Somaliland politics 101: introduction to the art of political insult

On May 13th, 2004, the chairman of Kulmiye political party held a press conference at Ming Sing restaurant, Hargeisa . The party chairman spoke about the general condition of the country and articulated the views of his party on a lot of current issues like corruption, the budget for this fiscal year and the peace and stability of the country. However, the chairman unexpectedly concluded the press conference by launching a serious assault on person of Somaliland finance minister, Mr. Awil Ahmed Du’alle.

Mr. Awil, who is known for his erratic and offensive outbursts, has been provoking the Kulmiye chairman for sometime, accusing the chairman to have been behind the assassinations of the two great SNM leaders of Abdikadir Koosaar and Adan Shiine. Awil also exchanged similar invectives with other politicians like Gen. Jama Mohamed Qalib, and the Kulmiye party member, Abdi Aw Dahir.

Silaanyo restrained himself for sometime and refused to be led into publicly trading insults with Awil, fearing from the possible negative implications that this might have for his political part. Nevertheless, as what goes around comes around, it was a matter of time before Siraayo joined ‘the insult-your-neighbor’ club.

What seems to have been the last straw that broke Siraanyo’s back was the minister of finances’ ironic comment while discussing the budget of the country this fiscal year. The minister said that Siraanyo should congratulate him for preparing the budget; a budged Siraanyo himself could not prepare for almost two years while he was the finance minister.

Siraano hit back few days later.

Referring to a book Awil wrote sometime ago, Siraanyo mentioned a paragraph where Awil spoke, allegedly, about the circumstance of his birth. Siraanyo recounts the story of Awils’ father(from the book?) and how the father married nine women, but could not have any children from any of them and then how the father consulted a witch doctor, which advised him that if he was ever to have children, he should marry a woman from the Arab sub- clan. Having being born under this circumstance, 'Awil was a miracle child indeed' Siraanyo concluded, putting a particular and ‘derogatory’ emphasis on the word ‘miracle’.

Siraanyo also cited another paragraph from Awils’ book, in which the latter is alleged to have confided that he was dismissed from Shiek secondary school in Sahil region . Siraanyo then dwelt on the reason that Awil was dismissed from school and queried if his dismissal from school was due to ill-discipline on his part(Awil) or….

Siraanyo continued with his diatribe. He recounted the story of how Awil was a ‘camel-like person ’ before the British trained him for six months (unlike Xassan Kayd , Ismail Ali Abokor and Muuse Rabiile Good who were trained for two years) and how Awil still calls himself an ambassador, while others who were more experienced than him, and posted to more prominent countries, like the US, no longer use that title …..

Siraanyos’ recent spate of insults was not confined to Awil. In the second anniversary of the establishment of Kulmiye political party, Silaanyo called the speaker of the house of the parliament, Mr. Ahmed Aden Qaybe a ‘lair’. Siraanyo was referring to the controversy surrounding the legality of the Public Order Law: No.21/63, which Qaybe argued to be a law that is in force in the country. Siraanyo rejected Qaybe’s argument and stated that the Public Order law was made null and void by the parliament sometime ago, and that Qaybe was lying about it.

As the chairman of a political party and a presidential hopeful, it is unflattering for Mr. Siraanyo to publicly exchange these lowly statements with ministers of an incumbent government and other officials that Siraanyo’s political party is striving to substitute with one of their own. Until now, Siraanyo’s Kulmiye had occupied ‘the higher moral ground’ vis-à-vis the government and Kulmiye could have done well with maintaining that position, at no cost to itself.

In the post 1991 political developments, politicians trading insults against each other as well as against opposing groups in public has become a common phenomenon in Somaliland. Indeed, the practice become, to paraphrase Clausewitz dictum, the continuation of politics by other means. And, while this muddy behavior is not uncommon among the politicians of developing/developed countries, the extensive nature of its employment by Somaliland politicians and the weight given to these foul words of dishonor by the people in the country is beyond comprehension indeed.

A notable individual who was an expert in using this technique was the deceased president of Somaliland, Mr. Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal . Mr. Egal used to launch a carefully prepared tirade against individual ministers whom he happened to dismiss from office and whom, Egal was afraid, may speak ill against his person as a result of their dismissal.

