(Birhanemeskel Abebe Segni) Nowhere in the world has the government of the country refused to speak the language of the majority of its people. It is weird, unthinkable, unjust, undemocratic, immoral, and absolutely unacceptable. Ethiopia is all of these. The Ethiopian federal government and two of its largest cities do not speak the language of the majority of the people, Afaan Oromo. This is a preliminary outline to say the obvious. Make Afaan Oromo legally and unconditionally the working language of the federal government of Ethiopia and the two largest cities of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Here are the top ten reasons why: 1. Demographic Reasons: Afaan Oromo, the language of the Oromo people, is the single most widely spoken language in Ethiopia and the fourth largest African language in terms of the number and size of speakers. It is spoken in at least three countries outside Ethiopia. Although statistical data’s may vary, about 50% of the Ethiopian population are estimated to speak Afaan Oromo. In comparison, only about 29.1% of the entire population of Ethiopia speaks Amharic, the legally imposed official language of the Federal government and the two largest cities of Dire Dawa and Addis Ababa. Given [...]
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