By Mohamed F. Yabarag
Since the collapse of the Somali state in 1991 and the subsequent chaos and the deadly tribal/civil strife that had plagued this nation for the best part of the last two decades, the country was always yearning for decent men and women who could bring this hopeless and painful situation to a halt and rebuild the country from scratch–a difficult but certainly not insurmountable task.
Amid much fanfare and jubilation in late 2012, that honor was handed over on a silver platter to Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, an unknown local academic, to take the country forward to the next stage where, inter alia, civil and government institutions are reconstituted and one-man, one-vote electoral system put in place during his four-year tenure in office. To say President Mahmoud has failed on both tasks is utter understatement. He simply let down the nation big time.
On the two key important issues of institution-building and electoral system, the incumbent had deliberately created more confusions and divisions than solutions by putting his entire political weight behind the establishment and sustainment of a warring tribal-based regions that are not in the slightest accountable to their constituencies, let alone the federal government that they are meant to be part of. Instead of investing heavily on these critical but important issues that could have benefited the nation in the longer run, President Hassan opted for a confrontational approach against the burgeoning federal states (Hiiraan and Middle-Shebelle state to join the bandwagon soon) that could only further exacerbate a tense situation.
He personally financed and created Galmudug federal state in complete violation against the draft Somali national constitution, which stipulates that two or more former regions of Somalia can join to becomea federal state. Galmudug consists of one region and a half, but nevertheless, the president pushed his agenda forward and endorsed it through the rubber-stamping parliament to ensure his kin in Galmudug tip the balance when the tribal horse-trading so-called presidential election kicks off in September, 2016 (now postponed to October, 2016).The on-going feud between two federal states, particularly Galmudug and Puntland continues unabated, with the president always on the side of Galmudug, his kinship.
Here, his intention is simple: to ensure they continue fighting whilst he is entrenching and consolidating power in the nation’s capital, Mogadishu. A simple example of the virtually non-existent cooperation between Mogadishu and its regional partners was glaringly evident last week when a law banning khat import–a toxic leave chewed and indulged by Somalis–from Kenya enacted by the Federal Government of Somalia was rather cynically brushed aside by the Puntland administration. Flights were simply diverted to other airports that are out of Mogadishu-based federal government’s reach and there was little the hapless lot of Mogadishu could do about it.
Even though Puntland was at fault on this particular issue and their intention was to undermine the federal government for their own selfish interest–point scoring if you like–everything is down due to President Hassan’s intransigency and manipulative attitude.
To be fair to them, he thwarted almost every proposal put forward by the federal states for the benefit of the nation, even though they are not blameless themselves. If anything can unite us it must surely have been the banning of Khat, but the Harvard-educated President of Puntland had a different view than those in Mogadishu and the Somalis at large. Moreover, if the central government and its federated partners cannot compromise on this harmful substance that does not belong to any particular Somali tribe, heaven knows what else that can bring them together in unison. This is a clear indication of how big the gap between the so-called federal states (tribal states in my book) and the central authority is–a gap highly unlikely to be narrowed under the current government led by President Hassan.
Apart from the meaningless and umpteenth meetings sponsored by the UN-appointed representative of Somalia and the IGAD group here and there, there is hardly any significant working relationship between the federal government and its federal partners. In fact, they have little or nothing in common despite being part of the so-called Federal Government of Somalia (FGS)–a federal system wrongly prescribed for the Somali people in the first place in Mbagathi, Kenya. The current governance system in Somalia is nothing but a federal, and Hassan Sheikh is largely to blame for this stalemate.
On the electoral issue, President Hassan has spent most of his precious little time on procrastinating and picking up fights against everyone: his appointed prime ministers (he handpicked and replaced two in quick successions), members of the Federal Parliament, federal states of Somalia, international community, donors…literally any stakeholder one can think of. This unnecessary and avoidable squabble had consumed a huge amount of time for a country that has little time to recover from its dreadful past failures. Some observers actually believe that there is no genuine desire and drive on the part of the incumbent to reconstitute a viable government for all, fearful that a stable federal government may undermine his ambition to rule Mogadishu forever.
Moreover, President Hassan has developed into a typical African dictator by usurping all the powers of the state’s different branches; judiciary, legislature and the executive office. In reality, he is the premier, speaker of parliament, head of judiciary and God knows what other roles he occupies. No branch of government can duly conduct its daily routine business without being interfered by President Hassan. Some even dub him the governor of the central bank of Somalia, a role he relishes in earnest. It is a well-known secret that the bank had recently become a “lush fund’ for all the illegal, dubious and dodgy deals that President Hassan and his cronies conduct through it.
