By Abdisalam Garjeex
Friday, December 24, 2021
I read Gagale’s op-ed, “Farmaajo & Genocide”, published on HOL Dec 19, where he describes the President as a dictator and genocide supporter with great dismay.
These days just about anyone can come online and claim to be a social justice warrior, interested in democracy and human rights, but in Gagale’s case his democratic, pro-human rights stance belies his real motivation for penning this article which is to encourage hatred and even violence towards President Farmaajo due to the tribe he happened to be born into.
I’m appalled with the brazenness of Gagale’s accusations against President Farmaajo. He describes Farmaajo as a bloodthirsty dictator, committing genocide against the Somali people as well as neighboring countries, but fails to provide even a single piece of evidence to substantiate his claims. The reason for that is simple because they’re false and he is here to insult and sow discord. President Farmaajo does not have the sinister motivations and the unrivalled power Gagale insists he enjoys. Finally, the comparison of President Farmaajo to Mohamed Siyaad Barre was a dead give-away. Gagale is someone with an axe to grind with President Farmaajo not for his track record on human rights but because of his prejudice towards one specific tribe, that he all but mentions in name. Who resembles a dictator more than a man that vilifies an entire tribe of people and calls for the violent and forceful removal of a country’s president? The individual that wrote this vitriolic piece, that’s the one.
Somali’s governance and democracy are still in its infancy and so is our sense of patriotism. We want a government that’s for the people and by the people. A government unbridled by tribalism or the self-interest of regional states, but instead yields to the voice of the Somali people wherever they may find themselves. To meet the above vision through transparency and fairness, like other nations before us, we have drafted a constitution with checks and balances with especially the presidential power vested in the Executive branch of government in mind. President Farmaajo has only tried to exist within this framework with the added pressure of having the entire world watching.
In the past four years of Farmaajo’s presidency, no one has enjoyed any favoritism through sharing the same tribe as him or by trying to gain proximity/preferential treatment through other unethical means. In fact, inherent in his presidency has been the added scrutiny new democracies and their leaders face from the rest of the world, a stage most unfavorable to getting away with corruption and most certainly a genocide. Someone that makes these kinds of dangerously reckless associations between the current Somali President and crimes against humanity should not have a podium to spew their falsehood.
Gagale’s post is offensive and dangerous and like all good dictators who incite genocide, it’s abundantly clear that he too has some historic score to settle with the current President and the Somali people as a whole.
The above became even more evident through conducting a brief search and discovering a Facebook account associated with the name he has provided in his writing. This page shares the same toxic tribal ideology, vilifying President Farmaajo for being Marexaan and false claims of him committing genocide.
All the posts indicate that this a very angry man advocating secession for the northern regions of Somalia. He does very little to hide his satisfaction with tribal divisions and the political stalemate in the South as he feels this is beneficial to the recognition of Somaliland. I least of all should not need to draw attention to his op-ed suggesting the possible need for lethal action to remove President Farmaajo.
To my esteemed Hiiraan Online, I would have wished that you didn’t publish such a poisonous piece of writing, void of facts but full of hatred. I kindly ask that in the future HOL will take the opportunity to check for misrepresentation and false claims in order to remain a forum for insightful and meaningful dialogue.
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Abdisalam Garjeex
Ashburn, Virginia (USA)
[email protected]
https://m.facebook.com/mystory