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April,16,2008
-An open letter to:
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President Dahir
Rayale Kahin, President of Somaliland
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Chairman Ahmed
Mohammed Silanyo, Chairman of Kulmiye party
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Chairman Faisal Ali
Waraabe, Chairman of UCID party
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Speakers of the
houses and Members of the two houses
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Somaliland Election
Commission
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People of Somaliland
In Somaliland,
peace is our home. Our people have realized this 18
years ago when they reclaimed their sovereignty in
the conference of Burao. Emerging from a bloody and
disastrous war, the wise men who met in Burao came
to the conclusion that only by shaking hands with
each other, by forgetting and forgiving each other
in keeping with the resourceful norms and values of
our culture that they could move forward to build a
nation. And a nation they built that is the envy of
many African states; a nation that has been
deservedly known as the “Africa’s Best Kept Secret.”
Our people have
put peace first, peace second and peace third. They
realized that one can sleep on an empty stomach at a
place he calls home but one cannot call home a place
where he cannot sleep in peace. It was the people,
not politicians who made this peace, and it is again
the people and not politicians who will safeguard
it.
So beware,
The people are
watching you. They tolerate your squabbles, your
petty barbs, your internal bickering and your
exchange of insults. They know that you are still
taking your first childhood steps in the process of
democracy and they give you allowance to make
mistakes.
So beware,
But you must not
test the people’s patience. Try not to stretch your
childish tantrums beyond the tolerable boundaries.
The great offence that any politician can commit is
to insult the intelligence of the people. You may
insult each other, rip each other to pieces, and
smear each other’s reputations if you wish, but
don’t dare you involve our people in your personal
mudslinging campaigns.
So beware,
President
Dahir Rayale Kahin: You
have already made history. You are the first elected
President of Somaliland; you held and organized
several peaceful elections in a highly admired
democratic process. You showed wisdom in leading and
maintaining the peace of an impoverished and
unrecognized country located in a politically
turbulent region. On many occasions, you chose peace
to war; even at the risk of your own life. No one
will forget how you saved Somaliland from an
imminent war in 2002 in the Las Anod incident. The
people have seen your sagacity when you chose
prayers to war. Your words “Dagaal ducaan ka
doortay” have been engraved in the history of
our people. History will also remember your
readiness to vacate the presidential seat in April
2003 when Kulmiye declared victory in the
presidential elections before the real verdict was
announced on 11 May 2003. People who were close to
you know how you were arm-twisted to wait until a
recount was made.
Mr. President,
long after you go people of Somaliland will thank
you for your policy of patience and soft diplomacy
in solving issues. One of your enduring successes
will be your securing of the borders of Somaliland
for the first time and gaining the trust of the
people of Sool to return to their homeland. People
of Somaliland will not forget the great extents you
went in gaining recognition for Somaliland. They
witnessed how you broke walls after walls and toiled
day after day in winning friends for Somaliland.
These and many others will be the hallmarks of your
reign. But Mr. President all these good deeds will
go with the wind if you mess it up at the end. You
see, you may have only few black dots on your record
but it is only the black stains that stand out on a
white sheet. So if you care about leaving a good
legacy bring your story to a good conclusion. It is
always the conclusion that echoes longer in history.
Remember Mr. President, the longer you hang on to
power the more tragic your fall will be. The choice
is yours.
So beware,
Mr. Ahmed
Mohammed Silanyo: No one
doubts that you deserve to be a president. People
have known you as a good fighter, a capable leader
and a democrat. History vouches witness to how you
left the leadership of the SNM at the heyday of the
organization. This was a rarity not only in Africa
but in the history of liberation movements. Rarely
did a leader and the commander-in-chief of a bush
militia group relinquished power in a democratic
process. But you did it Mr.Chairman. This is
engraved in stone.
The people of
Somaliland also remember the great sacrifice you
made on 16 May 2003 when the final tally of the
recount of Somaliland’s presidential elections was
announced. Whether you lost or won that election
will forever remain as one of the greatest mysteries
of our country’s history. But one thing that will
always shine as bright as the sun will be your great
spirit of statesmanship in relenting to the decision
of the election commission and the senate elders who
issued the election verdict; a verdict that neither
you nor tens of thousands of Somalilanders accepted
as legitimate. We know that it is historical moments
like this that define the mettle of a real leader.
You again set an example of how a leader should
behave. You chose history over expediency, gallantry
over greediness and peace over war. These deeds will
be remembered as the hallmarks of your leadership
but only if you sustain this record up to the end.