Igal, for instance, insulted the former cabinet members of Musa Bixi and Maxamed Barud, while at the same time dismissing them from the government. Egal recounted and imputed a notorious Somali poem recited against a woman to the former and the story of a man who raped a woman and, in attempts to deny the commission of the act###################.

Egal used the tactic of insulting ministers at the time he was dismissing them to discredit and humiliate them in the eyes of the people, before ministers had even a chance to reflect on their dismissal and hit back on his administration.

The recent upsurge of insults and counter-insults between Kulmiye and UDUB officials set many people wondering whether they have even the least credentials to rule this country. And Kulmiye, in particular, should remind itself of the futility of insulting one’s way to political power

So far, Mr. Riyaale did not show the tendency nor ‘rhetoric’ to imitate the ‘dismiss and insult’ tactic of his predecessor. But, there is no shortage of political insulters in his unwieldy government, Mr Ismail of the ministry of interior competing with Awil, the minister of finance, as the best insulter of all time in the government.

Somaliland: A dream yet to be fulfilled

Tuesday, 30 September 2003

The perverted logic of clan politics.

....And some men have arrived from the frontiers
and they say that barbarians don’t exist any longer.
And now what will become of us without barbarians?
They were kind of a solution.

C.P. Cavafy, ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’

After a long and bloody civil war, the military regime that assumed power through a bloodless coup in 1969 was forcibly removed from power in 1991.

Few months only after the demise of the military regime and the declaration of Somaliland’s’ independence in 1991, the former SNM fighters, who were united only by their opposition to the military regime, jumped on each others’ throats. And a serious of violent conflicts erupted in Burao, Berbera and Hargiesa. These conflicts were mainly instigated by a group of junior ex-Somali army officers, called Alan As, who came from a coalition of sub-clans bent on wresting political power from the first president of Somaliland Mr. Abdirahman Ahmed Ali.

The perpetrators of these conflicts caused thousands of innocent people to lose their lives while thousands others were maimed for life. In addition, there was no systematic reconciliation of the clans involved in those terrible civil wars, and, as a result, powerful Issaq sub-clans became alienated from the political system. These later sub-clans do not, even today, identify with the political system nor do they worry about its survival.

The lingering antagonisms among the Issaq clans become abundantly clear during the recent presidential elections in the country. One of the most powerful Issaq sub-clans overwhelmingly voted against the stronger Issaq candidate, the chairman of Kulmiye political party, Mr.Silaanyo, and voted for underdog, the Gadabursi candidate from UDUB political party.

In the logic of clan politics, bygones are never allowed to be bygones.

The un-free within the freedom

Since the declaration of secession in 1991,the inhabitants of Somaliland enjoyed more unrestricted freedoms of association, of speech and of conscience, than they ever enjoyed under the military regime. People enjoy greater civil and political rights. However, these greater freedoms are hardly structured and institutionalized. And the unrestricted freedoms enjoyed by many negatively impinge on the rights of many other citizens. In addition the system is rigged in favor of the well off and the majority of the poor are simply not empowered enough to enjoy these freedoms.

There is also a lack of space for the expression of alternative opinions in the mainstream monotone. It is hard to believe the level of uniformity of view and opinions, appearing daily in the pages of the few newspapers in the country.

Things are starting to change slowly and notable personalities in the community are beginning to voice bold ideas in the face of the current political stagnation in the country. However one views it, Hadraawiyis’ recent peace voyage to the South and his subsequently declaration of support for the unity of Somalia set new parameters of debate and discussion on issues of great concern to the public.

The malaise of Kleptocracy and ministers ad infinitum

In its first decade of existence, Somaliland witnessed a serious of the most corrupt and exploitative governments the country has ever seen since independence. One can hardly exaggerate the level of mismanagement, inefficiency and kleptocracy indulged in by the successive governments in power. Government became a password for personal enrichment.

One striking aspect of the political system of the period has been the constant formation and reformation of governments, which produced hundreds of parasitic and inefficient ministers. Ministers usually obtained their tenure as a result of the thick and thin operation of the policy of divide and rule, adopted by the successive presidents. And what many of these ministers ever managed to achieve has been to rob and dwarf the ministers that they were appointed to administer.

