Somaliland: Is Musa Bihi Abdi preparing to lead a ‘New Kulmiye’ government?

[Deeq A.]

Since too many people are afraid to speak about the President-elect’s recent op-ed, because they desperately want a position in the upcoming Kulmiye administration – it’s now time to step up and share my two cents on this contentious issue.

Last week, President-elect Musa Bihi Abdi authored an op-ed that was published in the Financial Times, an English-language international daily newspaper with an average daily readership of 2.2 million people worldwide.

In his piece, Musa highlighted several key issues his administration intends to focus on such as: national security, the economy, healthcare, education and foreign affairs.

He also said his administration will ‘seize the opportunity’ to root out corruption that he argues ‘remains all to present in Somaliland’ and more controversially, he claims that it’s one of the areas where President Silanyo’s government has ‘fallen short’ in within the past seven years.

We all know that corruption exists in Somaliland – just like it does in every other country – but what exactly is Musa implying? Is Musa insinuating that President Silanyo has been turning a blind eye to corruption for the past seven years? Is Musa beginning to distance himself from his longtime mentor and colleague – and his own party?

Pledging to root out corruption, while simultaneously claiming that the outgoing Kulmiye administration failed to tackle corruption, is a contradictory statement.

Wasn’t Musa elected on the Kulmiye party ticket? Or was he running as the presidential candidate of another party?

What is even more worrying, is the fact that Musa never criticized Silanyo’s government on the campaign trail. On numerous occasions during the campaign, Musa promised to ‘carry on’ President Silanyo’s and Kulmiye’s legacy if he is elected.

It is also very concerning to see these claims coming from Musa – just two weeks after winning the election. Jamal Ali Hussein’s open letter to Musa, that was published a few days before this op-ed, was also highly critical of Silanyo’s government and his fiscal record.

Both of these critical essays are now leading many people to believe that the President-elect and his administration might also backtrack on many other campaign promises.

However – there is still time to put an end to all this confusion. If Musa didn’t properly read this essay before approving it, and wasn’t aware of these claims, now is the time to step up and clear the air, and reassure the hundreds of thousands of citizens that voted and campaigned for him because of Kulmiye’s achievements under President Silanyo.

Robleh Mohamud Aidid Lafcanbe

Hargeisa, Somaliland

robleh.m@gmail.com