Mr. Chairman, you may again add another jewel to
your crown if you again keep an eye on history and
not only on the seat. In doing so Mr. Chairman I am
sure that Somaliland people will reward you and
their reward will be handsome; mark my words. But
Mr.Chairman, try not to cry wolf where there is no
wolf. It is not a wise political tactic. Indeed it
is a suicidal one. Because when people search for
the wolf and they do not find one, they may see you
as the only existing wolf. I am sure you will not
like your heroic story to end up in such a tragedy
of Shakespearean proportion. You may also need to
work on the incendiary rhetoric of your fiery
lieutenants. Some of them seem to be still in the
trenches throwing swearing words at the enemy camp.
They need to learn that using such alarmist language
will only lead to one result, waking up the beast
within stability and communal harmony, the beast of
clannism.
So beware,
Mr. Faisal
Ali Waraabe: You have made
a name for yourself as a man of compromise. We have
seen you slacken the rope when others stretched it
too far. It was your brave decision of accepting the
infamous verdict of the election commission and the
Guurti Elders that led to the peaceful solution of
Somaliand’s presidential election crisis in 2003.
Indeed what some may like to see as wishy-washiness
in your stances may be counted as your greatest
strength. You have taught Somaliland people that to
be in the opposition does not mean to be an enemy of
the existing government. You have won the people’s
admiration for taking the right therapeutic decision
at the last decisive stage. I am sure history will
remember you as Somaliland’s eleventh hour
politician; a king maker whose support is covetously
sought by all sides. And to me he who makes the king
holds the keys. But one thing that could be the
cause of your undoing is your habit of joining the
doomsayers’ gang who like to create monsters at
every turn. You feed and nurture the monster with
them, counting on your ability to decapitate it
before it strikes. But remember as the Somali saying
goes: “Libaax nin korsaday ayuu dilaa”, a
lion kills his warden. You may have also been told
many times before to mind your language. You may
have dismissed it as it a malice espoused by your
enemy camp but believe me there is no weapon more
powerful than words that could lead to a
politician’s downfall.
So beware,
Mr. Suleiman Mohamoud Adam and the
Guurti:
Mr. Speaker, as the elder of elders,
you have tremendous responsibility on your
shoulders. Contrary to the popular perception of the
Guurti being the rubber stamp of the successive
Somaliland presidents, I have nothing but praise for
their sagacity and wisdom in resolving crisis. As
dire circumstances sometimes need dire decisions, it
is no wonder that you are most of the time the butt
of the opposition’s criticism. As midwives of
Somaliland’s peace and stability, you are the
custodians of the nation’s secrets and as a good
midwife would do you only care about doing your work
and keeping your secrets with you even if the all
world cries foul. Until now you have been lucky not
to have a single still born child. Given the
circumstances in which you work, you have done well.
You have proven to us and the whole world that
conventional wisdom can be a firm foundation for
democracy. Gentlemen, I admire your work. But one
thing that really bothers me is why no women are
found among your ranks. How long do you think will
pass before I address you as “Ladies and Gentlemen”.
One more thing you may to have to remember is to
know that Somaliland has taken a democratic system
based on a multiparty parliamentary style. It is
therefore imperative on you to make sure that all
venues of problem solving have been exhausted before
you embark on any of your last resort endeavors. You
should know that the services of an experienced
midwife are needed only at a specific time.
Therefore, it may be advisable that you should not
try to overdo your usefulness. With such eminent
elders as Abdi Waraabe among you, we hold you on a
high pedestal, so strive not to waste the people’s
respect and trust for you. Age has its allowances
but not to the extent that you make yourselves as
laughing stock.
So beware,
Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi and
the House of Representatives:
Mr.
Speaker, you have come to the political spectrum
like a hero on a white stallion. You and your
colleagues have been viewed as the dream team that
would lead Somaliland to an era of good governance
and real democracy. Your first session on 29th
November 2005 started with a fistfight and more than
two and half years later you are still clueless.
Mr.Speaker, it is unfortunate that you and others of
your expatriate parliament spend more time
travelling abroad, savoring the hospitality of the
Somaliland diaspora and using your political
privileges to the maximum. Your house has proven
beyond doubt that educational qualifications are no
match for the skills earned in traditional wisdom.
The MPs appear to be a bunch of dwarfs compared to
the giants of the Guurti. With many of them coming
to Somaliland as carpetbaggers after living many
years as nonentities in the west, they cannot wait
to return to their host countries and impress their
friends with their newly found privileges and
political titles. One also wonders whether the loud
noises they make in the house and the controversial
statements they give to the media is but a show off
game aimed for the consumption of their audience in
their host countries. In my opinion, the honesty,
patriotism and integrity of the majority of this
house is highly questionable. Definitely, there
should be some honest men and women among them whose
voices are overshadowed by the jabbering folk. It
may not be futile however to remind the MPs that
their time is running short and soon they would be
facing the people’s verdict. People have wizened up
to your team’s clownish gimmicks and their expedient
use of tribal cards; they have realized that what
sells Somaliland’s case is not your foreign
passports but the integrity, the honesty and the
hard work of its people.
