Bad government’s power abuse has no limit, but to the length of the endurance of its people

It is true that in certain cases such as dictatorial and authoritarian governments, criticizing the government is considered criminal speech and is punished in accord which the perceived severity of the claimed crime. But bad governments have also the same traits with that of the dictatorial governments. The traits that can be associated with a bad government are oppression, power abuse and corruption in the form of bribery and misuse of public funds; and these are the major obstacles to democracy, to the improvement of the common peoples’ livelihoods, and to the economic development of a country. The evil of corruption lies at the heart of the most urgent problems such governments are facing—from economic uncertainty, to the ever-present threat of income inequality and to endemic poverty on the majority of the population. Practically a bad government does not know any limit to its power abuse, but to the length of the endurance of its people. The peoples with zero endurance to injustice, oppression, power abuse and government’s wrong decisions always get good governments. Saint Augustine said “In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?”

As long as the bad government pays the army and security agencies, it doesn’t need to commit itself to improve the livelihoods of its people; it doesn’t need to improve the economy; it doesn’t need to take account of its disgruntled citizens; it doesn’t need to avoid doing any wrong action of its favour; and it doesn’t even need to respect the constitution and related bylaws. On the other hand bad governments don’t want a population of thinking citizens; they don’t want well informed people; they don’t want well educated people capable of critical thinking. Leaders of bad governments always want more for themselves, less for everybody else and less for the whole community. Leaders of bad governments want to get “yes men personalities” for their cabinet members and other government officers; meaning there is no government’s internal corrections. Bad governments use to govern by telling pretty and promising but false stories to their people. If a government hides the truth from its people, it is deceiving them; and this happens when that government is so out of control, so bloated and infested with fraud, deceit, corruption and abuse of power. Promising with so many born breaking issues to the people that become false is practiced in all countries governed by bad governments.

What matters to have a good government is that its people should know that government is themselves and not an alien power that come over them. The ultimate rulers of democracy are not the President, the government officials and the MPs but the voters of that country. The voting decision of the Election Day is the best position to pre-correct and avoid all evils of a bad government. Another thing that matters to have a good government is that its leader be a selfless with national success values; who can able to gather around him extraordinary individuals with experiences and specializations; getting the best out of them and appointing each with the post of his/her specialization; then allowing them to do their duties independently. The constitutional rights of the people of a country to talk about and criticize injustice and government’s wrong doings are really the only correction and protection that any people ever can have for their liberties. Criticizing bad government and Fighting against its corruptions have to be part of the culture and fundamental values of any people who want success and development for their country.

In Somaliland our people do not still understand that corruption and bad government are the enemies of development and good governance of a country; and the security guards who have the responsibility to defend the state from these two enemies are themselves or the citizens. It is unfortunate that somalilanders are not aware of what their constitutional rights to have are, and what the constitutional obligations or courses of actions required from the citizens to fulfill are. Because of that, we are often very passive about what happens when the government violates those rights; likewise we are not aware when we are violating some constitutional obligations upon us. The problem of our people is that whenever the opportunity of electing their leaders comes in front of them, they miss the target. At the same time if the government they elect becomes a bad government, our People are not conscious that they can change its bad and corrupt system in to the right direction. Loyalty to the Nation is must all the time to all citizens; but loyalty to the Government is when it deserves it. These together undermined our legal system and confidence in the functioning of the state.

Corruption is widespread evil in Somaliland’s last two governments, in the legislative sector as well as in the judicial sector; and the people are watching and not caring. Our country will not be destroyed by those who are doing the corruption; but by those who are watching them without making anti-corruption shouting and slogans against the government and its leaders; not showing the leaders that they don’t have any tolerance to see selfishly obtaining public money under fraud, to see situations of injustice and to see government’s power abuse acts. Instead of advocating for the elimination of corruption in our public management system; instead of lighting a torch on public money misuses and public assets selfish privatization; instead of pointing to the daily unjust judgments and government’s undesirable actions or decisions occurring in the country; our people are expressing constant stream of widespread praises, admiration and approval of the government’s undesirable activities. Our people are nurturing these social evils to enlarge and expand in to all state pillars (executive, legislative & judicial sectors). This “government praising” habit of the community is a major cause that leads a bad government to do nothing for its people; and this is a perfect way of encouraging the government to go on with in its inefficiency, power abuse and bad actions.

