CONSTITUTIONAL
REFORM
Thanks to the Grace of God, during the years
that We have been entrusted with the leadership of Our people, Our efforts,
expended to assure progress in the areas of administration. Economic, social
and political growth, in education and social services, have yielded rewarding
fruits.
Our people have long enjoyed the tradition and
experience of independence. Nonetheless, in recognition of the conditions which
then existed, aware of the long-term benefits to be realized, We granted to Our
people the nation’s first written Constitution in 1931. The difficulties which
We encountered in accomplishing this radical departure from custom, the trials
to eliminate surviving feudal traditions in achieving this notable step along
the path of progress, were heavy indeed, even wearisome. Even surviving
eye-witnesses could have but a vague recollection of those difficult times. How
much less can those far removed from that period be expected to appreciate the
troubles to which We were put in those days.
When
We re-established the Ministries of the Government in 1943, We issued an Order
defining the duties and responsibilities of the Prime Minister and other
Ministers so that all Government officials would understand their obligations
and discharge their duties properly. The Order established the legal basis on
which the various Government departments would function and gave clear
directives to Government officials. On the whole, the system then laid down has
worked reasonably well to the present.
Because of the progress made in the country generally
and the high standard of living achieved by the people thereby, We granted the
Revised Constitution in 1955 in order to consolidate gains already won and to
guarantee continued and accelerated progress. ...Under the Revised
Constitution, Our people have been guaranteed the full exercise of their
rights. They have, for the first time, directly elected their representatives
to Parliament, without whose discussion and approval no taxes can be levied, no
duties imposed on the people and no laws enacted. In turn, and also in
accordance with the Revised Constitution, Parliament can call upon the Prime
Minister and other Ministers to give explanations concerning the conduct of the
Executive Department.
People’s
Participation
Thus,
through the members of the Chamber of Deputies, the people have participated
directly in the affairs of the Government, thereby enabling the nation to
advance rapidly in many areas of national endeavour.
The
efforts made to expand educational opportunities in the country and to protect
the national unity of Our people have met with success. Our people have
benefited from the rights and privileges embodied in the Constitution. In spite
of past and continuing attempts of certain alien enemies to create differences
based on tribalism and religion, the Ethiopian people have waged a successful
struggle against these forces of evil and thus preserved their national unity.
Since
We assumed leadership, Our most cherished wish and desire, for which We have
laboured unceasingly, with firm determination, attaching to it the highest
importance, has been that Our people should attain this goal. We derive great
satisfaction today not only in witnessing the realization as a working concern
of the system instituted by Us, but in expressing Our belief and hope that Our
people shall continue undeterred to guide their destiny.
Justice
is the foundation of the modern, well-ordered state. Accordingly, the promulgation
of the Civil, the Commercial, the Penal, Maritime and Civil and Criminal Procedure
Codes, in the train of the granting of the Revised Constitution, must be
regarded as of the highest importance. These laws directly affect the
day-to-day public and private life of every Ethiopian. They guarantee the
enjoyment of the rights granted to the nation under the Revised Constitution.
They have benefited Our people in their daily activities. They have created a
sense of faith in the system of government based upon the rule of law.
Within
recent years, significant laws and measures pertaining to social welfare have
been enacted and put into practice. These include a pensions scheme for
government employees; civil service legislation to insure that civil servants
are chosen impartially, and that they properly render their services to the
Government and to the people; laws regulating relations between employers and
employees which, by guaranteeing their respective rights, ensure that both
groups can work together, in the interests of the general welfare of making the
nation and cooperate in the attainment of greater national development and
self-sufficiency.
We
have ordered that highly important reforms be undertaken: in the system of land
tenure and land taxation; in the administration of justice and the nomination
and appointment of judges; in the expansion and growth of education; in the
system of provincial administration; in the promotion of efficiency in
Government departments. Other important reforms are being studied and will be
put into effect, as their details are worked out.
Ethiopia’s
socio-economic progress has been substantial. The First Five-Year Plan has been
launched and implemented for the purpose of achieving a rational and a larger
scale of development. Planning ensures a simultaneous accomplishment of
developmental projects with a view to achieving accelerated progress, thus
avoiding wastage of financial resources, labour and time. Benefiting from
encouraging results of the first Five-Year Plan, and the experience gained in
its implementation, the Second Five-Year Development Plan, drawn up on a much
wider and enlarged scale, is now being implemented.
International
Alongside
the progress made on the domestic front in the political, economic, social
welfare and administrative fields, Ethiopia’s international obligations and
duties have grown and have become more complex than at any other time in the
history of the nation. As a member of the United Nations Organization and its
various Agencies, Ethiopia has been called upon to participate in numerous
conferences.
By
playing host to the Summit Conference of African Heads of States and
Governments three years ago, and by helping bring about the establishment of
the Organization of African Unity, Ethiopia has, together with her African
brothers, assumed greater responsibilities not only in Africa but in the world
at large.
