SNM (Kulmiye) devotee perception on Somaliland’s current president

[SOO MAAL]

THE LEADER WHO WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE

Jamal Madar — London, USA — 15 March, 2005

 

More than one and a half decade ago during the heyday of Siad Barre’s military junta, I happened to be a witness to an awful but rather amusing experience that left an indelible mark on my memory. It occurred in a small Masjid [mosque], which located in the upmarket district of Hodan, in the former Somali capital of Mogadishu. Almost all the worshippers who frequented that Masjid were exclusively from what was then known as the North West region of former Somalia (today’s Somaliland Republic). Only few people in the neighbourhood were aware that the people who attended the Masjid were, by and large, disenchanted with Barre’s military junta. These consisted of disgruntled senior army officers, demoted government officials and others who were simply antipathetic towards Barre’s regime. They were Somali Qaldaan as the reer Hamar used to refer to them- a derogatory term derived from the infamous union between the South and the North in 1960 when the amateurish Somaliland leadership, who did not yet master the basic ropes of governance, prematurely relinquished the independence and sovereignty of their beloved country by uniting with Italian Somalia without any strings attached to it.

 

One day a man who was apparently not known in the area walked into the mosque. The man appeared to be a stranger and did not seem to have a nodding acquaintance with any of the people in the mosque. Yet strangely as it may seem, he confidently walked straight to the front line, passing through rows of people waiting for prayers. Bespectacled and about 6’ 2†tall, he had a full beard and trimmed moustache. He was wearing a long, spotless white flowing Arab thobe complete with headgear. The congregation was about to get up for the Maghrib prayers when the stranger joined the people sitting at the front. After a little while, there was a murmur among the people at the front row, which later grew into a commotion. Those at the back rows were mystified as to what was going on. But as the argument raged, they began to get a sense of what the argument was about. They heard incoherent sentences like “ Waar daaya wadaadka…Waar u oggolaada…, “ Waar maxaa ku jaban hadduu ina tukiyo…â€. The squabbling as to whether or not to allow the stranger to lead Maghrib prayers went on for a while.

 

“Waar waa nin waalan ee waxba ha u dhiibina!!!..†a loud voice boomed from a corner but no body gave a scant attention to it. The quarrelsome mystics, who often occupied the front row, waved their oversized rosary beads up in the air as the tempo of the squabbling reached to a climax. At any rate, the mystics won the argument as some had acquiesced to their suggestion while others simply capitulated. As a result, the stranger was given the go ahead to lead the prayers much to the indignation of the respectable usual Imam. The protestations as to why the customary imam was unceremoniously sidelined went unheeded. Meanwhile, the stranger began a slow lumbering walk to the front of the mosque to take up his position as Imam.

 

The stranger led the Salat in the usual manner until the second rak’a when suddenly halfway through the third rak’a he turned around a full-circle and faced the congregation he was leading. He then roared into peals of maniacal laughter that reverberated across the serene ambience of the Masjid.

 

 

Shocked and outraged, people began to abandon their prayers. To make matters worse, the imam began to speak in tongues. It was hard to make sense out of what he was uttering. Suddenly, he began counting his rosary beads as fast as he could Subhanalah, Alhamdulilah, Allahu Akbar and subsequently recited supplications (duco) to conclude the Salat.

 

The ill-tempered mystics who allowed the stranger to lead the congregation in the first place froze in shock and utter disbelief. The stranger they have chosen over the usual Imam ruined everyone’s prayers. Yet, the mystics were not prepared to evict the mad man from the Masjid. Other responsible worshippers tried to persuade and reason with the deranged Imam to leave the mosque in peace. Suddenly the Imam leapt off from the rug he was sitting on and began to shout hideously at the top of his voice, “Ha dhaco Afweyne, Ha dhaco Kacaanku.â€, as he attempted feverishly to prove to the usual worshippers that he, too, was against the regime of Afweyne.

 

Seized by a feeling of instant terror people began fleeing the mosque in droves and amid the chaos and confusion that followed some ran away without shoes; for fear that they might be branded anti-revolutionary or reactionary, which at the time of Siyad Bare’s era, carried a long-term imprisonment if not the death penalty. The most argumentative mystic who overruled everyone suddenly seemed less than the man we knew; and more of a desperate fugitive trying to fly off to his secret lair somewhere in the sprawling neighbourhood of Casa Populare. He shot out from the mosque’s main door as if he was shot out from a cannon. He never looked back.

