OROMIA TODAY – Oromia is a Country

Article | Commentary | Opinion | Politics
Oromos and the Architecture of AuthoritySurvival, Role Discipline, and Institutional Design
By Dereje Hawas (PhD, Elec Eng) Posted on2026-03-102026-03-06
Calls for unity within the Oromo political sphere have become increasingly frequent, yet unity alone does not produce strategic effectiveness. This article argues that the deeper problem is the lack of an effective architecture of authority capable of assigning roles, managing disagreement, and converting mobilization into institutional power. Drawing on the historical experience of 1991 and the 2014–2018 mobilizations, it examines why fragmentation persists and outlines the institutional design needed for durable political authority.
Read More Oromos and the Architecture of AuthoritySurvival, Role Discipline, and Institutional Design
Article | Economy | Politics
Between Water at the Margins and SurvivalEnvironmental Precarity and the Political Economy of Inequality in Oromia
By Yadessa Guma (PhD, Anthropology) Posted on2026-03-052026-03-01
2 Comments
This article examines a troubling visual and empirical phenomenon: images circulating of Oromo women in the Rift Valley of Oromia risking life and health to fetch water for their families. Understanding this image demands situating it within the broader environmental distress (drought and water scarcity) in southern and eastern Oromia, the pervasive rural poverty that structures everyday life, and the stark contrast with development and economic dynamism in Finfinnee. Using mixed methods—qualitative visual analysis and synthesis of secondary data—we trace the structural causes and propose integrative solutions that move beyond short-term humanitarian responses towards sustainable water governance, gender-sensitive livelihood support, and equitable development planning.
Read More Between Water at the Margins and SurvivalEnvironmental Precarity and the Political Economy of Inequality in Oromia
Editorial | Politics | ⏭
The Day Monetary Policy Joined the Ruling PartyIn Ethiopia, even institutional neutrality has stopped pretending
By OT Editorial Posted on2026-02-242026-02-24
When a central bank governor campaigns for a ruling political party, or any political party for that matter, Monetary Policy ceases to be an economic instrument and becomes a political one. In any democracy that still maintains a pretense of institutional order, this would be a red card—immediate, unquestionable, and final. A resignation would follow within hours. Parliamentary inquiries would begin. Constitutional lawyers would sharpen their knives. Markets would twitch. Not in Ethiopia. It barely interrupts the broadcast of a central bank governor campaigning on behalf of the ruling party.
Read More The Day Monetary Policy Joined the Ruling PartyIn Ethiopia, even institutional neutrality has stopped pretending
Article | Commentary | ⏭
Wallaga and the Politics of FaçadeEight Years of Rhetoric, War, and Recalibration
By Yadessa Guma (PhD, Anthropology) Posted on2026-02-222026-02-21
1 Comment
Eight years after branding Wallaga as too dangerous to visit, Ethiopia’s leadership now stages high-profile tours through a region devastated by war, displacement, and militarization. This article examines how early political rhetoric securitized Wallaga, normalized extraordinary violence, and reshaped policy under the guise of reform. By tracing the arc from fabricated fear to choreographed presence, it asks a hard question: does visibility signal stabilization—or merely a recalibrated façade masking unresolved brutality?
Read More Wallaga and the Politics of FaçadeEight Years of Rhetoric, War, and Recalibration
Article | Op-Ed | Politics | ⏭
Oromos and the Rising Risk of Regional War: Power, Leverage, and Post-War Reality
By Dereje Hawas (PhD, Elec Eng) Posted on2026-02-222026-02-16
War is not decided by outrage, slogans, or population size, but by organization, internal consolidation, and clear political priorities. As tensions re-emerge in northern Ethiopia, Oromos face a strategic question: will they shape a potential regional war’s outcome, or be shaped by it? Demography and geography create leverage only when converted into disciplined coordination. The lessons of 1991 and 2018 show that mobilization without institutional capacity yields participation without authorship.
