Why Tigrnya has more weight than Oromiffa & Somali? (Blog)

Opinion/ Oromummaa

During the last near 20 years in Ethiopia under TPLF rule, it is an understatement to say that we have witnessed the highest level of Tigray supremacy in the country. While all of us know about the political and economic domination of the Tigrayans already (especially the endless number of manufacturing industries inside Tigray), some of the regime's supporters have deceived many people about the so-called "linguistic equality" under wayane. It is important to look at this controversial issue because all former OLF members who have visited Ethiopia are giving trophy to OPDO/TPLF and talking about the nonexistent "linguistic equality."

While many more people have been able to freely use their languages, the grim reality is, the Tigrayan language domination and disproportional representation in Ethiopia has been ignored. According to the Ethiopian census done and monitored by the government officials dominated by the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), Ethiopia has a population of almost 77 million. According to this same census, almost 35% of the population is Oromo and 27% are Amharas. After that, the next biggest ethnic group is Somali at 6.2%, followed by Tigrays at 6.1%. Knowing this TPLF monitored census, one would expect the language power and application in the society would proportionally reflect these top ethnicities in Ethiopia. But let alone the Somali language achieving more or equal role to Tigrinya in the Ethiopian public at large, the Tigrayan language appears to be the de facto second official language of the country. From the Tigrayan language's disproportional presence in national radios, TV stations, institutions and big company operations, one would wrongly think that the Tigrayan people are as populous as Oromos by looking at their domination.

One glaring example has been on ETV, where Tigrayan language has always remained one of the top three languages used nationaly while Somali should have been included in the top 3 languages and the Tigrinya removed.  The last remaining card the TPLF regime has played has been about "linguistic freedom" and "equality" under its rule because the TPLF can not trick people anymore by preaching about its "good governance, prosperity and democracy" in a country which lacks all of those. However, the implication of Tigrinya as a top 3 language in Ethiopia is also illegal. At best, Tigranya language should move down as a number 4 language, even though it might even slide down further to 5th Ethiopian language status because many urban Tigrayans are more likely to speak Amharic than Sidamas are to abandon their native language.

As the recent census and other government documents also show, on websites and/or other publications, Tigray has always appeared first and foremost for a reason no one knows. Meanwhile, once again this week, the Tigrayan regime placed its language over the bigger Somali language inside its new company ECX. The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) announced that it has launched a new mobile service in the "Amharic, Tigrigna and Oromifa" languages to make trading information accessible throughout Ethiopia. While Tigrigna once again is mentioned ahead of Oromiffa, Somali is not even mentioned at all.  This is another example or another reminder to all of us, just in case we forgot who is in power in Ethiopia.

The "linguistic equality" gospel of TPLF is the last remaining gospel left since no one in Ethiopia believes any thing else TPLF says. If the regime wants to save this last remaining gospel, it has to follow these two steps to reverse the linguistic inequality and disproportional representation. First, it has to end its presentation of Tigrinya as another top Ethiopian language equivalent to Oromiffa because over 20 million more people in Ethiopia speak Oromiffa. In fact, Afaan Oromoo should replace Amharic as the official language of the country, pending accurate and non-political recount of how many people in Ethiopia speak Amharic as their second language. Secondly, Somali has more speakers in Ethiopia than Tigrinya has (as indicated by the TPLF census itself) so Tigrinya should never be depicted as a Top 3 language in Ethiopia in any stage, any where. If the regime wants to include Tigriya, it should also include the other 70+ languages because only Oromiffa and Amharic should be depicted as the majority national languages of the country, pending a final count to see which one is the biggest of all.

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