 

“Waar ha yaacina.. …Waar fulay yahay wax isk celiya..†Shouted the Imam after the mystic who ran away, as his hoarse voice boomed from the loud speakers of the mosque. In a matter of minutes, the mosque was emptied and everybody went home to perform their prayers. It was only after he ruined everybody’s prayers that the people realised that the man was; in fact, mentally unfit to look after himself let alone to lead a congregation. His looks, his dress sense and his cleanliness belied the status of his mind. It transpired later that the stranger’s cleric-like looks together with the traditional Arab garb he was donned pulled the wool over the mystics eyes.

 

This bizarre spectacle reminds me of how Rayaale came to power, how he won the presidential elections and last but not least how disappointingly his job performance came to nothing.

 

HOW RAYAALE CAME TO POWER

 

When Egal ditched his much-revered vice-president, Abdirahman Aw-Ali, in his second term of office, in favour of Rayaale, he did so for a good reason. Egal was inherently Somaliweyn supporter and could not stand for the glowing credentials of Abdirahman Aw-Ali whose record of the armed struggle for the liberation of Somaliland was hard to fault. Egal felt increasingly uncomfortable to work with Abdirahman Aw-Ali and sought the services of someone who would not be proud of the liberation struggles waged. Consequently, he sought a running mate from among the people of Borama. Out of the many gifted and talented men in that region, Egal handpicked Rayaale not because he wanted Rayaale to fulfil the obligations of a vice-president but because he wanted him to serve as a pliant vice president- literally a figurehead.

With the loss of his post as a Colonel in the NSS and his subsequent business as a qat retailer not being so profitable, the proposed offer, from zero to hero, could not have been more enticing for someone in Rayale’s situation then and there as well as tainted past record. Egal’s only condition to Rayaale was for him [Rayaale] to keep his mouth shut permanently and stays out of the president’s affairs. Never had Rayale uttered a word throughout Egal’s term of office.

 

The only time when Rayale opened his mouth was when, in the absence of president Egal, he congratulated to Somaliland’s archenemy, Omar Guelleh, on the occasion of his re-election as president of Djibouti. Egal swiftly retracted that congratulatory message. It was a warning shot over Rayaale that he was in breach of the terms and conditions under which he was appointed. Also, it was a powerful signal to Guelleh not to poke his nose into Somaliland’s affairs.

 

Unfortunately, Egal did not live out the last term of his office. He died unexpectedly in a South African hospital following a postoperative complication. When the news of Egal’s death was officially announced, the leaders of the two Houses convened an emergency session to decide who would replace the deceased president.

 

There was squabbling among the decision makers even though the constitution was there to guide them. There was an argument whether Sheikh Ibrahim Madar, the then Chairman of the House of Elders, should take over the post or whether the vice-president be given the opportunity to replace Egal. It was typical of the arguments that raged between the worshippers in the mosque who wanted the stranger to lead the prayers while others were vociferously arguing that the regular imam be allowed to lead the congregation as was customary.

 

Article 139 of the constitution clearly stipulated that in the event of the president’s death prior to the adoption of a multi-party system of government, the parliament should elect a new president within 45 days. In the meantime, the Chairman of the House of Elders should serve as interim Chief Executive. Egal made this arrangement prior to his death in a bid to preclude Rayaale from becoming a President. He knew that Rayaale was singularly incompetent and could hardly be trusted to run the country.

 

According to sources close to the late President Egal at the time, it was believed that Egal wanted to replace Rayaale. “Rayaale never expected to be a President,†a long time serving diplomat told ICG. However, officials managing the transition were less concerned about whether or not Rayale was competent enough to do the job. They found it expedient to sideline Sheikh Ibrahim and propel Rayale into the presidency even though that was in clear violation of the spirit of the constitution.

 

Just like the argumentative mystics in the mosque who propelled the stranger into the imamship, they ignored Article 139 of the constitution and opted instead to apply Article 89 (intended to come into effect only after the first multi-party elections are held), which states that the Vice-President shall assume the office of the Presidency for the remainder of the year.

 

 

Accordingly, Rayaale was sworn in as interim President until March 2003 while denying the same right to the Speaker of the House of Elders, Sheikh Ibrahim Madar, to serve as interim Chief Executive for 45 days until a president could be elected. It emerged later that the decision to sideline Sheikh Ibrahim was brought about by political differences amongst major decision makers.