As
the headquarters of the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa, the number of African and international
conferences held in Addis Ababa is growing. And so also does our responsibility
become greater.
As
Ethiopia’s socio-economic development has become increasingly complex, the
nation’s administrative framework staffed by responsible officials, has
expanded to ensure a high degree of efficiency and effectiveness in the conduct
of public affairs. In addition to Our Ministers, an increased number of Vice
Ministers, Assistant Ministers and Deputy Governors-General have been appointed
to cope with the ever-expanding volume of work which has been the consequence
of the progress of the nation.
In
1943, We promulgated an Order which defined the powers, duties and
responsibilities of Our Ministers. In doing so, We empowered them to issue the
rules and regulations requisite to the proper functioning of the departments
confined to their care. Now, nearly a quarter century later, We have reached
the stage where each Minister must assume full responsibility for the discharge
of his duties, including the measure of responsibility to Parliament which was
foreshadowed in Our Revised Constitution of 1955. If Our aims and objectives
are to be realized, each one of us must labour and assume his share of
responsibility for the progress and prosperity of the nation. If We do so, We
are satisfied that acceptable results will follow. We are encouraged to see Our
people each day participating more actively in the affairs of the nation, for
it is in this way that the imperative acceleration of the nation’s progress
shall be attained.
We have said that each Minister is fully responsible
for his duties; nonetheless, when major policy issues require Our attention,
Our Prime Minister or, if necessary, the Prime Minister and the Minister
concerned, shall bring them to Our attention. It is the duty of Our Prime
Minister to assure that the work of Government is performed; but this does not
in any way relieve the Ministers of their individual responsibilities. To place
all responsibility upon the shoulders of one individual while all others sit
idly by and seek only to criticize and find fault is, in our era, to act
contrary to the movement for the progress and advancement of the country.
If
We ponder deeply on our situation today, We shall find that we lack for little.
The resources are available; the nation’s youth are gaining knowledge and
acquiring experience; it is only necessary that We resolve to work with
determination and diligence. The socio-economic policy that we have adopted, a
policy founded deep in Ethiopia’s national heritage and tradition, is
well-calculated to assure the progress of the present and future generation;
all that We require is co-operation, mutual assistance and the profound
consciousness that We are fulfilling Ourselves in the discharge of Our planned
and assigned responsibilities. This spirit, whether We term it communal,
socialistic or the philosophy of the welfare state, is not new or alien to
Ethiopia’s way of life.
Administrative
Changes
The
problems consequent upon the growth and development of the nation which have so
significantly expanded Ethiopia’s international responsibilities and
obligations have also multiplied apace. And if We are to meet these
mush-rooming domestic and international obligations and demands, We must design
and implement methods which will, without wasteful duplication of effort,
recognize proper principles of administration, maintain discipline, and respect
and observe a strict division of labour.
We
were aware of all of this. And during past decades, with exacting care and
deliberate forethought, We laid down the broad guide-lines for a greater future
development. And, now, after the most detailed review and painstaking scrutiny
of the advances achieved during this period, We have determined to introduce
further innovations into the structure of the nation’s administrative system,
and We have set them forth in an Order which We are promulgating today. The
changes which We have ordered will enable Us to devote Our hours to assuring
the execution of the highly important and urgent programmes designed to
accelerate national growth and development and to meet international
obligations and commitments into which Ethiopia continues to enter.
This
Order, which amends Order No. 1 of 1943 defining the duties and responsibilities
of the Prime Minister and all other Ministers, provides in substance as
follows:
(1) That the Prime Minister shall be appointed by Us,
and that he shall submit to Us for appointment by Us the proposed members of
his cabinet to head the ministries of the Government;
(2)
That the Ministers shall be responsible to the Prime Minister;
(3) That the Prime Minister and the Minister shall be
collectively responsible to Us and to Parliament in accordance with the
provisions of the Revised Constitution of 1955.
This
fundamental reform of the structure of the national administration is founded
upon the authority of Article 27 of the Revised Constitution, which empowers Us
to determine, revise and modify the administrative structure of the Government.
It is designed to increase Governmental efficiency and enable Us to devote
Ourselves exclusively to matters of high policy.
Each
nation elaborates its programmes according to its custom and cultural heritage,
suiting them to its own development aims, changing and improving its
institutions of Government as experience and the requirements of the times
dictate. A particular structure of government may be apt and practical for one
nation; it may not be so for another. Each nation must determine, shape and
adapt its governmental pattern to conform to its customs and its cultural
heritage.
We
have provided for this improved and reformed system of Government according to
the ideals of modern Ethiopianism, building upon the accumulated experience of
the years, preserving those elements of the past which have proven useful,
modifying and improving those parts which call for change. We envisage that
future changes and improvements may be introduced in the future as the need
arises. When change is required, paramount in Our thoughts and those of Our
officials will be interests of the Ethiopian people.
Mar. 22,
1966.
Selected
Speeches of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie – page 429 –
