H.E. Mr. Redwan Hussien Rameto:

I thank the Chairman. I will address some of the issues which must be seen as a matter of fact.

In regard to the political situation and the number of seats won by the ruling party and also the conditions that could be considered to broaden that space, there are some factors that must be accepted but are not generally understood. If one looks at the Ethiopian political experience, there are about 74 opposition parties in Ethiopia. In one constituency where the contenders could run, there are about 11 or 12 contenders to avoid dropping out above the contender list so that the vote could not be fractured. There are about 12 contenders in one constituency. There is a ruling party EPRDF and there could be about 11 others. Because our system of election is first past the post, then the ruling party gets 49% of the vote, 51% goes to opposition parties, so literally the ruling party lost, technically, but actually the ruling party wins, because the remaining 51% of the vote would be dispersed among 11 other opposition parties. That is not the making of the ruling party but the nature of our fledgling democracy. Ideas and ideals are not yet crystallised. Political parties can be formed in response to the kind of issues which people think is relevant for them. When we progress, many political parties will wither away and the others will consolidate, as has happened in other developing democracies. The present 75 parties may become four or five or even two bigger parties. In any one constituency there are at least 12 contestant parties, so whatever vote the electorate could cast, it would be divided among the political parties. The ruling party benefits from that advantage.

At the last election, the EPRDF party on aggregation got only about 70% of the votes. There were about 1 million voters and about 700,000 only voted for EPRDF and 300,000 did not vote for it. If one looks at that, they are 546 of seats and EPRDF could have lost four or five seats, but they did not because the remainder of the votes would be divided among the other 11 opposition parties and they would not get an aggregate vote, so that they gain a seat. People could not vote 100% for EPRDF. If one goes to rural areas, this is true in almost all urban areas, but the strong base for the ruling party is in rural areas. When there was not a consensus, the farmers would not vote 100% for the ruling party, but again because of the fractured opposition parties which could not merge their ideas and voting cards so that they can aggregate the vote and take certain seats, That was a fact that we could not correct because of the nature of our emerging democracy.

What are we doing to offset this difficulty? The first past the post election system has no problem with regard to the rights of citizens to vote, but we still we have a gap. Opposition parties, even though they get a vote across the country, would not be able to come into the Parliament. There is a debate and negotiation in Ethiopia to consider a mix. All the votes across the nation could be added up for both the ruling and the Opposition parties and then one will see the percentage share of the vote. A certain percentage would determine the Opposition seats, because this was taking account of the entire vote of the nation, rather than looking at only one constituency. It is democratic because the citizens have cast their vote for the Opposition parties, but there is the disadvantage of the fractured Opposition parties. To offset that difficulty, the mixed system was agreed last week. Some 20% will be for mixed parties, the remaining percentage of the vote will be for those first past the post. The mixed party vote could be tested for a certain period and then I think it would open up the presence of opposition parties in the Parliament.

Regarding the equitability of the Ethiopian growth, when there is rapid economic growth, there is a challenge to keep it equitable. If one looks at the nature of growth, it is based on agriculture and on the smallholding farmer and whatever increment in the economy comes the bulk of the growth comes through the achievement of smallholding farmers. Even though we are saying that productivity is not up to expectation, because there could be 120 quintals per hectares, on average the productivity of one hectare is about 28 quintals, most farmers have reached 18 quintals, and somewhat better ones approached 40 to 50 quintals. If we manage to help all the farmers, we would have about 18 million farmers with land. If their productivity would approach 70 or 80 quintals per hectare we would produce a surplus, some of which could be brought to market. One of things we have to do is to keep on building their capacity so that they can improve their farming practices and use the modern seeds and technologies. If we were to keep on doing that, equitability would remain. The growth in the economy would come from the grassroots, because every income that goes to the household of the peasants is equitable by its nature. If one looks at the GIN coefficient it is about 0.3%; it is one of the most equitable economies that we have. We are facing a challenge We have companies that keeps on growing, the private sector is coming in and some of the private sector companies would have a significant accumulation of resources greater than the average of the grassroots. Then it is being pushed to be skewed to the benefit of the few. The base is broader. Even though we can still have the room to keep it equitable, there is a challenge because of this fast nature.

