Siilanyo Failed the People of Somaliland & His Supporters Are Disbanding

''Mr. Hashi demonstrated that an administration with commitment and dedication for excellence and a government with a vision aspiring for efficiency''. Fowzi

- The previous UDUB administration of President Dahir Riyale had demonstrated to the whole world that Somaliland’s electorate had reached a political maturity since May 18,1991, the day that the people of Somaliland withdrew from the failed union with Somalia in July 01, 1960 and are capable of transferring political power peacefully without bloodshed and through democratic means; respecting the will of the voters by following its constitution and abiding by the results of an independent electoral commission that announced with impartiality a certified result without  due interference by Riyale government.

Nearly two years have passed since the newly Kulmiye administration of President Ahmed M Mohamoud (Siilanyo) took office. And without doubt there emerged a clear and sufficient evidence that this current administration had infringed human rights as well as civil rights of Somaliland citizens; rampant corruption, trumped up charges against innocent officials, arbitrary arrests, intimidation of political opponents, and silencing free media, using highly trained security forces to shoot unarmed civilians and arresting nonviolent demonstrations has become the hallmark of this administration.

Chief of Cabinet of the presidency Hersi H Ali, with a tacit approval from the president instituted a strategy based on state police ruled and supported by nepotism, preferential treatment of Somaliland clans, indifference to the plight of the downtrodden and the veterans of Somaliland war of liberation in the 1980s in contravention of the constitution of the country. Hersi, the man in charge for Siilanyo administration to control dissent and ensure that no critic of the government should go unpunished employs Deputy of the Police Commandant Fooxle as the enforcer of this oppressive policies with the directives of his henchman, Interior Ministry Mohamed Arale Duur.

Silanyo administration instituted a Gestapo style policy in collecting trumped up charges to use as an evidence to arraign and imprison against government officials including the governor of Maroodi Jeex region Mr., Ahmed O Abdillahi Xamarji, Vice President Saylic’s advisor Mr. Osman Saed Jama and the Director General of Ministry of Resettlement Mr. Ahmed Elmi Barre as well as a respected clan leader Boqor Buur Modow of Somaliland. Since Siilanyo took office a burgeoning number of secessionist clan enclaves are emerging across the heartland in addition to deteriorating security conditions in the safest religions of Somaliland such as Awdal and Hargeisa. Worsening living conditions and lawlessness that are slowly seeping in and becoming widespread more than ever before

It was disappointing at the same time disheartening the manner in which the executive branch had deliberately concentrated the power of authority in the hands of few dishonest and inexperienced individuals that relegated both the parliament and the judiciary as mere extension of the executive branch Although, there was much expectations on their skills and performance, when Siilanyo included in his first administration a number of Somaliland Diaspora as their resumes portrayed a promising future for Somaliland.

The people of Somaliland were convinced of their perceived competency and the fact that these ministers were more conversant with and supposedly had in depth understanding of the intricacies in dealing with the donor countries, the UN and International NGOs. As such, the people were expecting that more opportunities would be forthcoming and the government would initiate and implementation more sustainable projects that would have an immediate impact on the lives of its underprivileged, the disadvantage and eventually will improve overall economic growth of the country.

Many Somalilanders was of the opinion that given the administrative and political experience of the president, an educated economist and a minister in Siad Barre’s government will include in his administration a more qualified and competent individuals from the Diaspora with a higher education that acquired a highly diverse skills in their respected professions and/or exposed to the inner workings of state apparatus of the western governments; individuals with a sense of fairness, integrity and equal opportunity under the law and put into practice the instruments of good governance; would be less susceptible to corruption, nepotism, clannish tendencies and inclinations; be more trustworthy, honest and competent compared to the vis-à-vis Riyale administrations.

However, the whole administration with few exceptions is believed to have amassed huge sums of money and acquired immense wealth at the expense of the poor and browbeaten. They also, created foreign accounts in the banks of their adopted countries.

I believe the question one needs to ask is, the reason we, Somalilanders chosen and then elected Kulmiye party over UDUB and UCID Parties in last presidential election. And I think we all agree that one of the most important issues that we faced at the time and that needed an immediate attention was reducing and gradually eliminating the rampant corruption that the previous administration never attempted to tackle with earnest and never bequeathed the urgency and the priority it deserved when in power.

We also agree that the former Finance Minister Honorable Mohamed Hashi Elmi was a decent, hardworking, honest and pious man who was trying his level best to help those of us who needed the most by collecting uncollectable revenue and deposited the proceeds in central bank to ensure that ministries are more accountable to what they spent and the central bank had a firm control of government expenditures.

In conclusion, we are all aware of the manner in which the president had dismissed him; up to now it’s a mystery and no explanation was given to the public the reason that the president had fired the most competent of all his ministries. I believe, no honest, fair and righteous man can deny his accomplishments in a very short time that he was the custodian of the public treasury.

Mr. Hashi demonstrated that an administration with commitment and dedication for excellence and a government with a vision aspiring for efficiency, competency, and effective control of meager resources can accomplish lot; he also shed a light on the areas that the government needs to improve or tackle issues of utmost importance for the people and the country.

Siilanyo should not fellow blindly his junior aides that have a hidden agenda and wanted to bring down his administration by shielding him from the truth and to communicate effectively with his people, he should not yield to those in the administration that are advocating zero tolerance for criticism

I will conclude by saying, I am a firm believer that what is essentially desirable at the present time in Somaliland is allowing the democratic process take its course and that the administration needs to refrain from antagonizing newly registered organizations that satisfied all requirements and obligations to participate in the impending municipal elections.

The government has to stop its due interference of the electoral process and should not provoke large segment of the electorate that put them in power not long ago, and level with its people before it’s too late and the situation gets out of hand and resentment spreads across the four corners of Somaliland.

By Fowzi Kamal