President Hassan’s grip on power in the nation’s capital, Mogadishu, through tribal allegiance has alienated many Somalis, particularly those from faraway regions to the extent that it is highly questionable if Mogadishu is any longer the capital of the Somali nation.
During Hassan’s reign, Somalia’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity had continuously been trampled on and infringed by our old-age arch enemies, particularly Ethiopia, through its ruthless General Gabre who is, without any shadow of doubt, the de facto leader of Somalia. As if our elected, or shall I say selected president is a mere governor of Ethiopia representing its interest in our country, he pays more visits to Addis Ababa than he does to his local supermarket, or mosque. This is contrary to his first pledge when he took the reign that he would not pay a meaningless visit to a foreign country until Somalia’s internal affairs are mended.
It is astounding how Somalia degenerated into this hopeless situation under President Hassan and his unpatriotic and looting cronies. Somalia was relatively peaceful, let us say, for the best part of the last four years despite Al-Shabab’s odd bombardment on Villa Somalia and elsewhere. Nevertheless, the progress made under the incumbent is a typical one small step forward and a giant step backward. In other words, there is no tangible progress towards institution-building, expansion of government, national reconciliation, preparing the nation for one-man, one-vote electoral system and, more importantly, building a strong and non-tribal national army that brings the country into a sense of normality and protects the nation from the continuous infringement of Ethiopia and Kenya. President Hassan seems to be happy and content to run the show from his fortified Villa Somalia under the watchful eyes of AMISOM, who in turn are equally happy in drawing their fat paychecks.
In conclusion, President Hassan Sheikh has had his four-year term in relative peace, and wasted. All the milestones set out for his presidency had been missed whilst the much-vaunted, so-called Somali Roadmap to peace and recovery lies in tatters. Somalis are more divided now than when the incumbent arrived at Villa Somalia, at least politically.There is hardly any improvement in the livelihood of Somali men and women in Mogadishu and the wider Banadir region, let alone the country as a whole–nor is there a social cohesion to brag about.
The renegade enclave called “Somaliland” is hardly on the President’s bulging file on his in-tray. Some even suggest that there is collusion between the two to keep things that way. The mistrust, suspicion and division along tribal lines between the FGS and federal states is menacingly growing faster and the prospect of narrowing this divide is remote under the current leadership. The list of missed opportunities for President Hassan Sheikh is long and growing by the day. Giving him another four-year term could mean the likes of Jubaland and Puntland going it alone and kissing goodbye to a system that was nothing but a manipulated federal system.
This would also mean a field day for Somalia’s daring enemies who, as we speak, are claiming a large chunk of Somalia’s sea in The Hague, Netherlands, following their earlier acquisition of the Northern Frontier Districts (NFD). Politicians who were part and parcel of this treacherous act, the so-called Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Kenya and Somalia, are either sitting on Hassan’s handpicked cabinet or vying for the upcoming presidential contest.
Talk about treachery. This is the man who under the full view of the statue of Seyid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan in Jigjiga, which rightly epitomizes Somali nation’s struggle for statehood, said the following fatal words: “all the history lessons about Somalia’s past struggles towards statehood” which also means all the lives lost in these heroic struggles “that we studied in our schools were fake and non-existent”. Imagine any other president saying this about this people and country. He/she would have been slaughtered on the spot. If we are not totally blinded by vicious and nasty tribalism, President Hassan would have been relieved from office forthwith, if not sent to the gallows. Our country, synonymous with all sorts of negative depictions and portrayals and even dubbed a “failed state” by the International Community, is currently at the mercy of a failed President who missed out on all his stated objectives.
Due to Somalia’s vicious tribal system coupled with the vote-buying MPs, President Hassan could end up in Villa Somalia for another four-year term. And that will spell a disaster for the people and the country. To avoid such a dreadful scenario, Somalis, especially the upcoming parliamentarians, should have a hard and long look at themselves and kick the ghost of Hassan sheikh from Villa Somalia. It is time to usher in people of integrity who are not tainted by our troublesome past. It is time to put aside our tribal differences and save this country from total oblivion.
Mohamed F. Yabarag
Email: [email protected]
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