Oromo traditional decision making system The Gadaa System of Oromia (Democratic and all enclusive, consensus based). The Official tree is called Odaa. East Africa
When the Oromo nationalism became root bound and began to deteriorate, few Oromians decided to transplant it. Carefully, they designed the Gadaa system from its scattered existence and put it into larger chart and named it KAAWOO GADAA or National Gadaa Assembly of Oromia. . The goal was to bring all abbaa Gadaas from across Oromia and let them elect one leader at Oromia level following the attached objective. Please go to www.ona1.org and see Kaawoo Gadaa from archive.
Knowing that the Gadaa system will flourish slowly as it distributed it’s roots, the group watched and waited. Mean time, those who saw this idea still struggling left the group and went on with their personal lives. Others expressed frustration and blamed everyone involved. In Kenya, the Oromo refugees were bribed not to attend the Kaawoo Gadaa conference by an organization that suppose to fight for the unity and for the freedom of Oromo people. The majority who now echoes the Gadaa system use to criticize everything that KAAWOO GADAA group has tried, even declared that the Gadaa system is dead and it belongs in the history museum.
While the KAAWOO GADAA team continued holding it’s conference in Washington DC and Sweden in years 2005 and 2006, the envious among us used their brain covered with layers of envy tried very hard to make thing so difficult to change so that they can feel better. Luckily, their envy only blocked them from growing mentally and kept them from having pure motives. As their brain clogged by envy created a sense of “us vs. them” mentality, and made them feel negative toward others, KAAWOO GADAA continued to grow to what it is today.
After all that, these very men chant the Gadaa system slogan as they scratched their low self-worth brain, still not noticing that they suffer from inferiority complex syndrome while the confident relaxed with inner peace of excellence and hard work that made the impossible, possible. Yet still, the envious have a hard time to admit their mistakes and live with an emotional pain.
Nonetheless, the KAAWOO GADAA team shook off all the criticisms and continued to work hard until the idea they have planted sprouted it’s root system. As planned, today the abba Gadaas of Oromia came together and elected the national abba Gadaa. Sure enough, if the determined few didn’t push their idea of forming the National Gadaa Assembly of Oromia so vigorously, the Gadaa system would have never taken a new life and grew to what it is today. Looking back into few years, we can only ask; how many of us have tried to set our Oromo roots into the soil of Oromummaa? How many of us acted stranger to our own root system and defied anyone who tried to return to our own root?
The truth is, the negative efforts of those who acted stranger to their own root hindered our progress. That’s why change has been very hard and rough for us.
Regardless of what the envious have done in the past, KAAWOO GADAA is born out of the hard work of those who demanded less praise and more confidence. Now, their efforts have changed a rocky, weed-filled of inferiority into a beautiful garden of Oromummaa, those who failed earlier believing that it is impossible to harvest Oromummaa from the rocky field of inferiority covered with localism and religiosity appear to be the proponents of the Gadaa system.
These individuals may be able to nurture and develop the Gadaa system in the future, of course if they can see that nothing is so unchanging, so inevitable as change itself. The truth is, the things we see, touch, and feel are always changing. Relationships between friends, husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister are all dynamic, changing relationships. Yes, opportunist people know what change is but they see change as a constant that should benefit them personally. Should these inferior men believed in oneself, they would have separated their personal advantage from societal advantage.
Opportunist individuals feel that they will live forever. That’s why change is their enemy. They fight and resist change before they even discover what the actual effects of change will be. Instead of asking how change and development are linked, they fight everyone who oppose to their utopian world view where they think will live forever. Mean time, those who wanted to rebuild their shattered identity came together and repaired the leaks these opportunists made in the roof of Oromummaa.
A Chinese proverb says, “Great souls have wills; feeble souls have only wishes.” Unless we have the will to improve, all the other steps to change will be wasted. This is what separates the winners from the losers.
Rundassa Asheetee Hundee
No comments:
Post a Comment