Many people who hoped that things would change for the better, after the first democratic election in the country in 2003, were sorely disappointed. Not only did the recent elections bring forth a bunch of undemocratic profiteers in the local municipal councils, but they also returned to power, thanks to Riyaale, some of the most corrupt ministers in the pre-election governments.

Indeed all the ministers appointed by Mr. Riyaale and rejected by the parliament, are still sticking to their ministerial positions. Recently, one of these ministers even issued administrative decrees, shamelessly infringing on the constitutional rights of citizens. This development challenges the legality of the whole system.

The peace incubus

After the demise of the military dictatorship in 1991, peace has become a scarce commodity throughout the Somali territories. Unlike the south, Somaliland enjoyed relative peace and stability, which was mainly due to the collective will of the people of Somaliland and not due to, as many people wrongly believe, the magic spell of traditional elders.

In the long durée, Somaliland failed to capitalize on this period of relative peace and stability and no significant headway has been made towards the strengthening of Somaliland’s institutions and the development of its poor infrastructure.

Rather than using the opportunities created by peace for the progress and the advancement of the country, peace became an instrument used to deny the rights of citizens. Talk about your rights and you will risk to be automatically branded as a troublemaker and the enemy of the peace! Peace became an obsession and a kind of incubus that descended on the whole country. It became a trade and an instrument for the self-perpetuation of the Guurti elders in the political system.

Undoubtedly, peace is the first pillar of life and every effort should be made to strengthen it. However, without justice, political transparency, accountability and respect for human right, peace can hardly be sustainable.

Recognition: the Sisyphean rock

After a decade of existence, Somaliland has yet to secure international recognition. Granting of recognition to Somaliland is said to go against the grain of African international relations and the charter of African Union, which stipulates that the inherited borders at the time of independence are inviolable and that their sanctity are to be maintained.

The position of the international community on the issue has been, all along, that the secession of Somaliland is an internal Somali affair and that it is up to the Somali people to decide and agree.

Immediately after its declaration, many people, including some SNM political heavy weights, indicated that Somaliland would face a Herculean task in achieving international recognition and acceptance.

To date, Somaliland officials failed to sell the idea of an independent Somaliland to the international community. And people are beginning to realize that securing international recognition became a hopeless exercise, a kind of Sisyphean rock kept pushed uphill only to fall back to the ground.

The deceased president of Somaliland, Mr. Egal, used to occasionally remind the people (of course indirectly) how difficult the task of securing international recognition turned out to be. I remember the president telling journalists, after returning form a foreign trip, how the international community turned its back on Somaliland. In another time, Egal proposed that Somaliland should inherit Somalia by filling the seats that the former Somali state had sat in the international organizations, like the UN and the Arab league. Of course, the later proposal could have been realized only by renouncing the claim of Somaliland’s separate existence form the rest of Somalia.

Recently, the media was amusingly celebrating the recognition of Somaliland by a Mogadishu- based USC faction! What the media did not tell the people, however, is the fact that only states, and not warlords, enjoy the right to recognize other states in the international system. If anything, the incident showed the level of Somaliland’s desperation towards securing international recognition.

Some people attribute the difficulties faced in securing international recognition to some kind of an Arab conspiracy against Somaliland. That is why one frequently sees articles very critical on Arab states in the ‘media’.

The Harti departure

The ‘media’ in Somaliland recently alerted to the people the creation of a new region, curved out of Somaliland proper, by Puntland Authorities. With Buhoodle as its the regional capital, the new region, named Ain, is said to include also Aynabo district, which is mainly inhabited by an Issaq sub-clan. While the government minimally responded to this development by establishing a ministerial committee to deal with the issue, the people of Somaliland viewed the whole affair with an uncharacterized indifference.

In the grand council of Burao, where the secession of Somaliland was declared in 1991, the Harti sub-clans participated actively and supported the secession, partly not to appear to be going against the tide in those momentous times and partly worried of what may become of them if they failed to do so. However, the Harti gradually left the fold and many of the Garaads, who earlier supported the independence of Somaliland, ended up participating in the grand council, where the rival state of Puntland was created in 1998. Later, many of the Harti leaders openly gave their allegiance to Puntland state. Understandably, the Harti were reluctant to be associated with Somaliland, which they consider to be an Issaq lake.

