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Five
More Years!
G.
E. Gorfu
I
read on Aiga; “Mr. Prime Minister, no Retirement, Five More Years!” by
Muluberhan Tsehaye, and I thought about it long and hard and decided to
write this counter article.
In the short history of the United States,
it is Abraham Lincoln who looms large in the minds of most people as one
who saved the Union from breaking up during the Civil War and as one who
freed the slaves, and not Washington. Except for Washington being the
First President and Father of the Nation, so little is known about him.
Most American school children tell of Washington crossing the Delaware
River, of the Cheery tree he cut and confessed to his father, and of the
false wooden teeth he had, but not much else.
Washington however, was a colossal figure
who really wielded power through hard work and quiet charisma. When the
Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775,
Washington, who attended as a Virginia delegate, was elected as Commander
in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained rag-tag troops and
started the campaign against the British.
After the Declaration of Independence in
1776 Washington was embroiled in a war that lasted six grueling years. He
lost all six of the nine major battles and had to escape and/or retreat.
But he would not give up. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies,
he forced the surrender of the British General Charles Cornwallis at
Yorktown, and won the war.
After the victory, Washington longed to
retire to his farm in Mount Vernon but it soon became apparent the nation
was not functioning well under its Articles of Confederation. So he became
the prime mover in the delicate background work for the Constitutional
Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. As the new Constitution was ratified,
the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President. In the
more than two hundred years history of USA, he is the only person ever to
be unanimously elected President!
When taking office, Washington refused a
payment of $25,000 as a salary, a large sum in those years. He wanted to
serve his nation freely as he was wealthy, and he could afford to do so.
But Congress pressed it upon him and he accepted. Washington served only
two terms of office. Many supporters pleaded and begged him to stay for a
third term, saying that the nation was new, still weak and fragile, and
they were right. But he would not listen to them. He had more faith in the
Constitution of the Nation, and knew that given the opportunity many
capable people would rise to the occasion. He was proven right!
So, Washington walked away from power to
retire to his private farm on Mount Vernon to brew whisky, his favorite
drink. The ‘fragile nation’ survived and thrived, and there was no
shortage of capable people to follow in his footsteps. He set an important
example that soon became law and no president now serves more than two
terms* in office.
Just like the Horse-Power of an engine is
measured by its breaking power, the real power of a person is ultimately
measured by Self Restraint. In Amharic we say: Marim sibeza ymeriral and
also: Aletigib by sitefa yadral. Had Haileselassie passed on his authority
to a successor timely, he would never have been dethroned and disgraced.
He would have remained the revered King of Kings, and his legacy would
have been totally different.
Thus, unlike Muluberhan Tsehaye, I would
like to say this to PM Meles Zenawi: Sir, you have demonstrated
outstanding capability and skill in leading your party and the nation
through thick and thin over the last decade and half. You have also
succeeded in bringing about a fantastic track record of progress and
development in Ethiopia of which you should be exceedingly proud. Three
five-year terms of office however, is long enough.
There are some of us, therefore, who would
like to see you lead your party to victory in the next election, appoint a
capable successor, and within one year of your fourth term, bow out
gracefully, in dignity and honor, to be a backbencher in the Ethiopian
Federal Parliament. That would put your name as the first in Ethiopian
history to do this, and a give you a far greater stature as a true
Statesman. That would usher in a historic trend of genuine democracy in
our country, a trend for which Ethiopia is waiting and longing for.
G. E. Gorfu
* An exception to this rule was Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, who was elected President four times, but held the
office for only about 13 years.
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