Somaliland was founded to end and eliminate oppression; but now it is likely becoming a land of oppression. Our last two government’s political system is deeply disordered by promoting injustice, nepotism and favoritism in the courts and among the whole society; its local currency devalued against the dollar, inflation and prices are in their highest level; its expenditures extravagant and wasteful; its disbursements without efficient accountability; and its taxes and duties are enormous, unequal, and oppressive to the great consuming classes of the country. All these mismanagements on the ground happened because of the peoples’ endurance, that the government got enough space to use oppressive activities, to do every kind of corruption, to do injustice, to introduce inequality among its society, to be inefficient to work and serve for the betterment and improvement of its peoples’ livelihoods, to deliberately violate to govern on national constitution, and to do whatever wrong or right but are in its favor. If these two governments made trails to solve the social, economic and political problems, their trails become as bad as the problems they were trying to solve.

Another regretful policy that the last two governments of Somaliland used is that they always bend their decisions and actions to the selfish interests and economic gaining strategies of the rich and powerful persons and companies in Somaliland. All the measures of these governments are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer; deliberately ignoring their mandate to work for the good of all people and the nation. They directed their priority to serve for the interest of a little group of willful company owners, representing for their own good only. This kulmiye policy has rendered Somaliland’s common people making them helpless, contemptible, worthless and beneath consideration. In summary the content of the art of these governments was and is to collect taxes money from one class of citizens–the tax payers of the common people, and accept to be taken by few others due to fraud. And this is one of the consequences that many citizens mainly the young people lost their trust of hoping to see Somaliland developed, recognized and become part of the international community and decided to go to Somalia; an act increasing in the recent months.

We are the citizens of a country called Somaliland; who have constitutional rights to criticize the government for its unconstitutional decisions and actions; or to talk about any wrong actions and injustice when it is done. The behavior of avoiding government criticism, when it is doing unconstitutional actions or making unconstitutional decisions puts a blanket over the failures of the government; and decorates all its irregularities, its corruption and its failed policies. It was needed from us as the people of this country to exercise our constitutional rights of guiding, correcting and pointing to the mistakes, duty negligence and constitutional violations of the government to the right direction; that is to make our government the government of the people, by the people, for the people. We are not expecting any rescuing miracles of our country from heaven; so we have to put all necessary efforts to protect our nationhood which is now towards the uncertainty road; and save its name to be perished from the earth.

The people of Somaliland should remember that today we are sitting in the shades of the trees our great martyrs planted before 28 years; who died for the cause of liberating this country we called Somaliland. Then it is true that we want from the government to protect this existing shade and to plant new trees with more comfortable shades for our children. But the current situation or what is happening right now seems as if we are uprooting those that existed and growing nothing; which is a glimpse of what is the future to come will look like. It is shame and regretful to us – the people of Somaliland, just looking and watching the government messed up with all traits of a bad government; seeing the boat we are getting on board is sinking in a deep black sea with no saving responses. And it is sure that realistically in such situation we cannot get the results we wanted from the seeds we grew with the blood of the martyrs. We have to compel our government before it is too late, to become a government with the moral tests of the good governments.

The moral tests of good governments we mean are how sincere our government works for the betterment of its people, how the leader connects the dots between the problems facing our people in to common solution – being a leader with selfless values, how it sympathizes to the needy groups of its people; how it treats those who are in the dawn of life – or the children and youth of our country; how it treats those who are in the vulnerability of life – communities in the drought affected IDP camps, the homeless people, the street children, the poor and the have-nots; how it treats those who are in the shadows of life – the sick people, the handicapped and the aged; and how it treats those in the loneliness of life— or the special needs community. As Muslims we are really hoping for the best outcomes from all situations Somaliland is within; but we should be prepared to prevent and save the country from even if unpredicted absolute worst will come in the future. As realists we have to know that good things and success come to those who work their asses off and go make it happen.

Adam Ali Younis.

Email: aayonis@hotmail.com