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THE COST OF MALADMINISTRATION AND CORRUPTION IN SOMALILAND By: Abdelkarim A. Hassan July 24, 2004 “The Television screen fills with an image of heavenly clouds. A choir of voices swells at the background. The music grows louder, as the cloud drift apart there emerges the face of a man, dark and handsome, the camera zoom in. It speaks of strength, compassion, though no words are uttered. What the viewer knows immediately is that this is no mere mortal. No indeed, its Mobuto Sese Seko. A formal penniless army sergeant, found himself presiding over an unprecedented economic boom. His response was to go on a spending orgy that made economists' heads whirl. But his priorities were sadly confused; what he sough was not national development, but personal prestige and national grandeur “ David Lamb, “The Africans”
This quote from David Lamb sums up how present day corrupt dictators govern their unfortunate people. It reminded me very much in days of the late Dictator Siad Barre when David continues writing “Mabuto built palaces, dedi cated monuments to himself. He bought for his enemies and turned his friends into overnight millionaires. The African presidents have adopted nick names to convey a desired image such as chief of chiefs, the teacher, and no 1 peasant”. I believe these names are all familiar to us. In today's Somaliland, Mobuto's culture is thriving. Riyaale is alleged to have multiple properties in Djibouti and his hometown, Borama the provincial capital of Awdal. One often hears at the Khayria of Hargeisa, loud complaints about the riches and fortune that he has so quickly amassed, including buildings in the city of Dubai. All these, in the mist of the growing and devastating poverty in Somaliland are a sign of a run-away corrupt government. For example, according to UNDP 2002/2003 reports, Somalia in general falls at the bottom of countries known as Low income countries under stress “ LICUS " The study also shows the per capita income is less than US $ 1 per day. The UNDP report in dicates that the rate of unemployment is about 50-65% and child employment in the age of 10-14 years is 22-24%. This means in every 10 people, 6 of them don't have jobs, while the other 4 are working at jobs that may not cover their basic needs. The report highlights the daunting domestic challenge that is facing the Riyaale's administration as well as any future government that may emerge from the rest of Somalia. In Somaliland, the private sector is functioning to a respectable degree, particularly in the areas of trade, communications, and transport etc. The private sector is relatively doing well without any public policy intervention by the current government, which has been inept in its ability to formulate any meaningful public policy. Moreover, the role of the governments in providing social services is lacking or does not exist at all. On the contrary, the Riyaale government, by loosing respect among the people of Somaliland, serves nothing more than a constant remi nder of the dark years of Said Barre's rule. Governments, in general, serve as an apparatus in providing social services, infrastructure for justice and administration. They put forth economic and developmental plans that would serve the advancement of its people and their overall nation's interest. These includes creating jobs, building schools, hospitals, roads, providing quality health care and other social services and creating an atmosphere to attract foreign investors. After the fall of the late dictator Siad Barre's regime, Somaliland has embarked on a road of reconciliation that was supposed to lead to a transparent and democratic country where the rule of law and due process are the norm. It's becoming obvious that few corrupt power hungry individuals hijacked the hope and aspirations of the people of Somaliland. Surprisingly enough, these individuals include some who were on the other side of the fence at the time of Somaliland's struggle. It's positive to focus in the future as the communities of Somaliland wisely agreed without digging the wounds of the past. Even so, the question that still stands is this: are Mr. Riyaale and his administration competent enough to face today's challenges? After many years of neglect from the former dictator's regime and years of devastating wars, Somaliland has yet to see any developmental plans from Riyaale's administration. Urban poverty, unemployment and diseases among the poor is more pronounced in the country's urban center more than any time since Somaliland withdrew from union with Somal ia. Multitudes of people are pouring in from the surrounding rural areas; the ban of livestock export that was generating most of the country's backbone revenue is still in place. Plastic bags, which happened to be a common commodity, are all over the city creating devastating environmental consequences. (The problem of the bags has reached to a point where people refer to them as “ Street flowers “ a fitting irony for Hargeysa, a shinning city, which once was known for its vibrant and picturesque flowers towered by the shady trees of Gob and Qudhac). These critical issues are not even in Mr. Riyaale's radar. The function of the government top officials is not just to sit idle and accumulate the country's scarce hard currency for their personal pleasures, but to put together a comprensive plan to address the needs of the country and its people. Recently Mr. Riyaale announced his 2004 fiscal budget plan without any accountability and justification of the previous year's expenditure. It was very obvious from the proposed budget plan that it lacked a sound judgment of the government priorities. The budget calls for 9.25 % of the national expenditure, which amount to US $ 2,033,901 for the office of the president and political funds that are under his disposal. This represents the largest government expenditure only behind the Army and Police. Not surprisingly, the essential social services and production sectors such as education, health, justice, Agriculture and developmental projects are not high in priority. It's not a secret that Mr. Riyaale, besides being paid more than most of the developed countries presidents, is als o given a blank check to use and abuse how ever he pleases for the country's resources.