After his election to office, Riyaale visited the Harti capital, Laas Aanood. The presidents arrival was greeted with unexpected violence and he was forced to terminate his visit. Riyaale’s recent imprisonment of a Harti man, who is alleged to have killed a Mareehan/ Gadabursi man, maternally related to Riyaale, in America, further aggravated the situation and caused a serious friction between the Harti ministers and president Riyaale.

The incident culminated in the departure of one of the Harti heavyweight ministers, professor Mohamed Said Gees.

Nowadays, it seems that the few remaining Harti members in the government are being deliberately pushed off the boat. The media has been repeatedly accusing Mr. Qaybe of his alleged anti-Somaliland stand. In an article in Jamhuuriya on 23 September, Mr. Qaybe was accused of meeting with Dr. Ismail Buubaa in the United Arab Emirates. Even if the alleged meeting has taken place, was it a criminal act?

Conclusion

As things stand today, Somaliland even failed to fulfill the modest expectations of the people who celebrated its birth. And despite a minority who have vested interest in the status quo, the majority of the people feel that Somaliland cannot continue in this direction, indefinitely. Somaliland exists by default and as soon as some semblance of peace and stability returns to the South, Somaliland could predictably cease to exist. As far as I can see, nothing to prevent this eventuality from ever occurring has been put in place.

Recently, the traditional leaders of Somaliland declared their willingness to mediate among the warring Hawiye factions in Mogadishu. If the government allows the traditional leaders to proceed with the mediation effort (and that is the only option currently open to the government), it is going to be a major departure from the policy of non-contact and non-negotiation with the ‘other’ Somalis, followed by the deceased president.

In the final analysis, if, through the intervention of Somaliland traditional leaders, the Hawiyye and the Southerners manage to establish some semblance of peace and stability in that part of Somalia, I could pave the road to a possible negotiation between the two entities and a way out of the political quandary that Somaliland found itself.

Qaraamiyi's Distorted Interpretation of President Riyaale's Foreign Policy

I have read Mr. Mohamed Hassan Qaraami’s long article posted on Somalilandnet.com, on Sep 11,2002, which discussed about president Riyaale’s foreign policy. This article will probably serve to enlighten a significant number of people, albeit in a distorted way, about the current foreign relations of the country.

I would like to shed some light on several points that I found wanting and that Mr. Qaraami did not think out adequately.

The first point is the notion that Somaliland has the right to be recognized by the international community. Ab initio, no state is obliged to recognize another in international law. In other words, no state enjoys the right to be recognized by the other states in the system. Rather, states themselves reserve the right whether to recognize a new state or not. Furthermore, it is always political considerations, rather than legal justifications, that play a larger role in the decision whether to grant recognition to a given state.

Another point, which is directly related to the above and which I found interesting, is the assertion that Somaliland is hiring international lawyers to take the UN into court for not, ostensibly, recognizing Somaliland. This is absurd and unrealistic. If Somaliland manages to achieve that, I bet, it will set a unique historical precedent in international law and international relations.

Thirdly, the notion that the republic of Djibouti opposes Somaliland and works towards its destruction because of 'economic rivalry', between the two countries vis-à-vis Ethiopian trade relations, is simplistic at best and misleading at worst. Djibouti is the shortest gateway of Ethiopian goods to the sea, which Somaliland is not, and Djibouti has a long railway link with Ethiopia, which Somaliland has not. Thus in economic terms, Ethiopia's preferences should be as clear as crystal.

Besides, if Ethiopia feels to diversify its access points to the sea, to break away from any possible Djiboutian monopoly on its goods, it could do so by striking agreements with Kenya for the use of Mombassa port, with Sudan for the use of Port Sudan, with Eritrea for the use of Assab and Mussawa ports, all three states having recognized governments, and all competing with a possible Ethiopian use of Berbera port. Does it follow then that the republic of Djibouti will have to work for the destruction of all these countries because they could compete with Djibouti for servicing Ethiopian goods?

Still, if strong and unified state of Somalia emerges, which incidentally the republic of Djibouti campaigns for, will there be any obstacles preventing the said state from granting Ethiopia the use of Berbera port? Not at all. Therefore, we have to find other explanations other than the deterministic single-factor analysis of 'economic rivalry' for dooming the state of relations between the two countries.

