The Constitutional Guardian Transformed
The House of Federation (HoF) stands as one of the most distinctive institutions in Ethiopian constitutional architecture. Established under Articles 61 and 62 of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE), the HoF was conceived as the ultimate guardian of the nation’s ethnic federalism—a second chamber composed of representatives of all Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples, vested with the exclusive power to interpret the Constitution, resolve disputes between states, and protect the rights of Ethiopia’s diverse communities to self-determination . Unlike conventional federal systems where constitutional adjudication resides with supreme courts or specialised constitutional courts, Ethiopia’s framers deliberately placed this authority in a political body, reasoning that questions of identity, territory, and self-governance required representation of the very peoples whose rights were at stake.
For full text reading, please click The House of Federation and the Unravelling of Ethiopia’s Constitutional Order