As Somalia is facing what can arguably be described as its worst period of insecurity since the era of the Transitional federal government. There is a need to identify the wider underlying issue that is at the root of Somalia's problems. Already into two years after Somalia left the transitional government phase, the country is facing a crisis that has many layers, including but not limited to insecurity and political instability. The six pillar policy that was touted by the then newly elected Hassan Sheikh has all but crumbled.
It can arguably be said that the situation has worsened on all fronts. The offense against Al Shabaab has halted and AMISOM nowadays spends its valuable time on over stepping its mandate and preventing peaceful public gatherings on private property. Something that is aching to restricting the right to peaceful assembly, which is a basic human right. The recent secretive and bizarre agreement the federal government has made with Ethiopia, has resulted in thousands of Ethiopian troops joining AMISOM and pouring in to Somalia.
The Somali president has so far shielded himself from public outrage
regarding the controversial decision, but there are already signs it can come back to haunt him. Indeed similar sentiments were made by the former US ambassador to Ethiopia, David Shinn. The former American ambassador has publicly called the agreement a "mistake". Mr. Shinn also noted that this agreement was done with the full consent of the Somali federal government, something i suspect was surprising for him. But not for the director of the American National security agency, James Clapper. In a sign of growing frustration, Mr. Clapper publicly termed Somalia's president "weak". Which can be construed as low faith from the American intelligence community and the foreign policy makers.
On the humanitarian front, the situation is as grim as it has ever been. For the third consecutive year, Southern Somalia is facing starvation on a mass scale. This has the potential to reverse fragile gains and torpedo the southern rural population into Mogadishu once again. Which would worsen the current IDP problem. Because not even the internally displaced are safe in Mogadishu. Indeed the increase in sporadic attacks by Shabaab has made the capital so insecure, there has been over hundreds of residents emigrating from Mogadishu just last week alone.
As i previously mentioned, the dilemma of achieving peace and good governance in Somalia is not possible without addressing the underlying issue. That issue is the lack of representation and commitment by those who aspire change in Somalia. To this day, there is almost no politically active parties in the country. I purposely excluded Hiil qaran, a party mainly consisting of intellectuals and moderates. However they are currently not much different from the rest, since they have not bothered to update their party website for the past eight months.
Somalia in general is rife with political opportunism and one man candidates are far more prevalent than real opposition parties. However, those Somali politicians that do create political parties are only interested in the country when it is election time. Indeed "fake" political parties are usually created in the last months before an election in Somalia. The purpose of such actions is to deceive the domestic public and well meaning diaspora Somalis for funds and publicity.
We saw this in the elections of 2012, when the then very popular Somali-American politician Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed "Farmaajo" was challenging the incumbent Sheik Sharif for the presidency. Mr. Mohamed saw many political donations and support from Somalis both inside and outside the country, indeed the support for him included Somalis from all backgrounds. Mr. Mohamed recognized this and created his political party "Tayo". However when he along with many other candidates lost to Hassan Sheikh, the political will to transform Somalia abruptly ended. Nothing confirms this more than the now defunct website of the Tayo party. This is a perfect illustration of what i call "short term patriotism".
The recent Puntland elections is another example whereby Faroole the incumbent was facing an opposition consisting entirely of individuals almost unknown to the wider public, excluding clan elders of course. They had no stated positions, nor any prior history in grass roots campaigning for social issues. However the winner of that election was Abdiweli Gaas, a man himself not a member of any political party. As it stands now, Somalia's major political parties, are the main big clans. You don't have to have a plan, ideology or integrity. The most important for them is what clan you were born into and how deep your pockets go.
If the democratization of Somalia is to happen, true patriots will have to organize and
engage with each other both in Somalia and the wider diaspora at the grass roots level. Activism must be embraced by those Somalis who wish to see a change in the homeland. It was the great Philosopher Plato that said, lack of political participation ends in you being governed by your inferiors. My fellow Somalis, let us not be governed by our inferiors anymore.
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