THE BIRTH OF PUNTLAND – 1ST AUGUST 1998

The 10th Anniversary of Puntland was remembered – not celebrated – two weeks ago on 1st August 2008 with nostalgia by those who were responsible for its birth and also by the general public, who had high expectations of it, asking countless questions on why the failure on the fulfillment of those expectations. 10 years is a long time and a great deal could be achieved by a dedicated and determined people and their government.

On the 10th Anniversary, there was no much fanfare, no official speeches on the main squares, no parties and no sports activities to celebrate the most important historical and political date of Puntland State of Somalia. Most of the Puntland population is not even aware of the significance of 1st August. The children do not know what it means. For them, it is just another day of the year while the name of Puntland is held in awe, fear and jealousy by Somalis in other distant regions of the country.

After the tragic civil strife of the early 1990s in Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Kismayo and other parts of the country, the establishment of the State of Puntland restored the shaken morale and confidence of the people of this region, enhanced their security and presented them with tremendous opportunity to bring about strong socio-economic development. Thus, it was to enhance that sentiment and consolidate its foundation that the Puntland Diaspora and Civil society Conference was called to take place in Garowe on the 10th Anniversary of Puntland to review the past, assess the current situation and help set priorities in planning for the future.

Unfortunately, the Puntland President, H.E. Adde Musse, who initially encouraged and approved it, suddenly decided to ban the conference only two days before its opening date. There were going to be a gathering of 100 distinguished Puntlanders consisting of representatives from the Diaspora, elders, professionals, women, youth and the government (5 delegates from the office of the President and senior Ministries and 5 delegates from Parliament for the whole duration of the conference). The President, who was to make the opening address, told the organizers that such a large gathering was a threat to his government and would undermine the stability of Puntland. He did not seem to trust the Puntland Diaspora even though he is from the Diaspora himself!

At this Anniversary, I think it is relevant to revisit the objectives for which the State of Puntland was established as well as give an overview of the public expectations, achievements made, challenges encountered and the opportunities that could have been exploited. It is also time to ask, “What is next?”

THE OBJECTIVES:

After serious analysis and assessment of the Somali situation in 1997 with 8-year and still ongoing civil strife and failures of a about a dozen reconciliation conferences up to that time, the decision to establish Puntland State of Somalia was made by the people of this zone for the following main objectives, among others:

• To ensure the unity and security of the Puntland people in a situation of bitter civil war, particularly in the light of the failure of the early major reconciliation conferences like the Djibouti, Sodhere and Cairo Conferences;

• After a long time of military dictatorship and civil war, to establish democratic structures that would guarantee personal and human freedoms that would also create an enabling environment for human resource and economic development;

• To be a clarion call for national peace, reconciliation and unity;

• To prevent national dismemberment and secessionist tendencies through the unity of the then 5 principal regions of Puntland – Bari, Sool, North Mudug, Nugal and Sanaag;

• To introduce the idea of Federalism which we believed to be the most practical way to (1) restore trust and confidence among the fighting Somali communities whereby each clan was allowed to run its internal affairs under a loose Federal framework, and (2) as a way to promote the most effective decentralized regional and national development approach; and

• For a well established and stable Puntland to play a leading role in national peace and institution building decisions as well as in forging dignified and productive international relations.

PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS OF THE CREATION OF PUNTLAND STATE

As the Chairman of the Preparatory Committees (Guddiyada Abaabulka) of both the Consultative and the Constitutional Conferences that took place in Garowe on 25th February and 15th May 1998 respectively as well as Chairperson of the 1st Charter Drafting Sub-Committee, I was one of those who were euphoric about these historical events and I had all the confidence that Puntland would achieve all the above objectives within these 10 long years.

The Puntland public expectations were boundless. In 10 years hence, the people of Puntland also expected, among other achievements, the following:

• That Puntland Constitution was drafted and approved by the people through a referendum; Electoral Commission appointed; Electoral Laws written and approved; political parties formed; political and local elections held, all within 3 years; and, thus, publicly elected, legitimate government of Puntland State was in place by 2001.

• That all the vital public institutions – administrative, security and development – were in place and all necessary capacities built and on solid foundation by the 10th Anniversary.

• That Puntland enjoyed comprehensive peace and stability with all the services of the rule of law – police, the judiciary and the custodial corps – firmly established.

