By Omarsharif Abdulkadir

The contemporary Somali politics is replete with failures, corruptions, clanism and all associated political machinations. But, state capturing is a new reality added to the existed problems and missed opportunities since the establishment of modern Somali state in 1960.

The state capturing phenomena manifested writ large in different forms and scales after the collapse of the former dictatorial regime and it became imminent after 2000 when the first provisional government was set in Djibouti.

State capturing is when a small organized group takes the state power through corruption, other illegitimate means and through deception, in a total disregard of the constitution and the rule of law. They run the state institutions as their own property with ultimate goal of making money and instituting policies that are favorable to their myopic project. Undoubtedly these practices will have a lasting impact for the future of the country should it repeats itself multiple times.

Its empirically evident that the current government was a typical state capturing scheme whereby there are owners and exclusive stakeholders, who invested the project in the first place and now control the state apparatus and run it on their own prerogative.

In a state captured process the whole country is run by the owning team and all state decision making processes will be based on the influence and the advantage of the team that has captured the state. Everyone else who is in a decision–making level follows the instructions of the owning team and is not allowed to have any input and loyalty takes the precedence.

Formal institutions like the parliament are relegated to rubber stamp. The owner team’s policies only and no independent initiative is permissible. Sycophantic culture is relished and patronage and venality flourish.

This phenomena as demonstrated historically is self destructive and will expand the conflict within and eventuates a total dysfunctional state institutions. It encourages all forms of corruption and clanism.

In Somalia the state capturing exercise is in a full swing currently and if it repeats again either by the current group or by any other group, Somalia’s future will be in jeopardy and its people may never enjoy a proper governance system. This may justify splitting the country further as the regional administrations attempt to escape the unfair dominance of the state capturing as experienced recently in most of regional states ; except Mogadishu which bears the brunt of the state capturing abuses and has no means to free itself from it in the meantime.

This will eventually lead to a kleptocratic system where the state is run by thieves and their protégés on the expense of public interest and national cohesion.

Unfortunately that is where Somalia is heading, unless it’s reversed in 2020/2021 expected elections and the state capturing deceit is defeated.

Omarsharif Abdulkadir AhmedFiqi
Maputo, Mozambiqu
Email: oosaaf@gmail.com