Take whichever direction you like in the sprawling metropolis and you will observe glittering high-rises decorating the sides of the bustling streets.  No one could miss the construction boom that characterizes urban centers across the nation, lifting the spirit of the people determined to leave behind the gloomy and scary life marked by hideous scars they were forced to carry all along for decades during the repressive regimes.  

All law-abiding and duty-bound citizens are now busy to indulge in idle talks and politicking devoid of action aimed at subduing arch foe misery and impoverishment. 

Ethiopians from all walks of life have bitterly fought against the forces of coercion and subjugation in order to pave the way for the installment of a new social order in which they will take their future into their hands.  

Gradually but firmly they are shaping the new house in which everybody will feel at home in a peaceful family where diversity is celebrated and tolerance rewarded by cohesion, mutuality and fraternal unity. 

Change in the livelihood of the great majority has been at the heart of all endeavours under the leadership of the government which took upon it to commit resources under its disposal to revamp the dilapidated economy and with it revive hopes for bright future.   

Rooted in the conviction that peace and democracy would pay dividends, unvarying seriousness and resolve is reflected in ensuring the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and protection of rights of citizens as enshrined in the supreme law of the land.  

Periodic elctions have become defining features of the new federal system now taking hold, particularly after the unprecedented democratic May elections in 2005 that proved beyond any doubt that Ethiopia has emerged a pluralist society with the opposition making significant gains in parliament and state legislatures.  And this constitutes a newly configured political landscape.  

Opposition parities vying for seats in both federal and state councils have done so in a level playing field where independent observers from the AU, the Carter Centre and other reputed institutions were allowed to monitor the process which they praised as fair and free. 

Hawkish leadership of the opposition, that of CUD particularly, however were adamant to accept the verdict of the people by taking their seats in the parliament trying in vain to fuel violence to oust from power by force the constitutionally elected government.  

Fomenting violence through rancorous incitation and vitriolic agitation, they made unsuccessful attempt to reverse the tide of change that brought Ethiopia to a new beginning where the seal of sovereignty of the people was indelibly printed, and no challenge could undo that.  

Government, unambiguously clear about the malicious intentions of the adamant opposition leadership, after all its admonition fell on a deaf ear, can no more take lawlessness and had to act to reign in crimes that caused regrettable loss of life not to mention damages done to private as well as public property, costly to a poor nation grappling with biting poverty. 

CUD hawkish leadership and accomplices engaged in the street violence were charged with treason and other felonies and their case is pending.  No one could be beyond the reach of the law and cause havoc with impurity.  

Some vociferous elements of the Diaspora who often than not attempt to stand against the tide, were trying in vain to impose their egoistic righteousness that could never withstand the challenge of truth. 

For them those standing trial are without blemish even when they had conspired to sacrifice tens of thousands on the altar of power and scores have died due to the violence they fomented. 

Maintaining the same arrogance and vanity characterizing the accused, they unabashedly show disdain to the judicial system upon which the democratic order hinges for all purpose and intent.  

False prophets as they are, they will tell us about freedom of speech, but never tolerate differing views even among their own ranks. They talk of professionalism but forget to preach the ethics it entails when it comes to the crimes done against fellow Ethiopians by hate-mongers under the guise of journalism.  What a pitiable folly! 

"No person may be subject to arbitrary arrest and no person may be detained without trial or conviction", according to the Ethiopian Constitution.   

Where the protection of the law is instituted, what they intend to do is tantamount to the obstruction of justice.  

Whoever they are, they have to be held accountable for their wrong deeds, we have to tell them in earnest.  Government should allow the due process of law take its full course. 

Only then, could the nascent democracy take roots and guarantee future peace and prosperity. 

Emboldened by the successes achieved for all to see, we have to carry on in our battle against poverty entrenching democracy and good governance.