(A Speech Delivered by Hon. Ambassador Teshome Toga, Speaker of the House of Peoples’ Representatives of the FDRE During His Visit to Great Britain)

Democratization and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia

Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Parliamentary delegation of Ethiopia, drawn from different political parties and on own behalf, let me express my appreciations to the organizers of this forum – a forum that affords the delegation the chance to exchange views and opinions with this esteemed audience, on the ongoing democratization process and poverty reduction program in Ethiopia.
Democratization and poverty reduction are the central elements of the overall political, social and economic development program in Ethiopia. This is so for two reasons. The people of Ethiopia like people elsewhere need and want democracy, respect for human rights and for better life. Secondly, all past attempts to govern the ethnic, religious and political diversity by undemocratic means failed miserably. The people of Ethiopia clearly demonstrated their quest for democracy by their protracted struggle against the anti-democratic regimes and by the heavy sacrifices they paid.
In our case, democracy is needed not only to ensure rights of citizens but also rights of different political, cultural and religious groups. In addition to political objective, democracy has economic objectives as well. Citizens and groups whose human and democratic rights are not respected cannot freely, fully and actively participate in the political, social and economic life of their country. Thus, it is not difficult to imagine the predicaments of achieving economic, social and political goals without the involvement of the people. We are therefore, convinced that democracy is the only form of governance, that could hold the political, cultural and religious diversity in a fair, just and equal manner.
The fact that there is a need and want for a democratic system is not a sufficient precondition for building democratic society. It requires, among other things, the necessary social and economic preconditions, vibrant democratic institutions and promoting the culture and values of democracy. Understandably, the democratization process in Ethiopia began with the realization of these basic principles.
Adopting democratic constitution that recognized the fundamental human and democratic rights and freedoms was the first step in our long walk to democracy. The 1995 Federal Constitution of Ethiopia paved the way for democratic pluralism, free press, human and democratic rights. The constitution also duly recognized the need for building democratic institutions including Parliament, Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman, National Electoral Board, Media, Political parties and, civil society organizations, all of which play a very critical role in promoting democracy.

Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I do not wish to take much of your time by rehearsing achievements in this regard. Let me, rather focus on the challenges of the democratization process after 3rd National and Regional Election conducted in 2005. Without any exaggeration, the 3rd National and Regional Election was the most competitive election in the long history but young democracy of our country. A number of policy measures were taken to encourage the participation of all shades of political opinions in the election. The process upto and including the polling day was hailed by many as free, fair and democratic and reported so by many observers.
Immediately after counting of the votes, opposition parties complained that there was vote rigging. Consequently, a mechanism was established involving all parties to verify the complaints. After the complex and cumbersome, compliant verification process, the ruling party was declared winner of the election by the national Electoral Board of Ethiopia_ the only constitutional institution mandated to make decision on the results of the election. As you all may know, the ruling party won the election but lost significant seats in both the Federal and Regional parliaments. It in fact lost the election in the capital. The significant progress and gains made thus far were set backed when the results of the election were rejected by some contestants and when they resorted to the case to street violence of instead of pursuing their grievances through constitutional means.
The unfortunate and regrettable violence of Nov. 2005 resulted in undesirable loss of life and destruction of public and private properties. The parliament to this effect, established an Independent Enquiry Commission, whose report was presented to the House. And the House passed a resolution in which it directed the executive to take necessary measures. The question then followed, if we reject the decision of constitutional institutions, if we resort to non-constitution means and if the rules of the game were violated, how is it possible that we strengthen our democratic institutions and promote culture of democracy? That is where serious mistakes were committed, in my view. Democracy demands strict observance of the rule of law. Even if one is not happy with or did not agree to the decisions of constitutional institutions, democracy requires that you abide by it. That is how you build democracy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
History is full of lesson in this regard. Western democracies, with well established democratic values and practices, had their ups and downs. Ethiopia is not and can’t be an exception. The most important point is to draw lessons from our achievements and failures and move forward. That is exactly what we are doing right now. Obviously, there are very important lessons we learned from the elections and post elections events, the need to strengthen the democratic institutions and instill the values and cultures of democracy, namely, rationality and reasoning, respect for rule of law, tolerance and accommodation, among others.
