By Abdirazak Osman
It is a well-established conception that Somaliland has developed peaceful and democratic sensibilities for the last 20 years; this progressive intentionality has deservedly earned them regional and international commendations. One of the successes that augmented this democratic aspiration is its local originations and public desires. Nevertheless, there is a consistent critique in the essence, existence and praxis of both the concepts of democracy and peace in Somaliland. There is no doubt that Somaliland has exercised successive presidential elections and transfers of power in a peaceful manner. However, there is no empirical or conceptual evidence articulating that there is a firm foundation in the society’s democratic practices, where people autonomously exercise their votes. That is to say peoples’ democratic conception is not predicated on ideological or political principles, but rather on regional, communal or genealogical allegiances.
One can un-controversially add that the public institutions are not administered in a democratic way where people can scrutinise and question the functions and efficiency of these institutions. One can even observe the absence of public trust in judicial institutions and the lack of courts’ independence. This has led to peoples’ disillusionment from the exegesis and application of legal proceedings by judiciary, compelling the public to appeal to the alternative Islamic or customary legal systems. Despite this lack of firm foundation regarding individual and institutional democratic praxis, there is consistent referentiality and enunciations by the successive government advocating the adherence to the rule of law and democratic principles. Somaliland democratic system therefore seems to me the hybridisation of tribalism and modern democratic system of governance, which is not necessarily an irrational departure point, provided that we are conscious about our authentic political conditions.
Regarding the concept of peace, Somaliland has enjoyed a peaceful period for the last twenty years, and unlike concept of democracy, peace is a native phenomenon in the peoples’ consciousness. Every compartment of society whether it is government institutions, traditional and religious leaders and the public in general contributed to the preservation of peace and stability; therefore, the meaning, understanding and the essence of peace is a native concept. That is to say, there is no confusion or ambivalence in the interpretation, application or synthesis of the discourse around the concept of peace and what it means to societal and individual flourishing. However, in the same twenty years that Somaliland has enjoyed peacefulness, there are regions like Laasanod that were constantly experiencing the terror of unknown assassinations, widespread and destructive communal conflicts, and psychological and political pathology. Indeed there are sustained and unanswered questions enquiring the rationale behind the political tranquillity of certain Somaliland regions and the peacelessness and political nightmares of others. Therefore, one might postulate that the generalisation of peace to all Somaliland territory is predicated on partial and biased conclusions.
Despite this widespread critique on the discourse of Somaliland democracy and peace concepts, there is consistent political parlance on these ideals, and so long as these inspirations are present in the people’s tongue, it is not irrational to conclude that the tongue and the mind will one-day harmonise and the democratic principles will not be merely rhetorical gymnastics but rather substantive political fulfilment.
Let me leave the general conceptualisation of contemporary Somaliland political culture and comment on the current problems around the Somaliland presidential election. As I have indicated in the appellation of this article, current political crisis emanates either from confusion by some political leaders who are suspicious about the realisation of some future events such as the commitment to presidential election date; or from arrogance ofsome leaders who might deliberately disregard the fulfilment of the presidential election date. Either way, confusion and arrogance are both vices of the mind, that is to say confused or arrogant minds can only generate vicious thinking which can only lead to harmful outcomes.
Vices normally blind the mind to articulate clear and intelligible arguments around the topic of discussion as we are currently experiencing in the Somaliland political crisis. Arrogance makes the person develop the attitude of “cognitive superiority complex” where the person’s feeling and thinking can only be hostile and contemptuous. Confused person equally lack the “cognitive contact with reality” which might render different ways of acting, feeling and thinking that are based on unfounded beliefs. In other words, vices of the mind such as arrogance, closed-mindedness, confusion can only produce harmful outcomes, and are opposite of virtues of the mind such as open-mindedness, honesty, temperance which can only cultivate good outcomes. One of the remedies of the vices of the mind is to exercise constant moral evaluation, thoughtfulness and intellectual humility.
As a spectator who is not a legal or political science scholar, what is my perspective on the political crisis unfolding in the Somaliland election? Before I superimpose my analysis on this matter, let me establish some facts. Firstly, the Somaliland presidential election is scheduled on 13 November 2022. Secondly, the president stated that the election will be held on its scheduled date. These two aforementioned facts dissolve all the existing political confusions arising predominantly from the two opposition parties and the ordinary public. One might even say that there should not be any misunderstandings considering the above factual propositions. Another fact that we know is that there is currently parallel political activity mandated by law stating that there should be a certification renewal by all political parties every 10 years; and the preparation of that process should commence 6 months prior to the expiration date of the political parties’ licence. The expiration date of the current political parties is 26 December 2022. If we agree on these facts and these timeline is clear, what is the source of the current chimerical politik?
