December 8,The Ethiopian Constitution day.

UNION INTERPARLEMENTAIRE    INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION

Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments

COMMUNICATION

from

MR H. NINI ABINO

Head of the Secretariat of the House of Federation of Ethiopia 

on

Lessons from the work of the House of Federation in celebrating Ethiopian Constitution Day 2011

Session

Kampala 2012

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Until the system change in 1991, Ethiopia throughout its long history has failed to develop a system of governance that embraces its diversity- one that helps it to transform its extraordinary diversity from an existential threat to a deep well of strength and dynamism. Indeed the non-management of its diversity has for centuries constituted a primary challenge- a challenge that has massively contributed to its centuries long journey backwards from the frontline of world civilization to one of the poorest countries on earth. 

In 1991 we embarked on Democratic Federalism. This has to be seen as a new way in achieving unity in diversity. All indications so far suggest that this is at last a successful undertaking. Our federal system has allowed us to introduce a democratic system of governance that is fast maturing and consolidating.

It has enabled all the peoples of Ethiopia to maintain and celebrate their individual identities while at the same time constituting the bigger family of Ethiopians. It has empowered all the peoples of Ethiopia to manage and to mobilize their local affairs autonomously and to mobilize all their resources to improve their livelihoods and develop their communities while at the same time becoming active participants in common national affairs. It has allowed us to design our governance system to fit the circumstances of each locality and thus serves the people better while consolidating our common democratic governance. 

Democratic Federalism has enabled us to create a common Ethiopian identity- one that is not separated and above our diverse identities but one that is constituted by the magnificence of such diversity. It has become the bedrock upon which a stable and peaceful nation is being constituted. It has become the solid basis upon which we are building a young and dynamic nation out of one of the oldest states on earth. 

Dear Colleagues, 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The House of Federation is Ethiopia’s Second Chamber of the federal Parliament, representing Ethiopia’s 75 ethnic groups, the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia. While the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of our country has been suppressed during previous regimes, the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples became the founders of the new, federal and democratic Ethiopia in 1994. The Ethiopian Constitution is based on the principle of self-determination and focuses strongly both on group as well as individual rights.

The constitution strongly promotes equality, democracy and social justice and binds governments to the development of the country. The Nations, Nationalities and Peoples are granted an unconditional right to self-determination up to secession. For this reason, the Second Chamber of Parliament, the House of Federation is representing the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples and not the regional states.

While many second chambers have strong legislative mandates, the House of Federation’s mandates are different. The House of Federation resolves conflicts between regional states and between regional governments and the federal government, it designs and decides the larger part of the fiscal transfer system, it promotes the unity of the country through equitable development and last but not least, it interprets the constitution and promotes democracy and constitutionalism.

Dear Colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The House of Federation has embarked on immense and intense activities promoting constitutionalism and democracy throughout the last six years. Huge efforts have been undertaken in popularizing the democratic principles of the constitution. Among many others we have designed radio and TV programs which are both entertaining and educational. Most of them are quiz-shows, participating the audience. We have designed a series of animated cartoons for children, explaining democratic principles through short stories around the life of school-children. This includes equal rights of men and women, children’s rights, fair elections and the like. The resonance from children and adults towards this program but also to other is immense.

In 2006, the House of Federation has initiated the commemoration of the signing of the constitution by representatives of the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples on December 8, 1994.

Since then the House in cooperation with at least one regional government has organized the federal celebration of this day. The federal celebration has been organized since in a number of regional capitals – the cruising being similar to Germany’s National day celebration.

While the commemoration has been focusing on a relatively small number of participants at the beginning, the celebration consisting of discussions and cultural shows have been enlarged significantly over time.

This year, target-group oriented conferences have been organized across the country in order to reach are far larger number of people. 

This included a symposium for women (Addis Ababa), media and artists (Addis Ababa), civil servants (various conferences across sectors and regions), students (31 workshops, one in each university). The final symposium in Meqelle drew participants from all sectors. All in all, we managed to participate 5382 people in seven different sectors on the federal level. The details of the conferences and number of participants were: The private sector event attracted 470 participants, the women conference 521, the youth conference 1112, the media and art professionals conference has been attended by 500, the Civil Service at Federal Level including video conferences to the Regional States 500 and lastly, the National Conference at Meqelle 1800 participants. These numbers do not include the participants of Defense and Justice Sector conferences, workshops in 31 Universities, 28,000 schools, and sub-national Civil Service institutions, Women and Youth at sub-national and local level. On these levels we reached hundreds of thousands of people.

All symposia and workshops discussed the question "Why do we need a constitution and constitutionalism?" The discussions have been induced through target-group specific presentations towards this question and through a common booklet explaining the principles of the constitution.

The lessons we can learn from our continuous efforts are manifold. First of all, we were drawing attention towards the constitution and its objectives and principles in a more general manner. Through linking all constitutional awareness creation activities, we have been able to engage a large number of people from all layers of society in a dialogue with both, political leaders and intellectuals. Alongside with a fast growing literacy rate, we also obtain stronger feedback regarding constitutional awareness, so to say an increasing constitutional literacy rate.

While these activities are very budget-intensive, we have also learned that people are getting more confident in democratic institutions through these efforts. For example, requests for constitutional review and interpretation have risen by 100 percent between 2006 and 2011.

The change we observe is not only remarkable in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. While 2011’s celebration of the Constitution Day has attracted by far more people than in any previous year, the level of discussion has also reached a quality we have not been observing previously. The questions and comments raised and made by participants showed a strongly increased level of information and an increasing level of identification with democracy and constitutionalism.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues,

Summarizing, we can note that we went a long way in a relatively short period of less than 20 years. We have learned that learning and teaching democratic rights takes time but we have also learned the lesson that it can be accomplished provided a strong political will and the commitment to participate citizens in this endeavor. The commemoration of Ethiopia’s Constitution Day is one good example for this.

Thank you very much.