Since taking office about three months ago, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed was busy inspiring national consensus and rebuilding government trust among the society.
The premier's achievements during the stated period are worth the high level of popular support he has won, according to Scholars and Politicians.
Dr. Tarekegn Adebo, Associate Professor and Senior Advisor for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Addis Ababa University and abroad, says the Premier's effort to revitalize the country's peace and stability is welcomed by the majority of the people. Commencing his Premiership position, Dr. Abiy's concern was to line up public speeches and discussions with various segments of the society across the country to create national consensus.
Dr. Tarekegn recalled that Dr. Abiy has freed political prisoners and those held on corruption and terrorism charges, and preach about Ethiopian nationalism. He has met investors, youths, political parties, artists, prisoners, and visited patients among others.
Dr. Abiy has also made strategic travel to neighboring countries starting from Djibouti, and then to Sudan, Kenya, Egypt and Somalia. In doing so, Dr. Abiy is fulfilling his word promised to people while he assumed power at the Parliament.
In this regard, a Political Scholar at Addis Ababa University Wosenseged Asefa argued that holding discussions with segments of the society one by one will open door for the coming of monarchical government. Dr. Abiy rather needs to build effective democratic institutions, independent judicial system as well as self-governing electoral board, he added.
"Premier's leadership is a marathon, not a sprint. It's the work of years, with effects sometimes not fully seen for decades. His governance is really run by constitutional design; putting full amount of energy in the executive to see the political landscape transformed," a 44-year-old man residing in Addis Ababa.
Then, in 90 days, Dr. Abiy has made a strong start on giving Ethiopians exactly what they wanted for: a democratic, determined, outspoken, and optimistic leader. However, there is no new policies in a nation, most people feel that the country goes in the right track - it's been promises made, promises kept, he commented.
Dr. Tarekegn also agrees that Dr. Abiy has met popular support from all corners of the country; his vision fully entered in to the minds and hearts of all Ethiopians. All states need to pursue the principle of peace and mutual benefit and must continue to strengthen peaceful co-existence that existed for centuries.
In his usual public speeches, Dr. Abiy says the need for peace is to tackle challenges that bounded us with enormous intricacy, hatred and conflicts between the same citizens. But, this complexity offers us with huge opportunities for cooperation and solving common problems since the country is home to people that are connected by blood, language and culture.
In fact, the need to pursue peaceful co-existence among peoples in this country is very significant to sustain our supremacy over other countries, and stand for prosperity that benefits all segments of the society.
According to Wosenseged, in any healthy society there must be both a search for consensus and a tolerance for dissent. Despite some conflicts inside a single society in some parts of the country, it is not about protesting against the Prime Minister, rather it was due to the problems accumulated for decades, he observed.
In a document wrote by Dale Bricker and Leah Leatherbee at Horn of Africa Program: "Tolerance for dissent means, ultimately, the willingness of officials to permit nonviolent activities, even when they are designed to bring about a peaceful transition of power to replace the government."
"It also means forbearance in the face of disagreeable expressions of opinion, the willingness of an opposition to permit others to freely reject its line and choose another, either in support of the government or in favor of a third way."
Dr. Abiy wants to build a society in which they believe in search for true consensus and tolerance which have usually been in short supply for decades. A new horizon that Dr. Abiy brings for the people is togetherness, Love, and Forgiveness, Fitsum Arega, Head of the Prime Minister Office, tweeted.
Fitsum said; "Dr. Abiy believes in Ethiopia will return to its former national glory. Our quest requires all of us to be active participants & not passive bystanders. Regardless our roles, we all need to engage whether it is in the government, in politics, in business, in sciences or arts."