In my view, the knot of the current political crisis is the convolution of two different political and legal categories – presidential election and the renewal of political parties’ licence. These two political and legal exercises are two different democratic exercises with two different processes and scheduled dates, and they should not be convoluted unless vices are blinding our rational and moral minds. In the ideal world, these two democratic activities should not co-occur, but even if they coincide they can be planned and executed concurrently as they are occurring contemporaneously since each activity has its own execution date mandated by the law of the land.
(center) and Faisal Ali
The coincidence of these two activities will not alter the reality that there are only three political parties who possess legal certification to contest Somaliland presidential election on 13 November 2022. The co-occurrence of these two processes, which have unambiguous legal timeline, should not therefore be justification for the misinterpretation of election laws and the entanglement of two different events to manufacture political opportunism and mislead the public. There is no legal confusion here nor is there confusion on the sequence of events; it is rather our style of thinking that is entertaining some sort of illusionary imaginations or wishful thinking, like somehow renewal of licence date can precede presidential election date, as though December precedes November in the calendar year.
If there is no contestation about the veracity of above dates and legal positions, opposition parties should not be alarmed by the legal requirement of renewing licence or acquisition of new licence by prospective parties. Of course unless the opposition parties are recollecting the famous dictum articulated by renowned Somali thinker, Mohamed H. Isma’il Mohamoud (Barkhad cas), who stated: Indhaha qalbigaa ka eegma fogoo, wax ayan aragbuu ogaadaa. In other words, the eye of the mind is more insightful and reliable than our sense perception, and by extension the opposition parties have concluded that the actions, attitudes and intentionality of the current government are convoluting the two different democratic activities to manufacture the potential possibility of presidential mandate extension.
Let us hypothesise a scenario where the presidential election is not conducted on its scheduled date and the expiration date of the current political parties is passed, then that would be a complete misuse of power and arrogance in action. What this scenario means is that two citizens were denied to contest presidential election as their likelihood of triumph will be significantly reduced or completely eliminated if they are compelled to qualify as new political parties to renew their licence. The only moral and legal remedy of presidential mandate extension is to equally extend the expiration date of the current political parties. In other words, as long as the presidential election scheduled on 13 November 2022 is not held on its due date, the two current opposition parties will be the opposition parties and will be contestant in the next presidential election whenever that event might be. If we do not assume this premise, the only conclusion that one can draw is that the current opposition leaders’ rights of becoming president does not matter, and one can only imagine the danger that this political logic represents.
Therefore, to jettison this unnecessary confusion the president should announce that the presidential election will be held on 13 November 2022 and the only currently certified parties will contest that election. The process of acquiring new licence by prospective parties will be concluded by the newly elected president on 13 November 2022. As a result, the prospective parties know very well that they will not contest the next presidential election whether it is on 13 November 2022 or whether it is postponed to another day, thus they should not mislead the public and exacerbate the situation through political opportunism while negating the rights of the current opposition leaders.
What is the way forward? The node that unifies the present and future is our imagination; and although we do not have the cognitive access of future manifestations, we have imaginative access considering the existing knowledge. The existing cultural, conceptual and factual knowledge inform us that the entanglement of the two different aforementioned democratic exercises can dwarf, even undermine the very essence of the democratic enterprise we are intending to accomplish. Knowledge, other than divine revelation, comes to us through different sense perceptions as well as through rational analysis of opinions, arguments and concepts; but this rational and perceptual knowledge requires open-mindedness, honesty and style of thinking that assimilates this knowledge into our already existing body of ideas. The paradox is that the current Somaliland political crisis does not even require cognitive, cultural or religious resources to advance far-reaching solutions, but rather demands common sense, respect of law and commitment to a legally mandated election timeline.
The spirit of opposition and disagreement is part of human socialisation but it is also part of human disposition to dialogue, collaborate and construct the civilisations inscribed in the history books. The only way that political disagreement can develop in Somaliland is if Somaliland political leaders are infected with the vices of the mind – closed-mindedness, arrogance, prejudice – as these vices obstruct knowledge acquisition and the art of listening to one another. Indeed to be human means a possession of numerous defects but to overcome these defects, one should undergo constant moral evaluation. Constant moral evaluation disinfects the vices of the mind and makes politicians to be honest about their conduct, dutiful about their actions and truthful about their words. In other words, a leader with a virtuous mind circumvents the politics of blame and nurtures the art of possibilities – that is the politics of deliberation and dialogue.
Abdirazak Osman
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