by Soyan Guled
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Welcome Mr President the people have spoken loud and clear and voted for change. They placed on your famously broad shoulders their hopes for better tomorrow and they expect you to deliver.
Hope has a short shelf-life and euphoria dissipates faster than early morning mist in the Arori plains where you were born. It is vital you act now and act decisively. You must temporarily put aside your well-honed sense of compromise which served your people so well in the past. A different set of skills are demanded of you by history now. Now is your chance to bare your fangs of strength; the ruthless single-mindedness which brought you the reins of leadership after a quest of 30 years.
Here are my suggestions for action in your first 100 days
Create lean government of the best: Abandon the clan allocation system that so often brought deadwood into the ranks of leadership. Select the best even if they all come from the same village. People have matured and will accept this. Ignore the bands of self-appointed clan bosses who will no doubt cry foul – someone will always cry foul no matter what you do.
Act on Qat : History tells us that drugs have destroyed nations in the past and they can do so again. This evil weed has already taken the nation staring into a hellish abyss. It fuels crime, corruption; family breakdowns, mental illness, absenteeism and violence. You can start by banning it from the organised branches of State like the army, police, Prison Services and health workers. This must be enforced ruthlessly if it is to stand a chance of making an impact. Strategy could then be formulated later to get rid of it altogether.
Enforce the existing laws against FGM: It is an insult to the nation and an insult to humanity that we still live in a nation which mutilates its little children. Name the most able female Minister in your cabinet to focus on this with targets that this stops within a year.
Free the Media: This is probably the easiest of your tasks. Trust the people and give media free reign. Anyone should be able to obtain a licence for running a media outlet provided they could prove they attended three months of training. They can buy a Licence for $1000 annually. You may also consider an initial deposit of $5000 held against committing libel which could then be refunded after 2 years of professional behaviour.
Recognition: Form a strategic centre that deals with the issue holistically instead of the headless, shapeless plethora of little groups that run around unled and unguided all over the world. They sometimes do more harm than good. The focus must be on Africa. And it does not have to be full recognition or none. Seek other concessions where full recognition is not forthcoming.
Sool &Sanaag: On this occasion retain your moderation and sense of compromise. Avoid violence at any cost. Talk to the leaders who object to Somaliland constantly and with your usual understanding and grace. Bring them into the fold or negotiate honourable separation of those who do not choose to part of Somaliland.
Work with the TFG: The two young leaders of the TFG need and I am sure will seek your expertise and guidance in their bid to save the people of Somalia from the jaws of hell. Both Sharif and Sharmarke are thoroughly decent men untainted by the attempted genocide against our people by the Siyad Barre regime. Invite them to Hargeisa. Share your wisdom freely and don’t be swayed by whispered accusations of Pan-Somalism. Their will always whisperers and history has a way of disregarding their pettiness.
Fight Al-Qaeda: Make no mistake that Al-Qaeda affiliates inside Somaliland pose an existential threat to this yet unborn nation. The enemy is already within: their ideas are here; their venom seeped into our soil. They already control the thinking of large portions of the people. The fight must of ideas, intelligence as well guns and bullets. The cry must go out loud and clear that we want our beautiful ancient Islam back. Our children must not be brainwashed with alien Wahabbism; our women must not be forced to suffocate under the oppressive blankets of oppression and misogyny.
I know this is a lot to ask of a man who already delivered so much in his honourable political lifetime. But the nation demands more. History will ultimately judge you not by all the things you have done yesterday but what you do from today.
Thank you
Soyan Guled
[email protected]