 

Egal’s concern about Rayaale was so intense to the extent that, after the referendum, Egal even called together a handful of selected Borama elders and asked them who else they might field as candidate for a Vice President. But Egal met his fate in a far away land before he finalised this business. Consequently, Rayaale stepped into Egal’s shoes as an interim President.

 

HOW HE WON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

 

Given the divisive and often deadly rivalry amongst major players in Somaliland’s political landscape, Rayale was initially hesitant to throw his hat into the ring but once he secured the chairmanship of UDUB, he was emboldened to declare his candidacy for the presidency. And within a relatively short period of time he began to deploy public funds to promote his presidential campaign. All government employees from handymen to cabinet ministers were hard pressed to become party activists and deliver their services to UDUB. Those who disobeyed or even disinclined to do so risked losing their jobs. Much to his surprise, Rayale found out that there were no shortages of subservient individuals to do the bidding for him.

 

According to sources close to Rayale, it is believed that more than 15 million US dollars worth of Somaliland shillings was printed to use as a slush fund for the Local and Presidential Elections. Moreover, President Omar Guelleh of Djibouti injected sizeable cash into Rayaale’s campaign chest in an attempt to prevent a potential Issaq President from assuming power. Yet paradoxically, contrary to basic principles of democracy, the two main opposition parties fielded Boramese as their vice-presidents. This effectively precluded other indigenous people to have a level playing field in the election as far as the post of vice-presidency was concerned.

 

As the Election Day approached, new Somaliland shilling notes began circulating throughout much of the country, which led to acute inflation in the country leaving many people bankrupt or in debt.

 

The opposition parties never had a level playing field as far as the local and presidential elections were concerned. The government had illegally employed all state resources and other government machinery such as radio; press etc to attract more voters in its sway. Huge wads of public money were being carried around in brief cases in the major townships and cities by government ministers to bribe the poor, the greedy and the illiterate to vote for Rayaale.

 

 

UDUB’s victory in presidential elections came as no surprise but rather it was the razor thin margin result (80 votes) that it won that shocked political observers. Yet, that result itself was highly dubious and controversial given the Electoral Commission’s refusal to review its own figures. This was a source of persistent suspicions that the government had bribed them.

 

The Supreme Court’s judgement further muddied the water when it announced that UDUB won not by 80 votes but 217. More shockingly, the then chairman of the court refused to justify legally or otherwise where the additional votes came from. So Rayaale did it again. First he came to power by stealth and then won the presidential election by deception.

 

 

HOW HIS JOB PERFORMANCE CAME TO NOTHING

 

When Rayale’s mandate was formally extended by popular elections in April 2003, his first post-election cabinet reshuffle disappointed the nation in general and in particular UDUB party supporters. He resurrected a government similar to that of former restaurateur, Ali Mahdi, by appointing dozens of what he called Ministers of State whose functions and responsibilities overlapped with that of existing Vice-Ministers. These so-called Ministers of State suddenly found themselves at loggerheads with both Ministers and Vice-Ministers. It created discord and antagonism amongst cabinet ministers. This resulted in many Somalilanders to doubt the president’s loyalty to Somaliland and the depth of his seriousness and commitment to form a viable and effectively functioning government. The question on everyone’s lip was: how could a country like Somaliland with a paltry national budget of $20m be able to afford to sustain such a cumbersome government? It is a complex structure, which promotes confusion amongst the governed and discourages accountability and transparency as well as decision-making outside the president’s circle. By and large, these ministerial and other administrative appointments had been offered to their holders based on their clans- clans who claim that they twist the lion by its tail. Others had been offered to their posts based on the scale and degree of their loyalty and sycophancy to the president rather than their technical skills.

 

As soon as Rayale was elected his first priority was to test the people’s nerves by deliberately flouting the outstanding parliamentary resolution, which banned Egal from visiting Djibouti, which virulently promotes anti-Somaliland agenda. Rayale went ahead with his visit in spite of public outcry. It was as if he wanted to take revenge against the populace for what Egal has done to him when he was reprimanded for congratulating Guelleh on the occasion of his re-election as President of Djibouti. To rub salt into the wound, Rayale even struck a secret pact with his maternal cousin- Guelleh. The nature of this pact is still shrouded with mystery to this date. In doing so, Rayale strengthened the hand of our sworn enemy- Guelleh- much to the irritation of our old ally- Ethiopia.

