Ethiopia will make training places at its African Leadership Excellence Academy available to political parties from across the continent, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told the Second African Political Parties Summit in Addis Ababa on Friday, according to ENA English.
Addressing delegates in the Ethiopian capital, the premier framed the offer as a way of building a pipeline of future leaders, saying countries lose direction when those in power do not prepare people to take over from them.
Why it matters
The pledge puts leadership development on the agenda of a continental gathering of parties, rather than leaving it to individual states. Abiy argued that handing younger members genuine responsibility, and elevating those who demonstrate sound judgment and integrity, is essential to keeping governments on course. ENA English reports that he presented the proposal as his central message to the summit.
The summit also heard from the African Union Commission chairperson, who urged parties to concentrate on serving citizens and defending national interests, according to ENA English. A separate session covered youth leadership and participation, with a minister quoted by Addis Media Network English saying the continent's future prosperity depends on young people taking part in political life.
Medemer and the record Abiy cites
Abiy described the philosophy behind his Prosperity Party as Medemer, a concept he rendered as synergy — drawing on different strengths and directing them toward a shared goal, while asking members to take ownership of the country's direction as a whole.
He pointed to several national programmes as evidence of what sustained leadership can produce. Among them were Ethiopia's digital identification effort and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which he described as undertakings that depend on long-term commitment and on each generation building on what came before.
He also cited the Green Legacy Initiative, saying more than 56 billion seedlings have been planted since 2019. According to ENA English, he presented the programme as a collective effort to rehabilitate degraded land, safeguard water resources and improve resilience to climate-related pressures.
Accountability and the test of belief
The premier argued that political leadership carries an obligation to acknowledge the work of others, including people who hold different political views. Every citizen, he said, has an equal claim on the state regardless of which party they back.
He proposed a practical yardstick for parties: whether their convictions translate into better lives. Leaders, he suggested, should ask whether their constituents are better off because of what they believe.
Abiy illustrated the point with parents walking their children to school, saying their confidence in the country's future rests on visible improvement and on brighter prospects for the next generation. When progress fails to reach a household, he warned, families lose faith not only in a party but in politics as a whole — a risk he said should concern every leader in the room.
The academy offer extends Ethiopia's own leadership development model to political actors elsewhere on the continent, in what ENA English describes as a contribution to strengthening the capacity needed to sustain Africa's development.
What to watch is whether the African Union and individual parties take up the training places, and how the academy's programmes are structured for participants from outside Ethiopia.
