Parties built to serve citizens, not just to win votes, are the foundation of a productive and inclusive continent*<\/p>\n
Addis Ababa, 06 November 2026 \u2013 Africa has never lacked land, resources or tireless young people. What it has too often lacked is a politics that treats power as a duty to serve rather than a prize to seize.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n That distinction decides whether a continent’s promise becomes its prosperity. Across much of the world, and nowhere more than in Africa, politics has been pursued as a ladder to office rather than an instrument for serving the public. Rivalry run on zero-sum arithmetic has drained national capacity and weakened the legitimacy of governments, and it has given citizens nothing in return. Development ambitions have been derailed again and again by election cycles and power struggles, because political culture has failed to rise above narrow factional and short-term interests.<\/p>\n Africa now has the chance to break that cycle. The way forward is stronger political parties. A party should be far more than a campaign vehicle: it should design policy platforms, incubate leaders, guard ideology and give shape to the hopes of the people. Built on solid institutional foundations, parties become key actors in creating a productive economy and inclusive growth. Competition then serves a higher end: strengthening the state and raising citizens’ living standards. The result is national development compacts that survive a change of government, and policy continuity that extends well beyond any election.<\/p>\n Ethiopia shows what service-driven politics looks like<\/strong><\/p>\n Ethiopia is a pioneer of this shift. Guided by the principle of “Medemer” (synergy), the Prosperity Party has set out to end the old politics of exclusion and of center versus periphery, and to build national consensus and sustainable development in its place.<\/p>\n The approach rests on the belief that a nation’s affairs are not the preserve of one winning party but the shared home of all its citizens. In practice, that has meant:<\/p>\n – Bringing opposition political forces into the executive structure of government Together, these steps have turned politics from enmity into partnership. They have also done more than consolidate internal peace: they have helped build an economic sovereignty that moves citizens from dependency to productivity.<\/p>\n That domestic reform is the foundation of Ethiopia’s historic ambition to be a pivotal anchor state of Africa. As a symbol of freedom and a voice for the continent, Ethiopia holds firmly that African problems must be solved by Africans, and it is advancing continental integration through shared development and infrastructure connectivity. Its role runs from cross-border power supply to green development and climate-resilience diplomacy, and extends to advocating for Africa’s economic and geopolitical sovereignty in international forums.<\/p>\n The task for Africa’s political class<\/strong><\/p>\n The lesson is for the whole continent. Africa’s political elites and parties must move beyond fleeting power struggles. They should compete on the supremacy of ideas and the quality of policy alternatives, and cooperate without preconditions where national and continental survival are at stake.<\/p>\n A strong and respected Africa will be built when every country develops political institutions that lead strong, inclusive and productive economies.<\/p>\n The ballot box counts the votes. The measure of success lies elsewhere: in the benefits visible on citizens’ tables, in lasting social peace, and in a prosperous country handed on to the next generation.<\/p>\n AMECO AFRICA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Parties built to serve citizens, not just to win votes, are the foundation of a productive and inclusive continent* Addis Ababa, 06 November 2026 \u2013 Africa has never lacked land, resources or tireless young people. What it has too often lacked is a politics that treats power as a duty to serve rather than a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[759,932,723,48,592,84,1203,139,1405],"class_list":["post-3513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-magazines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3516,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3513\/revisions\/3516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3513"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameco.et\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– Putting the decision-making role of women and youth into practice
\n– Institutionalizing a culture of dialogue and consultation<\/p>\n