By Osman Hassan
Baashe Mohamed Farah was lynched in broad daylight in Somaliland’s so-called Parliament in Hargeisa on Saturday, 12 September. It was an event that has gone viral on TV, international radios and social media. But while this orgy of lynching Baashe, a pathetic defenceless victim, is seen by his bashers as comeuppance for his insolent impertinence of challenging the Speaker, it would also have wider ramifications beyond what his bashers in Hargeisa have reckoned with. From the perspective of his people, Baashe, like other collaborators (Horgolayaal as they are known) for Somaliland hailing from the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC), would have remained a disgraced turncoat destined to be consigned to the dustbin of their history were it not for the disgraceful treatment meted out to him inside Hargeisa’s Parliament and outside. What this incident does is not to redeem in anyway the man’s tattered reputation. Rather, what is important about it are the implications it entails for Khatumo and for Somaliland.
In his misguided unwavering support for Somaliland and the secession, Baashe has gone out of his way to prove his loyalty, earn his credentials in order to buy their acceptance as a true Somalilander. He married from the leading secessionist sub-clan, denizens of Hargeisa, and was one of the first from the SSC regions to have supported the SNM from the early 1980s. As a prosperous business man in those days, he squandered his money on their cause. Since the declaration of secession, he was the one always available to be used to champion the cause of the secession at any forum – international and national- masquerading as the representative of the voice of the SSC people; he would be also the one ever eager to be sent on mission to Lascanod and the SSC regions (like Xagle Toosiye and other collaborators) – a political gimmick aimed at hoodwinking the international community and a gambit to divide the SSC people. Baashe did all that and more for Somaliland regardless of the opprobrium of his people; and all for what?
Well, for what it is worth, he was first made the third deputy Speaker of the clan’s Parliament and subsequently the first deputy, a hollow gesture meant to show that the SSC regions have a stake in the enclave’s power-sharing. It says a lot about Baashe naivety and slavishness to the enclave that he could take this charade seriously. But he did, and paid the price for it. What happened the other day in the enclave’s Parliament was, on the face of it, a mere dispute between the Speaker, Ciro, and his deputy about a procedural matter about a motion- denied by the speaker but supported by his deputy. Such disputes are common are part and parcel of parliamentary systems.
In the case of Somaliland’s Parliament, there are ways and means of addressing such disputes but that does not include the resort to physical violence by the speaker if he cannot have his way. Once challenged by his deputy, he could have briefly adjourned the session and sort out this dispute calmly behind closed doors; and if that failed, pass it on to the appropriate parliamentary committee or other authority to adjudicate on the matter. The speaker dispensed with all this, and instead got up and rained heavyweight punches on an unsuspecting sitting featherweight. Only after poor Baashe was floored and the Speaker quenched his anger did the deputies, who were manifestly on his side, intervene and saved the traumatised underdog from further punishment. As if taught a good lesson not to overstep his limits as a guest, Baashe, the victim, was quick to apologise pathetically while still punch-drunk and shaken. This adds insult to injury.
What happened outside Parliament, after the incident, was no less egregious. Baashe was not only lynched physically inside Parliament but also orally outside it. Almost the entire political and social elite of the secessionist clan rounded on him as the foul guy deserving his punishment. Faisal Ali Waraabe, always quick off the mark as the self-appointed arbiter of all matters, had no doubt that Baashe was to blame for what happened. His deputy, Ali Gurey, paring his teeth in anger, was more damning, claiming that Baashe had a history of being agent provocateur for Siilaanyo and that what happened to him in Parliament was long overdue. One Sultan of one of the sub-clans, talking more like a gangster than peacemaker, went over the top in chastising Baashe, claiming he was an alien from Buuhodle and, if he did not mend his ways, his marriage to the clan would not save him next time from worst treatment. And so the incident rumbles on, still doing the rounds.
But there is always the after-morning fallouts from this incident in so far it affects the SSC regions. How far will it adversely impact on the flow of SSC collaborators, the “Horgolayaal”, of all stripes?. Those foot-loose peddlers of their loyalties to Hargeisa for quick cash are unlikely to be discouraged as long as their loyalties are in demand. It is the ministers, already subject to dumping once their usefulness are exhausted, who, on the other hand, have good reasons to worry.
Perhaps sensing this new dawning threatening reality, Xagle Toosiye was quick to go on TV soon after the incident to distance himself from Baashe. Portraying himself as an insider rather than an outsider like Baashe, he claimed to be a true Hargeisaawi than Buuhodlaawi. Why? because he was born in Hargeisa and studied there. He must live in fool’s paradise! The dilemma facing collaborators at the end of the day is whether the benefits of selling their loyalties to Somaliland for whatever price outweigh the costs entailed- disowned first by their own people and ultimately by Somaliland. Time will tell.
But what we can say for certain is that many in the SSC regions, much as they despise or disown Baashe (and other collaborators), will still strongly object to his treatment. This is not because they care in the least about him but because they reckon that the Speaker, Ciro, would not have attacked him in such a humiliating uncalled for manner, nor his clan support his action, if Baashe was from one of the ruling Isaaq sub-clans. It is an attack, as they see it, not on Baashe per se but on them too. To that extent, it is bound to deepen the support for Khatumo, serving as eye-opener for all SSC ambivalent waverers, and force them to see the true colours of the one-clan secessionist enclave in Hargeisa. Ciro might have given Baashe a knock-out and won the day, but it is Khatumo who will be the ultimate winner from this shameful incident.
Osman Hassan
Email: osman.hassan2 @gmail.com
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Osman Hassan is a seasoned journalist and a former UN staff member. Mr Hassan is also a regular contributor to WardheerNews
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