Dullah Omar Institute hosts Zemelak Ayele

The Dullah Omar Institute hosted Zemelak Ayele, an Associate Professor at the Centre for Federal Studies, Addis Ababa University as a visiting scholar, from 18 September until 25 October.

During his visit, he attended and presented a paper at the 5th Stellenbosch Seminar on Constitutionalism in Africa from the 19 to 22 September on the theme “Corruption and constitutionalism in Africa: Revisiting control measures and strategies”.

After the conference he worked on writing and structuring a joint paper with Prof Steytler, the SARChI Chair of Multilevel Government, Law and Policy on the judiciary in federal systems in Africa, for the publication edited by Jens Woelk from the University of Trento, Italy.

At the end of his visit he presented at a seminar organised by the institute. He spoke about ‘menu of institutional manipulations’ how the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) uses to maintain its electoral authoritarianism. He also talked about EPRDF’s vanguardist self-view that underpins the party’s drive to political dominance.

Previously, he was a National Research Foundation (NRF) Post-doctoral research fellow under the South African Research Chair in (SARCHi) Multilevel Government, Law and Policy, at the Dullah Omar Institute. He has widely published in the area of decentralisation and federalism in Ethiopia and Africa, including a book titled Local Government in Ethiopia: Advancing development and accommodating ethnic minorities Baden-Baden-Nomos Verlagsges.