A Nation in Search of A credible President

[Sophist]

A Nation in Search of A credible President

 

By Faisal Roble

 

Of the unserious pack that is running for Somalia's presidency (numbering as many as seventy individuals - just as more than sixty candidates officially registered to run for California's governorship during Mr. Davis's recall campaign), very few of them deserve the attention of the nascent Parliament in Kenya who is poised to elect a president on October 10, 2004. Some candidates have reportedly withheld their names due to the $2,000 deposit rule that the Parliament recently instituted. Some of the most feasible candidates in the pack such as Jaamac Cali Jaamac, Cato, who is accused of plotting the killing of 18 rangers and blamed for looting and selling some of Somalia's basic industries for scrap metals, Farah Sindiko, still waiting to answer Olympic officials on corruption charges, Xaaji Yalaxow, Jini boqor, etc., etc.,) are part of the problem than the solution (for an excellent literary description of the destructive role of this group, please see Ismail A. Hassan's article “ Miskiin iyo Ma Naxe).

 

The only thing most of the members of the pack, read "bilaash xaytayaal," or the no-good doers, have in common is their hate of Abdullahi Yusuf. And that, by itself, is not enough to earn them serious votes in the parliament. Similarly, we shall not waste our constrained time and energy on Ina Bubaa, who, for unknown reasons, jumped into the frying pan of the presidential campaign last minute, despite his dismal record as the foreign minister of the TNG and a tarnished image in Somaliland that is an embarrassment to everyone related to him.

 

One candidate that deserves the least attention must be Abdulqasim Salad Hassan, who, by presiding over the failed Transitional National Government (TNG), wasted so much hope of his people and the World community and ultimately corrupted the affairs of this troubled country. And, for him to suggest he would use a decisive - read brutal - force to control his detractors in a press conference only days before the election of a new president borders the behavior of psychopath regretting missed opportunities to kill, destroy and ultimately silence dissention. As they say in Burco's dismissive lexicon, "Iska hadlow ina Igare."

 

Abdulqasim is a spent quantity: his main legacy, besides letting everyone down, is the blood letting war that is currently raging in the Jubaland. His TNG regime defiantly chose to pour capital and arsenal into the hands of the marauding militia of the Juba Valley Alliance and fanned the Kismayo fratricidal conflict, instead of arresting it.

 

Unfortunately, due to his total incompetence, narrow clannish sentiment and his undying dictatorial Siyadist tendencies, the TNG unceremoniously came to a crashing halt before its time expired. And, after all the failure he caused, Abdulqasim thinks Somalis want him for four more years? Simply put, he is delusional and perhaps an indication that Somalia's politics is more complex than meets the eye. Unfortunately, Somalia under Abdiqasim again would mean a land where pirates (AbdiQaasim, Xaaf, etc., etc) earn more praise than priests.

 

A new kid in the block is Engineer Cadow. An engineer by training and a former confidante of Xaaji Yalaxow, Cadow comes into the race with mixed baggage. His past association with the controversial Xaaji Yaloxow will certainly not sit well with many Somali's and perhaps the entire Puntland administration. In addition, his close association with the narrow interest of the ****** subclan and its politics are issues that can potentially be used to attack his campaign.

 

However, his spectacular jump into the race with a lot of fanfare and the reported endorsement by two key foreign states, Djibouti and Italy, could mark a decisive move to find a moderate ****** with a broader appeal than Abdulqasim. As some of his supporters speculated, Italy could use its muscle to lobby on IGAD members to favor Engineer Cadow. Plus, Dr. Ali Khalif Galaydh's endorsement of Engineer Cadow and the political skills Mr. Galaydh possesses can weaken Addullahi Yusuf's support base, and make Cadow's candidacy all the more serious. Moreover, a massive movement among Mogadishu's business class may lend him the clout he needs to be a power to be reckoned with. It appears so far that he could as well be the alternative to Abdullahi Cadow and Abdulqasim, where both candidates are from the ****** clan, but does not stand a “China man's†chance.

 

Sifting through the list of candidates, Osman Kalluun is the only person who has the least baggage with the most remarkable vision statement, a plan of peace and reconstruction as well as an outline of foreign policy in the event that he is elected. Although penniless but armed with a strong vision and an enlightened sense of the deep meaning of Soomalinimo, Osman Kaluun is set out to fight for the right cause.

