By Asha Abdalla
Editor’s note’s : This is an excerpt from an upcoming book titled Somalia failing due to bad leadership by Asha Ahmed Abdalla, a political activist and former parliamentarian and Assistant Minister.
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In the Transitional National Government of Somalia, which was formed in the year 2000 in Arta, Djibouti, I became a Member of Parliament for the first time and later on rose to the position of Deputy Minister of Labor, Sports and Social Affairs. After working hard with Mr. Galleydh, the first Prime Minister of the TNG, the political system changed. After a year and a half working with Mr. Galleydh, the already murky political atmosphere in the new TNG left nothing to be desired and Mr. Galleydh was booted unceremoniously out of the political spectacle. Then immediately, Mr. Hassan Abshir Farah became Prime Minister. Fortunately, I did promote to a State Minister, and six months later, I was a full minister. Since neither Abdiqasim nor Mr. Abshir had any idea of how to lead a government especially a struggling one like Somalia, it became compulsory to find a new leader for the beleaguered nation. That is why the Nairobi conference took place. While this conference on Somalia was in procession, nineteen Somalis were either killed, poisoned, and or maimed. Ahmed Rashid, a friend of mine died from deliberately inflicted stabbing by suspicious assailants while Dr. Farah was poisoned while in the hospital. Besides, two other doctors died mysteriously and to this day, no formal investigations have been conducted to bring the culprits to book.
For the two decades I was involved in almost every major Somali peace conference, I learned a lot from fellow Somalis and from outsiders as well. For all these years, the major obstacle to Somali peace had been the opportunistic, egotistic Somali who was wrapped in the nationalist garb with the sole aim of scuttling the peace process. Like the predator hyena who was wrapped in a sheep skin and who through the use of deceipt and debauchery stealthily decimated the entire sheep population in the kraal, Somali traitors, other than serving their self-interests, had no feasible, tangible agenda worth documenting. These traitors would at times take a little amount of money from outside agencies who were obsessed with running Somalia according to their wishes while at the same time injecting the crippled nation with incompatible, distorted imported ideologies.
On the other hand, there was the Mafia sitting in Kenya and elsewhere who played a great role in sabotaging the intended Somali governing, security and stabilization strategies. Most of the agencies engaged in Somalia, including foreign embassies and international organizations, immediately after the fall of military junta in Mogadishu, watched Somalia from a distance in neighboring Kenya where they had set up convenient, self-serving camps. Since Somalia had gone down in history books as an ungovernable and a failed state, these foreign entities preferred the luxury and assured security Nairobi offered to their staff and their families to the decrepit, ramshackle Mogadishu that was home to domineering warlords, marauding hooligans, radical fundamentalists, extortionists, assassins and suicide bombers. Astonishingly, of all the resources that had been donated to the Somali people, 80% percent went to the aid workers who stayed outside of Somalia. These aid workers lived a life of luxury, drove expensive cars and either resided in gated compounds and villas, mansions or maisonettes with manicured lawns. Aid workers who were engaged in volatile Somalia had all their travel expenses covered such as airplane tickets and vacation trips. The remaining 20% was divided among the local NGO’s. It was very limited resources that reached the poor Somali people.
The local NGO’s and civil society had been capitalizing on the role of the Somali government and damaging the lives of many Somalis. Sometimes they were hired to spy for the foreigners thus resulting in the destruction of the reputation of Somali values. Also, vicious warlords and many others driven by self-centeredness corrupted the system and the resources of this poor nation of Somalia. Most of the mafia who partook in the destruction of Somalia also collaborated with the local NGOs in the fleecing of Somalia’s foreign donated resources and finances by sharing the little remaining miscellaneous expenses that could be used to salvage some of the most acutely and adversely affected regions and populations. So, it had been quite difficult fighting the international mafia while Somali traitors were around.
The only hope I foresee so far, is to find a good team with good leadership potential whose devotion to their country’s wellbeing, if effectively engaged and well utilized, could set the stage for a brighter future, not only for the Somali nation, but for its neighbors and the world at large. Also, if only Somali politicians could be united under a reliable strategic command structure while at the same working on ways and means of overcoming their past mistakes for the sake of their beloved country, a remarkable solution could be achieved, not only for the present time, but for many future generations to come.
It is only the heartless, harmful brute who inflict harm on the innocent peace loving Somali. People of such description are devoid of reflection, focus and observation. In order to survive, they will apply all kinds of harmful tactics to dislodge those they despise most regardless of the victims age, physical and social conditions and political or ideological leanings.
Seeing the hopelessness and the lack of foresight missing from the minds and hearts of many Somali youths at times rent my heart asunder. On a daily basis, I could see the suffering, the fear, the loneliness, the social deprivation, and the bleeding mess our youth were entombed in and yet, those behind all these ills continued to thrive in all aspects of life. Lack of schools, the absence of reliable healthcare, rehabilitation and counseling centers, and the complete stagnation in the lives of Somali youth, meant Somalia was headed for a complete irreparable self-destruction. While all these political, social, and economic eyesores spread across all Somali territories, people incharge of humanitarian organizations and those entrusted with government and public funds, especially men and women who were impervious to disgrace and lacked any sense of shame, stealthily embezzled what could be used to resuscitate the suffering Somali mass.
