Hiiraan Online

by Abdirahin Mohamed
Sunday, November 29, 2009

Eight months later the hope and momentum on the side of the TFG is dissipating. Why? Even though there are other factors beyond the control of the TFG to sustain the support it was accorded by all Somalis, one of the critical factor is the isolation of the President and the resulting bunker mentality of the TFG.  Senior government officials who had close ties to Sheikh Sharif were suddenly unable to schedule a meeting with him at all.  Traditional leaders and the Islamic Scholars Council have been frozen out. Some erstwhile allies of Sheikh Sharif’s wing of the Islamic Courts, such as the former Governor of Hiiraan have defected to the opposition because they were left dangling and unable to meet with the President.

The President was warmly welcomed in the United States by the Somali community but again many were disappointed and dismayed that they found an isolated and difficult to access president rather than the open and charismatic Sheikh Sharif they envisioned.  It is the president’s staff that should bore the brunt of his dwindling public support at this critical juncture of implementing the peace process as stipulated by the Djibouti Accord. The Chief of Staff of the President’s office Mr. Abdulkareem Jama’s style of mismanaging the affairs and functions of the office of the president and denying access to the President is endangering the success and the spirit of the Djibouti Process and the need to continue dialogue and reconciliation.

While the role of the chief of staff includes managing the flow of information by consulting with other members of the executive branch as well as with the president on matters of national importance, his approach of obsessively denying access to the president is creating pandemonium in the president’s office. Such an attitude of "hands-off" the president is making the chief of staff look like a de facto Prime Minister and has weakened the president’s role.  According to sources that are close to cabinet ministers and members of Somali parliament, the only information that reaches the president’s desk is information that is heavily censored and pre-approved by the Chief of staff, and only it reaches if that information fits with the personal agenda of the chief of staff. Mind you, even if the president is given critical advice of national importance it will not be shared with the president unless it is determined its importance by the chief of staff.

Mr. Jama’s loyalty and sincerity for the Transitional Unity Government is now in question as it seems that he is more interested in promoting his political agenda instead of promoting the president's agenda. The chief of staff was one of the staunchest opponents of the Djibouti peace process as late as January 2009. He is on the record voicing strong opposition to any participation or endorsement of the Djibouti process in any shape or manner. He vehemently challenged Diaspora groups that endorsed the agreement and accused them of trying to gain government positions and parliamentary seats. Two weeks after voicing such strong opposition, he was in Djibouti running for the position of the Somali Premiership. After losing the fight to Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, he lobbied through his Aala- Shaikh connections to get the position of Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the president. From the day he arrived in Mogadishu, he worked hard to keep away the president from anyone who could provide a sound alternative advice including the Somali traditional elders, Somali intellectuals and Sheikh Sharif’s former Islamic Courts colleagues.

President Sharif (front left) poses with Abdulkareem Jama, – his chief of staff on the (right) at the UN.

Many political observers wondered how the Chief of the Staff could have mismanaged the President’s schedule. Just to list few of the gross public blunders and mismanagement committed by the Chief of staff include when the President missed the opportunity of meeting world leaders such as President Obama by first visiting Saudi Arabia and arriving very late in New York, by then nearly all G20 heads of states left for Pittsburg for the economic summit. Another debacle of mismanagement came when the President failed to attend a previously scheduled dinner reception hosted by President Barack and Michelle Obama. Can you imagine the powerful message a picture of President Obama and President Sharif would have sent to Somali Domestic and international audiences?

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama pose for a photo during a reception at the Metropolitan Museum in New York with H.E. Ali Ahmed Jama Jangeli, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic, and his wife, Mrs. Jama, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson

Another tangible example of disrespecting and shutting out senior government officials was how the President’s staff treated with the Somali Deputy Prime Minister Abdiwahid Elmi Omar (Gonjeeh), who was not accorded to the respect a deputy Prime Minister deserves.  Mr. Omar was intentionally prevented from becoming an official member of the Presidential Delegation. He was chastised in public by a junior minister in the Presidential delegation in Washington claiming the Deputy Prime Minister was not part of the official presidential delegation. Nevertheless, only when it was felt that the Deputy Prime Minister’s influence with the Somali community in Ohio was needed, was he included in the delegation. Abdulkareem Jama ordered the American security detail for President Sharif to take away the access badge of the Somali Ambassador to Kenya, HE Mohamed Ali Nur at the hotel the President was staying. It was disgraceful public fiasco to have a Somali Ambassador’s access badge removed without the consultation of the President. What was the Ambassador’s crime? He was only doing what the president’s chief of staff failed to do, that is to offer Diaspora community including intellectuals and community leaders access to the president.

Just by assessing at the staff Mr. Jama put in the president’s office should suffice for any Somali to understand why the TFG is confined in two blocks of the capital city of Mogadishu. Mr.Jama’s cronyisms include recruiting only his close loyalists to the office of the president to further his influence. This does not bode well with those who want to see this government succeed and this doesn’t serve the interest of the Nation or the President's.  He is putting together a shadow cabinet to compete and undermine the current Somali Cabinet of Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. One example is his recent hiring of William (Bill) Ainanshe.  Abdulkareem appointed him to be the Director of Institution building in Somalia. As many Somali Diaspora who know him can attest, Mr. Ainanshe is a controversial figure who is known to misrepresent facts about himself and his qualification.  Mr. Ainanshe was one of the official 11 member delegation who accompanied the President to the United States this September. In the same month, he became a member of the Foreign Minister’s delegation to the Intercontinental Summit in Venezuela. Many in the Diaspora are deeply concerned the fact that Mr Ainanshe is now playing major role on the security plans of the Somali government. He is known to be unreliable individual who cannot be trusted with the sensitive and secret matters of the state.

President Sharif (left) poses with Mursal Saney Chief Protocol (centre) and William Ainanshe (right)

The recent appointment of a polarizing figure Omar Jamal as the deputy Somali Ambassador to the UN was the latest miscarriage of justice that added an insult to an injury, to many supporters of President Sharif and many who made a conscious effort to support this government are contemplating of completely abandoning it, as such appointment of controversial figure has crossed a thin line between competence and ineptness. This reflects how Abdulkareem and his cronies deny the President from obtaining the true background of individuals who are appointed to higher offices of the nation.
It is imperative that TFG hire for President Sharif a new chief of staff who can work towards promoting the agenda of the president. The new chief of Staff must provide sincere and successful transparency and access of the President of the key stakeholders.  If the spirit of the Djibouti reconciliation Process is not emulated at this critical stage, the TFG will continue to shed support of the key stakeholders of peace, reconciliation and good governance and the International partner’s efforts will be wasted.