Somalisan.come has recently published a piece by one Guled Haji Hersi. Mr. Hersi attempted to share in his piece the bad news that the Federal Government in Somalia was in eminent danger of disintegration. To highlight his point, Mr. Hersi stated that the leaders of the Federal Member States severed ties and decided not to co-operate with the Federal Government. He also mentioned that the Upper House refused to join the Lower House where President Farmajo was to address members of the two houses.
This is a sad and serious political setup. And his moment of truth arrived when he started cheering for the incompetent state leaders. Abdiweli Gaas, Sharif Sakin, and Ahmed Madobe have not achieved any progress. Their respective states have regressed since they came to power. No economic, political or social progress attained. Mismanagement, nepotism, corruption and insecurity are the order of the day in their states. Donors have begun withdrawing their support for projects in Puntland. They have realized that there is no remedy to this rampant and shameless corruption, other than to suspend their involvement in these projects.
These are vile issues dominant and obvious in their jurisdictions. Their claim that they need an agreement on how to share natural resource revenue is baseless and misguided. One may wonder what natural resource is at issue here. We have not been able to utilize our natural resources, notably minerals and petroleum. We can have discussion on these resources, and also study how other jurisdictions that have a similar form of governance have tackled these matters.
This can be an on-going, long term engagement that has to be deliberated on thoroughly and honestly. Mr. Hersi has never been able to come up with useful ideas necessary for rebuilding our country. As an economist, he could have advised the government on sound economic policies by publishing essays that would highlight on ways to improve collecting taxes, to broaden the tax base and also to put in place prudent fiscal management strategies. Mr. Hersi could have done that either in private or public. He could have approached the government and offered his opinion on economic matters, or else could have gotten published, and in that way his written materials would have been available, useful to anyone interested.
I would like to note that Mr. Hersi could understand neither his role as a citizen nor the role of the leader.As a citizen, he has a duty to contribute to rebuilding his country in honest and meaningful ways. I have already mentioned what Mr. Hersi’s duties, as a citizen, might have been, so no need to revisit that.
