By Ali Bahar

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi " A Veterinarian making a decent and honest living before he involved himself in this -4.5-formula-driven-politics that produced politically handicap men like him to lead the nation"

In a recent interview, the Somali Prime Minister uttered what some Somali political analysts considered unguarded and unintelligent words, depends who you are talking to, in an attempt to answer a question regarding Somaliland’s Christmas shopping for independence. The charge is that, though the circumstance is provincial---the northern region-- as some people see it, it encompasses a great deal of national importance, as some others see it. The concern of some Somalis is driven on the perception that no one dares to endeavor to withdraw a region from the glorious union by which all are meant to be in harmony and remain happily ever married. There is a general sentiment that, at least some of us argue, it is the interest of the whole to go hand in hand; and dismal in every instance would be the fate of the men that should dare to retreat from the union. However the question that the majority of us may not have an answer for, as evidenced by our Prime Minister’s response, is whether Somaliland has broken a law in deciding to pull out of the union. All emotions and the love for a unified Somali nation aside, and in this context let it be any part of the union that declared sessession, regardless of who has done it, is there a breach of agreement broken in this divorce? Did the Prime Minister really gaffed, as alleged? It again depends on the views of whom you are talking to.

The Prime Minister didn’t think there is a law broken, or at least, in all honesty, didn’t know if there is law at all. Oh! Yeah, he should have known better. But the guy is (or used to be) a veterinarian, for heaven sake; and though never was a student of history and politics, he was making a decent and honest living before he involved himself in this -4.5-formula-driven-politics that produced politically handicap men like him to lead a nation that they never had the faculty to be prepared for leadership. All that was asked of him was to go there and represent his clan, sub-clan, Jilib, and the rest followed. At least his hands are clean of human blood and he is genuine in his attempts to bring peace back to Mogadishu. He is taking risks and almost lost his life twice already, and for that I admire him and pray for his safety in his endeavor to stand against domination of Mogadishu’s powerful warlords and the Islamic fundamentalists, who see him as a threat to their status quo.

His critics, however, should rather blame the system, the clan system that we are all content with. It is the process of leadership selection that has to change if the Somalis want leaders that are well versed on the issues of national interests, and educated well to know the history of this nation. In Forester’s words, “to be wrong is more manly than to be meanly right”. Let the error wear not the mask, but the mark of principle, and this is pardonable. In my view, the Prime Minister unskillfully fiddled with a soar spot of our present history, Somali unity, which most of us toeing around; and his error is no different than that of his peers. It appears that one cannot remain neutral without becoming guilty of the most unpardonable indifference toward the most holy concerns of certain group of people. This is where we all erred; all failed in not willing to find out why we are afraid of each other. What is wrong with being a nation? The Prime Minister is just one of us, one of the many failed herds of men that this nation produced.

His critics should rather focus on pushing and advocating for social changes that could help us stand together against the men we don’t want to represent us. To stand against the clan system that affords us, rather forces us to accept, collection of men blended by clan system, havening no natural ability or talent relations in common, no knowledge of the history of this nation; that have agreed rather out of spite than right; half of whom should have apologized or ought to be asking public pardon for their past present crimes or offenses.

It is true that leaders are born, but it is equally true also, however, that leaders should have been brought up in a manner and in the right environment, the atmosphere that provides them the faculty and the literary that shapes up one’s thoughts, gives them all the tools that one would desperately need in order to understand and appreciate one’s own nation and its people; that prepares a leader for tomorrow. It is in this large and liberal ground that we distinguish between men and their tenets, where we should preserve and bestow leadership on those who have demonstrated the required talent and quality, while we combat with every prejudice of those who do not qualify to lead. Short of that, then we would be under the mercy of the type of leaders we have today for a long time to come. We have leaders with sacred truth that applauds our anger and dignifies it with the virtue of not being the seasoned and knowledgeable intellect that this nation deserves. To have a spirited and courageous nation will require the right leaders that are able to lead its people to the mountaintop. However, unless the tribal groups in Somalia are willing to leave behind the present social order, the clan system, it will be difficult to bring upon the required revolution that could free today’s Somalis from the grip of the warlords. Short of that, and this nation faces the prospect of remaining under rule of tribal warlords and Islamic fundamentalists.

Somalis are content with the chaos that has become the norm; the heartbreaking everyday news, where thousands of mothers and children are desperately risking their lives thinking that they could escape the public execution, the humiliation, and the extortion that they face everyday in their homeland. We hear their cries gasping for air and screaming for help as gutless foreigners put them in wrecked boats and dump them like trash bags in the middle of ocean. We listen to their horrifying ordeal with mixed feelings of awe and indifference. Never care enough to question why.