Today, we can say that we have multiparty parliament, with the opposition occupying nearly a third of the 547 seats in the Federal House. 22% our parliamentarians are women, compared to only 12 and 47 seats occupied by opposition and women respectively in the 2nd house. This by no means is a small achievement.
It cannot be denied that the events after the election were serious challenges in the democratization process. However, it in no way suggests reversal in our defined path to democracy and good governance because we know very well from our own experience, how worse the alternative could be.
As a result, we have stressed on building the capacity of democratic institutions, the Parliament, NEBE, Media, Human Rights Commission and EIO. This is supplemented by the dialogue and negotiations among political parties in the House on a number of political issues that are mutually identified and agreed upon.
Comprehensive reforms and capacity building programs are being carried out by learning from experiences of best parliamentary practices. The rules of procedure of parliament have been amended by benchmarking the rules of procedures of parliaments of UK, Germany, India, and Canada. The national election law was amended, and the National Election Board has been appointed by parliament after long negotiations by political parties. The dialogue on the remaining agendas of press law and party financing, I hope, would resume soon.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In short, this is where we are as far as democratization process in Ethiopia after the 2005 election, is concerned. I can assure you that there is a renewed commitment and determination to further enhance the democratization and development endeavors in Ethiopia, as there is no alternative to them. I am well aware of the challenges ahead of us; however, I am simply reiterating that we are moving forward in the right direction.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me now turn, briefly to the poverty reduction program in the country. The main feature of our democracy and development is how to make them relevant to the majority of our people. The two objectives of democracy and development are highly linked.
The main development objective of Ethiopia is poverty eradication. Poverty reduction and its ultimate eradication in all its dimensions have been and still are the overriding development agenda of the government of Ethiopia. Hence, the country’s social and economic development policies and strategies are geared towards this end.
The road towards achieving this and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) has commenced when the Government presented the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) known as Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Programme (SDRP). The MDGs Need Assessment Study conducted in 2004-05 further broadened the exercise in seven sectors, Agricultural and Rural Development, Education, health, Water and Sanitation, Road, Urban Development and Private Sector and Trade as well as in three cross-cutting issues, Gender and Development, HIV/AIDS and Population and Development.
The report of the study has formed the basis for a long term investment plan designed to meeting MDGs and served as an input in the formulation of Ethiopia’s Five Year Development plan (2005/06 to 2009/10) entitled “Building on Progress: a Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP)”, - which serves as vehicle towards attaining at least the targets set out in MDGs.
PASDEP is now considered as a national plan for guiding all development activities in the coming five years. It is a nationally agreed development plan, belonging to all Ethiopians developed through a process of consultation among all elements of the society and finally approved by parliament.
The Ethiopian economy in the last four consecutive years has been growing on the average at 11%, one of the highest in S.S.A. and for a non-oil exporting country. This has been confirmed by IMF and WB.
Agriculture is the backbone of the economy. In order to accelerate, expand and increase overall economic growth, it is essential to develop the sector which is crucial to ensure the provision of inputs for industries as well as to fulfill food requirements. Furthermore, the sector is where the major human power required for development is engaged in addition to being the foundation for major growth in value added, registered or achieved in the last three years and the source of foreign exchange earned during this period.
Due to the prevalence of favorable conditions including policies, adequate rain and supply of agricultural inputs, agricultural production increased by 17.3% and 13.4% in the years (2003/04 and 2004/05) respectively.
