The Need to Build a Culture of Trust, Solidarity and Unity Among/Between Ethiopian Political Elites

29 January 2019

“The most terrible walls is that walls that grow up in the mind” Nelson Mandela

“The most important question human beings can ask themselves is whether the world is a friendly place or an unfriendly place, for their answer to that question determines whether they live their life building bridges or building walls” Albert Einstein

“The actors have a choice” Tesfaye Kena’a

 The Ethiopian political elites need to understand that Ethiopia is a country of consequence. Why? Because Ethiopia is located in a strategic position in the Horn of Africa. Hence, Ethiopia’s political strength or weakness affects its six neighbours directly or indirectly because of its history, diverse nationality, and political hegemony in the past. There are many ethnic communities with shared cultures, languages, and values across the six Ethiopia’s neighbouring countries - in Sudan, Southern Sudan, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti.

Peace or conflict among these seven neighbouring countries equally affects them whether the conflict or peace or conflict takes place with or outside their country. How and why? The reason is quite unambiguous and clear. If Ethiopia maintains peace and attains prosperity, all neighbouring countries benefit from trade relations and security cooperation. And the people of neighbouring countries will inevitably put pressures on their country’s government to build good relationships with Ethiopia to benefit from Ethiopia’s stable economic prosperity. Hence, the governments will have to satisfy the demands of their people or face non-cooperation and uprising and challenge the government legitimacy to change their government through peaceful protest or violence.

A good example of this is the current ongoing uprising in Sudan. The current Sudanese regime lead by president Albashir is possibly linked with the current ongoing rapid transformation persuade by the current Ethiopian regime led by the prime minister Dr Abiy Ahmed. The people of Sudan is right now demanding real change, not cosmetic make up by the old and decadent regime lead by the current president for over the last thirty years which has kept its power through destructive war, and brutal violence that destroyed five million Sudanese lives during the war between the South Sudanese liberation army and Sudan ended in Southern Sudan broke away and established its own state. Ethiopia has played a significant role in sustaining the South-North Sudan war for forty years and even after Southern Sudan got its independence. Ethiopia is still playing an important role in mediating peace process between the current government of South Sudan and the rebel group led by the enigmatic Ric Machar. The recent peace deal brokered by the current prime minister of Ethiopia Dr Abiy Ahmed seems going well to set South Sudan in the direction of peace and stability in due course.

Furthermore, the current ongoing build-up of good relationships between Ethiopia and Eritrea, between Somalia and Eritrea, between Ethiopia and Somalia, between Ethiopia and the Sudan, Ethiopia and the Southern Sudan, between Eritrea and Djibouti, between Ethiopia and Djibouti, between Ethiopia and Kenya are quite promising for the peace and stability of the horn of Africa. This build-up of a healthy and good relationship between the seven countries of the Horn of Africa if the moment is kept, will even lead to deep integration both politically and economically that will benefit positively all the seven countries.

As someone who has been following and researching the prolonged civil wars and interstate proxy conflicts in the region for the last twenty years, I am very encouraged by the current rapid progress taking place in the region, especially the last six or seven months since the current prime minister of Ethiopia Dr Abiy Ahmed come to office ten months ago. He seems to accelerate the diplomatic good relation in the Horn of Africa. He started making instant café type of fast peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea with incredible speed. For that, both Ethiopians and Eritreans have been very grateful and the international communities are acknowledging Dr Abiy Ahmed’s spectacular diplomatic achievements that were hopeless and deadlock between the two countries for the last twenty years. Everybody was surprised at how he has taken bold and drastic action in a short time after he took the office of prime minister in April 2018. He managed to break the twenty years old ‘no peace no war’ deadlock between and Ethiopia and Eritrea. This breaking of twenty years old deadlock between the two countries had also a very positive impact on the rest of the neighbouring countries in the horn of Africa, especially on the bad relationship between Eritrea and Djibouti; Somalia and Eritrea; the Southern Sudan government and the Rebel group fighting an ugly civil war that displaced and millions of Southern Sudanese and tens of thousands have been killed for the last two and half years. The mutual suspicion and mistrust between Somalia and Eritrea have also been changing in the direction of peace and cooperation between the two countries of the horn of Africa.

That is among the many reasons why I ardently believe, Ethiopia is a country of consequence. When Ethiopia act starts healing herself, her good health has some important positive ramifications on her six neighbouring countries in the region. When Ethiopia become sick politically due to internal regimes lack of will to lead a healthy political life, it considerably affects her neighbours with bad and harmful consequences. Ethiopia’s political health is connected and intertwined to her six neighbours in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia, therefore, can have a significant political impact on all of Her neighbours in both a positive or negative manner. So, my message to all Ethiopian political elite is they need to understand their countries important position in the Horn of Africa in particular and Africa in general. Their understanding will have a significant impact on how they peruse their political power ambition. If they behave healthily and pursue the course of a healthy democratic political system and stabilize Ethiopia. They will have an important impact on Ethiopia’s six neighbours in the region. The result is a positive consequence on the health of the horn of Africa in particular and Africa in general. So, they need to build a strong and stable Ethiopia based on mutual trust and solidarity which benefits not only our country, but it will also have a positive impact on our six neighbours that God has put us next to each other which we cannot do anything but try to live together based on healthy political and economic relations. We have no choice, live in peace, cooperation, harmony or perish in unending war, violence, suffering in misery and poverty. The choice is I believe is the former peace, cooperation and harmony.