Who among us could dare to stand up and say, “ MY PEOPLE, MY NATION”?

It is in this vacuum, with no government policy, nor a public desire for change of system, that the Prime Minister is operating under. If this is the reality of today’s Somali politics and if, as it seems, the Somalis are content with formula 4.5, we shouldn’t cry for leaders who could represent our nation; men who are capable of delivering speeches or trained in the field of politics to make guarded and measured remarks gorged with spirit of history of a nation; men who are capable of making reference to the warriors and pioneers of yesterday; or being mindful of what it means to articulate these facts in today’s desperate situation where Somalis are yearning for leaders. Yearning for spirits with messages that can honestly inspire us uniformly in the proper conduct and with the sound frame of mind, with which a seasoned leader could handle political questions skillfully and knowledgeably. The reality is, and to be fair to today’s leaders, Somalis failed to produce such leaders. We chose clan over quality------, we have all failed to fight the number one enemy to our nation------the 4.5 formula.

We let ourselves to be ruled by the virtue of clanism, where we enthusiastically support the 4.5 formula that produced today’s leaders and the government that is entrusted with the responsibilities of our people. We are all witnessing this general mood of indifference to today’s self-proclaimed leaders, who are gorged with absurdity, confusion, criminal mentality, contradiction, and with the most notorious and willful falsehood of leadership. And because of this indifference to our dire situation, the groups that grew out of these civil wars, who have become potentially the largest interest groups in today’s politics, are warlords and Islamic fundamentalists. Go figure we are heading.

Who among us could dare to cry for the right leaders, and for sound intellectual-moral standards for our nation, when, in fact, we refused to produce men with such quality?

Today’s Somali politician is focusing on how to exercise his immense and tutelary clan- authorized -power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and watch over their fate in today’s clan politics. One apparent observation that one can’t help but notice is the plethora of an innumerable multitude of men, all equally claimed the right to have his share in the government as a representative of his clan according to the 4.5 formula, the only requirement for satisfying the magic number on the basis of which all parties agreed to be participants of this elusive peace process in the country. Equally alike, as well, are men incessantly endeavored to procure the petty and paltry pleasures with which they glut their lives. Or men who are attempting to catch lions in a mouse-trap as to hope to allure the public to accept what generally seem unexplainable systems of governments. It is nowadays a bugbear to talk of Somali unity, reconciliation and constitutional principles as the first order of business anywhere in the country.

Each leader in today’s Somali society, living apart, as a stranger to the fate of all the rest of the common people, like you and me, with no shame proclaims that his clan, and only his clan, constitutes to him the whole mankind.

But who among us could dare to blame him? Isn’t that the basic underlying principle that clan systems require?

Each and every representatives in today’s government is mindful of the fact that he exists for himself and for his clan only, and as for the rest of his fellow Somalis citizens, he touches them, but does not feel them; he is close to them, but does not see them; and if his clansmen still agree with him, he would rather lose and let go the rest of the nation and everything else that is beyond his clan’s pastoral boundaries. Who needs a nation or even Somaliland, PuntLand or RahanweynLand, for that matter? It is a strange phenomenon that focuses more on clan interests than nation preservation and unity. Even more serious underlying reality is the fact that, here in this 4.5-clan- driven system, the power does not belong to the people, as one would expect in all republic systems with representative governments, where power resides in the people. In other words, it may not be even possible if the clans who empowered today’s warlords can force any warlord to step down. Even if the clan withdrew its support from a representative, the empowered warlords of today are sometimes more powerful than clan itself, especially in southern Somalia of today. Thus a warlord remains powerful and feels powerful enough to control the state of affairs of the clan.

But who among us could dare to expect better leaders to arise, that wise men and women would reflect on serious issues, such as leadership, especially in this general convulsion when no settled form of governments prevails, and when, in fact, the safest is asylum?

One way to deal with the warlords is to help the common men and women to take control of their nation by demanding a change in the system. Community control is seen in some parts of the country as a partial solution to number of problems, like warlord domination. One reason the Somalilanders were enthusiastic and euphorically celebrated the small measures of success in their last election of representatives, was the fact that the process of empowering the people to have a control of who represents them is becoming a possibility; thus the public or the clan is more powerful than the representative. It is therefore up to those in the south to find their own way to gain control of their fate--- they have to want to take stand for what is right, demanding that lawmaking should become the rational; that law be made the supreme and the true foundation for the people to have control of the system. Simply put it, these communities need a revolution from within, may be a million-man-march to reclaim what is theirs from these warlords. Short of that, and they have no control of who is leading them, let alone being a part of a nation.

Ali Bahar
E-mail: [email protected]