No Good Governance without Political Commitment

The Ethiopian political sphere witnesses divergent views on the issue of governance and effective public service delivery. At one end of the aisle sit the ruling EPRDFites who take pride in the reform efforts they have undertaken to improve public service provision and streamline good governance in the various tiers of the state structure. Though they are bold enough to admit that there remains a lot to be done, they argue that due recognition ought to be given to what has been achieved over the last 23 years.

A showcase to this line of the ruling Revolutionary Democrats is the recent explanation that Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn provided to questions raised on the issue. The premier reflected that the reform undertakings of the ruling party are not just paper tigers, but verifiable activities bringing change in a public sector that had, for a long time, been a breeding ground for patrimonialism.

As if to extend the premier’s argument, Temesgen Tilahun, a state minister at the civil service ministry, recently noted that the reform efforts of the past 23 years have brought significant changes in the way business is done within the public sector. In his remark, made at the announcement of the upcoming Good Governance Day, Temesegn noted that the initiatives of the ruling party have brought about concrete changes.

A general attitude from the side of the ruling EPRDFs, therefore, is to reorient the discussion on good governance to the achievements of the past. There seems to be an understanding that recognising the positive changes could help move the reforms forward.

At the other end of the aisle, however, sit critics of the ruling party, most of whom do not like to look the ruling party in the eyes on issues of governance. For them, the ruling party has failed, again and again, on its promises to deliver good governance. These latest efforts to reorient the debate away from the problems on the ground, they argue, are intended to divert public attention from their failings.

Most of the critics mention the frequency in the name changes of reform instruments the ruling party has introduced over the past 23 years as direct evidence to the magnitude of their failures. If anything, their argument goes, the Ethiopian public sector is sliding downwards.

If one is to be rational in analysing the state of good governance in Ethiopia, however, the reality is somewhere in between the two extremes. Things are not as rosy as the ruling party would like them be perceived, but they are not as hopeless as its critics would want them be understood.

Ever since the ruling party came into power, overthrowing the bloody dictatorship, it has managed to implement many reforms. Most of these reforms were aimed at changing the long overdue spoiled culture of the public service and instilling new norms throughout the different tiers of the state.

Nonetheless, changing the established culture has never been easy for the ambitious Revolutionary Democrats. Groups with vested interests in the status quo have laboured to quash the envisioned changes. This has regularly escalated the cost of reforms and reduced their feasibility.

There have also been times that these groups have tainted the public sphere with distorted tales, so as to shift the winds of opportunity against the reformers. By increasing the political cost of reforms, such an act has, at times, marginalised the reformers.

Regardless of these vested interests, however, the Revolutionary Democrats have somehow managed to create a decentralised civil service. They have succeeded in establishing both vertical and horizontal functional relationships within the civil service.

Remaking laws, clarifying boundaries of responsibility, establishing principles of service provision and putting into place instruments of evaluation are some of their recognisable achievements. As compared to what it used to be under the rogue military regime of the Dergue, therefore, the civil service has become identifiably structured under the leadership of the Revolutionary Democrats. So much has positively changed in the organisation and functionalities of the state.

But the state of public service provision and good governance in the nation has not yet reached a state to be proud of. If anything, the achievements are few, compared to the backlog in demand.

Getting public services is still costly; commitment to serve the public is low; corruption is rampant and a culture of indecision is engulfing the system. As a result, the public continues to suffer a lot from the inefficiency of the system. From city administrations to local government offices, timely service provision has become an alien norm.

Moving up the ladder of the state structure has become unhelpful. Complacence to the needs and demands of the public predominates. Obtaining simple public goods, considered as fundamental rights of citizens, is becoming all the more difficult.

It is not that the ruling EPRDFites do not recognise the problems. Instead, their political commitment is falling short of the demands.

Whatever is started as a campaign to streamline good governance often gets hijacked by interest groups and loses steam. At the base of the frequently failing reform efforts, and hence the continuing disappointment of the public, lies a lack of sufficient political commitment to bring about change.

As it stands, the lack of good governance is threatening to reverse the economic achievements of the past decade. Maladministration, corruption, indecision and opportunism are eating away at the marginal surpluses of the economy. Investors are suffering from lack of good governance.

Unattended, the spoilages of the system are capable of pushing the economy down the hills of recession. No growth rate could be able to compensate the losses from such rampant opportunism, unless effective checking mechanisms are put into place. This, certainly, will risk the political credibility of the Revolutionary Democrats.

It, therefore, would be appropriate for the Revolutionary Democrats to remove their pride over the little achievements of the past and collect their political breath to start the long journey ahead. They need to understand that public disappointment is a time bomb.

No government ought to wait until such a time that the genie gets out of the lamp. It instead has to labour to attend it as it is within its limits.

Thus, in commemorating the second Good Governance Day, the ruling Revolutionary Democrats need to avoid comforting themselves with the changes of the past two decades. They have to instead reinvent their wheel of political commitment to spearhead change in public service provision.

This is not the time to consider pride. It is time to display sufficient political commitment to streamlining good governance in all tiers of government.

Source: Addisfortune

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