The
carrot and stick approach has been used for years in politics and management.
It is the method of inducing a desired behavior through carrot (reward) and
punishment (stick). It is based on the idea of cart driver who extends a carrot
hanged on a string from the far end of the stick in front of a donkey but out
of the reach of donkey’s mouth. Attracted by the sight, the donkey moves
forward to eat a carrot pulling the cart, but the carrot also moves forward.
The poor donkey does this until it collapses from exhaustion.
EPRDF used this approach very well and Prosperity Party (PP)
is trying to repeat it. Distribution of lands, work permits, access to credits,
government jobs, government contracts, etc. were used as carrots to attract
supporters. Even though there are still few greedy individuals who purely run
after their own personal benefits, the majority have self- respect and respect
for the rights of the majority. Even though most Ethiopians are poor, they arenot
willing to give away their dignity, rights and the right of their community in
exchange to personal reward and to be treated like animal. As
Mr. Alfie Kohn put it in his article titled “Science Confirms
It:
”
published on
The New York Times
on October 27, 2018 “… people
are not like pets; they do not sit, stay or roll over on command. Rather, each
of us have minds of our own and will not follow an order just because it is
given”.
According to Article 136 of Proclamation number 1162/2019,
The Ethiopian Electoral, Political Parties Registration and Election’s Code of
Conduct Proclamation, “Any political party shall not: 1) Coerce, offer bribe or
offer other inducements to voters so they can vote for or against a particular
party or candidate, or to abstain from voting; 2) Coerce, offer bribe or offer
other inducements to influence whether a person becomes a candidate or
withdraws from an election; 3) Any government official or civil servant uses
his official time, responsibilities and resources to promote candidates or
discourage other candidates from promoting themselves through legal means”.
Even though the proclamation prohibits corrupt practices listed above, as
reported by Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Oromo Liberation Front (OLF),Arana
Tigray for Democracy and Sovereignty Party (Arena),and Ethiopian Citizens for
Social Justice (Ezema), the facts on the ground are different.
The intimidation and harassment which is started at lower
levels and rampant reached its peak on February 29, 2020 when the government
armed forces invaded the residence of nine OLF top officials including Michael
Boran, Abdi Reggasa, Dr. ShigutGeleta, YadiAbdushakur, and KennasaAyyana. Out
of the nine OLF members arrested on February 29, 2020 with the exception of
Abdi Reggasa all eight were release without charge after one day. This shows
that the ruling party can arrests anyone as it wishes and releases anyone as it
wishes.
The fact on the ground shows that Prosperity Party inherited
not only power, money, and property of EPRDF but also its bad habits of
harassing the opposition members and misusing government/public resources. The
on March 19, 2020 accuse PP for forcing
business firms and persons to give funds for PP, denying the opposition parties
the right to hold public meetings, to open offices, and incarceration and
harassment of members ofopposition parties. PP that controlled the Government
power is flexing not only its coercive power by using government security,
administrative and justice structures but also its financial power. On the fund
raising event organized by high government officials and on which the top
business firms and individuals in Ethiopia asked to participate-- some of them
through letter written to them from government tax authorities, municipalities
and other officials/offices and carry government stamp--- and held on March 14,
2020, PP raised 1.5 billion (US$46,182,266.00). Speaking on this event, the
President of PP and Prime Minister of Ethiopia
In the same speech, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy admitted that in
Africa, from Kebele (grassroots administration) to Prime Ministers, Government
positions are all held by ignorant persons like himself, to use his own words “
yenebitiemahayim
”,
and most of African political scientists didn’t administer a single Kebele or a
single district but got their PhD by writing the stories of these ignorant prime
ministers. He also said most of those who hold PhD in economics got their
degrees by writing the stories of rich persons like Sami Sunshine (Samuel
Tafesse), TadesseTilahun, and AbinetGebremeskel. They do not own cars and
houses. Political science knowledge which didn’t enable to govern one Kebele or
one district, economics knowledge which didn’t enable to own a car or a house
is useless.
However, the truth is that, in Ethiopia, not only the
appointments for key government offices, but also assignments in ordinary
positions at District level are made based on the loyalty of an individual to
the ruling party and merit is not valued. In addition, someone to succeed in business
must have connection with government/party officials.Some of the wealthy
persons praised by Dr. Abiyare those whom others accuse for amassing wealth by
being
The
carrot and stick approach has been used for years in politics and management.
It is the method of inducing a desired behavior through carrot (reward) and
punishment (stick). It is based on the idea of cart driver who extends a carrot
hanged on a string from the far end of the stick in front of a donkey but out
of the reach of donkey’s mouth. Attracted by the sight, the donkey moves
forward to eat a carrot pulling the cart, but the carrot also moves forward.
The poor donkey does this until it collapses from exhaustion.
