“It is a great responsibility to be elected to legislate upon matters that are the anchor of personal liberty, security, social responsibility – in general of a framework of organized and ordered social order.
One measure of the healthy growth of parliamentary democracy is the insight sense of responsibility and dedication brought into work by deputies in the course of deliberating on issues originating from either the executive branch of government or the Chamber itself. Our government has given education, public health and related programs high priority with the conviction that trained manpower and sound health are crucial to the progress of advancing economic growth.
Accordingly, no less than 20% of the national budget was allotted to education. Enrollment in governmental and private elementary and secondary schools has surpassed targets of the Third Five-Year Development Plan. It is also gratifying that enrollment in the University is growing from year to year.
Considerable time and energy have been devoted by experts to the task of making research into the kind of education best suited to Ethiopia’s present needs in accordance with a directive we personally issued. The recommendation has reached us through the Council of Ministers and we have given order for its immediate implementation.
It is normal for every individual family or generation to give way to the new by adding something to the heritages bequeathed upon it. No man chooses his own parents. But in the last analysis, a man’s ultimate worth is, in the modern world, determined by his accomplishments and his service in the cause of his nation and his countrymen. It is thus our sacred duty and responsibility to be cognizant of the fact that because history is bound to judge us tomorrow by what we are doing today, we must do everything in our power to leave behind us a lasting legacy of work.
Lastly, we would like to remind you members of the Houses of Parliament to deliberate on the bills already submitted, and those which will be submitted to you as a matter of urgency by realizing the fact that they are matters of crucial importance for the progress and development of the country.
May God, who proposes and disposes everything, be with you all in the discharge of your duties and responsibilities.”
H.I.M. EMPEROR HAILE SELASSIE I
Speech to Parliament
November 2, 1973
