/By Tsegaye Tegenu, PhD/
2018-08-20
In his recent speech the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Dr. AbiyAhmed, warned the danger of mob politics that is going on in some parts of the country. Mob justice and setting ablaze of some privately owned business and farming plantations should not be considered as searching for answers to justice and freedom. He said that, “we have a new fledgling government which is trying to stand on its feet. For this reason, all citizens should work towards the respect of law”.
In fact, during the past four months much has been accomplished in Ethiopia that can be called “a revolution from above”. However, creating a democratic system and peacefulEthiopia is a challenge under conditions in which the young population still dominates the age structure of the society. The young people aged 15-29, make up about 48% of the adult population of Ethiopia and this age group is growing rapidly in the country. According to the future demographic trends and scenarios, the country will remain as youth bulge for the next 17 years.
In economic terms, youth bulge means a greater need for huge resources to meet growing demand for job creation and provision of education, health and housing. Unless the country economy is able to come out of its current low productivity trap, there is a potential for continued civil conflicts. That is in fact in the nature of youth bulge countries: according to available research evidence conflicts occur when the proportion of youth bulge exceeds 20% of the adult populationwhich is the case in Ethiopia. Rampant unemployment (over one million people is added to the labor force every year) and large pools of disaffected youths can be recruited by power mongers. Do not forget that we have enough of certified power mongers in Ethiopia and they are savages as we have witnessed in Ethiopia’s Somali region.
Prime Minister Dr. Abiy, as a leader, should focus his attention in finding economic solution to the problem. The only solution (underline the word only) is local economic transformation at district levels. Do not think of other strategy and solution to the challenges of the youth bulge in the country. I advise the Prime Minister and his team to focus on three pillars of local economic transformation strategy (the solutions).
First, continue with removing incapable civil service leaders at district levels and listen to local people’s whims and demands. Replacing lazy, predatory and rent seeking civil servants should be accompanied by local administrative capacity building programs. Enhancing the democratic process and institutions at district level is an essential condition of local economic transformation. High quality civil service is a result of good governance and improved administrative capacity.
Second, establish “deliberation councils” in each district consisting of local government officials, private sector business leaders and the youth. The deliberation council discusses and helps design the local economic transformation strategy and plan. The formation of deliberation councils helps to build relationships of trust and interdependence among stakeholders. Unexpected consequences of interventions such as mob actions can easily be understood and rectified through applying a systematic and network relationship among local actors, including the youth.
Third, prepare a bottom-up industrial policy strategydocument. Bottom-up industrialization means the establishment, operation and agglomeration of light and small-scale manufacturing industries by market forces with the aggressive support of local governments at district level. In Ethiopia there are 769 district governments responsible for education, health, agriculture extension, water supply and social sectors. The districts vary in their local endowment structure, namely labor supply, natural resources, capital resources, types of economic shortages and activities. The idea of bottom-up industrial policy strategy is to make districts rely on domestic economic growth factors (entrepreneurial talent, independent technology and free capital accumulation) to derive industrialization at local levels. In a forthcoming paper, I will provide you further information on the need for and essential elements of this strategy document. For those of you who have access to Ethiopian Business Review magazine, you can find a short form of the idea in 64th edition (July 16-August 15, 2018).
Further references
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:954801/FULLTEXT01.pdf
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1097022/FULLTEXT01.pdf
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938638/FULLTEXT01.pdf
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938700/FULLTEXT01.pdf
For comments I can be reached at tsegaye.tegenu@epmc.se