 

Following this pact, Guelleh hatched a plot and expelled thousands of refugees from his country. He persuaded Rayale to take in these unidentified refugees and accommodate them somewhere in Somaliland.

 

Rayale’s government wholeheartedly accepted Djibouti’s request in return for two lousy second-hand electric generators and a pie in the sky- a pledge to build a tarmac road connecting between Hargeisa and Gabiley.

 

In fact, Guelleh’s sinister plan was to surreptitiously send saboteurs disguising as refugees into Somaliland. As a result, Guelleh’s sponsored Eritrean trained ONLF terrorists mingled with the hordes of refugees pouring into Somaliland with the aim of carrying out sabotage activities inside Somaliland.

 

It emerged later that the plan of the ONLF included an attempt to blow up an Ethiopian airliner out of the sky upon taking off at Hargeisa Airport. Guelleh’s conspiracy to drive a wedge between Ethiopia and Somaliland failed to materialise. However, this was not the end of the game for Guelleh.

 

Following the ONLF botched operation; a second set of saboteurs-in-place began to get to work. This time Guelleh brought Abdulqassim Salad Hassan, his right-hand man and business associate, into the equation. In turn, Abduqassim activated his sleeper cells in Somaliland. Then began the campaign to murder foreign aid workers in an attempt to portray Somaliland as a hot bed of Islamic terrorism thereby spoiling its chances of getting diplomatic recognition from the international community. In consequence, a Swiss expatriate was murdered in cold-blood in broad daylight in Hargeisa not far from Ambassador Hotel, Dr. Antonelli, a philanthropist, was brutally gunned down in Borama, and a British elderly couple were savagely slaughtered in their home in Sheikh. This was followed by a truckload of explosives caught in Hargeisa but no one was implicated. This ferocious destabilisation campaign took place within a space of short period. Then IRIN had an interview with Guelleh on 23rd October 2003 about the situation in Somaliland. He said categorically, “We support a United Somalia. We cannot allow ourselves to advocate session. He added that so long as the South [somalia] remained unstable, Somaliland would not enjoy stability. Guelleh’s position on Somaliland had always been very clear from the outset and would never change in the foreseeable future but when Rayale was asked why he restored relations with Djibouti, he and his officials failed to give any logical explanation. Bizarrely as it may seem, Rayale and his officials vigorously defend Guelleh’s position to this date. In a local press conference in Hargeisa, Rayale said that the president [Guelleh] was misunderstood. Rayale’s loyalty to Somaliland is in itself questionable because a three-storey castle is being built for him in the upmarket neighbourhood of Guudka in Djibouti. It looks if though he has made arrangements to flee off to his hideout in Djibouti if things go wrong in Somaliland. This is the clearest testimony yet that Rayale has no confidence in Somaliland whatsoever.

 

In December 2003, a group of militiamen under the command of Colonel Abdillahi Yusuf crossed the border into Somaliland. Rayale immediately capitalised on this incident by acting on the advice and guidance of his mentor- Guelleh. Consequently, regiments from the Somaliland National Army that guarded Somaliland’s border with Djibouti were moved to the eastern front under the pretext that Puntland’s militias would be expelled and eastern borders secured.

 

 

However, as time went by, it became quite clear that no militias were expelled from Las Anod and no borders were secured. In fact, the purpose behind this deceitful exercise was to stealthily bring a whole tract of land around Zeila, which is said to contain oil reserves, under the jurisdiction of Guelleh. This is the same piece of land that the late Siyad Barre ceded to Djibouti at the height of SNM struggle against his military junta. It is a land that Guelleh and his predecessor, Hassan Guled Abtidon, often referred to as Issa Land.

 

It is equally true that some members of Somaliland customs police take their orders directly from the head of Djibouti’s Customs and Excise, which is falsely described as collaboration between the two states. It is therefore not surprising to see Rayale getting hot under the collar whenever the press raises the question of his relationship with Guelleh. What we have in Somaliland today is a government of, by, and for Djibouti’s special interests, and by extension Somaliweyn.

 

In a blatant animosity to downsize Issaq to a minority clan that could be easily drowned in the cesspools of Mogadishu, Guelleh plotted against Somaliland in every step of the way in the disgraced IGAD sponsored Somali Reconciliation Conference by lumping Issaq with *** .

