SOO MAAL Posted April 23, 2005 Mr. PRESIDENT: GOOO! GO HOME PLEASE! By Rashid Ali Please go home. For the sake of the country and the people, go. Just go. For God’s sake go home. Can’t you see the indignities, the humiliation and the insults? How much do you want the people to endure? You don’t have to put up with the outbursts of ministers, envoys and ambassadors. You don’t have to receive dignitaries in a hotel. If you don’t have an office, receive them under the shade of a tree somewhere in Somalia. You are a PRESIDENT. Don’t drag our name in the mud no more. If you don’t feel safe in Mogadishu, it is OK! It is understandable, but go. Go to Jowar, go to Baidoa, go to Garowe. Just go. Do not ask IGAD to bring back to Nairobi those who threw the towel in and said enough! Enough of being thrown out into the streets. Enough of queuing for meals! Enough of the insults! What are you calling them back for? So they could be kicked out of the hotel in the middle of the night? Or a foreigner would carry mediation messages back and forth between fellow citizens as though they suddenly forgot their mother tongue? Or they could be humiliated more in making them stand for hours and hours waiting for a never coming paycheck? Or they could be coerced into accepting a deal? Nairobi is not Mogadishu. They are where they are supposed to be. It is you Mr. President who should go to them. Long has it been since you came into Kenya, 772 days and more. The people need you there. Perhaps you should go. It has only been weeks since they left and already there is talk of peace in Mogadishu. The armed militias are being camped away from the city. Via Maka Al-Mukarama is being reopened to traffic. I heard that the Green Line is gone in Wadajir district. Who knows Mr. President? Perhaps if you go, better things might happen and we may all follow you. Mind you. This is not a trap and no malice intended. The people have suffered enough. Adding insult to injury is just too much to bear. Let us reclaim our dignity, whatever is left of it, by washing our dirt inside our own country. Let those who genuinely care about Somalia come to the country. Let a Somali policeman frisk them. Let the ministers be met by ministers, you are too important to see them. Let the fat cats bring their swollen burses and egos with money and aid to Somalia. Let a Somali inn keeper charge for a night’s stay so he can feed his children. And who knows, the good Allah has mysterious ways and you may end up being fond of those hot heads. May be it is better to quarrel with a brother and be mediated by a relative than a complete stranger or a sworn enemy to the family. Trust me, home is far better. An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain; O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again! ---- To thee I'll return, overburdened with care; The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there; No more from the cottage again will I roam; Be it ever so humble there's no place like home. Home! Home! sweet, sweet Home! There's no place like Home! there's no place like Home! By John Howard Payne Rashid Ali Baltimore, Maryland E-mail: Rashid_Ali_66@hotmail.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