On the other hand, businessmen, in their pursuit of wealth, political space, and social stardom, transformed into sole comptrollers and financiers of the national economy. They were an amalgamation of thieves who corrupted the economy, sold contaminated and expired products, and cherished the get-rich-quick attitude. In the absence of accountability and financial control, corrupt busisness magnates lived a world of their own completely unhindered by the long arm of the law that was, unfortunately, malfunctioning or inoperative in lawless and volatile Somalia. In a land lacking food and drug administration, one would wonder how many innocent civilians may have died as a result of consuming expired or contaminated products hoarded into the country by materialistic, greed-driven businessmen. Worse enough and sarcastically mind boggling is the spread of new diseases that were unknown before-diseases that adversely affected the struggling youth and the undiagnosable syndromatic maladies that decimated a good number of newly born children who would serve as the future leaders of the staggering Somali nation.
Besides, the same business people also acted as the most reprehensible and cowardly warlords in Somalia because they smuggled illegal weapons and then sold them to unlicensed individuals. Holders of unlicensed arms acted as fuctional groups, and to be very specific, they were akin to groups such as the Islamists and the mafia. Undoubtedly, working under the cover of darkness, these illegal gun holders may have been behind the elimination of very important individuals. With the proliferation and infiltration of small arms supplied by these businessmen, violence of unprecedented proportions continued to afflict many who had no hand in the general conflict. Since central and southern Somalia was awash with weapons of all kinds and make and that the human soul had lost its value and sacredness, the litter of corpses dotting the streets, dumpsites, alleyways, and even sacred sites deserved to be categorized as genocide. The Somalia that was once a haven of peace and an ocean of graceful men and women, had been deliberately and instantaneously transformed into a massive graveyard by a few hypocritical, hell-bound, wretched, and torpid human monsters. Many unattended or neglected corpses became delightful feasts for the hovering vultures and the towering marabou storks, the opportunistic scavenging black kite, and the carrion consuming crow, vicious insects, and a host of other predators.
There was a time I met a young man in Mogadishu. In the cause of our conversation, this individual told me how the businessmen are all devilish and full of evilhood and barbarism! Then I asked him to explain to me the factors that transformed them into such inhuman state. He gave me a long explanation of how they fought against the TFG at night time in Mogadishu, and how they got their weapons. To protect his identity, I will call him Moe. When I asked the young man Moe to explain to me how the business men collaborated in the operations against the TNG, without mincing words, he quickly responded: “We were residing in rented houses in Bakaara market as a group of young men, and every night at eight o’clock, we would go to specific stores owned by Somali businessmen in Bakaara market, hence, it was here where the businessmen hid their weapons.”
Though filled with fear and grudges, Moe continued with his narrations. He told me that, “these stores were filled with the weapons reserved for attacking and dislodging government positions. The same businessmen who were giving us the orders and assignments, were the owners of these weapons. Each of us was given a different assignment and place to target. Also, the businessmen were responsible for the replenishment of the ammunitions, and if any of us needed something, it was the businessmen’s duty to respond without the least hesitation. They were also responsible for the caring of the wounded and making burial arrangements for those killed in action. Everytime we finished an operation, the businessmen would collect their weapons until the next operation.”
Young Moe who was at times bitterly furious and other times composed and energized, rehearsed his ordeals by saying, “if we missed one operation, the deal was that we would not be paid the phone credits and the regular twenty-dollars plus the two-hundred of the daily operation. And we’ve been doing these jobs for many years.” It was at this juncture that I asked Moe the circumstances that endeared him to undertake such risky operations. I inquired from Moe if he would abandon his masters if he was given another choice, and his response was, “this is generally a criminal activity and a violation of human rights.” Moe said, “if I do leave them, they will come after me unless someone provides me with assured security and takes full responsibility for my upkeep. I mean someone who I can trust and take me out of this country! Otherwise, these people will kill me. These groups are not playing games and I’m afraid they might do something terrible in the future.”
Most juveniles like Moe have been misguided by different groups therefore they need help in order to save them from commiting further the crimes. Somalia’s immoral business people are those who vandalized the country, uprooted and shipped abroad national assets and antiques, including the important statues of our national heroes like Seyyid Mohamed Abdulla Hassan, Hawa Osman (Xaawa Taako), Dhagax Tuur, Ahmed Gurey, SYL, and others.
These statues had great value for the Somali people because they were symbols having immeasurable historical significance. Stealing these statues and selling them as scrap metal to countries like The United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Kenya and many others is in itself a crime of treason, betrayal of the worst kind, disloyalty and treacherous quandary. These criminals also shipped away light and heavy industrial equipments, military hardware, airplanes, ships, telephone cables, and every visible Somali history and civilization paraphernalia. These business people left no stone unturned; they killed, maimed, and wounded thousands with impunity. They shamelessly defecated on historical manuscripts by deliberately using precious documents as toilet paper; they ransacked entire libraries, introduced mind-altering drugs to our vulnerable, innocent youth and shamelessly built themselves business empires that will eventually cause their self-destruction.
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