For Somalis who are either indifferent or supportive of the Somali Transitional Federal Parliament term-extension, of 3 more years, I would like to posit a would-be unintended consequence!

Just suppose, and this might very well happen, that Al-Shabaab is completely eradicated from all Somalia within this year. If so, the Somali people would be stuck with 550 do-nothing (some of them with blood on their hands), clan-based Members of Parliament (MPs).  

What is most important to Somalia and the Somali people is for the war to end first, and the long-awaited peace and quiet to finally usher in. It is for the displaced mothers and their children to go back to their homes and pick up the pieces— physically, psychologically and spiritually—of their shattered lives.

Sharif Hassan Sh. Aden, Speaker of the Trasional Parliament of the TFG

The last thing the Somali people need is, when the sound of gunfire is finally silenced, 550 so-called MPs to claim to be the legislatures still, for 3 more years, over a country and people of which and whom these MPs (many of them) were directly or indirectly responsible for their destruction.

Have we Somalis so easily forgotten 20 years of despair over what was hell on earth for our country and people?

The last Somali nightmare of a series of nightmares is this Al-Shabaab. Who is defeating Al-Shabaab now? Is it the 550 Motley crew of criminals, clan representatives and ignoramus, or the government?

With good reason, one would think that all Somalis, wherever they are, would effortlessly and enthusiastically quickly spot and get behind any effort with the promise of ending this one last nightmare.

Do you really believe what the Speaker of the Parliament, Sharif Hassan, is doing is about democracy and rule of law?

No, it is far from that. For me, just when someone in Mogadishu at last figured out how to remove that last obstacle to Somalia’s peace, I find it curious that this whole controversy, over power struggle, erupts.

Of course, there is that excuse of end-of-term for all Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs, which is both TFG and TFP) on August being conveniently used. But, here is what makes me ultra suspicious: that the parliament will break the existing rules, all be it foreign-designed for Somali Transitional Institution, by illegally extending its term for another 3 years.

When Sharif Hassan is questioned about the illegality of parliament’s term-extension, he answers: “there is no time for 550 MPs to be elected anew.” So much for respecting the Transitional Federal Institutions’ charter or legitimately doing business under the existing setup of rules, isn’t it? 

I smell the hand of our old enemy in all this, using some Somalis as a pawn, to stop Somalia from rising again. What better way than remove from power the Somalis behind the ongoing success against the Somalia’s last curse of Al-Shabaab?

Look, all I care about, as all Somalis should, is for the violence in Somalia to come to a halting stop, period. I thought this was what we Somalis have been praying for all these 20 years!

A real legitimacy of leaders, after all, should come from their people. The sooner this raging violence in the South and Central of Somalia is arrested, the only chance for the Somali people to ultimately choose their representatives, from a president to a member of parliament!

Perhaps, the stakes could be even bigger than that. If the war against Al-Shabaab is not concluded sooner, the very Somalia as a nation, as we knew it, could be beyond stitching back together.

I, as one Somali as any, have been frustrated with this whole transitional Federal Institutions—all their successive TFGs and TFPs. That said, I choose to keep my eye on the prize, which is first thing first, and that is for guns—the evil in Somalia’s time—to be muzzled! This is so because I trust; given a decent chance for real peace, my over-and-over again victimized people will successfully see through their way to governance!

A clever person once said: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.”  

I do not mean to say the current TFG leaders are devils, but here is the Moral of the story behind such proverb: “If you have to choose between a familiar but unpleasant situation and an unfamiliar situation, choose the familiar one because the unfamiliar situation may turn out to be worse!”

I would like to ask all reasonable Somalis this: However disappointed you are with TFG entity, if the current one is doing—and believe you me it is doing it—the most important job, which is defeating the armed thugs of A-Shabaab, why not bless it with only one more year?

Better yet, why should we take the risk of bringing a new president and his government, as Sharif Hassan is itching to do so, if such new government is (1) chosen by the current parliament, and (2) is most likely of a recycled, former members of failed past TFGs?

If you agree with me that the issue of utmost importance for our Somali people now is to completely overthrow the violent Al-Shabaab, why then “fix it, if it ain’t broke?” 

Please don’t tell me this is an issue of exercising “democracy,” what democracy? There is not a matter of principle in the entire current impasse at all.

In conclusion, the future of our nation, as one unified country, and the welfare of our people are contingent on ending this war. Today, a Somali life is the most devalued human life of the entire human family on this blue planet Earth.

Pres. Sh. Sharif Sh. Ahmed and PM Mohamed A. Farmajo

Our most vulnerable of mothers, children and elderly are huddling in a make shift dwellings in the bush—an internally displaced and strewn refugees in their own country. They are at the mercy of hunger, disease and harsh elements. Our fellow Somalis are being murdered even in South Africa, of all places, for the crime of only being savvy entrepreneurial spirits.

Our flag, our dignity and pride are no longer worth not even a batch of a toilet tissue. All these we have done to ourselves. There is no one else to blame but us. Only if we look forward and rise above the petty and the pity shall we rise from the ashes of our own-making misfortunes.     
Violence was, from the beginning of our tribulation, and still is the barrier of our comeback as that unique people, unlike any in the world, on the Horn of Africa. This violence, the last horrific impediment of our Somali lives, is Al-Shabaab. No words on peaceful resolution of conflict, either by God’s scripture or manmade, can catch their ears—only bullets they respect!

And so I am down, with no apologies or explanation, with whoever in Mogadishu with the ability and track record of obliging Al-Shabaab with the only phraseology Al-Shabaab respects, which is their perfected and beloved craft called violence.

Why should I ever be allergic or resist a one year term-extension for any Somali leaders who are taking the fight to Al-Shabaab; knowing fully that the end of Al-Shabaab is the last best hope for me to see my Somalia as it should—one nation and country under God!

On the contrary, I congratulate President Sheikh Sharif and Premier Farmajo for a job well-done on Al-Shabaab. I would have done exactly the same, with not a moment of hesitation at all, if names associated with Al-Shabaab’s defeat in progress were Sharif Sakin or even Habar Kuuley.
For our people’s sake, I urge my fellow Somalis, wherever you are, to get behind the successful war against Al-Shabaab. One year, in my opinion, for all Transitional Federal institutions, of TFG and TFP, should suffice, the supreme goal of which should be cleansing Al-Shabaab from Somalia proper! Surely, as Mogadishu goes out of Al-shabaab’s hands, this wretched Al-Shabaab organization will unravel faster than we might think! Now is the time that we all support and encourage these efforts for a lasting peace!