Dr Abdisalam Issa-Salwe

Dear Presidents

Please use Banaadirayn rather than Mudugayn in your social relationship policy.

It is unfortunate that after 25 years of endless war and killings, you are taking us back to the destructive policy of clan chauvinism and animosity that destroyed the Somali nation-state. Haven’t you learned a lesson from those horrendous years? If that is the case, which by all accounts seems to be one, you can be defined as a badowyaal. A badow is one who is proud of his blunders, and he is so callous that he wonders why others are not clapping for his stupidity.

Enough is enough! Get out of the people’s lives or apply the Banaadirayn rather than Mudugayn worldview for your approaches to manage people. Banaadirayn is a practice used to bring about social cohesion, building community, and bringing about political harmony.

Banaadirayn utilizes social cohesion where people from different regions and backgrounds live together through a common bond and common values. This bond ensures the well-being and prosperity of the society as a whole. Contrary to this value, Mudugayn is a way of life that thrives on division and hatred and oftentimes deprives the society of peace and security.

Also, Banaadirayn are a set of attitudes and processes through which a peaceful resolution to conflicts is done, and a mutual agreement is reached.

Mudugayn is an epitome of clan-chauvinism and its meaning can also be found in the 1947 poem “Who will judge between Galkayo and the rule of law” by the renowned poet and intellectual, Osman Yusuf Kenadid.

In the poem, Osman Yusuf Kenadid demonstrates that Mudugayn is an epitome of clan-chauvinism.

Mudugayn has also been a tool that has wreaked havoc in many parts of Somalia in the last few years – particularly Banadir, Shabelle and Jubba regions.

Your Mudugayn policy is damaging people’s lives and the peace which is the most important ingredient of human development. Your behaviour is not far from those of the military rulers and Somali warlords between the 1970s and 1990s, who ditched Somalia into the current quagmire.

For your information, during the African independence in the fifties and sixties, Somalis were considered unique in the African continent as they were the largest single ethnic group with the same language and religion. They were defined as the nation-state whose nationalism was tailor-made. After independence, the majority of African states embarked on the task of welding into a nation with a variety of peoples, speaking different languages in order to build a state-nation. Inexplicably, the case of Somalis as a unique nation-state has become futile while other African countries with diverse ethnic groups survived. Why? Because of Mudugayn (clan chauvinism).

Peace is the main component of development and prosperity. Development cannot be attained without peace and harmony. It is said that peace is “the mother of civilization and war is the demon of destruction”. Somalis cannot progress if there is no peace in the country.

Please stop the Mudugayn and, instead, try to adopt the harmonious policy of Banaadirayn.

I hope that you will get my critic and advice helpful.

Dr Abdisalam Issa-Salwe
Taibah University
Madinah, Saudi Arabia
Email: abdisalamm@ymail.com