አገሬው ስለ ሕግ ሃያልነት ሲናገር "በሕግ አምላክ ሲባል እንኳን ሰው ወራጅ ውሃ ይቆማል" ይል ነበር፡፡ ሕግ ተፈጥሮንም እስከማቆም ሃይል እንዳለው አድርጎ ለመግለፅ ምን ዓይነት በሕግ የፀና እምነት ቢኖር ነበር ያስብላል፡፡ በሕግና ፍትሕ ላይ እምነት ያለው ሕዝብ ያለማንም አስገዳጅነት ለሕግ ተገዢ ነው፡፡ ክስተቶችንም ተከትሎ ለሕግ ያለውንም እምነት በተለያዬ መንገድ ይገልፃል፡፡ ግጭቶችን በጉልበት ከመፍታት በሕግ መፍታት ተመራጭ እንደሆነም ያምናል፡፡ በጉልበቱ አዳሪ ሲገጥመው ሰይፍን በሰይፍ ከመመለስ በሕግ አምላክ ቢል ይመርጣል፡፡ ከማትረባ ጉልበት በሕግ አምላክ ይሻላል የሚለውም ለዚህ ይመስላል፡፡ ስለዚህ የሕግ መከበር ሕበረተሰቡ ስለሕግና ፍትሕ ባለው አመለካከት ይወሰናል ማለት ነው፡፡ ሕግ በሕበረተሰቡ ውስጥ በሚፈለገው ደረጃ ለውጥ እንዲያመጣ ከተፈለገ እያንዳንዱ ሰው ስለሕግ ያለው አመለካከት አብሮ መመለወጥና ማደግ ይኖርበታል፡፡ ሕበረተሰቡ ለሕግና ፍትሕ ያለው አመለካከት ሁለት ነገሮችን ይገልፅልናል፡፡ በአንድ  በኩል ሕብረተሰቡ ስለሕግ ያለውን እምነት ሲገልፅልን በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ የሕግ መከበር ያለበትን ደረጃ ያሳየናል፡፡

ዘመናዊ የፍትሕ ሥርዓት ሳይዋቀር በፊት አገሬው ስለሕግ የበላይነት የፀና እምነት ነበረው ማለት እንችላለን፡፡ አስገዳጅ ነገር ሳይኖር በአገር ደንብ ብቻ መንገድ ላይ ባላጋራውን ሲያገኘው በሕግ አምላክ ብሎ ተላላፊው መንገደኛ ጉዳዩን እንዲመለከትለት ያደርግ ነበር፡፡ ተላላፊው መንገደኛም ዳኝነቱን ተቀብሎ የግራ ቀኙን ጉዳይ ሰምቶ ይፈርዳል፡፡ ውሳኔው ከተስማማቸው ይፈጽማሉ ካልተስማቸው በአካባቢው ወዳለው ጭቃ ሹም ተያይዞ መሄድ ነው፡፡ ይህን ተላላፊ መንገደኛ ዳኛ የሕግ ሙሁር አበራ ጀንበሬ የመንገድ ዳሩ ፍርድ ቤት(የመንገድ ዳር ዳኛ) በማለት ሲገልፁት ከሳቴ ብርሃን የአማርኛ መዝገበ ቃላት ደግሞ "ዳኛ የውሃ ወራጅ ዳኛ" በማለት ይገልፀዋል፡፡ ስያሜው ምንም ይሁን ተላላፊውን መንገደኛ ዳኛ፣ ባላጋራዎችን ተከራካሪ አድርጎ ሲያቆማቸው የነበረው ያገር ደንብና ልማድ፣ፈቃደኝነትና ለሕግና ፍትሕ የፀና እምነት መኖር  እንጅ ሌላ አስገዳጅ ሃይል አልነበረም፡፡

ሕዝብ ስለሕግና ፍትሕ ባለው የፀና እምነት ብቻ አገር ይዳኝ እንደነበር ሌላ ምሳሌ እንመልከት፡፡ በአዶልፍ ፓርለሳክ ተፅፎ ተጫኔ ጆብሬ መኮንን በተረጎመው የሃበሻ ጀብዱ መፃፍ የተገለፀ ነገር ነው፤ ታሪኩ 1928 ዓ.ም  አካባቢ አዲስ አበባ ገበያ ላይ የተመለከተው ነበር፡፡ ለአንባቢ እንዲመችና የነገሩን ሥር እንዳልስተው ቢረዝምም ተርጓሚው እንደፃፈው ሙሉ ታሪኩን ላስቀምጠው፡-

