Addis Ababa, August 23, 2026 (FMC) — The recommendations emerging from Ethiopia’s National Dialogue Conference could become a landmark political charter reshaping the relationship between government and citizens, according to Professor Emeritus Alemayehu G. Mariam, an Ethiopian-American scholar, commentator and former law professor.
In a lengthy post on X, formerly Twitter, Professor Emeritus Alemayehu G. Mariam, known to his social-media followers as Al Mariam, reflected on the completion of the National Dialogue Conference and argued that its recommendations could become an Ethiopian equivalent of a “Great Charter” through which citizens articulate what they expect from government and the political order they wish to build.
Mariam drew a parallel with the Magna Carta while emphasizing that Ethiopia does not need to borrow traditions of lawful and responsible government from England. He cited Ethiopia’s own traditions of law, justice, consultation and accountability, including the Fetha Negest and indigenous institutions such as Gadaa, Shimglina, Xeer, Abo Gereb, Afersata, Dubusha and Zewold.
He described the National Dialogue as an opportunity to bring these traditions of consultation and collective problem-solving into the modern political order, noting that more than 4,000 Ethiopians from diverse regions, communities, political perspectives and social backgrounds came together to identify national problems, debate their causes and propose solutions.
Mariam said the recommendations are therefore not simply government policies or the product of political parties and elites, but the outcome of a national conversation involving thousands of Ethiopians on some of the country’s most difficult questions.
He argued that their significance extends beyond individual proposals, saying they could establish a new relationship between the state and citizens in which government recognizes that it does not have all the answers, listens to citizens and works with them to govern.
The recommendations, he said, should be treated as a popular mandate for reform rather than another government report. They cover constitutional, institutional, regulatory and economic reforms, as well as fiscal and monetary policy, research and long-term national development.
Mariam said their implementation would determine whether the opportunity becomes transformative. He noted that some recommendations would require constitutional amendments, legislation or institutional reform, while others could be addressed through policy changes and further consultation.
He said implementation should be systematic and transparent, with reforms assessed according to whether they address genuine national problems, are practical and affordable, strengthen institutions and advance a more peaceful, inclusive, accountable and democratic Ethiopia.
For Mariam, the recommendations could also become the foundation of a new Ethiopian social compact defining how political power should be exercised, what citizens can expect from government and what responsibilities the state owes society.
He said their long-term value would depend on translating appropriate recommendations into durable constitutional, legislative, institutional and policy reforms capable of enduring beyond individual governments and political parties.
Mariam further emphasized that the National Dialogue demonstrated the possibility of addressing Ethiopian problems through Ethiopian dialogue. He said the process was fundamentally Ethiopian, drawing on the country’s traditions of consultation, reconciliation, community deliberation, mediation and consensus-building.
The conference, he argued, could offer lessons to other societies facing deep divisions: peace does not require everyone to agree on everything, but requires institutions through which people can disagree without destroying one another.
Mariam cautioned that the conference could not solve every Ethiopian problem, but said it had created an important national space where competing perspectives could be expressed, grievances discussed, solutions debated and common ground identified.
He said the recommendations could eventually acquire historical significance comparable, in aspiration and political impact, to the Magna Carta if they are treated as a national mandate, translated into durable institutions and protected from narrow political interests.
While Magna Carta came to symbolize the principle that rulers are subject to law, Mariam said Ethiopia’s recommendations could establish another powerful principle: government exists to serve the people, listen to them, remain accountable to them and work with them to solve national problems.
Reflecting on his own 2015 call for an Ethiopian Magna Carta, Mariam said the completion of the National Dialogue gave him renewed hope after decades of political conflict. He described the more than 4,000 participants as having helped articulate a vision for Ethiopia that could endure for generations.
He concluded that the conference may mark a new beginning in which Ethiopians increasingly settle differences through dialogue rather than force, compromise rather than domination and citizen participation rather than imposition.
If faithfully implemented and transformed into enduring institutions, he said, the recommendations could ultimately be remembered as a moment when Ethiopia changed the direction of its history.