So beware,
Somaliland Election Commission:
Your mission is to guarantee a free
and fair election in Somaliland to the best of your
ability and exercise your authority as per the
precincts of the law and your Commission’s terms of
reference. Wisdom says that you should strive to
safeguard your independence at all cost. You are
here neither to fulfill the government’s dictates
nor to give in to the opposition’s bullying tactics.
It will be farcical to assume yourselves as members
representing the conflicting interests of the
political parties. As soon as you have been sworn in
as members of the commission you ceased every
allegiance you had to any of the parties. Your
allegiance should be only to the country’s electoral
laws and to the consensus of the political parties
and legislative bodies of the country. You owe no
favor to any party, nor are you here to do any favor
to any party. You don’t elect the candidates, your
duty is only to manage the elections, tally the
votes and announce the results. Just like a football
referee, you only guarantee the game to be clean and
faultless. You have no stake in the winning, but you
have every stake in the process. No amount of arm
twisting should divert you from executing your
duties with all fairness and freedom. Handling
elections is like defusing a time bomb, if you
handle it with care and deftness, you avert a
disaster, but if you flop you die first before
others burn.
So beware,
Somaliland People:
O, my people, you should know that it is you who
writes history and history is you. You are the judge
and the jury. You are the kings of your fate. You
are the power. The politicians are nothing but your
messengers and servants. It is therefore your duty
to choose who you think is your best messenger and
your best servant. It is not an easy task indeed,
especially when none of the political parties shows
you a strategy for what they would do for you and
the country. The politicians are foxes and as you
know the fox may know many things but you, my
people, should be the hedgehog who knows the one big
thing. The politicians know how to tell many lies to
win the chair but the one big truth you know is that
peace and stability is your home, that politicians
may come and go with or without much impact to your
daily life but once peace is gone, your life will
never be the same again. Therefore, you should keep
waving the peace slogan before every politicians
face. Make no one who fails to swear in at the altar
of peace be your leader.
My people, you should know that there
will be no Kofi Annans, no Condolezza Rices and no
regional leaders coming to your rescue if you mess
up your peace. In fact there are many enemies
waiting for our fall. So you should not count on the
international community rushing to your rescue if
you falter. If we fall, we will be just another sad
African story, another false start that was taken
for a glimmer of hope. We are all alone my people,
we are left with our own resources and our own
wisdom to safeguard our peace and stability, build
our democracy and fashion our future. This is how we
did it before. We did not wait for UN resolutions,
beg for international conferences and prayed angels
to descend from the sky to resolve our issues. We
made a resolve to sort out our problems, relying on
our centuries-old conflict resolution tools, our
elders, our customary laws and our almighty. And
this is how we are going to do it again. So do not
believe politicians who are throwing wishes in the
air. And do not believe their warmongering. None of
them is worth dying for. If a conflict flares up,
they will be the first to take flight. They all have
foreign passports; they will hop on the first plane
and return to their welfare tables in foreign
capitals. They will enjoy the warmth of their
families who will be away from any harm, while they
will leave you with your women, your children and
your elderly to burn in the hell they create.
O, my people there is one more thing
you should also know. Peace is a beautiful thing,
but peace without freedom is hollow. There is no
peace in bondage, no peace in dictatorship, no peace
in a state of tyranny. This is why it is imperative
that you should not allow your leaders to sit on
your back longer than you can tolerate. Change is
the essence of life; even trees shed their leaves in
autumn to get new ones in the spring. Leaders are no
exception, they outlive their usefulness and they
reach a stage where the only way to survive and
renew the vigor of the nation is to change them.
Elections, therefore, are the only legitimate way of
reminding the leaders who is the master or at least
the illusion of it. Exercising your right to vote is
therefore your prerogative to delegate your decision
making role to your chosen leaders. So learn my
people, once the delegation term is over, the
decision should return to you to either renew it or
revoke it. You should teach the leaders that by
revoking their license, you in fact protect them
from harming their reputation and harming the
dignity of the office they occupy. Because once
leaders overstay their usefulness, they become stale
and they stink. So my people do not let your leaders
at all levels to stay above their usefulness.
Remember when the Somalis said to their tyrant queen
Arraweelooy urna loo dhimay ufna lama odhan,
so you have to learn how to say uf unless you
want to lose your olfactory sense.
So beware.
Bashir Goth
Email:
bsogoth@yahoo.com
Bashir Goth
is a Somali poet, journalist, professional
translator, freelance writer, the first Somali
blogger and a website editor. ...
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