Here are a few quotes from a speech of Haile Selassie I that I am about to put up.
During Our lifetime, We have unfailingly done what We have felt, before Almighty God, to be Our duty to Our people and Our nation, no matter what the cost to Ourself. You must do likewise.
Blessed Perfection of Haile Selassie I.
Today, We say to you, no longer shall it be thus. No longer shall you shirk your duties. No longer shall We accept your responsibilities, when We have given the power to you. This power shall not be abused for selfish and for personal ends when it has been given as a sacred trust to be exercised for the benefit of the Ethiopian people and nation.
Your Departments and Ministries can function well only if the choice of your staff is dictated, not by ties of friendship and personal relationship, but by evidence of competence and ability. You shall work on your own responsibility, making your own mistakes, achieving your own successes. We shall reserve for each of you a certain period each week when We shall ask you to report on the progress you have made in your programmes and on the difficulties which you have encountered. But time shall not be used to ask or obtain from Us decisions which are rightfully yours to make.
We are persuaded that what We have said will, in the long term, redound (contribute greatly) to the everlasting benefit of those who will follow Us.
The context of those quotes is below.
But We know that man’s desires rarely attain full achievement or perfection. And so it was here. What more was required to create a system of truly responsible government? What was yet lacking? The institutional framework existed. A modem Constitution guaranteed to each element of this structure its proper duties and the authority and the right to fulfil its tasks. Our Ministers were vested with attributions no less substantial than those given to Ministers in any nation of the world, irrespective of political coloration or orientation. Our Parliament was given powers to legislate comparable to those granted in any parliamentary system of government. The legal framework governing the dealings of the Ethiopian people with each other and with the State had been fully articulated.
Shoulder Responsibility
You all realize that it is necessary to have a sufficient number of men who would courageously and honestly accept responsibility and act under it, and, not counting the cost, discharge their duties to the Ethiopian nation. We have always held Ourself at the disposal of Our people and Our Ministers. And so Our Ministers came to Us with their problems and questions. Always We said “But the power has been given to you to do this yourself.” Frequently, Our words went unheeded. Responsibility was shirked, decisions were avoided and thrust back upon Us.
As a result, some programmes remained unimplemented, and other questions of major importance were left unanswered. The Government has been overwhelmed and benumbed by details. Among those who stand before Us, many have devoted years of service to the Imperial Ethiopian Government. You know the truth of what We say.
Today, We say to you, no longer shall it be thus. No longer shall you shirk your duties. No longer shall We accept your responsibilities, when We have given the power to you. This power shall not be abused for selfish and for personal ends when it has been given as a sacred trust to be exercised for the benefit of the Ethiopian people and nation.
Henceforth, you shall work in your Ministries and Departments and administer your own programmes there. Each year, in accordance with the Constitution, and within the broad framework of the Five-Year Plan which has been adopted, you shall prepare your programmes for the coming twelve months. When the programme has been approved by Our Council of Ministers and by Us, you shall work in accordance with it. If you plan and execute it well, you shall be congratulated. If you prove yourself incapable or incompetent, you shall be removed and replaced by another. If major policy questions arise, We are always here. If you encounter difficulties, We have appointed Our Prime Minister to aid you. His primary function is to coordinate work among the Ministries and see that the execution of Government programmes is facilitated. If questions of policy arise, he, too, is directed to bring them to Us. If amendment in the attributions which have been given to you are required, these shall be forthcoming.
Answer Stewardship
Your programmes and your implementation of them will be subject to free and open comments. In the ultimate sense, it is to the people of Ethiopia that you are responsible, and it is to them that you must answer for your stewardship. That is why you are constitutionally responsible to Us and to Parliament. During Our lifetime, We have unfailingly done what We have felt, before Almighty God, to be Our duty to Our people and Our nation, no matter what the cost to Ourself. You must do likewise.
Throughout the long years of Our ceaseless efforts to achieve the advancement and well-being of Our nation, We have always anticipated that the stage would be reached at which Our ministers and officials, whom we have trained by education and through long years of service in government administration, could, once their duties and tasks are defined, assume by themselves full responsibility and discharge it properly, thus permitting Us to devote more of Our time to major political decisions and matters of utmost importance to the future of Ethiopia which necessitates Our attention.
We are persuaded that this stage has now been reached, and you must realize that the trust given to you entails a sacrifice on your part, that you may be worthy of it. You should be ever mindful that the supreme test of your worthiness of this trust will be manifested not only by the confidence We have reposed in you, but also by your achievements in the implementation of the programmes We have laid down for the Ethiopian people.
Your office shall be where you belong. Technical experts and advisors have been provided to aid you in your work. Your Departments and Ministries can function well only if the choice of your staff is dictated, not by ties of friendship and personal relationship, but by evidence of competence and ability. You shall work on your own responsibility, making your own mistakes, achieving your own successes. We shall reserve for each of you a certain period each week when We shall ask you to report on the progress you have made in your programmes and on the difficulties which you have encountered. But time shall not be used to ask or obtain from Us decisions which are rightfully yours to make.
Ethiopians are proud of the three thousand years of their recorded history, as well they may be. We are proud of what has been achieved during Our reign, and we thank God for it. We are content to let History judge the wisdom of Our actions. But while we cannot escape the consciousness of each day’s immediacy and the urgency of the problems which each day presents, we must nonetheless be ever mindful that just as our nation’s history stretches far back in time, so does an unlimited future lie before us, especially in this nuclear and space era. We must all act and take our decisions mindful of the far-reaching implications and consequences of each of them. What We have said to you today, We know, carries with it implications for generation upon generation of future Ethiopians. We are persuaded that what We have said will, in the long term, redound to the everlasting benefit of those who will follow Us. Man is mortal; each one of us here will, one day, face his Maker and answer for his actions. Those of us to whom the grave responsibility of governing have been given bear a heavy burden before the people and before Almighty God for the proper discharge of our duties. Let us all labour in this sense, that the people of Ethiopia may ever live in happiness and prosperity.
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