Can you make sense of what is currently happening in this country? How does one rationalize the “justice” that people are giving to individuals they suspect of wrongdoing? Sometimes I sit and try to give justification to the hate and animosities that a group of individual hold towards others. Can such hate be won by love? What more can there be than a government that is ready for unity, fairness, and equality of people from all ethnic backgrounds? I usually ask myself what the government should exactly do to stop the atrocities that we are witnessing each day. And by the way, how do you get rid of the hate that has developed for so many years in the hearts of our citizens towards their own brothers and sisters?
In my view, I believe that the youth is getting out of hand and prevailing above the law. In the words of one Ethiopian prominent politician, there are two governments in this country – one that is led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and another by the youth. Although I hate to admit that, I actually do. I also would like to admit that the youth was the major catalyst and driver of the radical and positive changes that we witnessed since few months ago. The youth is fearless, wants change and won’t back easily when confronted. But I also ask myself if the youth is starting to abuse of the respect and gratitude given to it by the people. Sometimes it seems to me that the youth, nowadays, is using the “power” it has been given to rule above and against the law. Random killings based on ethnic identification are being common, and it doesn’t seem that the law enforcers such as the police is doing much about it.
The way I see it, I think the whole problem lies in the fact that the perpetrators of the atrocities are going unpunished. An even bigger problem is that these people are unknown. Or are they known and the government officials chooses not to disclose their identities of fear that this will create further instability in the country? Rumors fly here and there that there are external parties who are paying the youth to kill the people’s confidence in Prime Minister Abiy’s administration. Or are the perpetrators internal to the country? When do we finally get an answer to these questions? In my view, as long as law enforcers identify the very sources of the atrocities and put an end to them, my fear is that these sources will continue to create chaos in our nation. Of lack of clear and transparent information from government officials, people are making their own assumptions about the identities of the perpetrators and even worse, taking horrible actions which they deem to be justified.
How do we put an end to all of this? I believe a very big challenge lies ahead for Prime Minister Abiy’s administration. Maybe the answer lies, as I said earlier, on the government investigating as quickly as possible the root causes of the instabilities, disclosing a clear and evidenced based information to the public on the identities of the trouble perpetrators, and making sure these are detained and punished. The more silent go government officials, the louder will be the chaos. That’s my opinion.
