapidly expanding. What seems to be lacking is a just distribution of opportunities and economic resources.

To follow the line of Haile, it is there that the political elite ought to invest its scarce resources. The grand solution to fight migration and human trafficking is, thus, to streamline justice within the economic, political and social system of the nation. Crafting a social bailout plan, with justice as its major pillar, is the right way to reverse the trend.

 

 


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