When Somaliland Politics Has Lost Its Shine?

Countries are great when they can weed out unscrupulous politicians. All countries could be great should the core vision and the values of their citizens are bulletproof.

The need for a leadership change in all countries mostly take place when citizens must somehow have both the ability and the courage to face down governments when the leadership of the government becomes too oppressive, or too opportunist, or too incompetent to overcome national challenges, or too arbitrarily focused on their personal power.

Critical to the success of both people and their nations are the values they adopt and above all the national vision they use to share.

Apart from religion, language, and color, what Somalilanders share in common?  Poverty across the board is one great solidarity we share in common. What else that makes a meaning to us as a nation we share? That is the question intellectuals must seek to answer.

From rural population on the move en masse to big cities, to urban youth emmigration to western world, to poor governance and unrestrained political corruption, to disunity among the people, and to inflation still remaining unchecked, crises are roiling Somaliland.

The people of Somaliland  are angrier than ever at the leadership, at the  parliament, the Guurti, the judicial, at the established system. The executive, the parliament, the judicial, and Guurti are  incapable of working together on anything, even when their interests align.

The effect of inability by the legitimate governmental  institutions is a chronic decline in the political system’s capacity for self-organization. It begins with the weakening of the   parliament members that are constitutionally supposed to hold  politicians accountable for their decision and actions and prevent everyone in the system from pursuing naked self-interest all the time.

Like other disorders, the   inability of the legitimate institutions to do their job  reinforces itself.  It causes governmental dysfunction, which fuels public anxiety, which ignites political disruption, which creates yet more governmental dysfunction.

Disruption in politics and dysfunction in government reinforce each other. Whose responsibility it is to dilute this mess?

No Somaliland citizen wants to see the inability of the established institutions, but no one is able to prevent it. If politicians won’t do the job, then who else will?

The intellectuals and elites of Somaliland are nothing more than mere spectators, and most of them have given all their pretense of loyalty blindly to the politician that belongs to their own tribe; which is another hapless stand that completelly calls for incivility and ignorance.

Those few persons who speak up, stand up and speak out for the principles of a healthy system are only individual actors, pursuing their own political interests like excited gas molecules in an overheated balloon.

Somaliland is now more vulnerable to serious risks than ever before. The stability is at risk; voices of anti-Somaliland secession are increasing in Sool region; the  economy is getting worse day after day with no stimulating skills from the government side; the living standard of the people has worsened; the nation is in confusion – in respect of where the country is heading to politically.

Disunity is increasing among the people. The nation is now fractured along tribal lines, and even politically more divided than it was decades ago. The division and distance between the tribes just reflect the differences among the two main political parties.

Opinion polls continue to show that most Somaliland citizens are disgusted by the acrimony that currently pervades our nation.

When we recall the sorrow and anger that Somaliland people collectively felt when civil war against Faqash regime broke out on 1988 and the ensuing solidarity of citizens and contrast it with the polarization that we are experiencing today, many baffling questions come to mind. How did Somaliland get here? Are we allowing foreign forces to intervene, by tolerating all the internecine infighting that is on display between the ruling party and opposition party and their respective bases? Why are we witnessing such bitter politics? Why our political parties always falter and argue? When Somaliland politics has lost its shine?

Nations exhibit different solutions at different times to their challenges.

A lack of realistic self-assessment in our leadership just describes how Somaliland has come to blows in its social, economic and political atmosphere.

One approach to prevent political conflict and daunting challenges is self-assessment, selective adoption of best practices even from elsewhere while still preserving core values and flexibility that allows for social and political compromise.

Another prime reason is our leadership’s mindset, the narrative they choose to believe, often overrides their perception of reality and the facts in front of their faces.

What is amazing is whether those in charge in the governing class share a view based on knowing Somaliland country, not just part of it that fits with their inclination?

For those of us today who are lamentably poised to unlearn lessons of leadership inclination should know that Somaliland politics has lost its shine when Kulmiye came into being.

Of course diverse sources of structural power, intellectual politics and custodial leardership can only enhance political capacity in the contemporary era. Above all, a commitment towards custodial stewartdship is now both timely and politically prudent in light of the perplexing crosscurrents and daunting challenges.

By: Jana Falaag.

       HARGEISA, SOMALILAND