Could Xamar self-sustain?

[Illyria]

It does not have old money, livestock, farming land, large fishing body of waters, nor small industries? What drives its economy? How large is its service industry? As the nation's de facto capital (yet to be legally determined), could it self-sustain?

For instance, Washington D.C., with an annual budget of 19+ bn, a GDP of 180 +/- bn in goods and services in 2023, 0.6% of the US economy, it has the highest unemployment rate in the US.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

2 hours ago, Illyria said:

It does not have old money, livestock, farming land, large fishing body of waters, nor small industries? What drives its economy? How large is its service industry? As the nation's de facto capital (yet to be legally determined), could it self-sustain?

For instance, Washington D.C., with an annual budget of 19+ bn, a GDP of 180 +/- bn in goods and services in 2023, 0.6% of the US economy, it has the highest unemployment rate in the US.

Washington may have the highest unemployment rate solely due to bloated civil service, no?

Even Virginia.

Bal noo sheeg magaalo Xamar dhaanto oo magaalo madax u qalanto?

[Illyria]

10 minutes ago, Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar said:

Bal noo sheeg magaalo Xamar dhaanto oo magaalo madax u qalanto?

You got the wrong end of the stick missing the point of the question by a long mile. It is not about its being the de facto nation's capital, or not, but its economic viability. With so being the case, let us try it again, and this time think about its sources of revenue to self-sustain itself.

11 minutes ago, Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar said:

Washington may have the highest unemployment rate solely due to bloated civil service, no?

That is a factor, but there are others to consider incl. lack of resources, cost of living, human capital, industries amongst many.

[Arafaat]

2 minutes ago, Illyria said:

You got the wrong end of the stick missing the point of the question by a long mile. It is not about its being the de facto nation's capital, or not, but its economic viability. With so being the case, let us try it again, and this time think about its sources of revenue to self-sustain itself.

Not sure where your going with your hypothesis here, do you mean Xamar as a city to generate revenues for municipal service delivery, or Xamar as in the FGS to cover its own budgets or Xamar as being an own FMS on equal footing with other States? 

But the coastal city has definitely the potentially to become a major tourist, trade and logistics hub surpassing even Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, and generate quite the revenue streams. But perhaps the economic potentially of this great city is being held back by the burden and cost of being the political capital?’

 

[Illyria]

47 minutes ago, Arafaat said:

do you mean Xamar as a city to generate revenues for municipal service delivery,

Correct, as a city State. It is currently generating approximately 300m in revenue from an estimated 2 - 3bn in grants, aid, and other monies pouring into the city for the FGS. The question is as and when said funds have dried up, as they will, will it survive? If so, how? Think about  Kabul.

47 minutes ago, Arafaat said:

 But perhaps the economic potentially of this great city is being held back by the burden and cost of being the political capital?’

So, you consider the FGS more of a burden than a blessing for the city? This ties back to the original question. I thought it was a balance of both. See if you could elaborate.

[Arafaat]

On 5/3/2024 at 6:54 PM, Illyria said:

Correct, as a city State. It is currently generating approximately 300m in revenue from an estimated 2 - 3bn in grants, aid, and other monies pouring into the city for the FGS. The question is as and when said funds have dried up, as they will, will it survive? If so, how? Think about  Kabul.

As a City Xamar could generate sufficient revenues to sustain its municipal basic service deliveries, however those revenues and aid you mentioned are generated not by or for the Municipality, but by the federal government and to main the administration and security apparatus. Without external aid, it won’t be able to sustain the Federal government and let alone the security apparatus which even go beyond the budgets of the Federal government (ATMIS). 
 

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So, you consider the FGS more of a burden than a blessing for the city? This ties back to the original question. I thought it was a balance of both. See if you could elaborate.

Yes, I think the FGS is a burden to Xamar and its economic potential. The politics, security, and bureaucracy required to maintain federal government in the City, is literally paralyzing mobility,  civic engagement/ownership and developing any sort of economic potential Xamar has.

If the seat of government (Ministries, Parliament and Presidency) were to relocate to another town or even develop a new town from scratch, would prove to be positive for Xamar as it would liberate the city from the chokehold it is currently in, and spark it’s economics.

You could have the same kind of situation as Tanzania where Dar es Salaam is the economic powerhouse with much of the administration still there, but where they outsourced the politics to Dodoma as the seat of the Government. And many other countries that similarly have capitals seperate from the seat of government. I think this would even improve the political dimension and dialectics, if (Somali) politicians were to be put in closer proximity in a different more basic environment without too much distractions, facilitating more connection, communication and coordination.

Think of having all political actors metaphorically together in a sort of more traditional Deegaan like environment under the ‘Gob’ tree, a sort of Taleex  atmosphere, surely that sort of environment would help the dialogue and resolving of contentious issue. Somali’s say,’Garta geed ba lala tagaa’, and surely what Somalis need is a politics based on mediation, dialogue and compromise. Put people together for a few weeks in a rural environment, with the most basic of services and comfort, and surely it would provide the tranquility, modesty, connection and empathy needed to facilitate postures and mindset to resolve issues. 

Naturally, there are other factors at play that need to be taken in to account in order to make sound political, socio-economic decisions on these kind of structural and institutional design issue. the biggest 2 factors at play being; Reconciliation and Peace(Arsenal). 

This is just my reflection on things.