Somalia’s One-eyed leaders

The need for practical good leadership in Somalia is so apparent; of course it is because of lack it that the country is in an endless turmoil for more than two decades now.

Poor Somalis have always choked back their seething grieves and rages to get the kind of men and women who can lead them well into the road to peace and stability, but always in vain.

A leader will never find his way unless you lead him by the noose, but the leading classes in Somali have never given that opportunity to their subject, their desperate people, and have since lead the country from bad to worse.

The powerful political classes in Somalia, whether they are what I call ‘cooperate’ or clan leaders have only known which side of the bread is buttered.

They seem to lay their plans depending on what gains they can get without worrying about the trouble and vexation of their helpless and poor people. It doesn’t matter to them whether one person is dying or a thousand people are massacred.

Somalia is not the country of the blind, there are many good capable men and women who can really make their people proud, but the real problem is that one-eyed men always want to be the kings in this failed state.

Some people say that Somalia is a country where everybody wants to be the president, but I say Somalia is a country like any other in the third world where visionary leadership is absent to fast track reconciliation process.

Over the last two devastating decades an estimated one million Somalis have been killed, many more million of others have been displaced. Far more awesome the country is degenerating into a worsening trend every passing day.

From every end: much from within Somalia and from the international community, the blame game concerning the Horn of Africa nation continues unabated , and in the process we only see more deaths, displacements and destructions.

In Somalia there is really a total crisis of leadership, the failure of finding the right honorable prime minister in the last three transitional governments is a testimony to the boring patterns of bad-politics in this poor nation.

From the administration of both the immediate former president Abdullahi Yussuf to the current regime of Sheikh Sharif, several prime ministers have left the government with their tails between their legs.

There is all the reason to believe that the people of Somalia always find themselves backing the wrong horse.

The catalogue of resignation of about five prime ministers over the past a half a decade signals how the lagging lords in Somalia is hitting a dead-end leaving behind  little hope and aspiration for new comers into the power nod of the country.

From the vacation of Ali Mohamed Gedi who has been the country’s premier from 2004 to 2007, to the most recent victim Ali Sharmake, we have only known to see an array of resignation after resignation casting doubt on whether Somalia can ever produce an able-bodied prime minister and president.

Not mention the period of president Abdulqasim, first resignation started with Mr. Gedi in December 2007 after along standing difference with President Abdullathi Yussuf.  Following the resignation of Gedi, Premier Nur Hassan rose to the helm but later fought decisively with his appointee only to result in the downfall of the entire interim authory forcing president Yusuf to vacate office consequently.

The regime of president Sharif has inherited the same unyielding appointments that only wasted the timeframe to enhance institutional strengthening of the country. The reason why many premiers left their job has been lack of cooperation between the executive arms.

Now the same game goes on and on, president Sharif follows the same path his two predecessors have failed to quantify accurately for Somalia’s hard-to-crack peace process.

As time and tide wait for no man, we only anticipate seeing an expiry of the transitional government come Augst2011 without any significant achievement for the people of Somalia.

This kind of  leadership in the successive interim governments is undoubtedly not a solution for Somalis; it rather shows the edifice of a complicated peace process that will ever remain hanging in the balance.

The ever-stale political quagmire nurtured a not-promising situation, if the current poor leadership in the country continues to rule, the people in this God-forsaken nation will only have a chance in hell.

For the people of Somalia it is now time to take the bull by the horns, there is always more than one way to skin a cat, there is no need to waste time on the same process again and again that resulted total failures.

The appointment of the new Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi will never make difference in as long as the same failures that trapped his predecessors still remain. Mr. Abdullahi has been praised from Cape to Cairo but he should know that he is not a sacred cow, and that he will certainly resign one day.

His appointment comes with nothing big, it is the same Somalia that he has left a decade ago, nothing has changed really for you premier.

I am sure those who have appointed you have misled your integrity as a scholar and by accepting the offer you have certainly thrown yourself into the lion’s den.

Now it’s your time and turn, but remember everyman is the architect of his own fortune. The people of Somalia cannot remain ruined by worthless leaders who have no moral fortitude to act decisively and in the best interest of Somalis.

The bleating sheep that cannot leave the herd

Everybody in our family have endlessly complained about one black sheep. This sheep in our herd is very disturbing to the extent that even our young herd boys are considering to chain and leave her behind while the rest of the animals are grazing out in the plains far away from our homes.

