Policy and political implications of government responses to COVID-19 in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

In Ethiopia there have been contested political debates over the government’s response to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. The postponement of the sixth national election, constitutional interpretation and the continuation of the terms of the House of People’s Representatives are sources of contentious political debates. All these require policy and political analysis. Political actors argued that the contested political notions have critical political and policy implications that extend beyond the impacts of the pandemic. The country’s political history is marked by political opportunism and power struggles in which force is used to conquer/maintain power, as well as political repression and a lack of political consensus. It is argued that COVID-19 was used as an opportunity by political actors to consolidate their power. Together with identity politics, such political opportunism contributed significantly to the escalation of political tensions that led to civil war throughout the country. It also has more far-reaching effects on people’s sociopolitical and economic lives such as mass deaths, displacements and violations of basic human rights than COVID-19. Furthermore, it altered the country’s diplomatic relations with the international community. Therefore, in Ethiopian politics, the notion that political problems are more pressing than the consequences of COVID-19 is plausible.

KEYWORDS:

• suspension of the election
• COVID-19
• political actors
• political opportunism
• Ethiopia

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Fikadu Disasa and Belay Girma for their support in English language editing. Moreover, we would like to thank Territory, Politics, Governance, publisher, editors, production team, and all individuals and groups that took part in making this work successful.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.