NO MORE DECEPTION! From EPRDF to Prosperity Party: What Has Really Changed? Where Is the Genuine Political Transformation?

A Political  Analysis  by Dr. Aregawi Mebrahtu (Kaleb II), The  God Chosen Mighty Agʿaezi

Changing a party’s name does not necessarily mean changing the political system. Replacing slogans, symbols, or political leaders does not, by itself, constitute genuine transformation. The real test of political change is whether the institutions of power, the administration of justice, the protection of citizens’ rights, and the daily lives of the people have fundamentally improved.

The central question is therefore straightforward: From the EPRDF to the Prosperity Party, what has actually changed? Have the structures that once concentrated political power been dismantled, or have some of them continued under a new name, a new political narrative, and a different public image?

For the people of Habesha Agaezi and those who identify with the Agʿaezi heritage, these questions deserve serious, evidence-based examination—not political slogans, historical simplifications, or appeals to blind loyalty.

1. From the Imperial Government to the Derg: A Fundamental Political Break

When the Derg overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie’s government in 1974, Ethiopia underwent a profound political transformation. The monarchy was abolished, a republic was proclaimed, and the state adopted a socialist political and economic orientation. The imperial system of government was replaced by a military regime, and the land nationalization policy known as “Land to the Tiller” radically changed the country’s land-tenure system.

These were substantial changes, not merely changes of name. Yet a fundamental institutional transformation did not mean that the new regime became democratic, just, or accountable. The Derg became notorious for political repression, mass killings, imprisonment, and the Red Terror. Its record must be judged by the same standards of justice and human rights applied to every other government.

Claims about the systematic persecution of particular communities mainly the Habesha Agaezi (from Eritrea, Tigray, Amhara, Gurage assassinated more than 83 higher ministries and military commanders), the transfer of their lands to Oromo, or the deliberate exclusion of specific Amhara /Agaezi groups from political power must likewise be investigated through historical documents, land records, demographic evidence, and independent scholarship. Such allegations should neither be dismissed automatically nor treated as established fabrication without counter verification.

The lesson is clear: a regime can radically transform the state while simultaneously committing grave injustices against its people. Political change must therefore be assessed not only by what a government abolishes, but also by what it establishes, whom it serves, and whose rights it protects.

2. From the Derg to the EPRDF: What Changed After 1991?

When the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), came to power in 1991, it introduced a new political framework. The 1995 Constitution established a divisive and fragmenting ethnic and regional pseudo-federal system, reorganized the country into fabricated sovereign regional states, and imported a vague concept of  the right of nations, nationalities, and peoples to self-determination, including a constitutional right to secession, which is totally anti.Ethiopian civilizational state continuity and sovereign territorial integrity.

The new order also introduced a different political vocabulary, new state symbols, and a different conception of national identity and governance mostly copied and pasted from communist ideological programs, brands, symbols and  policies. Eritrea became illegally and immorally separated  in 1993 following a fabricated referendum of Egyptian authorities, ending Ethiopia’s access to the Red Sea through Eritrean territory.

These developments represented significant changes to Ethiopia’s constitutional and territorial arrangements. It would therefore be historically inaccurate to claim that nothing changed under the EPRDF. The more important question is whether the changes produced an equitable, democratic, and sustainable political order.

Critics of the EPRDF have raised serious concerns about the concentration of power within the ruling coalition, restrictions on political competition, human-rights violations, the treatment of opposition parties, and the relationship between federal and regional authorities. The federal system’s effects on national unity, local autonomy, identity, and political representation remain subjects of intense debate.

For communities that believe their historical interests, political representation, land rights, or cultural heritage have been marginalized, these concerns should be addressed through credible evidence, open debate, and lawful political processes.

The relevant questions are:

• Did the new constitutional order protect all communities equally?

• Was political power genuinely distributed, or did the ruling coalition retain decisive control?

• Were regional boundaries and administrative arrangements established through fair and inclusive processes?

• Were historical land claims investigated impartially?

• Did the system encourage democratic participation, or did it reinforce political divisions and competition over ethnic identity?

• Did citizens have a meaningful opportunity to challenge the government and change it peacefully?

These questions are more important than arguments over which party or community supposedly won or lost the political transition.

3. From the EPRDF to the Prosperity Party: Transformation or Continuity?

When Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in 2018 and the Prosperity Party was established in 2019, the government presented itself as a break from the EPRDF era. The new party emphasized national unity, reform, prosperity, and a different approach to Ethiopian politics.

However, the creation of the Prosperity Party did not automatically settle the deeper questions concerning political institutions, accountability, constitutional reform, national identity, or the distribution of power.

