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By Obang Ojwok Jobi, Anyuak Media
December 24, 2009
Posted to the web on December 24, 2009 |
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Gambella region is one of the nine ethnically-based administrative regions (kililoch) in the current regime. The 2007, census estimated Gamella population as 306,916. Urban inhabitants number 77,878 or 25.37% of the population (Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia). The region has been marginalized socially, politically, and other social services for decades. The region is also renowned of its natural resources, and ethnic feuds.
Gambella region may be one of the smallest regions in the country, but it has many problems attributed to its geographical location, demographic make up, and uniqueness of its ethnic group. In addition to above mentioned issues, the elites in the governments have not been interested in developing the region. In other words, the governments in Addis Ababa have been reluctant to build the region. These and other issues became scapegoat for the elites in Addis Ababa. Nevertheless, the current government could be, somehow, given credits for some of the works it has done so far in the region. Since Hailey Seles regime, Gambella region never had asphalted roads, electric power, three floors office buildings, and clean drinking water. During President Mingistu Hailey Marriam’s regime, there were some kinds of paved gravel roads in the region, but electric power hardly existed in the region. There was no enough clean water for every inhabitant both in the town and country side.
In contrast to preceding governments (Hailey Seles’ regime and President Mingistu Hailey Mariam’s regime), the current government has somewhat tried its best to develop the region. Even though it is of poor quality, one could at least see the asphalted roads in Gambella town today. The asphalted roads said to have eighteen kilometer long stretches from Abobo road junction to old airport, and other parts of the town. It is whispered to have cost Gameblla State 45 million Ethiopian Birr. Nevertheless, the opponents believed the amount would build more quality road and longer roads than what is in the place now. However, it makes it easy for Bajaj (three wheels vehicle) to drive around the town. Though by shift, electric power exists in the region nowadays. It also noticeable that there is enough clean water for inhabitants in the town, and some parts of the country side. The most obvious hallmarks of development in the town are Financial & Capacity Building, Regional Police Commission building and the Regional Government Parliament, to mention the few.
These and other hallmarks of development were doable in part because of the whole government structure (regional or kililoch structure) that makes it possible for the Federal Government’s elites to allocate some of the recourses to the region’s development. Compared to previous regimes, it is rational to say that the current regime has done much better than what prior governments have done in the region. In essence, one could assert that the resources that the inhabitants of Gambella had been denied for decades have been, finally, “given to them.” If the resources had been utilized in a good manner, the region would have developed like other parts of the country. If the resources have been given to the inhabitants in goodwill-not in ill-will, the indigenous people would have benefited from the resources, but the gluttony of the Addis Ababa elites has not ended yet.
When the annual budget is allocated to all regions, it is allocated according to size of the population residing in any given region. The more population the region has, the more annual fiscal it gets. Gambella region is presumably one of the smallest regions in the country. Thus, it gets the least annual budget. In addition to that, the budget given to the region is shared with other “guest worker” from Oromia, Amhara, Southern, and Tigray regions. These demographic make up is one of the reasons that crippled the development in this part of the country for so long. Had it not because of the tragedy of the common, ethnic feud, and blatant corruption, the region should have developed like other parts of the country.
Tragedy of the Common
“The Tragedy of the Commons" was an influential article written by Garrett Hardin and first published in the journal Science in 1968. The article describes a dilemma in which multiple individuals acting independently and solely and rationally consulting their own self-interest will ultimately destroy a shared limited resource even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long term interest for this to happen (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). The resources of the Gambella region could be viewed in light of this article. Throughout this article, the terms corruption, nepotism, loyalty or patronize are used as elements of “Tragedy of the common.”
According to observation of author of this article, Gambella’s regional administration could be divided into “three configurations.” The first configuration is the executive officials whether they are in government branches or civic organization. These are composed of indigenous people. Even though these groups do not have absolute political power, they are nominally designated for the higher positions to fit ethnic based democratic system. Like other parts of the country, nepotism and patronage or party loyalty are the organizational culture in the region and practiced by both executive officials and subordinate officials. These groups have their faire share of the blatant corruption which engulfed the Region for decades. They also paved the ways for the highlanders to occupied key positions in the Regional government offices. Whether they make leeway for them under duress or not, it is wrong “constitutionally.” The indigenous executive officials could use Federal Constitutional rights to stop the highlanders from occupied key positions in the Region. After all, the Region is not in shortage of educated or competence indigenous. It has abandoned educated competence individuals who are alienated from the system because of their political viewpoints. Nepotism and patronize (party loyalty) and corruption are some of the “tragedy of the common” elements which hindered the development in the Region. In addition, the culture of idle and passive is pervasive among the indigenous people. In other words, the people in the region have the tendency to work just for the sake of salary-but not for the sake of the development of the region.
The second configuration is composed of “guest workers,” the highlander from Oromia, Amhara, Southern and Tigray regions. This part ranges from executive official secretaries to dossiers and bookkeepers. This configuration is mostly composed of the Oromo tribe from neighboring Oromia and even as far away from Brona Oromo. As anyone could imagine, this portion of the governance is government epicenter. These groups hold important key position and every sensitive issue pass through them. It is this portion of any institution that holds secrecy of daily activities, and it feasible to assert that the executive officials do not have secret to keep, if there is any. It also unequivocal that this portion of the governance is the one that crippled the development of the region for decades; what so-call bureaucracy is one of the best organizational culture which makes any viable institution stronger, but “bureaucracy” in Gambella is not the conventional one we all know. It has something to do with the notion of “The Tragedy of the Commons.” In other words, the highlanders are there to consult their interests-not to build or develop the region. They are in the region to seek for their fortune. They considered the region as gold mine, and it is indeed a gold mine.
It is possible to state that Gambella region is a quasi-Oromia Regional State because most of the offices in the region are occupied by the Oromo ethnic group. They drainage the regional resources from different aspects and send them to their original places. Recently, a number of what so-called political mentors have been sent to the region to work in various parts of the government and civic sectors. If this rumor is proven to be true, it would be another political and economical gimmick. Gambella Region used to have “political advisors sent direct from Federal Government, but get their salaries from the regional government; however, that changed when the regional elites rebelled against them because they found out that the “advisors” were doing something opposite to what they were suppose to be doing as advisors. Whether for the best interest of the region or not, the newly sent “advisors” will never amend any damage done by these “guest worker.” Instead, they will make it worst. The “advisors” sent includes some of the individuals who were key player in December 13, 2003 genocide and have still blood in their hands.
The third configuration is consisted of the seasonal tribe, the Nuer tribe who claimed to be “indigenous” of the region. These groups are assigned in many of the positions by quotas not by merit of their competency or education. They probably hold more positions than any other tribe in the region. Traditionally, these groups are known of their culture of nepotism, patronage, corruption, violent, stooge and ethnic feud. These notorious characteristics could be traced back from their original provinces in Southern Sudan, Jonguli and upper Nile provinces. These provinces are the least developed regions in Southern Sudan at the moment, in part, because of the Nuer present in those regions. Since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, these two provinces never enjoyed tranquility at all. There have been always conflicts between the Nuer militia armed by the National Congress Party (NCP) lead by the country President, Feud between the Nuer tribe and the Shiluk tribe in Upper Nile, feud between the Nuer tribe and the Murle tribe in Jonguli province, feud between the Nuer tribe and the Denka tribe in Jonguli province, feud between the Nuer and the Anuak tribe and feud between the Nuer and the Nuer. All these prolonged mutual hostilities are attributed to the Nuer culture of violent, corruption, nepotism, patronage and stooge. In a place where there are these kinds of factors, it could be hard to achieve development goal and even viable functioning government. The above mentioned Nuer notorious characteristics are pervasive in Gambella Regional State. Gambella maybe the least infrastructure in the country but the Nuer zone is the least infrastructure in the region because the Nuer zone offices are located in bars in Gambella town. All Nuer officials receive their salaries in the bars or coffee shops in Gambella principal town. They cluster around the town and leave their zone empty. So, the notion of the “Tragedy of the Common” is very much apply to the Nuer ways of life, nomadic life style i.e. natural resources are belong to “gods.” Thus, everybody has the rights to utilize them in which ever way he or she wants. In a modern society, this kind of life style is a tragic for the development or stability of any region in the world. What the Nuers are doing in Gamella region is not different from what they are doing in Jonguli and upper Nile provinces in the Southern Sudan.
The distinction between what governments do for development in a particular region could be seen in the sense of the “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” perspective; Prov. Different people have different ideas about what is beautiful. Many indigenous people have visited the region and have seen what is happening in the region; hence, they may have different opinions on how things are done in the region. Thus, this article is solely based on an individual observation on the development in the region, and how the resources are used or shared with the potential beneficiaries. Therefore, the observer’s intention is mainly focused on how the current government allocates the resources in the regions and how the resources are utilized.
Happy holidays everyone!
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