Fourthly, I do not agree with the notion that president Riyaale's trip to Djibouti did not serve the interest of the country.

In international relations, states are neither permanent enemies nor permanent friends. Furthermore, the fact that two states are not in good terms does not preclude them from talking to each other. Look at the current situation between the two Koreas, the Palestinians and Israelis, the Indians and the Pakistanis.... All those sets of states regard each other as enemies, but they keep on interacting diplomatically, to reach mutual common grounds.

Now, how about Somaliland, which is not recognized by a single state in the international community? Can it afford to isolate itself from the countries of the sub-region? How can it expect to secure international recognition while it cannot establish workable relations with its neighbors?

Somaliland should not only go to the Republic of Djibouti, but it should also go to the Sudan, to Eritrea, to Uganda and to Kenya. Let us be realistic. Do we have to confine ourselves to the one-directional security-oriented relations with Ethiopia? What tangible benefits accrued to us from our long love relationship with Ethiopia? Not that much, I suspect.

And finally, in one paragraph of his paper, Mr. Qaraami decried President Riyaale holding a secret meeting with President Ismail Omar Ghelle, with no one else attending the meeting. I wonder if there is anything in the constitution of the country that prevents him from doing so? Since when did we start suspecting about his motives, after all this was his first trip abroad as the President of Somaliland? Whom did Qaraami feel to have attended the said meeting with the president? The two ministers that he presented in another part of his paper as untrustworthy? Or you and I, perhaps?

Somaliland: the election debate in post-Egal political developments

Aug 05 2002

Immediately after the passing away of President Egal on May 3, 2002, the ASAD political party (whose leader, Saleban Mohamed Adam, was engaged in cut-throat power struggle with Egal) formally registered with the Electoral commission. This show of goodwill made ASAD the last of eight political parties, which officially registered with the commission. ASAD’s registration closes one chapter of political party development in Somaliland, while it opens another fraught with the difficulties of ‘where to go from here?'

Many and almost all Somalilanders in the ‘comforts’ of Europe and North America would definitely point to the path of elections. However, can Somaliland really afford to conduct multiparty elections at this point of its political development?

On July 16, 2002, the Electoral Commission presented to the government and the opposition political parties its latest assessment report on the state of preparedness for elections in the country. In a scathing report, the Commission spoke of a series of obstacles to any possible near-future election scenarios in the country. In western regions, the commission spoke of boundary problems between Gabilay district and Awdal region, which could affect the peace and stability in the area; of the lack of transportation which militates against health, security and tax collection activities in Baki, (in which case they even recommended for an immediate dispatch of a vehicle to the area); and of the absence of government ministerial branch offices and lack of transportation in Lughaya.

In eastern regions of the country, the commission spoke of an urgent need for a complete disarmament and demobilization of Burao (think about it, people still carrying guns in Togdheer!) and the need to strengthen the administration and security institutions in the area; of the different political atmosphere that they witnessed in Sool and the near- impossibility of conducting elections in that region, prior to a general political reconciliation; of the nominal district administrations in Sanaag and the lack of tax collections in the region,( except possibly in Erigavo), and of the precarious peace obtaining between the four clans inhabiting in the area ….

To conduct free and fair elections, the commission recommended, there is a need to address the problems of the eastern regions of the country according to the needs and the particular circumstance of the regions; of securing the boundaries of the republic, of extending the authority and the administration of the government to the eastern regions of the country and finally, of delimiting the newly created numerous ‘political’ districts in the country.

If the assessment of the commission is anything to go by, the state of election preparedness in the country leaves a lot to be desired. The same can also be said about the state of political parties in the country. Not a single party has so far managed to present to the public the rudimentary of a convincing political program. Some of the parties do not have identifiable platforms; some have political programs that resemble those of West European countries which their party leadership were living in the last decade; some had the political program of only opposing president Egal and after his death, have not left with a reason d’etre; and still some have no political program to speak of at all. Furthermore, party structure is underdeveloped and local branch party offices are absent in most districts of the country.

