By Liban Ahmad

Somaliland is in an electoral season. If all goes according to plan elections will take place in the first or second quarter of 2017. It will be the toughest presidential elections since Somaliland adopted electoral politics in 2001. Two of the political parties contesting for the presidency; UCID and Waddani, were once one party led by UCID founder and Chairman, Faisal Ali Warabe.

The political split puts the ruling party, Kulmiye, in a better position to win a second term. By underestimating political fortunes of Waddani, the ruling party may lose to a party whose ranks were joined by one-time Kulmiye big shots who resigned from cabinet posts en masse almost two years ago.

Waddani has reinvigorated the political discourse in Somaliland. The party leader, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (aka Irro ), who is also a presidential candidate, has been given a prize  by his supporters for punching the Deputy Speaker of Somaliland Parliament in the face in a parliamentary session on debating privatisation of Berbera Port. A word, musdanbeed, on the tip of almost all politicians’ and political analysts’ tongues, is a Waddani’s innovation and application to politics.

The musdanbeed concept gained political currency during the Waddani conference  to elect a vice presidential running mate. The musdanbeed of the party ensured the election of Ambassador Mohamed Ali as deputy party chairman and vice presidential candidate, whereas Chairman Irro ceremoniously voted for another contender.

Musdanbeed is the rear part of an animal pen fortified with more wood to deter night-time attacks by jackals and hyenas. In a political context, musdanbeed  means a select group of politicians pulling strings behind-the-scenes; they can reverse or override decisions reached after deliberations.

The pastoral origin of the concept sheds some light on how Waddani  leaders view Somaliland politics: a cut-throat business people led by unpredictable and unprincipled political entrepreneurs.

A preferable way to mitigate repercussions from turn-coat politicians’ manoeuvrings is, the thinking goes, to subject decisions made or to be made by the Central Committee to approval or origination by musdanbeedka — a kind of politburo.

How the concept cropped up in different political contexts is  instructive. In a party thrown up by Waddani in honour of the former Somaliland President, Dahir Riyale Kahin, the vagueness of the concept has manifested itself in the promise made by Mr Kahin, who said that he would join musdanbeedka, a senior leadership clique of Waddani, despite telling his audience that he would  stay neutral in the impending Somaliland elections.

In clan meetings reported in the media, musdanbeed has been utilised to highlight efforts to canvass support for a presidential candidate or  to thank musdanbeed of the clan for organising  intra-clan,  pre-election meetings attended by Mujaahid Dhegaweyne.

In an Ilays News interview the former Somaliland Minister for Water, Bashe Ali Jama tried to distance Somaliland President from the alleged plot that cost him his ministerial post. He said that Somaliland President, “is musdanbeedka” of the nation, which, in this context, can be translated into Somali as ” a resourceful person”.

When the former UCID Presidential  candidate, Jamal Ali Hussein was briefing journalists recently about party, he said that they  should have returned to  “musdanbeedka” of the party before voluntarily joining an opposition party.

What does this new concept say about Somaliland politics in 2016?   Two trends have so far surfaced when musdanbeed has  been put to use in Somaliland politics. One is about the  aim of musdanbeed as a gate-keeper mechanism; the other trend is a bold return to shir-beeleed ( clan meeting ) politics, and hagbad leadership— the new practice of rotating Somaliland presidency between two subclans,  as elaborated by the influential traditional leader Boqor Osman Burmadow.

Liban Ahmad
Email: libahm@icloud.com