By Avv. Abdiwahid Abdullahi Warsame

Everyone knows of the schism that has plagued the Somali society that has led a complete collapse. The dreadful threshold event in 1991 marked the beginning of our historical tragedy that would shape our conscious for years to come. That event altered the political and social landscape of the Somali nation. Regardless of whether, change is bad or not we can’t halt or stop it, but must ride it out and try to influence the outcome. In order to influence the outcome of this change in a positive manner, the responsibility falls on our leaders. The repetitive policy of solely clan driven agenda prevented any attempt to revive the dead soul of the nation, and it exhausted the international efforts to help the Somali people build a viable nation. Clan or tribal politics in the national area is not necessarily contradictory with our nation’s politics, but of course could be used supplementary.

Each system clan or nation politics has its own unique application that must be carefully monitored not to overshadow the other system. The thin line between governance and tribal aspiration in the system is blurry, and because of this it will be difficult to keep a balance between the two systems.

Denying our social composition itself is a self-defeating notion, but to bring out its best attributes to serve the common good is the goal of our people. It is highly possible that tribal interest are fully compatible with the system of governance, however in order to prove this compatibility there must be more research on the relation between the two and what steps the leadership must take to allow the two systems to coexist peacefully. Thus, supported that both system are organic and a true fact of social endeavor. Tribes are not the source of our issue, but the way some politicians use it make incompatible with the system of governance. The most self-supporting evidence is the way the social leaders manipulated the social frictions and attitudes among the community and championed localized interest that did not further the national agenda. Only those have the political ability to arbitrate the constraints and challenges for nation building will attract forces that are willing to cross the tribal aisles and reawaken the dead soul of our nation.

Tribal rights are hard to define and convoluted, but it’s possible to extract it down to the individual’s right. The system of governance must prostrate the individual rights, protect it and allow it breathing space. There might be possible in modern political culture in Somalia, that tribe which is a group of individuals’ band together to deliver security among its members but their services are localized and cannot render full scale security. Only a state has the ability to deliver nationwide security serves, that creates an environment where people feel safe, respected and are able to take care of themselves. Tribe provides rights to its members are a myth and far fetched notion.

This climate of mistrust chastened those who have a national agenda, and it made them weak. Avarice appealed to those with weak spiritual inclination and antagonizes those have not want worldly material but desire to lead. It is very hard to reconcile divergent aspirations in one’s political philosophy. This paradoxical issue and created incompatible mind would give doubts that a politician has no leadership attributes. Stability and predictability became a rare commodity when so many players in Somali politics polarized the community and bred distrust among a brotherly environment. A fragmented and swaths of tribal entities that blanked the territory of Somalia republic created more profound crises to which there is no self- evident solution. The leaders of Somalia failed to swing the pendulum from the tribal revolt against the centralized government to a unified and democratic nation. The absence of intellectual persuasion, but to draw emotional approval crisscrossed an acceptable solution and hindered to think logically. It would be unforgivable to deny our mistakes and try to act like nothing happened. Nations do not deny the calamity of their society but use it as a source of strength that would remind them what a broken society looks like.

The leaders from Puntland to Baardeere and Badhaadhe to Borama must learn how to lead and avoid vacillation and inconsistences that have been associated with their leadership style. The political leader’s rhetoric is tailored to fit their tribal audiences and imparts deception and lies. As their aims are specifically tailored towards individualized tribal groups, they failed to persuade the nation as a whole and remained in the political quagmire that has plagued the nation since the civil war. They came on the national stage as the least philosophical leaders since the fall of Jaalle Mohamed Siyad Barre. Unlike the first Somalia Republic president Mr. Adam Abdulle Osman and ex-prime minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, the current leaders have no political genealogy in their DNA. The Somali politics became nothing but infighting and demoralizing area. This created fragmented and broken mini-nations that discredited the Nation, each one aggressively maneuvering its ethnocentric bravado. These mini-nations hold tribal conventions and appoint so called presidents that depreciated the meaning of Presidency. These so called presidents fail to forget civil war grievances and fears.

Conversely, the president of the Nation consumed all of his efforts planning and devising his re-election. The president’s speeches no longer capture the mind and the soul of Somalia people because of its vagueness and lack of clarity with contradictions. Sometimes, I suspect the chair of presidency is empty and its sense of purpose is wasted, but definitely the president is taking advantage of the title of President. In the words of Harry Micajah Daugherty, “Greatness in the presidential chair is largely an illusion of the people” The mind and the body of the Somalia people have been assaulted into nervous breakdown because of empty promises and contentious environment. The presidency’s role in any given nation is to represents the purpose and the ideals of the nation but I have been too naïve not to believe that even a presidency can be shallow and empty; what H.L. Mencken once stated “he is one the most charming of men, but like many another very charming man he is also somewhat shallow and futile. It is hard to say that impression is produced maybe his Christian science is to blame, or tenor overtone in his voice. Whatever the cause, the fact is patent that he fails to somehow to measure up to the common concept of first rate- man”. This is a retrospective observation aimed mainly at self-centeredness and lack of understanding the responsibility on those who have been elected and failed to perform their expected duty to their society. The men who are responsible for the failure, do not grasp the need to reform the post-civil war society, but rather advocated to put aside the ideas of social reform and perpetuated policies that put for society to clutch on to the past.

The anti-leadership sentiment has decentralized into open political uncertainty all over the country. The Islamists doubled their efforts to attach the center of the capital city and the forces of AMISON. The mood of the country is jittery, and the whole leadership stuck to the old policies of the past. They refused to reform the social mindset of the nation. The anxiety of the constant attacks from Al-Shabaab bolstered their appeal to young people that will make it difficult to end the Horn African conflict. The fear of political stagnation is real and any attempts by the current president will make things worse and might trigger further social division. The only solution is to change the course and bring fresh ideas and leadership.

“…Hadda wuxuu u gabangaabsadaa kay goda’ayeenba
ee lagu gaboodfalay in uu guul ku dhashado
Waqan talada goof nagaga jira nooga soo bixi …
Guddi dhaqan leh iyo guurti iyo gole iyo xeer beegti
Gablan uma horseedaan dad ay gacal u sheegtaane
Gar muudkii hayine kolbuu raro gubyoodaaye
Gurgurshaa maroor loogu xiray caynka
Kolba gibishi waa inuu rido galangalcoodaaye…”
Abdullahi Macalin Dhoodaan

Avv. Abdiwahid Abdullahi Warsame
Email: Abdiwahid_abdullahi@hotmail.com