There is also the evident absence of an all-appealing popular party leadership. Except one or two political parties, the party leadership is hardly new to the political system. Some of them served as ministers during Egals’ regime and joined the opposition ranks only after their dismissal from the government; some are ex-colonels and other personalities who took the lions’ share of the ‘Project’ (i.e. the civil war in the country), some are other-earthly high fliers who are in the country on a borrowed time from their families back in Europe and North America; no group seem to occupy a moral higher ground and most of them can be bought by the government, at the cost of a single ministerial reshuffle.

Nor do we have satisfactory electoral rules put in place. All that there is is an all-out creation of the late president and there was no meaningful contribution from the opposition to speak of. The constitutional three-party limitation, whatever its justification, is also an anomaly in a liberal democracy, which needs to be looked at.

Despite all these obstacles, the electoral commission set October 27 this year as the date for Municipal elections in the country. This early date astounded many people, which led them to question the motive behind it. Does the early timing of Municipal elections mean, for instance, the postponement of Presidential and Parliamentary elections? If the answer is positive, it will not augur well with some opposition quarters. Siilaanyo, the chairman of Kulmiye party, recently declared, in Burao, that his party will not accept further postponement of the election date and that the government should prepare the country for a free and fair elections within the remaining specified period of time.

The Kulmiye chairman may have a point here. For long, the political system was governed through the hard and fast rules of traditionalism and it is high time that these be put to rest. Somaliland can no longer afford to have democratically un-elected legislature and executives, handpicked according to their tribal blood type, and deciding the fate of its citizens. Furthermore, while conducting multiparty election never led to the recognition of a state in history (contrary to what some of the political party’s’ leaders tells us), it nevertheless could contribute to the good image that the international community has of Somaliland.

Multiparty politics has its rough edges to it. It can be very divisive even in a well-established democracy (remember the memorable Al Gore versus Bush confrontation in the last American presidential election?) and needs certain level of political maturity to operate smoothly. Recent African political history is replete with examples of disruptive tendencies, resulting from the introduction of multipartyism into the political system. One such an example is the Ravalomanana versus Ratsiraka spectacle in the late Malagasy elections. And while I would not go so far as to suggest the possibility of such a political scenario in Somaliland, the people must, nevertheless, be prepared for every eventuality.

Finally, if the goverment is seriuos about the elections, it must strain every nerve, within the remaining limited period of time, to put in place the necessary mechanisms and create conducive environment for undertaking free and fair elections in the country, or we would be forced once again to extend the mandate of this government for another of 'who-knows-what' months or years, with all its political costs for the country.

My first impressions on December local council election in Somaliland

Jan 01 2003

After several weeks of heated campaigning by the political parties, peaceful local council election took place in Somaliland on December15, 2002. The local council election was a positive step in the right direction and a milestone for the democratic development of the country.

Participating in the first democratic election in the country, in more than 30 years, was an exciting affair for everybody who was involved in it, but it was particularly so for the youth who formed the largest section of the population in the country. The youth actively participated in the election process as observers, as enumerators, as certifiers and, more importantly, as voters. For them, the local election was a learning process on electoral democracy and a great introduction to one of the most important aspect of western democracy i.e. the right to vote.

In immediate retrospective, there have been a variety of legal ambiguities and /or fallacies and technical hurdles, which negatively impacted on the election process. And while some of these can be explained away as inevitable, many others could have been remedied or avoided altogether in time.

The current constitution of Somaliland limits the number of legal political parties to three. The political party registration law clarifies this issue further by stating that any three parties that secure 20% of the votes of four regions in the country shall gain legal personality. But the election process could have technically produced four or five parties with 20% of the votes in given four regions of the country and the law, needless to say, was silent on how to deal with this kind of a possible scenario.

The six regions of the country are not equally endowed with respect to the number of their populations. The population of some of the regions approaches half a million, while in others it is less than 25 thousand. The law discounts regional population variations, therefore, when it equally demands from all political parties to secure 20 % of the votes from any given four regions, irrespective of their populations.The law also is statistically biased against political parties, which have supporters concentrated in the more populated centers of the country, like the capital..

Indeed, the three party limitations of the constitution and the 20% threshold requirement were the two sides of the same coin of obstacles, which the ex-president put in place to load the dice against rival political parties. And as it is shown by the latest local election results, only UDUB, the government party, managed to reach the 20% threshold (it indeed secured 40.7% of the total number of votes). KULMIYE came next with 18.8% of the votes.