 

 

With his hands resting on his lap, confidently sitting underneath the now-maligned Somali emblem of the blue flag and the familiar leopards, Osman Kaluun's campaign posters clearly show a man with a mission. He has already claimed his campaign to be a "tabliiq," or a call with a purpose. As such, he instills in the Somali people with a new hope.

 

Wearing an infectious smile over his dark complexion, Osman Jamac, Osman Kalluun, is the kid from that nomadic humble background and, in more than one way, resembles Willie Brown of San Francisco, who with equally broad smile, escaped from the ghetto background - Mr. Brown is a veteran of the Democratic leadership and former speaker of California's House of Assembly. In his long career, Mr. Brown helped empower Blacks in the state. Likewise, Osman Kalluun promises to help this desperate nation tackle its multi-faceted, yet intractable problems of leadership, reconciliation and reconstruction.

 

Born in 1941, Osman Kalluun was raised as a nomad until school age. Upon completion of high school, he went on to study engineering and earned an MS degree from the university of Leningrad. His employment record as the former Chief Engineer (1968-73), and later the Deputy Minister of Fishery, where he instituted many bread and butter projects, establishes him as both a technocrat and a CEO. His brief association with the anti-Barre armed struggle also gives him revolutionary credentials, a virtue only Abdullahi Yusuf claimed so far, but one that Adow and all the other bilaash xaytayaal" or the no-good doers lack.

 

Once he resigned his position as a Deputy Prime Minister in the TNG, Osman Kalluun embarked on a mission to reconcile the Somali people. Just like the late Omar Maolin Hilawle, who steadfastly stood for reconciliation and reckoning, Osman Kalluun showed political courage and independence of thought to defy the narrow confines of primordial identity and defied clanist politics, without minimizing the hurt and mayhem exacted against his people.

 

In the tradition of Nelson Mandela, Osman Kalluun called upon his people to forgive. To this end, he proposes that, as a president, he will institute a truth and reconciliation commission fashioned after the South African experience. Those who loose sight of this candidate's superior sprit of conflict resolution in the interest of Somaalinimo, he called them "Ciil ka ma Korayaal," or those marred in a pity pot.

 

He also articulated a clear program of power devolution from the federal state to semi-autonomous local governments. This is accompanied by the most sweeping foreign policy pledge that no future government of Somalia shall initiate any kind of war against its neighbors. While this instrument recognizes the territorial integrity of Somalia's neighbors, it is also a candid admission that consecutive wars in the region are responsible for the immature death of its first republic.

 

Of all the candidates, particularly the front-runners (Abdullahi Yusuf and Adow), Osman Kalluun is the only one who has the regional and tribal weight to talk to Somaliland and bring its issue to a closure, one way or another. On the contrary, except by coercion, both front-runners are less equipped to start a dialog let alone resolving the Somaliland/***** issue. Moreover, no one candidate is more qualified than Osman Kalluun to undo what the Riyaale administration has done to the ******-***** relationship (Ahmed Hassan, Somaliland.org). Osman Kalluun's affinity with the people of the two sides to the conflict is a plus factor to bring a closure to this internecine regional conflict.

 

It is not conceivable that the Somalia presidency go back again to those with shady record and a negative past. One has to be bold enough to say enough is enough. If Somalia fails again, let those diehard (macangag) leaders who kept Somalia in its misery so far blame themselves. As to Osman Kaluun, he may not "reach to the top of the mountain," but we part with him with Amilcar Cabral's advise on the creation of an effective cadre: Be fair and true to your beliefs, fear no failure and keep your level of confidence high. A protracted "tabliiq" mission to resuscitate the dying statehood of Somalia shall also keep a focus on the transition to democracy.

 

May the children of Somalia, with the help of Allah, keep this troubled nation's fate away from the hands of the pirates?

 

Faisal Roble

Fabroble@aol.com

Faisal is a City Planner in Los Angeles, CA.

[Nationalist]

It's highly unlikely that Usman Jama Kalun will become president, but I would like to see him as prime minister.

 

I hope Abdullahi Yusuf Yey will only consider two persons for the position of prime minister if he gets elected. Namely, Abdullahi Ahmed Addow and Usman Jama Kalun.

 

That's my opinion.

[NGONGE]

^^^ Heh.

 

I bet you have a complete vision of a perfect “Somaliaâ€, saaxib.

One where everyone of note hails from Puntland.

(only teasing).