Quest for Apolitical Civil Service in Ethiopia: Regimes in Spotlight

Abstract

Efficient, transparent, responsive, accountable and non-partisan civil service is essential to nurture and sustain democratic governance. Ethiopia’s bold move towards transforming the country and introduction of modern government structure goes back to the dawn of 20th century. Yet, public service delivery system of the country increasingly lags behind achieving its desired end despite its considerable chronological age of inception. This study examines paths of the Ethiopian civil service structure since its emergence to the present. The analyses cover significant changes that took place from the time by when Emperor Menelik II established the first ever Council of Ministers in 1908. Historical research design is employed to make a meaningful sense of the past, informing the present and casting insight into the future. Exploring into practices of different regimes in promoting political neutrality of the civil service is the central theme of this inquiry. Despite legislative provisions that claim for neutrality, political partisanship prevails all across the regimes of the past and the present alike. It is common among politicians to promise de-politicization of the civil service system particularly during their election campaigns. Afterwards, regimes usually drag the civil service system into partisanship than neutrality in an attempt to safeguarding their ideological orientation and power consolidation. This study reveals that all subsequent governments of Ethiopia fall short of institutionalizing apolitical system of the public service and work towards encroaching meritocratic space, of course with varying extent. Adoption of ethnic politics, by and large, exacerbates partisanship all across the system. In effect, the system is characterized by growing loss of public trust, inefficiency, poor quality service delivery, ineffective redress mechanisms, corruption, and breaching the essence of accountability.