BEYOND LEGISLATIVE DISTORTION AND DISCURSIVE FEAR-MONGERING
(By: Dr Tsegaye Ararssa)
The draft 'special interest' law is set to maintain and entrench the asymmetrical relationship between the TPLF regime and Oromia. As such, it is set to become the latest addition to the constellation of laws, discourses, and ideologies that exile the Oromo as the guest and deny their right to their own homeland.
Through the pervert use of the language of 'special interest', which de-naturalizes the natural rights of Oromos and by 'granting' them an exceptional regime of "protection", it has actually privileged the guests over the (Oromo) hosts also denying them any right of agency as speaking subjects.
The Oromo is once again thrown out of the center of right. Their predicament becomes one of present absence--a situation of presence in the territory but absent in the polity, a situation in which it is only their absence that is present.
The draft law is part of a long standing practice of distorting the Oromo position on Finfinnee along side the misrepresentation of the interests to spread fear among the residents of the city.
As an antidote to the legal distortion by the regime and to the discourse of scare-mongering by the habesha-supremacist political class, I think it is necessary to clearly present the Oromo rights and the special interest, if any, of the non-Oromo residents.
- 1. Finfinnee is, and shall always remain, an Oromo city. The history of violent dispossession, dislocation, and displacement shall be recognized and duly memorialized.
- 2. It shall continue to serve as the capital city of the State of Oromia.
- 3. The rights of all the peoples who live in the city shall be fully respected.
- 4. The inhabitants shall have full right of self-governance at the municipal level.
- 5. The multilingual character of the residents shall be recognized.
- 6. In addition to Afaan Oromoo, other languages may be considered in the choice of working languages of the city's municipal government based on the demands and needs of communities and availability of resources.
- 7. The municipal governments shall be accountable to the Government and People of Oromia.
- 8. Finfinnee's current status as the seat of the Federal Government shall be recognized. Its status as the seat of various international, regional, and sub-regional organizations and as a key diplomatic center of Africa shall be recognized.
- 9. The Oromo people demand that measures should be taken to remove the Federal Government from Finfinnee and relocate it to a site agreeable to all. The Government and People of Oromia shall contribute their share to the choice and construction of the new seat of the Federal Government.
- 10. There shall be a sustained negotiation in good faith with all the other peoples of Ethiopia to relocate the seat of the Federal Government to a site that is agreeable to all.
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