A new party structure can represent a meaningful political development. But the decisive question is whether that development has translated into lasting institutional reform and better outcomes for citizens.

The government’s record must therefore be assessed against concrete measures:

• Constitutional governance: Are constitutional provisions applied consistently and fairly?

• Rule of law: Are courts independent, and are government officials held accountable for unlawful conduct?

• Political freedom: Can opposition parties, journalists, civil-society organizations, and peaceful critics operate without intimidation?

• Public security: Are civilians protected from armed violence, displacement, and collective punishment?

• Democratic participation: Can citizens influence government policy and replace their leaders through credible, peaceful political competition?

• Economic governance: Are public resources managed transparently, and do ordinary citizens experience measurable improvements in their living conditions?

• National reconciliation: Are historical grievances investigated and addressed, or are they repeatedly exploited for political advantage?

  

If the government claims to have transformed the country, it should be prepared to demonstrate that transformation through transparent institutions, verifiable results, and meaningful accountability.

A change of party name, political slogan, or leadership arrangement is not sufficient evidence.

4. The TPLF Legacy: Has It Ended, or Has It Continued in Different Forms?

Another important question concerns the institutional and political legacy of the TPLF and the former EPRDF system.

A political organization’s influence does not necessarily disappear when it loses its former position in government. Political ideas, administrative practices, personal networks, security institutions, and established patterns of decision-making can survive changes in party leadership.

In fact, there tremendous  claims and attestations that a particular party TPLF continues to control the state indirectly supported by evidence. Former TPLF/EPRDF officials are remaining in public service, for example, proving that they themselves as part of the former party still directs government policy and constitutional order behind the bar. The relevant issue is whether identifiable networks exercise political control outside transparent, constitutional, and accountable institutions. With this regard, almost all TPLF legacies, flags, constitutions and political maps are still intact and continuing.

A serious assessment should examine:

• Whether policy decisions have materially changed.

• Whether public institutions operate independently of party structures.

• Whether security and military institutions are subject to constitutional oversight.

• Whether public appointments and government contracts follow transparent rules.

• Whether allegations of past abuses have been investigated.

• Whether victims have access to justice and effective remedies.

• Whether political competition is genuinely open to parties outside the governing establishment.

The question is not simply whether the TPLF has been politically defeated, marginalized, reorganized, or renamed. It is whether Ethiopia has moved away from abuses of power and toward a system in which no party can dominate the state without effective checks and accountability.

The same standard must apply to the Prosperity Party and every other political organization.

No political movement should be permitted to escape scrutiny simply because it claims to represent national unity, ethnic self-determination, revolutionary change, or historical justice.

5. Constitutional Reform, Ethnic Federalism, and National Identity

The Ethiopian constitutional framework remains central to debates over identity, citizenship, territory, and political power.

Critics of ethnic federalism argue that organizing political representation and territorial administration around ethnic identity can intensify competition between communities, complicate national cohesion, and make disputed boundaries more politically explosive. Supporters argue that federalism can protect linguistic and cultural rights, recognize historical grievances, and distribute authority away from a centralized state.

Both the framework’s stated objectives and its practical consequences deserve examination.

The appropriate response is not to assume that one community is inherently entitled to dominate another, nor to presume that every historical grievance is unfounded. Instead, constitutional reform should be pursued through inclusive dialogue, credible evidence, democratic participation, and respect for the equal rights of all citizens.

For the God Chosen Habesha Mighty Agʿaezi Community and those who identify with shared Geez civilization Habesha heritage, questions of cultural continuity, historical recognition, language, land, and political representation can be raised openly. Such claims are  evaluated through the same principles of evidence and equal citizenship that apply to every other community.

The following questions merit serious public discussion:

• Does the TPLF-PP constitutional system adequately protect both individual rights and collective cultural rights?

• Are regional boundaries fair, transparent, and subject to lawful dispute-resolution mechanisms?

• Are linguistic and cultural identities protected without making ethnicity a basis for discrimination?

• Are historical land claims examined impartially and resolved through lawful procedures?

• Can constitutional reform take place through an inclusive process in which all affected communities have a meaningful voice?

• Does the state protect the rights of minorities within every regional jurisdiction?

The objective should be a constitutional order that protects all citizens and communities, rather than one that merely replaces the dominance of one political group with the dominance of another. In fact, the current PP was intentionally created by TPLF as OPDO for its purpose and has nothing to with Oromo community.

6. Eritrea, the Red Sea, and Unresolved Historical Questions

So called Eritrea’s independence in 1991 illegally and immorally, has fundamentally altered Ethiopia’s territorial position and access to the Red Sea. The consequences remain strategically and politically significant.