The concept of good governance has been abused to its fullest. Good governments emerge only when there are checks and balances, free press, independent and critical thinkers who lay their loyalty for the good of their countries. The government is said to have an effective system of checks and balances when no branch holds total power, the system of checks and balances comprises the right to check and the means to actively balance out imbalances. The legislative and Judiciary branches fill this role. Checking requires access to information and the right to question. Balancing requires a mechanism of control to prevent the branches from overstepping from their constitutional power limits. Also it is important to note that some amount of balancing is done by independent press, because of the press's ability to research and bring issues to public awareness and thus influence people. Somaliland's free press has done a superb job in filling its role of checks and balances independently. However, the Somaliland parliament and justice system act as a tool used by Mr. Riyaale for his own political agendas and assumed a cheer leading role. The parliament regardless of their party affiliations rather than acting on the interest of their constituencies put their loyalty where their mouth is, of course with Mr. Riyaale. These representatives either don't understand their constitutional responsibilities “that they don't work for Mr. Riyaale” or they are acting merely on their individual interests. Its very important not to be blind-sided the reasoning Mr. Riyaale appropriates much of the countries money for his office, which is to command so when he says, “jump, they say how high”. Recently, the Riyaale administration, through circulars prepared by his corrupt interior minister with the help of the Police chief publicly stated that no gathering are allowed unless the participants are members of a party! They are openly arguing that the Civil Society has no role in influencing the policy making of the nation. This is a throw back to the days of Said Barre when any form of public or private gathering was illegal. The invocation of such edict is a behavior of a ruthless and cunning dictatorial government (Said Barre re-incarnated in his tutelage of Riyaale and Ismaciil who had known no other master than Barre). This unabashed invocation of Stalinist rule in Somaliland, at a time when the country has nothing going on for except the pride of its people and its daring attitude to experiment with the democratic norms and the rule of laws, requires a second revolution to rescue the country. The current administration in Hargeisa is supposed to be transparent, limiting its power of the state through laws and constitution and enforce these laws. The true power in fact is supposed to rest with the people who elected those who hol d the top offices. Unfortunately, the people who rule Somaliland today cannot appreciate the fact for they are nothing more nothing less than Siyaadists who some how climbed to the top in the very Somaliland they so long helped oppress! It's about time we should open our eyes and call for an independent auditing of Mr. Riyaale and his administrations books. Somaliland's people deserve a transparent government where the rule of law is respected, the dreams of every child to live a good life is materialized and tomorrow is better than today. Currently the situation is, as we are all passengers in a vehicle that has made radically a wrong turn in a dark road with its headlights off and with someone behind the wheel who doesn't not know how to drive. If the situation is left unchecked, the fate of the country and its people could be headed toward a disaster. Abdelkarim A HassanSan Diego, Caahassanh@aol.com |