Read More Oromos and the Rising Risk of Regional War: Power, Leverage, and Post-War Reality
Article | Op-Ed | Politics | ⏭
Ethiopia, Empire, and the Architecture of Perpetual Violence
By Elemoo Qilxuu (MA, Political Science) Posted on2026-02-202026-02-20
Video footage circulating on social media showing ENDF forces deliberately destroying grain stored in Amhara farmers’ warehouses stopped me cold. If you were challenged to write an essay on this sadistic act, what would your take be? How would you title it—The Banality of Cruelty in a Militarized State? When the State Trains Young Men to Laugh at Hunger?
For me, this footage reveals far more than a single atrocity. It exposes something deeply rotten—structural, inherited, and unresolved—at the core of an empire called Ethiopia.
Please bear with me. Stay with me for a brief but unflinching analysis of what lies beneath the surface.
Read More Ethiopia, Empire, and the Architecture of Perpetual Violence
Op-Ed | Politics | ⏭
"Dr Dereje Gerefa Tullu": When Education Turns Against Humanity
By Malkkaa Beenyaa (MA, Social Psychologist) Posted on2026-02-182026-02-17
When a PhD-educated public figure like Dereje Gerefa Tullu employs dehumanizing, eliminationist rhetoric, the issue is not political disagreement but moral collapse. Education is meant to civilize power, not aestheticize violence. When learning is repurposed to normalize threats and glorify force, it ceases to be enlightenment and becomes an accessory. The danger lies not only in the words spoken, but in how confidently they are spoken—revealing how ordinary cruelty can sound when dressed in educated language.
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Op-Ed | Opinion | Politics
When a Just Cause Is Made to Fail: Oromo Fragmentation, Elite Proliferation, and the Cost of Permanent Politics
By Dereje Hawas (PhD, Elec Eng) Posted on2026-02-102026-02-10
Oromo Fragmentation is not a sign of political maturity or ideological diversity; it is the visible cost of elite proliferation detached from existential survival. As land is taken and communities are displaced, the struggle splinters into competing parties, fronts, and narratives that drain energy without building power. Fragmentation shields elites from accountability while leaving ordinary Oromos without leverage, unity, or an effective defense against dispossession and erasure. This op-ed argues that moral unanimity must precede politics if a just cause is to survive.
Read More When a Just Cause Is Made to Fail: Oromo Fragmentation, Elite Proliferation, and the Cost of Permanent Politics
Article | Op-Ed | Opinion | Politics | ⏭
The Policy of Lying: How Power Is Sustained by Fabrication
By Elemoo Qilxuu (MA, Political Science) and Roobaa Hawaas (MA, Psychology) Posted on2026-02-062026-02-05
Ethiopia has crossed a moral and political threshold. Lying is no longer an occasional deviation but a governing method. From the fabricated pretext of the Tigray war to the attempted rewriting of Eritrea’s role—publicly rebutted by Gedu Andargachew—the pattern is unmistakable. When power substitutes for truth, institutions collapse, Parliament applauds falsehood, and citizens are conditioned to accept governance without reality. This is not political spin; it is rule by fabrication.
Read More The Policy of Lying: How Power Is Sustained by Fabrication
Tribute | ⏭
Abbaa Gadaa Professor Asmerom Legesse: A Life Devoted to Oromo Gadaa and African Political Thought
By OROMIA TODAY Board and Staff Members Posted on2026-02-042026-02-04
4 Comments
We mourn the passing of Abbaa Gadaa Professor Asmerom Legesse, the Eritrean scholar whose rigorous work on the Oromo Gadaa system reshaped how the world understands indigenous African governance. Through seminal books including Gadaa: Three Approaches to the Study of African Society (1973) and Oromo Democracy (2000), he framed Gadaa as an Oromo constitutional democratic order with rotating leadership, codified law, and checks and balances. His legacy endures across generations.
Read More Abbaa Gadaa Professor Asmerom Legesse: A Life Devoted to Oromo Gadaa and African Political Thought
Article | Opinion | Politics | ⏭
The PP Regime Now Has the Accolade: No Other Ethiopian Regime Has Acted Against the Oromo People So Intensely in Such a Short Time
By Kumaa Daadhii (PhD, Political History) and Olii Boran (PhD, Sociology) Posted on2026-02-022026-02-01
3 Comments
The inauguration of the Shebele Resort near Jijigaa under the PP regime of PM Abiy Ahmed is more than a development event; it is a political statement. Held without Oromo representation in an Oromo city, and amid ongoing violence in eastern Oromia, the ceremony signals the normalization of exclusion and the quiet ratification of a long-contested administrative arrangement. What was once presented as a temporary “loan” of Jijigaa has now hardened into permanent political appropriation, with profound consequences for constitutional order and regional stability.