 

It is no secret that Guelleh had always been engaged in conspiracies calculated to subvert Somaliland’s sovereignty as an independent state. Up until Egal’s death however Guelleh simply remained a fly buzzing around the ears of a lion [Egal]. Egal never paid attention to Guelleh’s nonsense for he was a veteran elder statesman who was ahead of Guelleh in the diplomatic game by leaps and bounds. But with the sudden death of Egal, Guelleh is now brave enough to interfere in the internal affairs of Somaliland to the extent that he even directs the government’s policies and priorities by proxy.

 

Under Rayale’s administration, the situation of Somaliland got from bad to worse. Today, there is no running water in most parts of Somaliland capital- Hargeisa. It is not uncommon to see entire families staying up all night in their dwellings only to get a trickle of water, if lucky, in the small hours of the morning. Now, the majority of people buy potable water from the open market at exorbitant prices. Poor mothers with little orphan children beg water to cook meals for their children. People who brought over their own water rigs and drilled wells like the masjidul tabliiqiyiin were warned not to provide a drop of water to their neighbours or else they would be imprisoned. Rayale’s government no longer sees water as a basic necessity and an undeniable human right, which must be made available to all people; it sees as a luxury that only the privileged- the ruling class- can access to. Members of this class do not only have running water in their households but also they can refuse to pay their water bills just like the Finance Minister, Hussein Ali Duale, did recently.

 

This is the most rotten and corrupt public service agency in Somaliland and, don’t forget, it comes directly under the control of Rayale. It is a clear testimony of the president’s callous disregard to the welfare of the people. If any, the president colluded with the water agency authorities to misuse public funds designed to improve water supply services in Hargeisa.

 

Somaliland’s trade links with Ethiopia dramatically worsened with the inauguration of Rayale’s presidency. There is still a ban on Somaliland’s livestock exports to Saudi Arabia although this was inherited from the previous administration. However, no attempts were made by Rayale’s government to look for ways and means to find a solution for this problem. Even worse, Somaliland traders can no longer import goods from the UAE.

 

The slippery slope of civil rights curtailment had already begun in Somaliland. The Interior Minister, Ismail Yare, who was a small-time ****** informer, discarded under the directions of Rayale, one of the most basic democratic principles of Somaliland law, the presumption of innocence. The rogue security committee that he chairs denies Somaliland citizens to go through normal judicial process.

 

The government has gone to extraordinary lengths to squelch dissent wherever it has sprung up, drawing on a breathtaking array of tactics from press censorship and surveillance to detention, denial of due process and excessive force including police violence against anyone who dares to speak up like the anti-corruption young protesters in Hargeisa. A so-called National Security tribunal guaranteed that these young men would have the kind of treatment they deserve. Under Rayale, suspects are now as good as guilty.

 

Rayale gathered a lot of people from his former National Security Officers and entrusted them with administrative posts in his government. He created his own Mukhabaaat, which is accountable only to him and is not governed by any legislation. Its purpose and powers remain unknown and it exercises its powers in the absence of public sight. Millions of taxpayer’s money is spent on who is taking qat with whom?

 

Nowadays, a palpable fear of expressing any criticism of Rayale or Guelleh prevails in Somaliland. The press had been gagged under a new legislation enacted recently. However, the government exempted itself from this legislation. It licensed itself to use intimidation and smear tactics against the main opposition parties namely KULMIYE and UCID. The government took advantage of people’s lack of understanding and knowledge of multi-party system of government. More often than not, opposition is equated with ‘state wreckers’. Whenever KULMIYE legitimately opposes the president and his policies, it is accused of ‘endangering the peace’. This tactic seems to have worked well for the government. As a result, KULMIYE- the party of veteran SNM heroes- has developed a tendency to keep quite about the failures of the government for fear of being accused as warmongers by the populace. The idea of a credible opposition is therefore barely alive.

 

Since Rayale was elected, freedom of expression has become a thing of the past. Dr. Bulhan, Director of Centre for Creative Solutions was silenced after he called for a national debate regarding on the IGADD sponsored Somali Reconciliation Conference and how it might affect Somaliland’s sovereignty as an independent state. The government’s response was to withdraw the Centre’s license to operate as an NGO in Somaliland.

 

 

It became increasingly clear that the whole government of Rayale rests in the systematic destruction of civil society as its development entails the growth of forces which will compel the leadership to be accountable for its actions, and of forces which will develop interests diametrically opposed to Rayale and his unscrupulous clique of usurpers. No excuse, however high sounding, even in the name of peace or national unity, can justify the subjugation of people.