"በጨርቅ ተራ ሁለት ገበያተኞች ይጨቃጨቃሉ፤ጨርቁን የሚገዛው ሰውየ እጅግ በጣም ረጅም ሲሆን ሻጩ ደግሞ በጣም አጭር ነው፡፡ እናም ገዥ በሚችለው መልኩ ክንዱን ዘርግቶ፣ጣቶችን ወጥሮ አስር ክንድ ለካና ምልክት አደረገ፡፡ ሻጩ ደግሞ በሚችለው ሁሉ ጣቶችን ወጥሮ አስር ክንድ ለካና እሱም ምልክት አደረገ፡፡ ሁለቱ በለኩት መካከል ከአንድ ክንድ የሚበልጥ ልዩነት መጣ፡፡ ገዥው ሻጩን አውቆ ክንዱን ሳይወጥር ይለካል ሲል አመረረ፡፡ ሻጩ በምኒልክ እየማለ ሃቀኛ ነጋዴ መሆኑን እግዚአብሔርን ምስክርነት ጠራ፡፡ በዚህ መሀል ብዙ ወሬኛ ገበያተኞች ከበቧቸው፡፡ በነዚህ ወረኞች ፊት ሁለቱም ደጋግመው ቢለኩም ልዩነቱ ተመሳሳይ ነበር፡፡ እናም መግባባት ባለመቻላቸው ያላቸው ብቸኛ አማራጭ ዳኛ ፍለጋ መሄድ ነበርና ሸማቸውን አያይዘውና አቆላልፈው፣ ጎን ለጎን ግራና ቀኝ እጃቸውን በነጠላቸው ጫፎች ሸብ አድርገው አስረው ከቋጠሩ በኋላ ወደ ገበያው ሽምጋይ ዳኛ በብዙ ወረኞች ታጅበው ሄዱ፡፡

1. Introduction

The purpose of this piece is to highlight the link between good governance and democracy. Through an examination of the key components of both, it argues that the two concepts are indeed one and the same: ‘good governance’ is but a sanitized name for ‘democratic governance’. (I have to admit a level of dislike for the term ‘good governance’ which, for me, suggests that it is an option rather than an obligation tied to a set of fundamental rights.)

2. Meaning and Elements of Good Governance

The word ‘governance’ is a noun normally used to designate a system or manner of government, the act or state of governing, or control or formal authority and as a synonym for management, administration, direction, or control. So, taken literally, ‘good governance’ would mean a good system of government, good standard of governing, or good practice in exercising formal authority to govern. While this literal translation may be applicable to many instances of everyday use, such as corporate governance or organizational governance, good governance takes an additional meaning with reference to the management of public affairs. In this sense, it describes

“…the transparent and accountable management of human, natural, economic and financial resources for the purposes of equitable and sustainable development” within “a political and institutional environment that upholds human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law”.

This is a follow up on the post ‘Conceptions of Access to Justice’. It seeks to outline the international human rights framework on ‘the right to access to justice’ and briefly set out a monitoring framework capable of measuring the extent to which the right has been realized in a given national jurisdiction. Hopefully, this would lay the basis for consideration of the state of access to justice in the Ethiopian context in upcoming posts.

1 Introduction

Access to justice is a right recognized under the major international and regional human rights instruments including: the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). The core instruments on the issue, the UDHR and the ICCPR, state that everyone has ‘the right to effective remedy against violations of fundamental rights’.

2 Recognition of the Right

The UDHR states that:

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the key issues with regard rule of law in a narrower sense with the view and in comparable of rule of compromise in non-western societies where the latter focuses in African nation. The issues of Awramba’s is peculiar to this paper. Asserting that this phenomenon is replicable, the paper underpins the various arguments highlighting the incorporation extent of the rule of law on indigenous traditions under the broader umbrella of rule of compromise. Further, the paper addresses the necessity of reconciliation and restoration of harmony even in African continent when its children breach the laws than adjudicate by outsider’s law. In doing so, a little show on the Awramba’s experience of rule of compromise and its footages in promoting development and  stability will be reflected.

Introduction

Recently, due to the new politico-legal order in Ethiopia, the federative arrangement emphasizes cultural and legal pluralism and accommodates diversity in a plural democratic federal setting. Relegating the history of Ethiopian legal system before 1930’s, along with the enactment of the criminal code of 1930 and the proclamation of Administrative Justice of 1942, the state courts were established (shack et al 1966:163). The law adopted a foreign system of justice and borrowed many elements from western legal system (Abera 1998). This prevents the new law from conducting a serious investigation of local customary laws and safeguards the traditional values and thereby attaches the profound sentiments of the peoples with the code (Allott et al 1969:32). As Rene (1963:193) noted in his article that Ethiopia tends to modify its structures completely to the way of life of the people and consequently the citizens didn’t expect the new code to be a work of consolidation, the methodological and clear statement of actual customary rules, they wish it to be a program envisaging a total transformation of a society and they demand that for the most part of it set out new rules appropriate for the society they wish to create.