By Abdirahman M. Dirye
Saturday, April 22, 2017
If you are on board of yacht in Med Sea and see Somalilanders from Burco or from anywhere else in the world in dilapidated boat sinking. Would you pass by them sinking in your very eyes or call the EU patrolling units to save them? If you come along a snake creeping towards a child in Hargaysa, would you kill it to save the child even if he isn’t your child or continue walking by unbothered? It’s a matter of moral compass. The next presidential elections in October isn’t about two individuals Iro vs Bihi or parties but about saving the sinking nation sandwiched between twin enemies: hunger and fear of uncertainty resulted out of Kulmiye’s narrow-mindedness policies and leadership incompetence. Kulmiye regardless of its candidate, be Muse Bihi or even the incumbent president, robbed the nation’s meager resources and has to be kicked out of power by ballot for the salvation of our country and if the elections rigged . We should be ready to put our lives on the line. In the twitter, #SavingSomalilandlives has been trending, however, let’s uproot the real factor that cause inflation, and famine. I will continue to write series of articles to review seven years of Kulmiye rule that brought Somaliland to its knees.
For two decades of absence of functioning Somalia, Somaliland looked “shinning hill’ for Somali speaking diasporas from Australia to Swede: the lay folks asked the president and his ministers questions without any repercussion or fear the death squad knocked their doors, the opposition maintained its role of check and balance, and the fourth estate exposed the wrongdoing. It looked promising little country for millions of Somalis in and outside the country. Somaliland changed all the oppressive acts of the ex-Somalia military regime: the arbitrary arrest of citizens, the crackdown of media, the notorious embezzlement of ex-Somali officials, and the hanging on power indefinitely. They thought but the throngs were wrong. Kulmiye-headed Somaliland ‘Somalized’ itself and returned to notoriety. The current administration refused any scrutiny saying “it’s sacred” and can’t be splashed over frontpages of the press every day. The finance minister co-runs “ Samsam Foundation”.
Yesterday she was broke and employee of an organization used to receive wage. The micromanaging of two conflicting organizations: Finance Ministry and “Foundation of her own” is problematic. Can she guarantee that no single public funds benefit her “foundation” and who are the funders of her organization if any? UK anti corruption laws apply upon Somaliland officials of UK citizenship.
She included Shulac Stadium construction into national budget. Is it a morally right to build luxuries amenities at this time when two-third of our people are dying of thirsty? I am from Hargaysa and have no problem with building amenities, libraries, and nightlife places. Instead I champion for it. Last weeks, two shepherds committed suicide when they went thirsty and couldn’t find water wells in Saraar.
The eastern pastoralists seek refuge in the west since dams and other infrastructures are far better than the east. It looks like they came from a foreign country of lower standard of living. Somaliland east vs west the gap is much greater than I thought. In the West, slimming programs to lose weight vs., the East the great poets are malnourished and suffering. Shulac obesity combat center Stadium in Hargaysa vs. starvation in the president’s territory; the gap between two parts in one country is like the gab of South Africa and Darfur.
Now, we see the unfolding disasters one after another in the country of which President allowed a part of his country to have Abaarso Tech, state of the art school that produce future leaders of the Horn while his ‘homeland’ eastern region struggles to find basic needs like water and education seems luxury! The sharp decline ,the recurring famine and unprecedented scale of human smuggling of which 44 Somalilanders from Burco recently perished in Saudi missile strike in the Red Sea question Muse’s willingness to develop to catch up the Western Somaliland so that Somaliland be together in resource sharing.
Dirye is Somaliland Concerned National, and Member of Anti-Corruption International ACI, [email protected]