Somaliland: Muse Bihi Abdi: President Elect Left the Nation on the tenterhooks

[Deeq A.]

The people of Somaliland have in recent past elected Muse Bihi Abdi, who was Kulmiye party’s Presidential aspirant as President of Somaliland for the next five year term in a landslide victory – as he will be succeeding his longtime friend and political mentor, the sitting President, who is in his dying days in office HE Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Siilaanyo – once he takes the oath of office on December 13^th, 2017

While he had been on the campaign trail, Kulmiye Presidential hopeful reiterated that he would address a barrage of pressing issues: Corruption and embezzlement which have been institutionalized by the incumbent dispensation, rule of law which, per se, is nonexistent ,and the injustice that has also become a commonplace in the Siilaanyo administration. Having heard this from the candidate of the ruling party, the people of Somaliland have embarked on pinning their hope on him, and this is the reason why the overwhelming majority of the Somaliland electorate voted him to power. And there is no illusion that the people of this country were staunchly disillusioned with the Siilaanyo administration, and that every Somaliland citizen was giving his eyeteeth to a strong leadership with vision and integrity, and who could at least address the problematic issues which astronomically bedevilled the agencies of the present government for a very long time.

There is no a shadow of doubt that the ruling party has done some sort of commendable tasks during its seven years in office – but the critics of Siilaanyo administration argue that the government bureaucrats siphoned off the state fund in a boldfaced fashion and stashed away in private bank accounts. And moreover, they ran the entire country as their private domain.

The irony has it that the seven years Siilaanyo administration has been at the helm there was a complete absence of accountability and transparency, and the state apparatuses were in a state of disorganization-something the Siilaanyo administration while in the opposition used to criticize for the erstwhile Rayale administration; the corruption and mismanagement were taking place right under the nose of the outgoing President for he was in a state of poor healthy.

Following his election, President Elect of Somaliland Muse Bihi Abdi has held a host of meetings with the elites hailing from diverse quarters of the society, and made it very clear that he is determined to deliver his campaign promises as he is voted to power on an anti- corruption ticket; he is to alleviate the corruption which is militating against the development of Somaliland as it dented the country’s image as an independent democratic country, which is yearning for  an international recognition in order to be part and parcel of the community of nations.

In the wake of his victory, the President elect made a deluge of statements which went down with the electorate; weeding out of nepotism, cronyism and the pervasive misappropriation of the state fund that plagued the government institutions are some of the urgent issues on the top of his agenda. People started discussing the upcoming government be formed in the coming week or so by the President elect. However, the President elect has left the people of Somaliland on the tenterhooks about the formation of his government – those he might include or exclude in his forthcoming dispensation. In his most recent speeches in the aftermath of his victory, he implied that he would institute some sort of government which will be answerable to him, and that of the people of Somaliland as he is bent on rooting out the rampant embezzlement coupled with inefficiency that took hold in the incumbent authority spearheaded by the outgoing octogenarian President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud alias Siilaanyo. Prominent personalities in the outgoing Siilaanyo administration be eliminated from the incoming government of Muse Bihi Abdi is doing the rounds. News on the authority be installed by the President elect will largely be composed of new personalities, is also making the rounds at the venues inwhich the politics of Somaliland is discussed.

President elect of Somaliland Muse Bihi Abdi is unlike other Somaliland politicians, he is a jingoist by the very nature, who puts the national interest above everything else; he is one of the very few surviving high ranking officers, who toppled the military junta of Siyad Barre, which finally saw the rebirth of Republic of Somaliland as an independent country, which is seeking for international recognition. He is known for his boldness while taking decisions even his close associates are highly unlikely to have an iota of influence on his decision making regarding how he would run this country. He is a man of word who does what he believes, and that his integrity and trustworthy is unquestionably at the best, henceforth his likes is very difficult to come by in Somaliland.

However, there is growing consensus that Muse Bihi Abdi the President elect will be setting up a small government its personalities are untainted , and who are highly competent as he has always held the idea of having a small government with competent members whose track record is at the best.  If, however, President elect backtracked from nominating a small dispensation with its competent members whose integrity is questionable then the people of Somaliland would be completely disappointed and lose faith in him. But given his track record President elect will keep his word and deliver his promises while on the campaign trail, and era of Somaliland politics of belly will be a thing of the past.

Mukhtar Mohamed Abby

Hargeisa, Somaliland