The other issue is climate resilience, we have a strategy to reach a zero emission in 2030. For that we are trying to afforest the nation widely. The percentage of forestry in Ethiopia was 2% 20 years ago. Now it about 15%. If some of the committee members had a chance to visit Tigray, they would have seen that the majority of the land had become barren, now there has been massive afforestation and water catchment treatments in the past 30 years even before the coming of the ruling party. The barren land has been revitalised and the lost streams are coming. The forest is now coming and the land is being used for cultivation.

The nature of the land is changing. That practice is widespread across the nation and the percentage of forest is growing.

The other aspect with regard to manufacturing is that we are focusing on lower emissions industries, particularly agri-industries. With regard to our industrial zones, Hawassa industrial zone, which was commissioned last year, has zero release of waste liquid. Some 99% of that waste can be treated and it does not pollute the environment. Another aspect is energy. We are investing massively in energy, in particular hydropower, thermal energy and wind energy, so we can export to neighbouring countries. We have begun to export to Djibouti and Sudan and we have an agreement with Kenya that energy will go to Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Therefore, not only Ethiopia but other countries also will use this renewable energy source so they can avoid polluting energy sources. The other aspect I mentioned was that of the energy efficient technologies that can reduce the use of firewood and boost the resilience of the green economy.

Reference was made to Somaliland, which is a tricky issue. There is a hope of exercising some democratic ethos and the whole of Somalia could learn from that exercise and prevent the rifts that could be created through lack of democracy. When it comes to recognition, Ethiopia would act in line with the standards of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD, and the African Union. No other country in Africa would act bilaterally to recognise any part of a certain country. Maintaining the peace and unity of the entirety of Somalia and then helping it to overcome this challenge would be the burden of all Africans. The African Union and IGAD are trying their level best to hold the country together by solving the problems which have been creating a rift between the different societies of Somalia.

There are areas where Ireland could assist us on the way forward. One aspect is to keep helping the farmers to bring about efficiency and to enhance their productivity, which has begun but needs to be boosted. The other point is that land is not the only way. As I said, in some parts of Ethiopia land-holdings have become too small to be sustainably used. As a result, off-farm activities and other sources could be considered, for example, beekeeping and other activities. This process has begun and Irish Aid is helping in this regard. However, this has to be scaled up because only a small number of youths are using these opportunities. The number of youths is very large and the demographic challenge is growing. Unless we use off-farm economic activities, simply tilling the land will not sustain the society, particularly in the central and northern parts of Ethiopia. As it stands, the situation is pretty volatile.

Another issue is job creation through business and investment. Ethiopia is producing raw materials and agricultural products which could be exported. If we enhance this business and trade, first, it would help job creation, and, second, those who produce would get the benefits and would keep on producing because they are selling into the economy, rather than using production just for domestic consumption, and this would enhance their incentive to produce more. If we keep enriching business, trade and investment, this will create jobs and will also incentivise Ethiopian businesses to produce more. What we export now is mainly agricultural produce and only a few foreign investors are coming in, for example, from China and Turkey, and the British are also now there. These investors are interested in the export of certain leather and textile produce. Until we diversify that, off-farm activities and getting the farmers to produce more are the imperatives.

The issue of free education was raised. In Ethiopia, general education is already free at primary and secondary level. When it comes to tertiary education, there is cost-sharing but the student only pays 15% of the cost and this is paid after graduation. There are also certain holiday years so graduates can settle themselves and buy household items. When their lives stabilise, they pay only 15% of the cost. They do not have to pay before they receive their education but after graduation. To repeat, general education is free and there is cost-sharing for tertiary education, with the student paying 15% only after the education is completed and only after the person has a job and stays in that job a certain number of years. This bolsters primary education because tertiary education is somewhat of a privilege when compared to the millions at the bottom and those who reach the top level have to pay a little of the cost so they can help their compatriots. That is the rationale behind it but they do not have to pay before they get that education.