As the deadline for submitting party lists to the electoral commission approached, the two political parties of HORMOOD and BIRSOL joined in a union and submitted a single list of candidates to the electoral commission. The two political parties also declared Omar Arte as their candidate of choice for the presidency. The union of the two parties, from the same sub-clan, injected a tribal factor into what was, otherwise, a healthy electioneering campaign. From the union of HORMOOD and BIRSOL onwards, notices of resignations of party officials from a certain political party or another started to appear in the local papers and party supporters began to transmigrate between the parties, mostly 'for-my-tribe' sort of reasons.

And SAHAN political party reinforced the trend towards tribal electioneering. Being a latecomer to the political scene (the ownership of SAHAN was claimed by two opposing groups for some time and it was only 24 hours before the deadline for submitting party lists to the commission that the Party Registration Committee granted the chairmanship of the party to Dr. Gaboose), SAHAN leadership thought to itself that the only way that they could possibly secure supporters at this eleventh hour was to utilize the tribal card, which they did palpably.

Most of the polling stations in the local elections (600 out of the total 800) were the same polling stations that were used in the 2001 constitutional referendum of the country. Initially, the selection of referendum polling stations were not based on a census conducted on the population of the regions in the country, and using the same polling stations again for the local elections was unwarranted at best. Other ways of distributing the polling stations should have been explored. The arbitrary distribution of the polling stations did have negative implications for the fairness of the election process.

Shortly after the opening of polling stations at 7:00 o’clock, the people formed long queues to vote for the parties of their choice. As time progressed, the voting process became so slow that people started to grow impatient. One culprits that was responsible for the delay was the requirement to register the full names of the voters, their age and the name of their mothers. Noticing this, the commission changed horses in midstream and informed polling station minders to confine themselves to writing down the first name of the voters only.

The way that electoral commission timed the duration of the voting in the election day was indeed chaotic. Many days before the election, the commission publicized that the polling stations will open on the election Day at 6:00 A.M, and will remain open until 10:00 P.M. But as the Makhrib prayer approached, the commission issued a new order to close all the polls at 6:00. While some polling stations closed in time, others remained open for hours and people kept on voting.

The dye used for marking the people after voting was removable and many people managed to vote second or third time. I have met a man who told me that he used a cough syrup for his sick child to remove the dye from his hand and that he was ready to vote again for his party! Many women with Henna on their finger also voted more than once. No need to make cottage houses out of these as they were not widespread as such, and were too insignificant to have tipped the balance for one party or another, if at all.

Majority of the political parties did not send party observers to most of the polling stations. Sending observers to polling stations is a costly business and few parties, like Kulmiye and UDUB, managed to send sufficient number of party observers to polling stations. Most of the political parties lacked the funds to cover such a luxury.

On its part, the media had its fair share of the action, both in the pre-election campaign and afterwards. Every statement made by one party leader or another kept appearing on a bold face in the headlines. These statements, sometimes, came in the form of mudslings against rival political parties. In one instance, President Riyaale exchanged swords with Muse Bihi of Kulmiye party, when the latter described President Riyaales’s trip to Sool region as a failure for the government and its UDUB party.

In a speech at Khayriya the next day, president Riyaale accused Muse Bihi of being a tribalist and a warmonger. President Riyaale cited a speech Mr.Bihi made when he was the minister of the interior in 1994. In the speech, Mr. Bihi blatantly threatened the opposition to the government by quoting a saying from a poem by Hadraawi, in which the latter, referring to the forces of Siad Barre, declares that: Anigoo wax dili kara duco qaadan maayo, ee debci qorigu hay faro!!!

When the election ended, local papers started to predict the results. But due to the absence of exit polls expertise, papers invariably based the predication of election result on the whims of their editors. This was particularly true of Jamhuuriya newspaper, which, day after day, fed readers with bogus election results. In the end, the presentations of the bogus election results turned out profitable for Jamhuuriya, as it managed to sell more and thus increase its circulation.

Finally, given the socio-economic development of our people and the parochial nature of our political culture, the peaceful manner that the election took place was beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.