The problem with this particular sheep is very worrying, every night she is the noisiest creature in our neighbourhood.

Every sunrise complains reach us that old men are unable to spend their nights peacefully. Wailing young children are unable to spend the night sucking the breasts of their mothers.

Everyday, the question our neighbours are asking is “what is all the bleating about” and we say as usual, it is the ‘black sheep’ that they have known for months now.

The most frightening thing for our family and our neighbours is that her blowing bleat attracts wild cats, hyenas and the lurking lions.

In fact several of our herds are missing and lost after hyenas attracted by the noise stormed into our boma.

Much to her own suffering, she lags behind always when the rest of the animals are coming home in the evening. In fact she is the last to arrive. So an extra herd boy should always remain behind with the ‘black sheep’ so that she can be safe to reach home at dusk.

Now we are in trouble because of this ‘black sheep’ that has taken over our bushy compound.

But to my father, this sheep is so important as well. It is the only high breed animal in our village, everyone admires because she produces the best of milk and young ones every breeding season.

She has been the apple of my father’s eye. Everyday when the animals arrive he has to count starting with the black sheep. So her absence to my father, a longtime Somali herder is like missing one of his eyes.

My father has personally received complains about the sheep so many times, but he does not take things seriously.

He is seemingly reluctant to bring solution to our herd and to address the complains of our  neighbours. Things are not coming clear to him as it appears to me and the rest of family.

I can no longer put up with our grueling neighbours. For members of our family, the black sheep has become an identity. When we walk around the village, we hear rumours behind our back. Bush boys call us all sorts of names including the family of the ‘bleating sheep’

I am the eldest son of my father, and as our pristine Somali culture dictates, I have the privilege to discuss and advice my father concerning our homestead.

Clearly this is a big menace in our family, and we need to get an urgent solution in this regard. I was thinking about slaughtering the sheep or selling it at the local livestock market in Wajir,  my pastoral hometown.

But before I share the problem of the black sheep with my father, I decided to think about the matter seriously.

I know of course my father is a very wise man, obviously he has all the reasons why he does not want to get rid of this troublesome animal.

I don’t want to see him over the issue unless when the time comes to be able convince him to eradicate the black sheep.

I am still thinking about why my father is not taking the matter seriously and why he is keeping this problematic 'black sheep' in our compound.

(Short story  developed by: Abdullahi Jamaa)

Consumption of Khat will soon be culturally unacceptable in the UK. And you Somali?

The Guardian newspaper in the UK reports that the consumption of Khat in the UK is likely to be restricted or even completely banned as unacceptable cultural practice.

Here comes my Somali community which is by far and wide entangled by the dangers of this mild stimulant drug, it is indeed one of the reasons why I am a sobbing Somali.

The decision to refer Khat to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in the UK is timely and there needs to be an urgent intervention to declare Khat an illegal drug.

If the UK is thinking of considering Khat as unacceptable cultural practice, what does it mean for you as a Somali- a culture deeply entrenched in the roots of our societal lifestyles?

Ugandan Forces Cannot Claim Progress in Somalia

The Ugandan Media Centre posted an article headlined ‘The UPDF Has Done A Great Job In Somalia’ but this is totally unacceptable and is seemingly a here-say, a mere lopsided propaganda all together,  to justify the presence of Uganda’s People Defense Force in Somalia.

To my understanding of things, the situation in Somalia has been an acid test for any country that had ever interfered militarily in Somalia, Uganda included. Its claim of progress is not reflected on the ground, if what is happening in Mogadishu is anything to go by.

The opposition parties in Uganda should not be condemned for their expression of deployment of their troops in Somalia, for they know the dangers that come with.

Of all things Uganda is a very poor East African country, its ill-equipped defense force cannot claim advances in a country where the 1993 US humiliation is still fresh in the minds of many people.

Lest anyone forget, Somalia is the first country in Africa to democratically hand over power to a majority-elected president in the 1960’s when majority of states in the continent like Uganda were  still under dictatorship. Even today.

Military interventions do not work in Somalia mind you, democratic acceptance from the people of Somalia can lead the light here, and the Ugandan forces are not accepted to operate in Mogadishu.

Somalia conflict

The Somalia conflict is always aggravating. What do you think will be the fate of the failed state given that at the moment there is an emerging split within Al-Shabaab's top commanders. For me it exacerbates the situation further leaving Somalis with slim chances for peace and instability.