Backdrop and Procedure of Amendment of States’ Constitution in Ethiopia: Imparting Experience for the Recently Established Regional States

Abstract

The main errand of this work is endeavored to quest what backdrops the states’ constitution in Ethiopia had; how their rules of amendment go with the utmost interest of the living societies of the regional states and what experiences the aged regional states will impart for recent established regional states. To delve into these issues the research employed qualitative research methods. Sub-national units in Ethiopia had been empowered to set and amend their constitutions via the constitution of the federation. To realize this empowerment political actors of each state government had been set their respective constitutions. Afterward to heal some flaws of the pre-setting states’ constitutions all states under the federation revised their constitutions. Within all revised states’ constitutions, the architectures endeavored to set their ‘rules of amendment’. But these ‘rules of amendment’ are not faultless as it is expected to be immaculate. The faults which are viewed under each state constitution include: the rules of amendment recognized under some revised states’ constitutions are defective in providing opportunities to participate in the amendment process to all interested groups like minorities and are not set in the way to safeguard the rights of minorities live within the state. Though the seven revised states’ constitutions tried to provide special entrenchment to the ‘rules of amendment’ itself, under Oromia revised state constitution the entrenching provision itself is not entrenched, in the sense that it will be exposed to the problems of double amendment. Concerning to amendment of human and democratic rights all states’ constitutions have been trying to specially entrench via making their amendment based on the rules of amendment of the federal constitution, but this is against the autonomy of the state; failure to comply with the principles of democracy and bolt the opportunities for the states to provide better protection of human and democratic right for their residence through amending their constitutions. Thus those states’ constitutions that had the aforementioned flaws in their ‘rules of amendment’ shall adjust in the way to heal from their imperfections and those recently established regional states shall learn from the flaws of aged regional states.