My next analysis is how we can build and sustain trust in order to foster and nurture solidarity and unity among Ethiopia’s political elites. I will explain some of the most important building blocks of trust I consider to be vital.

My scholarly prescription to cure the past political diseases of animosity, mistrust and suspicion that pervaded among/between all of the political elites in Ethiopia.

First, do trust really matters at all in politics among/between the political elites of a country and the society at large? my simple answer is categorical yes. Why? The first reason why trust matters are because it provides credibility and more effective leadership. Simply put, it brings out the best in people, it does this in several ways. When we trust people, we can inspire them to be all they can be. When people trust each other, they are much more likely to get immersed in their jobs, passionately working to achieve their common goals and prove their abilities. Trust bread, flowing between the leaders, the team and anyone else involved in a challenge. The result is invariably sustained commitment and a virtuous cycle, with trust leading to greater effort, which in turn results in greater trust and higher chances of success.

The second reason why trust matters are because it has both political and economic costs and benefits. How? The political benefits of trust in politics is that, where there is trust, there is social cooperation, peace, harmony and stability in a country. Where there are mistrust and suspicion, there will be a persistent negative conflict that will lead to violence, anarchy, loss of precious life, instability and misery in a country. The economic benefits of a trust are it reduces economic costs of production. Where there are peace and stability, there is prosperity because the resource available in a country will be invested in productive economic activities rather than investing the precious and scarce resource on war and destructive activities of intercommunity violence and anarchy in a country. The cost of military and security cost is the biggest burden on the unstable and chaotic state. Therefore, in a peaceful, and stable society, the economy prospers and the life of the people of a country will flourishes. Instead of creative destruction, creativity will bring innovation and better economic development and prosperity for a country.

However, trust is not something that just happens. It requires a conscious commitment and consistent attention. It requires a constant meeting of mind and heart. It also requires continues dialogue, reconciliation, compromise, and resolving conflict and disagreements amicably between differing political outlooks/beliefs and economic interests and between different interest groups. Building trust requires an ongoing and continues hard work. Otherwise, it can be easily lost. It is easy to destroy trust than building it. For that reason, I recommend the following five important principles of building blocks and pillars of trust among/between the political elites in Ethiopia to exercise constantly and with eternal vigilance.

I do strongly believe if the following five building blocks of trust is constantly exercised by Ethiopia’s political elites, the country’s political future will be bright and the project of building strong, stable, harmonious and united nation-state will be successful and will come to fruition soon with a spectacular result not only for Ethiopia alone but indeed for the Horn of Africa’s regional peace and stability and strong political and viable economic cooperation and relationships between the seven neighbouring countries.

My five important building blocks and pillars of trusts are:

1. Authentic Communication: - politics is fundamentally a communicative activity. Because people and their governments organize and maintain connections to each other through communication, the process of democratic rule centres on the ability to create and preserve a system of mutual trust and respect through communication. Candidates for public office communicate their values, goals, and objectives through their actions, public speeches, press statements, public meetings, and advertisements. These communications begin during the campaigns for elected office and continue even after the victorious candidates have been sworn into office. Because political officeholders need the continued support of the public at large, they must continually communicate with their constituents to explain their actions, clarify their goals, claim for their achievements, account for their failings, and gain support for new policy initiatives.

It is a universal truth that people experience their world through communication. I, therefore, believe that authentic political communication does shape political dialogue which gives insight into the values, beliefs, attitudes, and aspirations of our society. I also believe that a healthy democracy is, also based on a set of shared interests. That is why I strongly believe that authentic communication is important among Ethiopia’s political elites and between the political elites and the people of Ethiopia to maintain connections to each other through genuine communication, to build trust and preserve mutual interests in the country as the whole. For me, political communication is, therefore, the means by which people express both their unity and their differences. People need to feel that they are being told the truth, even if they do not like what they hear; it is also crucial to have transparency at all levels up and down the country.

1. Transparency and Credibility: - One of the best ways of building trust is the political elites of a country should be transparent and honest and truthful even when it is difficult. Transparency means saying what we think and doing what we say. It is the basis for credibility and acceptance – it is essential for all political elites and for trusted leadership of a given country.

In the past, especially for the last fifty years, without exceptions, all Ethiopia’s political elites have been unable to establish credibility and trust among Ethiopians due to lack of transparency, dishonesty, demagoguery and brutality against them by all past Ethiopian regimes. So, my suggestions to current Ethiopia’s political elites is they need to exercise transparency and accountability if they want to gain acceptance and credibility among all Ethiopians across the country.