• That much progress was made in the delivery of social services – education, health, hygiene, water, youth, sports, gender equity, etc – to all urban, rural and pastoralist communities.

• That economic infrastructures – roads, ports, airports, electricity, water, ICT, etc – were rehabilitated or developed, at least in the more priority sectors and areas.

• That Puntland would take a leading role in helping the rest of Somalia out of the quick-sand it finds itself in.

• That Puntland would provide enabling environment and ably attract international development partners to take active part in the reconstruction and development of Puntland.

• That the next 10-year (2008-2018) development priorities and plans are already finalized.

Regrettably, little of these expectations were fulfilled, resulting in public apathy and distrust of its government’s intentions and promises. Indeed, it may take a long time before the trust and support of the Puntland public in its public institutions is regained.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE LAST 10 YEARS:

While much of the public expectations have not been rewarded, perhaps, the following could be counted as achievements:

1. That relative higher morale and stability gained with the Puntland State establishment still exists because of the homogeneity and unity of the people of Puntland;

2. That the name and the shell structure of Puntland State is still in place albeit not complete as some regions of the State are temporarily forcefully occupied by an adversary region;

3. That because of the early reputation of our State, Puntland and its leadership did play a leading role in the Somali national affairs;

4. That the private sector, strongly supported by Diaspora remittances, has flourished and remains the driving force of  the Puntland economy that sustained both the public sector and family livelihoods; and

5. That a five-Year Development Plan had been drafted although it remains to be implemented. In fact, it may not be implemented in the near future as our development partners, who were to finance it, have been practically ignored and even antagonized by the administration when they asked unpleasant questions on public finance reforms and State and Local Governments’ budgets, which are taboos.

However, none of the above “achievements” had much impact on either family livelihoods, poverty reduction or on better social services delivery, all of which touch the daily lives of the people.

The Challenges

From the beginning, the list of challenges facing Puntlnd both internally and externally is too long to enumerate on this limited space. It includes serious security, governance, constitutional, human resource and underdevelopment gaps. Disintegration of the Puntland security forces for lack of proper management and finance led to the creation of parallel clan militia forces, freelance kidnapping and pirate bandits and whole government forces that went across to the enemy in Sool and Sanaag. In most cases for many years now, the Puntland administration failed to pay the meager salaries ($30/month!) of these forces for many months at a time. I am told that Somaliland offered prompt salary payments to the Puntland forces in Sanaag and that they readily switched allegiance to the foe at these difficult times in the lives of ordinary solders and their families. This disregard of the Puntland security forces’ primary needs and care was also a major factor in the loss of most of Sool Region.

The 10-year delay of the constitutional and democratization process is causing damaging public loss of trust and confidence in the Puntland government, encouraging dictatorship and massive corruption of the scares resources of the State. As a result of this state of affairs, the public in general and the business community in particular are either avoiding or just refusing to pay taxes, without which the government cannot exist for long and public services cannot be delivered.

In addition to the endemic poverty, there is general economic stagnation exasperated by false and inflated currency, high commodity prices, high unemployment and other ills. From the revenue of the State, no significant allocations are made for the critical social services (education, health, hygiene, water) or for the critical economic infrastructures (roads, ports, airports, bridges and energy and no plans for poverty alleviation. The private sector needs direction, encouragement and support. The environment is crying for attention. Puntland is rapidly turning into hazardous wasteland through intensified charcoal burning, advancing erosion, chemical and nuclear waste dumping in both On-Shore and Off-Shore areas.

Prioritization of the social services in Puntland is a major challenge. Our State is far behind in education than all the other zones of Somalia with the lowest school enrollments and overseas scholarship awards. Investment in education – primary, secondary, tertiary and vocational/technical skills training – should have been Puntland’s first, second and third priorities. And to catch up with the rest of Somalia and the world at large, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) need to be officially adopted and integrated into the educational system as a critical tool for development.

Under the present sensitive and complex situation, Puntland needs to review and reassess the benefits and risks involved in the Somali national (Federal) political and security developments. Puntland relations with international development partners are at the lowest level possible and require urgent, convincing and corrective measures to be taken. During the last 10 years, Puntland has been forfeiting over $30 to $40 million per annum for development and humanitarian aid due to incapacity to absorb it. Most of this money was diverted to Somaliland and other places. The international aid community has now completely abandoned Puntland for serious insecurity and Puntland government indifference.

These are only few of the challenges facing Puntland. The situation is urgent. It is through good governance and professional management that these challenges can be met and this critical situation reversed.

