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The Precarious Future of the Ethiopian Constitution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2013

Gedion T Hessebon
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Abstract

The current Ethiopian Constitution suffers from a severe lack of legitimacy. It lacks legitimacy as a result of a constitution-making process that was not inclusive, as well as the subsequent serious lack of integrity and vitality in the constitutional system. Therefore, if the ruling party, which is also the “author” of the constitution, were to lose its hegemonic position, which is predicated on its control of the security and military apparatus, there is a strong likelihood that there would be calls from significant political forces for a new constitution to be adopted. Such calls should not be heeded. Instead of adopting a new constitution, the current constitution's lack of legitimacy should be remedied by comprehensive constitutional reforms that would still maintain the basic architecture and cornerstones of the current constitution.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , October 2013 , pp. 215 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 2013 

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References

1 In this context, the word “author” is used rather loosely to refer to the individual or group of individuals whose political power sanctioned the constitutional text into becoming a positive law, rather than the actual drafter of the constitutional text. For an overview of the Imperial Constitutions, see Selassie, B Habte “Constitutional development in Ethiopia” (1966) 10/2Journal of African Law 74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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36 This accusation was not a mere public denunciation but did in fact take the form of criminal charges pressed against many in the Coalition for Unity and Democracy leadership in the aftermath of the 2005 general election; “outrages against the constitution” was among the charges brought by the prosecutor. See “Ethiopian protest leaders guilty” (11 June 2007) BBC News, available at: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6740929.stm> (last accessed 7 March 2012).

37 This is perhaps a form of earned or derivative legitimacy which Tsegaye defines as “legitimacy that is derived from a consistent application, and so one derived from fidelity to the text (hence derivative legitimacy)”: T Regassa “The making and legitimacy of the Ethiopian Constitution”, above at note 20 at 97.

38 The inverse is also true. That is to say that, as much as congruence between practice and text enhances the legitimacy of a constitution, the legitimacy of a constitution could also enhance the congruence between text and practice. In other words, if the constitution has original legitimacy, it is more likely to be implemented faithfully and as such to have constitutional integrity. This argument is made by Tsegaye in relation to the Ethiopian Constitution. See Regassa, id at 88.

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