It is understandable that industrial development is the driving force for the overall development of the economy. The sector has shown encouraging progress as a result of the investment policy and industrial strategy designed by the government. Among the steps taken to create a conducive environment to encourage private and direct foreign investment, streamlining bureaucratic procedures such as customs clearance, and removing institutional bottlenecks, increasing the supply of affordable inputs and strengthening finance and banking services, improving management and market for fairness, are notable ones.
The government’s programme under PASDEP also focused on strengthening the small and micro scale enterprises, as they are the foundation of the establishment and intensification of medium and large-scale industries in addition to opening the opportunity for employment generation for those not engaged in the agricultural sector with particular emphasis on women and youth in urban areas.
In the social dimension, the education sector is fast growing and expanding. Education makes people more responsive to changes and adds creativity and innovation. The education policy therefore, was designed primarily to serve our democratization effort and social and economic development goals.
Efforts were, thus made to increase primary school coverage in line with the Second Education Sector Development Program. During this period, the gross enrollment ratio (GER) increased from 61.6% to 79.8% (70.9 female and 87.3 male). GER for female has increased from 52.2% to 71.4%. The primary gross enrollment level has reached 85.8% for both sexes. Clearly, the gaps between rural and urban and male and female have narrowed.
To realize the goal of universal primary education by 2015, Alternative Basic Education program has been prepared and implemented. Considering the alternative basic education, regular and evening program, the gross enrollment rate for primary education increased to 91.3% for both sexes, bringing Ethiopia closer to achieving the Primary Education Millennium Development goals.
Among the factors that contributed to the accelerated progress achieved is the significant increase in the number of primary schools. The progress is supplemented by the fact that 80% of the schools were constructed in rural areas and coupled by the increased awareness of the society towards girl’s education. Significant progress has also been made in secondary school education.
The Technical & Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Program was also initiated, with the belief that this line of education will fulfill the country’s requirement for middle level professionals both for public and private sectors. The TVET training was prepared in 25 fields in government run institutions and in 16 fields in private institutions.
The number of training institutions has increased from 141 in 2001/02 to 200 in 2004/05, while the number of trainees has increased from 38,176 to 105,856 during the same period. 51% of the trainees are women.
Similar to primary and secondary education attention was given to higher education as a major source for meeting the country’s needs for high level professionals. In this regard, the number of universities that were only 2 in 1991 has now reached to 23, increasing the intake capacity from 18946 in 2001/02 to more than 99,560 at present.
With regards to the Health sector, our health policy and strategy are based on the preventive approach, as they say prevention is better than cure and provision of basic health services to the society. The health coverage has reached 92%.
However, recognizing the low level of health development in Ethiopia and to improve the service in this sector, the government’s health strategy has targeted the most poverty related communicable diseases including malaria, diahorea, tuberculosis (TB), childhood illness, and HIV/AIDS. It has also been shifting services to improve the health needs of the rural populations, that makeup 85% of the total. In line with this, the government launched the Health Extension Work Program (HEWP) to move service to the household at village level.
The government has also developed and put into effect a multi-sectoral and home grown HIV/AIDS strategies, expanded service delivery facilities and introduced prevention programs including social mobilization strategy against HIV/AIDS.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
In conclusion, let me say few words on the role of the legislature, Parliament plays a very critical role in both the democratization process and poverty reduction program. The over sighting responsibility on the implementation of policies and strategies and prudent utilization of resources, holding the executive accountable by regulating its behavior by legislation are key instruments of parliamentary procedures.
Finally, Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen, it would be remiss of me if I fail to mention about the upcoming Ethiopian millennium. Whereas the rest of the world celebrated the 3rd Millennium, seven years ago, Ethiopia is on the eve of celebrating hers. Her unique calendar is one of the cultures that identify Ethiopia from others. The people and government of Ethiopia are making all possible efforts to using this rare occasion not for festivities but to promote national consensus in order to achieve our democratic and development goals. I take this opportunity to invite all friends of Ethiopia to join us in our Millennium celebrations.
I thank you.