Ali Gulaid, the self-styled leader of opposition in Somaliland, has compiled a report (apparently doing a favour for the panel set up by the vice president of Somaliland) about the reported dealings of telecommunications contract between the government of Somaliland and TDI (US based telecoms company) in which a national gateway and interconnections between the local telecoms companies are about to be installed in Somaliland. His scathing attack on the minister in charge of telecoms in Somaliland and other US-based Somalilanders believed to be behind this deal seems to be based on thorough investigations conducted by colleagues of Ali Gulaid in Washington DC as well as himself.  Or at least that is what we are led to believe by the author. But, the reality is far from this. It is based purely on false information and character assassinations on the individuals involved in this deal. It is a cynical ploy to attack the current government in general who never gets things right in Ali’s eyes and the minister of Posts and Telecoms in particular who seems to be doing his job in accordance with his ministerial remits. For Ali Gulaid, nobody in Somaliland government knows what he/she is doing, which is completely absurd for someone of Ali’s standing.

Anyone who read this article can see that it is riddled with inaccuracies and misinformation about the project. It lacks credible sources of reference: no background information about the TDI, the company at the centre of this deal, other than some accounts from Ali Gulaid’s friends in Washington DC. The said article tells us little about how Ali and his cohorts have come to the conclusion that this deal struck by the minister of Posts and Telecoms with TDI is not worth the paper it is written on and that the company involved is owned by a punch of money grabbing Johnny foreigners supported by members of our own Diaspora community. A reliable and credible investigative report would have contained expert quotes from people who are more knowledgeable in this field than Ali himself. In this case the whole report is based on his accounts. It would have also contained sources of reference, expert statements from named/unnamed persons and, above all, an explanation and illustration as to how and where this telecoms contract has been conducted. Instead, it is riddled with rumours and innuendoes on Abdirahman Waberi, who seems to be the target of Ali Gulaid’s latest venomous attack in here. In this day and age you need to produce much more than this to convince people, especially when you are Ali Gulaid whose earlier investigations have turned out to be completely unsubstantiated and baseless. As far as I know, Abdirahman Waberi was one of the senior managers of Warsun telecommunications for a number of years and that, at least, makes him more qualified and a reasonable expert in this field than the spiteful Ali Gulaid. As most of us know, Ali is not an expert in the field of telecommunications. He is an Accountant by trade, but seems to know every field you come across.

His latest attack against the minister of Posts and Telecoms and certain members of Diaspora community is nothing short of complete disgrace. It is typical of man who seems to know everything. Somalilanders in the Diaspora communities have done more than their fair share to bring foreign investors into Somaliland without gaining any meaningful rewards. Some have sacrificed their well paid jobs to help their people.
If we look deep into the problem of our telecoms companies in Somaliland, despite their major advancements in providing landlines and mobile services, it is obvious to the recipients of this service that there is a real problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. A customer of, say, Telesom company cannot make a phone call to his colleague at, say, Barakat or Arolite in the same town, or for that matter in the same neighbourhood. The only way you can communicate to your neighbourhood who has a different land line than yours in today’s Somaliland is the old trusted method: knocking your neighbour’s door. That is unacceptable in this day and age, and the government has every right to correct this problem if we have to compete with the rest of Africa.

To address this problem, Somaliland needs to install a modern telecoms system which enables its citizenry to both communicate with each other locally as well as to the rest of the world. Our local companies had plenty of time to sort out this problem, but only started to make noises when they heard overtures from afar. They are either unwilling to interconnect for their own selfish interest or lack the know-how and expertise to conduct such a business. If the latter scenario is applicable here then we need foreign intervention and know-how and that is exactly what the government seems to be doing.
However, if the former scenario is the case here then the government has a legal right to intervene and save the paying public from a potential cartel taking its roots deep in Somaliland’s telecoms industry. Ali and his supporters seem to be turning a blind eye to certain business deals conducted by their favourites whilst the deals conducted by the rest of Somalilanders seem to be dubious in their eyes. What a hypocrisy!

One can be an opposition and oppose certain government policies, but to oppose everything that comes from the government is just sour grapes and wholly unacceptable. At times, Ali Gulaid and his accomplices in these policies are doing disservice to their country by playing down all the achievements of this government. His dislike for certain people in Somaliland is well known among Somalilanders and that is why people will always take everything he says with a pinch of salt. One should ask as to why Ali Gulaid has never supported a single government policy in Somaliland.

For those interested, the said article written in Somali was published last week on Somaliland.org, the usual hunting ground of Ali Gulaid as well as Wardheernews.

Mohamed Yabarag
London, UK
myabarag@yahoo.co.uk

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