Somaliland: Post-Election Moves & Setbacks

Dear reader, I have been quiet for the last few months to see the direction in which the change-motivated waves take us after Somaliland’s credential, democratic, free and fair elections (according to the international observers).


Today, I feel like taking the pen once again, just to highlight both the positive as well as the negative moves taken by President Siilanyo’s new government since he was sworn as the Somaliland President.

We generally agree that our expectations (including the elected Kulmiye Party’s) were too high to be practically implemented. As the history dictates no change/development can ever be as easy, simple and viable as many of us believed. However, it is still another real-live rule to see any dream/goal achieved if you have your plan, resources and human capital in place.

Coming to the point of my article, the president has started his work by nominating the most qualified and professional cabinet ever made in Somaliland, though same people may criticize from other angles! In reality we have to understand that we need accountable, productive and ‘clean’ ministers who can make a promise and deliver it in the shortest time possible. Names should have no meaning to us, but the end product. No matter who is the fisher if you get the fish!

I strongly believe that we should encourage the fruitful foreign policy actions taken by the new government during the last three and half months, including the recent floods of EU delegates in Somaliland and the fresh two highly welcomed and organized visits to Djibouti and Ethiopia. Honestly we are in a position to exploit our credentials and opportunities. Similarly the new government has greatly achieved it policy and promise to increase the government’s revenue. Government institutions’ reshuffle and the increase in the working hours from 4 to 7 hours was another appreciative step.

However, I won’t cover the fact that the internal security has been relaxed and risks increased since the new government has come to the power. Starting from the ONLF rebels from the western sea-shores to the latest clan-based clashes in the Buhodle, I think the new government has not done enough to take necessary reactions or prepare the proactive policies to tackle such a security threat. Currently the so called SSC seems to be the biggest security threat facing Somaliland in the near future, more than Al-shabab’s. Unfortunately the government seems to be lagging behind to effectively and efficiently study the case and act before it’s too late.

Still another big mistake is neglecting some of the most needy and backward regions in the country as the previous government has been doing for the last eight years. Just to mention one example, there has not been a single project implemented in Sanaag region during the first-100 days. Even it has not been mentioned in the plan at first! The only secondary school has been closed twice since July due to lack of teachers and management problem and no enough has been done yet. 95% of the people are unemployed and the government institutions are almost negligible! May be the new cabinet has never been there and believe it is just another part of Puntland! The eastern regions (Sanaag and Sool) should have to be the priority to at least reach a standard close to the other four regions’.

Lastly, I hope that the new government will do more for the next few months and years, and we have to give them the chance. Nevertheless, we will point out its weaknesses so that it can learn from the past mistakes and take the public’s advice. A characteristic to a democratic, transparent and accountable government!

By: Mr. Jama Ismail Noor,
BA in Economics and Management Science (IHU)
MBA cndt in Project Management (Open University of Malaysia)
Hargeisa, Somaliland
E-mail: Jaamacyare11@hotmail.com / qude2002@gmail.com
Web: Jamaqude.blogspot.com

Somaliland In Focus: 2010 and the economy

In my previous article I have discussed about the current political issues in the country. However today, I would like to give you an overview about Somaliland’s limited economy, our expectations in 2010 and areas we have to improve to achieve economic growth – this is my view.

Clearly every year has its ups and downs and 2010 is no exception. It is our economy that we need to reshape and regulate more than any other sector, from what I have observed as an undergraduate economist. We need to make use of the little we have, which I think would have taken us so far if we plan carefully. Though at the same time we had many challenges that hindered our economic development for the last decade or so.

The worst challenge was Saudi Arabia’s sanction on our livestock. Fortunately, that is over now as the sanction is lifted after 11-years. Thus we need to be cautious about our economy’s backbone market and try to avoid them getting any excuse to ban our livestock again. This includes inspecting all ships that are to carry out livestock to the Arabian Kingdom, because it is possible someone could sabotage us by loading sick animals on the ship prior to it’s arrival then mixing it with our animals.

This will create cross-contamination, we need to clearly mark all our animals, keep proper data, before loading them on the ship, send all data including the weight of all animals to Saudi Arabia, so this way if someone tamped with our animals, we can just look back at the record on certain animal in question including it’s weight. If the data is wrong then we know it came from else where.

We need to do every thing to protect our market, there are a lot of people who would be more than happy to see the sanction being imposed on Somaliland. We have to be vigilant.

