Speaker of the House of Peoples’ Representatives, Tagese Chafo, has called on Ethiopians to consolidate their participation for the success of the national consultation.

The major activities, which the National Dialogue Commission has carried out over the past year and seven-month of Ethiopian fiscal year, were discussed today in the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and other senior government officials.

Accordingly, the National Dialogue Chief Commissioner, Professor Mesfin Araya in his performance report pointed out that the commission has identified the representatives of five regions and two city administrations that will participate during the national consultations.

Speaker of the House of Peoples’ Representatives, Tagese Chafo who attended the discussion held at the Office of the Prime Minister noted that the National Dialogue Commission has been established as an independent entity.

The speaker mentioned the commission has been carrying out activities by putting in place its roadmap in four phases which are preliminary, preparations, implementation and conclusion and feedback phases.

In the process so far, the commission has achieved the preliminary and preparation phases, laying the foundation for the conduct of the national consultation in Ethiopia, Tagese said, adding the completion of the selection the participants, coordinators and agenda items from five regional states and two city administrations of the country.

He recalled that the establishment of the commission has considered that the engagement of political elites and the government alone would not bring about lasting solution, thus calling for reaching consensus through the participation of the entire citizenry.

He pointed out that the national consultation is a forum where both adgenda generation and consultation are carried out by the public.

According to the speaker, the government would only support the dialogue commission for the success of the consultation, but not give an agenda.

The government will discharge its responsibility in maintaining peace for the successful conduct of consultations, which will be convened in February 2024, he said.

Therefore, the speaker called on all Ethiopians to actively participate and support the success of the national consultation.

Chief Government Whip Tesfaye Beljige said on his part that although Ethiopia has a long history of nation state, consensus has not been reached on many issues and the process of nation state building process is not over.

Tesfaye added the fact that consensus has not been reached on fundamental issues resulted in conflicts.

For him, the establishment of the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission is instrumental to eliminate the deep-rooted problems that have led Ethiopia to a serious crisis and to create a national consensus on key national issues.

He also said that the house has affirmed that the commission has carried out encouraging activities since its establishment to ensure inclusiveness in its preparatory phases.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency