VE National Dialogue Commission
December 27, 2021
It is with mixed feelings that the Board of Vision Ethiopia (VE) noted the recent proposal on the establishment of a National Dialogue Commission, with a stated mandate of bridging differences and charting “an inclusive way forward for national understanding and alignment”.
We applaud the government for launching the initiative to establish a framework for building national consensus on critical issues through inclusive national dialogue and consultation.
While the forward-looking objective of the initiative is laudable, the scope of the mandate in its current form appears to be narrow, devoid of historical contexts, and lacking a robust framework that is in congruence to the magnitude of the task it is intended to tackle. Further, although the proposed institution is heralded to be independent from political tampering, it is stipulated that it will be run by members nominated by the Prime Minister and approved by the House of Peoples’ Representatives.
By any measure, the essentiality of a national reconciliation framework for Ethiopia is an incontrovertible imperative. However, the subliminally political nature, and hence lack of independence, of the nomination and election process for the members of the Commission, and the narrow scope of its mandate have dampened enthusiasm in the long-awaited institution.
National dialogue commissions, under such monikers as truth commissions, or truth and reconciliation commissions, have long been considered a critical