The second greatest source of our economy is the remittance money from our kind and helpful Somalilanders in abroad. According to last year’s statistics, from Money transfer agencies, this money has reduced as a result of the global economic crises which has hardly hit the western countries where most of it used to flow from.

So it is time for us to change our mind and think of more reliable and sustainable sources of income. You will feel uncomfortable when you see more than 70% of our families are dependent on abroad for survival.

I would like to argue the Diaspora to think again. What if they help the family start a small business for living? This will not only relief the Diaspora, but also help the family members to be self-employed. Imagine a 35 year old person who has never done any work! Of course, waiting for others to feed.

A Chinese proverb says “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime”. To put it more simply I think that we will learn from experience and plan for tomorrow, not only for today.

Another sector where we are very much behind is the agriculture, we have fertile soil, water can be found but we never consider mass producing our own food, except very few individuals. We need to become food self-sufficient. We need to call on people to utilise the available resources to achieve the common objective in agriculture because we have seen how badly we have been knocked by the global food crises in the last two years.

To go bit far, for the last few years we have witnessed impressive development in the private sector economy in our country. However, the only problem one can point is that it is unregulated, unplanned and unbalanced growth. You will see overcrowding in some sectors (i.e. telecommunication), while more profitable and urgently needed sectors are ignored.

We should not also forget to remind ourselves that we have to encourage our small industries to grow. How? Individuals should buy the local products; the government should restrict imports on domestically produced goods.

Recently, I was comparing the locally produced soft drinks with that from international major firms. During my observation I have discovered that they are similar in price, the public consumes more of the foreign drinks, though the domestic one might be better of quality! So we need to be more realistic, the locally produced products should be cheaper.

Here comes again another touching phenomenon. Hey Somalilanders! in the second decade of the 21st century we need not to be the most corrupted country in the world and yet wait to develop and recognition. Putting it more simply there has to be transparency and accountability, in every activity we are doing, be it government and public. Opportunities to do so should be sought out and taken advantage of wherever and whenever possible.

To conclude, economically we need to be creative, make use of opportunities and plan ahead. Otherwise “if we fail to plan we plan to fail”. We have to prepare today to afford the improvements of tomorrow. Our budget should be more of a development-centred.

You only have to check our 45 million budget for last year, just to see that there is no single percent for development! I hope that in 2010, we will be able to improve these and many other areas which I didn’t mention here, either for my short-sightedness or otherwise.

Jama Ismail Noor,
Senior Student
International Horn University
Jaamacyare11@hotmail.com

Hargeisa – Somaliland, January 10 2010

2010: SOMALILAND IN FOCUS! Part 1:

As the new year and the new decade commences, we have countless expectations here in Somaliland. To mentions only few, international recognition, better life, economic development, and most importantly, we are impatient to get free and fair elections done.

In this article I will be highlighting the major actions we need to take, emphasizing the threats and opportunities we are facing in a long-ignored corner of the continent-Arica. I will be focusing on three major areas: Political, Economical and social sides.

Politics:

To begin with we have been through an extremely challenging year, 2009, where the political unrest was a common phenomenon, the worst in 15 years. Thanks to God, we have settled now. In 2010, we are expecting four major elections: the presidential, the local governments and two parliamentary elections (both Elders and Representatives). Thus this will be a tough year and we need to work harder to achieve them all. In one hand, it seems to be impossible to accomplish because we couldn’t held only one election in two years. But on the other hand, it is very much likely that we can attain- considering the recent agreement between the political parities and the dedication of the newly elected Electoral Commission. And all we can say is to be optimistic and hope for the best because “The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy”. Let me also argue the stakeholders to speed up their efforts to take us out of the doubt.

Similarly, we are waiting the world to look as more closely then before, we have been disregarded for two decades and I believe we have to be taken more seriously at this very year. The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is “the right of self determination”, which states that “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development”. So we did! Why don’t they accept?!

To reaching our goals, we need to strengthen our system of governance, security and foreign policy, and that is what we need to place on the top of our agenda in the new year. Knowing that many countries will come as they admire our unilateral determination and dedication, there is no reason to retreat but move forward.

Lastly, we live in a hostile Horn, where new ways of extremism threaten our existence, meaning we have to be more careful than ever before and make use of the past experiences. Let us all remember that, as Mandella once said, “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere”.

Long life Somaliland,
Thanks for reading………. The other parts are coming soon.

Jama Ismail Noor,
Senior Student
International Horn University,
Hargeisa- Somaliland
Jaamacyare11@hotmail.com