This is why there tremendous claims about the legality of Eritrea’s separation, the role of foreign governments such as Egypt and national treason committed by TPLF, or the circumstances surrounding the process require careful examination of the historical record, the 1993 referendum, the relevant legal framework, and the positions of the parties involved.

A lasting solution must respect sovereignty, international law, regional stability, and the legitimate economic interests of the peoples concerned. However, TPLF decisions must be revoked and Greater Ethiopia with its Red Sea Restored to its continued civilizational state memory and strategic geography sooner or later.

For communities that believe the loss of Red Sea access has weakened their historical, economic, or cultural connections, the issue deserves informed and sustained discussion. Historical identity, both domestic and international law should settle this Red Sea territorial ownership appropraitely and correctly.

This not to promote hostility between neighboring populations but the way forward is diplomacy, lawful negotiation, historical research, and regional economic cooperation to restore all Habesha God Chosen Agaezi community into their harmonious integration , sustainable peace and develoment in the Greater Horn of Africa.

7. What Does Genuine Political Change Mean for the Mighty God Chosen Agʿaezi Habesha Peoples?

For the God Chosen Mighty Agʿaezi organization , ANU,  and those who identify with shared Geez Habesha heritage, Culture, Narration, the fundamental issue is not simply which political party occupies the government. It is whether the political system protects their rights, recognizes their history, provides fair representation, and allows them to participate meaningfully in shaping their future.

The same protections must extend to all other Ethiopian communities.

When civilians suffer from armed conflict, displacement, poverty, destruction of property, and the collapse of essential services, political slogans offer little comfort. Citizens need security, functioning institutions, access to justice, economic opportunity, and the freedom to organize peacefully.

A government cannot establish its legitimacy merely by declaring that it has brought change. It must demonstrate that change through its conduct.

If citizens live in fear, peaceful opposition is restricted, civilians are exposed to violence, and officials evade accountability, the word “reform” cannot substitute for an honest examination of the facts.

The purpose of political struggle should not be the destruction of one community or the permanent exclusion of another. It should be the creation of a system in which every person enjoys dignity, equal protection under the law, political freedom, and the opportunity to live without fear.

8. The Real Test: Evidence, Accountability, and Results

The transition from the EPRDF to the Prosperity Party can be described as a political reorganization. But whether it amounts to a genuine transformation must be established through evidence.

The same principle applies to the TPLF, other opposition movements, and any future government.

A credible assessment should compare policies, institutional practices, constitutional safeguards, public-security outcomes, economic indicators, and human-rights records across administrations. It should distinguish documented facts from allegations, political interpretations, and historical disputes.

The following questions should remain at the center of public debate:

1. Have the structures that concentrated power been dismantled or merely reorganized?

2. Are public institutions accountable to the law rather than to political parties?

3. Are alleged crimes investigated impartially, regardless of the identity or political affiliation of the accused?

4. Are civilians protected equally throughout the country?

5. Can political opponents organize, speak, and compete peacefully?

6. Are historical grievances addressed through credible investigation and lawful remedies?

7. Has the quality of life of ordinary citizens improved in measurable and sustainable ways?

Until such questions are answered with credible evidence, claims of comprehensive political transformation remain open to challenge.

Conclusion: Let Us Not Be Deceived—Judge Political Change by Its Results

The greatest danger is not merely that one political party remains in power. It is that citizens may be persuaded to accept slogans as substitutes for reform, hostility as a substitute for evidence, and political loyalty as a substitute for accountability.

No party should receive a free pass because it promises prosperity, national unity, revolutionary justice, or the restoration of historical dignity. Every government and political movement must be judged by the same standards: justice, human rights, democracy, public security, transparency, and accountability.

Change is not measured by a new name. It is measured by new institutions, fair laws, accountable leadership, protected rights, and tangible improvements in people’s lives.

Change is not proven by slogans. It is proven by justice, freedom, peace, and the equal protection of every citizen.

For the God Chosen Mighty Agʿaezi organization (Agaezi National Union), the principled and popular struggle should continue through peaceful political engagement, historical research, public education, democratic organization, and lawful advocacy. Its purpose should be to defend human dignity, seek justice, preserve cultural heritage, and promote a secure and peaceful future for the people and the Greater Horn of African region with its Red Sea.

The demand is not for one community to dominate another. It is for a political order in which no community is marginalized, no citizen is above the law, and no government can evade accountability.

No more deception. No more empty slogans. Let us examine the evidence, confront historical grievances honestly, and demand genuine political change.

Dr. Aregawi Mebrahtu (Kaleb II)

Long Live, The God Chosen Mighty Agaezi Habesha Ethiopia with its Red Sea!!