1. Competence and Due Diligence: - If Ethiopia’s political system and institutions are to be effective and functional, it needs political elites who are skilled, diligent, honest and competent at what they do for the country as the whole. This gives the people of Ethiopia faith in their country’s political system and respect for their political elite’s abilities. Ethiopia’s political elites must learn to be responsive to the needs of all Ethiopians if they want to win their allegiance and support. Political anger and alienation can pose a major threat to the unity and continuity of Ethiopia as a state in its present form. Ethiopia’s political elites need to understand this danger looming over Ethiopia if they love and care about their country.
2. Self-Trust: - my recommendation to all Ethiopia’s political elites is they need to be confident of their capabilities and judgements at all time and in any given situations.  Self-trust is central to the ability to create trust between the people and the political elites of a country because if political elites do not trust themselves it is unlikely that the society will trust them. Mistrust is often a projection of missing self-trust and self-doubt. It is trite that trust builds trust, as people respond to people who are confident, engaging and enthusiastic. In this way, the benefits of trust escalate, leading to more robust and valuable relationships.
3. Positive Intent: - It is obvious that human beings intuitively inauthentic and dishonest. We know when some’s intention is both questionable and credible. For trust to exist it is important that we believe that the intent of a person is positive. That does not mean people will agree with it all the time. People can distinguish a genuine positive political intention and political spin to manipulation to gain public support for the political elite’s policy that has significant effects on the well-being of the society. In that case, the political elites will lose their credibility and acceptance among the public they serve. My advice to all of Ethiopia’s political elites is to communicate their genuine and honest political vision for the country with the people of Ethiopia as the whole. Otherwise, there will be no acceptance and credibility in the eyes of Ethiopians.

Finally, what I want to convey to my fellow Ethiopians of the political elites of our country is that they need to understand and take it seriously that building trust is vitally important for the healthy, stable and peaceful coexistence of the many and diverse nations and people of Ethiopia. Because in itself it is one of the ingredients of a meaningful and cooperative relationship between our diverse people across our country Ethiopia. The political elites of our country also need to understand that the shared norms, collaboration, mutual goals and interests and expectations – is a crucial determinant of both of the effectiveness of states institutions (i.e., political, economic, security, judiciary, military), and to citizen’s satisfaction with them. It is clear that levels of trust in different societies have a measurable effect on both economic and political performance. In most countries, the loss of trust is due to political spin and dishonesty of the political elites of the country. Trust is a fragile and precious thing that is gained through actions, not empty words and fancy rhetoric’s. To trust people, we need to see actions to support the words.

It should be stressed that trust is a fragile commodity: slow to develop, quick and easy to destroy. Trust is a common currency universally understood and valued. In adversity, people look for trust and when they find it, they value and treasure it. Building trust can provide an effective source of strength for all political elites in any country.

Trust is universally welcome, recognized and frequently taken for granted, yet its absence can cause total disaster. Usually, people respond better to those they trust than those they do not. This matter if we are trying to achieve anything: to motivate someone, share our ideas, generate new opportunities, and prevent or solve problems.

Trust is not an absolute. It is contextual and dynamic. The constituent of trust is the person giving it, the recipient (this can be a person, a group of people or an institution) and the specific context in which trust is conferred. People have an enormous need to trust and be trusted. Many political leaders fail to understand that – as the result, their parties/organisations will never reach their full potential.

One also need to stress that, it can take a great deal of time and efforts to create trust, but only it takes a short time and one wrong action to lose it. Creating trust is an art. Sometimes we work at it, mostly we do not pay attention to it – unless things go wrong, in which case problems and pain invariably result. That is why my advice to all Ethiopia’s political elites to work at it constantly and with due diligence to build and sustain trust an essential duty to sustain their acceptance and credibility in the eyes of their people they intend to serve. Otherwise, if the people of Ethiopia lost trust in their political elites, they will remain out of tach and become irrelevant and highly unlikely to occupy public office.

The political elites need to understand very well that trust underpins our success in many ways. Indeed, it is precisely because it is so ubiquitous that we take it for granted. Breaking this habit requires an understanding of why, where and when trust has the greatest impact. The benefits of the trust are perhaps better understood if one considers what happens in its absence. When trust is absent, rumours circulate, people become uncertain, people are concerned, confused and ultimately demotivated: a fertile ground for failure, recrimination and a cycle of despair.

The job of any leader is to clarify the uncertainty. Without trusted leadership, people may be uncertain about where they are heading, whether in fact, it is the right direction, how they are getting there and what it means for them. Trust is antidote: it gives people the confidence to voice their concerns and ultimately resolves their concerns; it allows them to focus and collaborate effectively to achieve their common goals. Trust attracts and retains the best people in a social organisation. Implicit in trust are the qualities of openness and understanding: to trust someone we need to perceive their values and motives, and these need to be constant. Consistency is the key to building and sustain trust in a set of social organisation.

In my next article, I will focus on the role of good leadership for good governance.

Dibaba Tesfaye

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