OPPORTUNITIES

There vast opportunities for political and economic development in Puntland. The days of “gaariwaa” iyo “lama degaan” (unreachable and desolate) labels for this region are over. Puntlanders are now confident that their State is rich of variety of resources, including:

• Political Opportunities:
• One homogenous family occupying almost one-third of the land space of the country, one-third of the resources and one-fourth of the population of Somalia and who are closely interdependent for their political, security and economic development;

• Located in the highly strategic Horn of Africa for security and trade as well as for high international strategic value, if Puntland learns how to effectively exploit it; and

• Adopting a self-governing system and remaining united with the rest of the nation under Federal system of governance, highly qualifies Puntland for a lion’s share of international aid.

• Security Opportunities:
• Being located on the tip of the Horn, both the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean as a relative, natural security barrier;
• The unity and homogeneity of the people ensures unity of purpose in the defense of Puntland; and
• Puntland is endowed with sufficient human, financial and material resources.

• Economic Opportunities:
• About 15 million heads of livestock with the potential to develop dozen different industries on this immediately available local resource (processing and export of carcass, canned or dried meats; Hides & Skins; bones, horns & blood; intestines for sausages; shoes making, etc);

• 1300km coast, teaming with abundant high value marine resources (and with proper conservation systems, there is high potential of fresh marine products exports as well as industries for canning);

•  Mineral resources: known industrial mineral deposits of coal, gypsum, cement materials, salt, etc.;

• Trade: highly entrepreneurial people only requiring stable environment, trade information, regulatory mechanism, good infrastructures and government support and encouragement; and

• Willing international development partners that would most likely assist Puntland with major socio-economic kick-start if the Puntland government could create the necessary enabling environment.

With these and many more opportunities that are available or could be created and with enlightened leadership and professional cadre, I am confident that Puntland could make the leap of the century and recover all the lost time and opportunities in a short while.

WHAT NEXT?

Puntland is on the verge of collapse by the weight of its folly. There should be an urgent and positive change in order to save Puntland from itself. There is one and only one opportunity in the near future to effect the salvation of our precious State.

The mandate and term of office of both the Puntland President and Parliament expire by the end of December 2008. The current Puntland Charter also expires on the same date and the new Puntland Constitution is in a Draft stage to be debated and approved by the Parliament whose last working session was due to expire in August 2008. The Parliamentary debate need not be rushed because of these time constraints.

There is a risk of constitutional gap occurring between the expiry of the present Charter and the completion of the new constitution, which can conveniently be finalized within next 12 months. The State will, therefore, need some legal framework during the 12 to 18th month transitional period, after which the new constitution should be ready, electoral commission appointed, political parties formed and the first Puntland local and political elections held on one-man, one-vote basis.

In its current session, the Parliament should fill the constitutional gap and pass an Act for the nomination of the new 66-member Provisional Parliament whose term of office should end with the election of the new parliament under the new constitution in 12 to 18 months. The Act should also provide for the nomination of a Provisional President whose term of office coincides with that of the provisional parliament, i.e., the President’s term would be for 12 to 18 months, subject to whether the political elections take place within that period.

In view of the urgency for peaceful and productive change in Puntland and because of the sensitive constitutional process required, careful public selection of the new 66 provisional members of parliament is of critical importance as the criteria for their nomination should be based on their character, commitment, integrity and legislative knowledge. It appears that the salvation of Puntland very much depends on the choice of the new 66 members. The people of Puntland should understand that their future will be in the hands of the 66 MPs. This is because they will, in turn, be appointing the Puntland President who will be charting our path to the next 10 to 20 years since he will be particularly directing the democratization process that will be the guide and foundation of our journey to a brighter future. Let me conclude with a couple of crucial questions:

• What kind of President does Puntland deserve: military Colonel or General, remembering that all the administrations of Somalia (Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland) in the last 40 years were led by such officers with the tragic consequences all Somalis are aware of?
• A 70-year plus old person, suffering from senility, lack of energy and all kinds of old-age ills? OR
• Does Puntland need a more youthful, well educated, energetic, committed and with higher stakes in the future of his country?

I am 70 years old and I should know what I am talking about in terms of age liability!

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Mohamed Abshir Waldo
August 14, 2008

* The author wrote this article to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Puntland statehood. He can be contacted at: waldo@todays.co.ke
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