RED LINES NOT TO BE CROSSED

PEACE, SECURITY AND STABILITY: RED LINES NOT TO BE CROSSED BY INDIVIDUALS AND/OR PARTIES

By:  Yohannes Gebresellasie (Ph.d)    

Elections are reflections and expressions of peaceful and democratic experiences of democratic nations and to those nations that aspire to fulfill the above norms and conditions. 

Elections are normally held once in four or five years unless conditions that call for emergency elections due to variety of reasons occur. Elections are held according to the directions given by the law of the land stipulated by the constitution of the land. 

The law of the land calls for the establishment of the Electoral Board that does not belong to any party; thus, it is a neutral one. The Electoral Board is also responsible in leading and in dealing with the electoral process from the beginning up to the completion of the election; therefore, all competing parties must strictly adhere to and abide by the rules, regulations, programs, instructions and directions set forward by the Electoral Board. 

Any party that does not strictly follow all set conditions of the Electoral Board can face legal consequences up to and including eviction, withdrawal, expulsion or other severe legal punishment also set forward by the Electoral Board. Therefore, it is of a paramount importance and indeed indispensable that all competing parties adhere to and abide by the law of the land and the conditions instructed by the electoral Board from the beginning to finish.

One of the most important conditions within the electoral process is the adherence and respect for peace and stability within the nation, because without peace and stability, there cannot be an election. Therefore all must work hard to preserve and retain peace in a country.

Generally, Peace is an umbrella of everything; peace is life and where there is peace, people live freely and do whatever they want to do and move wherever they want to move freely without any obstruction. People will also be able to work and improve their living standard and eventually contribute to the economic development of their country. Therefore, when there is peace, there is economic, cultural as well as political progress in the country. Further, when there is peace, democracy and good governance flourishes and when there is peace, there is no room for human as well as material obliteration. 

Without peace and stability, anarchy and lawlessness will prevail and that will lead to cataclysms both human and material that brings no use but grave damage and destruction to the nation and the public at large. Therefore, all regrettable activities that propagate disorder and chaos must be avoided and not be thought let alone be practiced. 

Here, it is important to note that the purpose of any party competing to lead the nation is and must be to bring peace, stability and prosperity to the nation and the public at large by running the business of the nation in a very responsible manner and not to advance hidden individual and/or group agendas. Hidden individual and /or group agendas are detrimental and selfish by nature and they have no place in any national agendas including during national elections. Therefore, hidden individual and /or group agendas must be replaced by pertinent and productive national agendas and national programs that promote and advance peace, stability, democracy and prosperity of the nation and the public at large.

The government in place carries the responsibility of respecting, safeguarding and maintaining the law of the land and protecting the safety of its people and their property from any loss or damage. The government in place can take any legal action to avert any illegal actions taken by anyone anywhere before, during and after the electoral process. Therefore, all parties must be wise and prudent not to be involved in any subversive, damaging and destructive activities intended to divert peaceful, free, fair and democratic upcoming election.  Instead, all parties must stick to the rules and conditions that promote noble and responsible ways and means of conducting ethical, peaceful, free, fair and democratic electoral process; a process put forward by the constitution of the land, the rule of law of the land and the directions and instructions given by the electoral Board before, during and after the election. 

Finally, when the election is over, all parties carry the responsibility of honoring the peoples’ voice and graciously accepting and recognizing the winning party. Further, they must be ready to work and support the winning party in running the nation’s business. After all, on national elections, there is no loser as every party works to advance peace, stability, democracy and prosperity of the nation win or lose. At the end of the day all parties become winners as they all work to advance the above mentioned noble ideas and practices useful not only for this generation but also for the next generation.

The Ethiopian people and for that matter the whole world is sick and tired of the so-called color revolution (red, rose, orange, blue etc.) to snatch power unconstitutionally, undemocratically and through street violence in order to advance hidden foreign agenda as evidenced in Ukraine, Libya, Syria etc. 

However, this has nothing to do with the interest of the Ethiopian people.  Those ideologies and dogmas are games of the past and they are now obsolete. There is no turning back for the Ethiopian people. They are moving forward and they are on the right track. They want stability and sustainable development. For that, they need peace; therefore they always want to keep this precious thing undamaged. 

As for those individuals and political parties working against peace, it is not too late if they turn to the right way and when they are ready to be sincere and honest with themselves to understand and comprehend the value of peace to themselves, to their people and to their country, they can start to think positive and to do the right thing i.e.to contribute to the economic and political process of this country. 

On the other hand, if they are that much anxious to come to power, they must use the only right option there is-the only way and the right way of coming to power-through a democratic process and under the conditions of the law of the land i.e. the electoral process. That is the only way to go and not through confusion and violence and certainly not through red, rose, blue etc. dogmas because these are things of the past; archaic and obsolete.  

During the coming election, as always, the hard fought peace, security and stability are red lines which no individual or party can cross. In fact, they are pre-requisites for any election.  In fact, without them, free, fair and democratic election is simply unthinkable. Therefore, as they are pre-requisites for any election, there should not be any hidden agendas, no disturbance, no chaos; instead, peaceful, free, fair and exemplary democratic fifth national election. This is a lesson to be drawn from the upcoming 2015 national election.