Read More The PP Regime Now Has the Accolade: No Other Ethiopian Regime Has Acted Against the Oromo People So Intensely in Such a Short Time
Article | Campaign | Human Rights | Politics | ⏭
Aabbuu Seeraa: Building Progress on Indigenous Erasure
By OROMIA TODAY Posted on2026-01-302026-01-24
In Aabbuu Seeraa, thousands of indigenous Oromo families are being displaced to build a flagship airport. Model houses are showcased to project “modernization,” while most households remain without shelter, land, or livelihood—and those who protest face detention. This is not opposition to development; it is a demand for development as a social contract. Minimum conditions are proposed for legitimacy, including housing, livelihood restoration, heritage and environmental protection, demographic sensitivity, perpetual stakeholding, and independent international assessment.
Read More Aabbuu Seeraa: Building Progress on Indigenous Erasure
Editorial | Politics | ⏭
The Oromia Administration: Silence, Not Governance
By OT Editorial Posted on2026-01-282026-01-28
The Oromia Administration is conspicuously absent as Oromia faces multi-front aggression, mass dispossession, and deepening corruption. From Somali regional incursions in the east—politically encouraged by president Mustafe Mohammed Omer—to Amhara Fano violence in the west and north east, and forced evictions in central Oromia, silence has become policy. This editorial argues the Oromia Administration is not merely failing, but enabling a proxy-war strategy in which Oromia must be weakened for the Ethiopian empire to endure.
Read More The Oromia Administration: Silence, Not Governance
Editorial | Politics | ⏭
Math Meets PP Myth No. 5: When 12 Billion Birr GERD Contributions Become Insults
By OT Editorial Posted on2026-01-232026-01-23
In this fifth installment of Math Meets PP Myth, the dismissal of 12 billion birr as “insignificant” reveals more than numerical abuse. It exposes a psychology of power that cannot tolerate shared ownership. Leaders secure in legitimacy thank contributors; insecure ones belittle them. Reducing citizens to percentages is not economic analysis—it is political conditioning, preparing the public to accept exclusion, silence, and hierarchy under the guise of math.
Read More Math Meets PP Myth No. 5: When 12 Billion Birr GERD Contributions Become Insults
Article | Opinion | Politics | ⏭
Lidetu Ayalew, Finfinnee, Oromia, Federalism, and the Perils of Principle-free Politics
By Elemoo Qilxuu (MA, Political Science) Posted on2026-01-162026-01-15
When politics loses its grammar, words stop meaning what they mean and power begins to masquerade as principle. In critiquing Lidetu Ayalew, this piece is not about personal disappointment but about a deeper political failure: the refusal to accept irreversible facts of federalism, Oromo self-rule, and historical reality. Denial is not argument. Semantic inversion is not moderation. And restoration politics, however eloquent, cannot substitute for credible, principled leadership.
Read More Lidetu Ayalew, Finfinnee, Oromia, Federalism, and the Perils of Principle-free Politics
Siyaasa | Yaada
Waayee Aabbuu Seeraa Fi Misooma Ilaalchisee, Ergaa Faarseebulaa Fi
By OROMIA TODAY Posted on2026-01-122026-01-12
Yerroo ammaa kana, Faarseebulaan ofii janjayee, biyaa janjessaa jira. "Misoomnni" ummataa Oromoo balleessuf karooraa baafatee ka'e yoo qeeqaan, akka faallaa misoomaa dhabaatanitti fudhatu. Bayyen isaanii, oduma beekanuu, firiifaarii jarri itti darbatani jechuuf, dununfatanii quuqaama Oromoo irratti duulu. Kan sobee rafe silaawu hin damaqqu; mee kan dhugaa rafe, Afaan Ingiliffa'rra Afaan Oromoo dubbisuun salphaa yoo ta'ef jechuun barruu kana maxansine.
Read More Waayee Aabbuu Seeraa Fi Misooma Ilaalchisee, Ergaa Faarseebulaa Fi

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