 

Somaliland’s judiciary had been mired in corruption and political interference in the last three successive governments. Under Rayale however the situation has even deteriorated to a rotten state. Judges appointed by the president occupy the seats of every local and regional court. These are judges with no judicial acumen who could not be trusted to state the law in a fair and neutral way. There is a fair supply of phoney witnesses for hire loitering in front of Hargeisa court. The situation has reached to a state where justice is sold only to the highest bidder.

 

Under this administration, the Chairmanship of the Supreme Court can only be trusted with an individual who is prepared to depart the well-stated principles of law and more importantly too willing to bend the law to fit the views of Rayale’s government.

 

The embezzlement of public funds during Rayale’s administration has reached to a record level compared to his predecessor. It is so widespread and deeply embedded throughout much of the country as if these thieveries constitute one of the core policies and priorities of Rayale’s Regime.

 

When the former Trade and Industry Minister, Mohammed Hashi asked Rayale and his cronies about millions of dollars of missing funds, he was immediately and ignominiously sacked for not being a ‘team player’- a swindler. The vengeful and Machavellian tactics of the government shocked the nation. However, it became clear that the degree and scale of the scandal left the government reeling. The government’s spin-doctors failed to cope with the enormity of the evidence against them. It is no longer a secret that government officials are using the national treasury as their own piggy bank.

 

Minister Hashi has revealed the shamelessness of Rayal’s regime and how his clique hid their embezzlement of public funds with accounting gimmicks breathtaking in audacity and duplicity. The institutions that were supposed to carry out the checks and balances of the government had been sidelined and the public, unless it intrudes with bombs, is largely ignored. It is now the rule rather than the exception for the highly partisan Supreme Court not to hold Rayale and his ministers in contempt for the continual failure to comply with the constitution. The constitution seems to have long been ripped into pieces and consigned into the dustbin of history.

 

Such is the situation in Somaliland today that the whole country is in a topsy-turvy, mixed up situation. Yet our politicians are engaged in a competitive race to outpace one another in terms of misappropriating public funds instead of tackling issues of national importance such as seeking recognition for the country, managing the economy, building new schools and rehabilitating dilapidated ones as well as improving the ever worsening public health services.

 

Of course, Rome was not built in a day and it is illogical and unfair to expect the government to find remedy for all the economic and social ills of the nation overnight. The problem however is the government’s eagerness to indulge in appalling governance. The government’s unwillingness to submit to a system of governance which will demand accountability and transparency, its deliberate negligence of the development of bureaucratic and technocratic capacities of the country’s institutions, the legitimisation of looting of public purse to name but a few.

 

Such actions demonstrate the bankruptcy of this leadership’s imagination. A lot is possible where there is a positive will. It is this positive will that Rayale’s government lacks and what makes his regime a complete and utter scandal and throws into question the president’s loyalty to an independent and sovereign Somaliland state.

 

Rayale’s appalling presidency and abysmal record of deception and hypocrisy, his tireless devotion to the interests of Djibouti, his secret connivance and collusion with Somaliweyn, his utter contempt and complete disregard of the freedom of speech, and his juggling of clan interests in his government is a crystal clear for every honest and pragmatic person to see.

 

Having destroyed Somaliland, Rayale is now mockingly laughing at us just like the deranged Imam who ruined everyone’s prayers. However, Rayale is neither a fool nor insane as in the case of the Imam. But rather, he is a cold, calculating, treacherous president whose only objective is, given his salary of US $500,000 p.a., to grab every dollar from the national treasury and eventually ensure in collaboration with Guelleh that Somaliland be thrown into a pitch-black bottomless hole from which it would never come out again. Rayale has duped us by portraying himself as a Somalilander when, in fact, he is not. He has camouflaged himself in the mask of Somaliland. In consequence the only realistic alternative to safeguard our hard won freedom is to impeach Rayale out of office before it is too late. And in the interest of fairness, a competent and loyal person should then be sought from Borama in order to complete the rest of Rayale’s term of office. Only a conscienceless, unpatriotic and morally deviant person would argue that Rayale is a loyal president that could be trusted with the destiny of our people. There is a Somali proverb that says: Niman waxa taagan garan waxa soo socda ma garto (He who cannot comprehend the present cannot predict the future).

 

Jamal Madar

September 2004