Make over
The Millennium New Year’s celebrations are now almost three
weeks behind us and life seems to be getting back to normal. Almost
that is, as many are preparing for the Meskel celebrations as I
am writing this article and others are in the middle of the Ramadan.
The streets in the city are still decorated with bright and colourful
lights, which continue to give the city some flair of excitement.
The arrival of the new millennium has inspired many to declare that
we have entered a new era indeed in which Ethiopia will begin to
prosper and stand out in terms of development and growth. We have
a full year of millennium projects ahead of us, which will lay the
foundation for a real change and the year 2000 will be remembered
in history as the moment when it all began.
That sounds exciting and promising but just saying it is not going
to make it happen. It takes action to make it happen and the way
we have been doing things so far really need to change. It also
takes the efforts of many to make it happen. The government alone
cannot make it happen and neither can the private sector, the church,
donor organizations or individuals for that matter. It needs a massive
make over of the way we do things if you ask me. If we want different
and better results, we need to do things differently. We cannot
expect things to improve if we keep doing things the same way as
before.
A few years ago there was a remarkable improvement in services and
infrastructure in this city and I believe in other parts of the
country as well. This has however deteriorated dramatically recently
and we experience more frequent power cuts, poor road works and
no marked improvement in telecommunications and internet services
to mention just a few. Interestingly enough these are essential
ingredients to attract investors and to be honest they do not impress.
Every day on my way to take the children to school for example,
I pass a bridge, which is too narrow to accommodate the flow of
traffic. It is for this reason that earlier this year the construction
of a new bridge began, next to the old one, promising better days
to come. Now, the construction has come to a stand still, while
the old bridge is not maintained, causing more jams every day as
its potholes get deeper and deeper. The way road users react to
such developments is not encouraging either as they get more aggressive
in pushing their way through. I see a growing sense of selfishness
in general as promises are not kept and the interests of others
are ignored. It is “Me first, then you.” If these are
the first days of a new era, things need to change indeed. So what
can be done? What is it that needs to change? Here follow some suggestions
– in no particular order of what I think can be done differently
individually, socially and corporately.
I could go on but looking over the table it is really all about
respect, mutual benefit, efficiency and effectiveness instead of
selfish short term gain. It is about making a choice, a conscious
decision to want to make a difference and take responsibility so
that we will get better results over time.
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