by Farid Adam
Saturday, May 08, 2010
When one tries to make sense of something that doesn’t make much sense, you only end up with a head-splitting headache that cannot be assuaged with any number of pain killers. The disappointment does not only burrow deep into your system, but it takes a permanent position in your intellectual early warning system against all pen-abusers.
For some time now, I had been trying to give a writer, who disguises his true identity behind the pseudonym, Ahmed Kheyre, London, the benefit of the doubt on the subject he so brutally tramples on: Somaliland. He wants us all to believe that he is an ardent Somalilander, as an expert on Somaliland, and on Somaliland politics. He wishes to enlist all of us – Somalis and non-Somalis, Somalilanders and non-Somalilanders – that we ought to see Somaliland from his point of view and none other. Instead, demonstrates an utter absence of intellectuality, impartiality and feeling for the hapless subjects of his worthless, hate-fuelled words.
The man is doing the greatest disservice possible to Somaliland. For one, he depicts it as an island of Somali-haters, which it is not. He divides its people where he should have united their hearts and causes. He is out to destroy the form and fabric of the so nascent and budding democracy in Somaliland, where he should have nurtured it. He should have preached tolerance and dialogue among the political parties, where he now blindly advocates for one and so disparaging of the other two.
Another ongoing onslaught on the very pillars of the Somali race is his hate-campaign against Dahabshiil. Let it suffice that the man misrepresents the truth twisting it to suit his pay masters by, for instance, by writing against this company – the pride of all Somalis, on 23 March, in an article he published on many websites called Can Dahabshiil be Considered a Somaliland Company Anymore, that the company chose to open a bank in Djibouti when, all along, it could have opened it in Somaliland! The following is borrowed from his words – verbatim.
There is also no doubt that the government of Somaliland is willing to offer certain incentives to enable Dahabshiil to conduct its banking sector in Somaliland with minimum interference. Yet, Dahabshiil has chosen to avoid investing in Somaliland by paying taxes and subsequently, declining to invest in the future of Somaliland.
Recently, the Somaliland government and the Somaliland House of Representatives have formulated and passed new measures to enable the creation of both national and private commercial banks. These laws allow the creation of these new banks by strengthening the authority of the Somaliland Central Bank and other regulatory bodies to safeguard the deposits and credits of consumers. The new banks will be expected to follow these rules and will also pay corporate taxes. Dahabshiil has decided not to participate in these new developments.
Who can this hate-blinded gentleman hoodwink by such blatant fabrications of the truth on the ground? When did the Somaliland parliament or the government pass such a law? Who is he writing for? Whose propaganda is he promoting? Who in the Somali=speaking territories doesn’t know of Dahabshiil’s unsung philanthropy? The answer to all these is obvious to all as it is to him – only he chooses to ignore it for his own purposes.
In the same article, he contends that Dahabshiil and Telesom do not pay government taxes as they should. Did he verify the figures he quotes? Of course, not. Did he give the companies he accuses a fair chance to respond. Not at all. Forgetting to tell us if he has been appointed the Auditor General of Somaliland or if he had checked his facts with either the Somaliland ministry of Finance or the companies themselves, he writes:
Nevertheless, the presumption of political persuasion or the issue of alleged government corruption should not be used as an excuse for paying the appropriate taxes. After all neither corruption nor political affiliation are exclusive to Somaliland.
The man even misquotes the source by writing “companies like Somtel and Dahabshiil to mention just two of them”, by intentionally replacing Telesom (in the quoted article) with SOMTEL – a company that is barely three months old – and – incidentally - owned by Dahabshiil. (Whether is was by design or by mistake is anybody’s guess.) This came out in another article he entitles Somaliland: When Will Major Somaliland Companies Pay Taxes?
The last of his long line of one-sided, prurient spouts against Dahabshiil came in another article he published on websites that he befriends in his guise as the only true Somalilander or coerces to do so by mis-quoting the fundamental precepts of freedom of speech. In this article - Is Dahabshiil engaging in Press censorship – he, again, confuses the company with his own warped sense of what is wrong and what is right. In this most recent blather, he concludes it with the intended objectives and sum up of his sustained onslaught with “…As for the services provided by Dahabshiil Financial Services, well, there are other Somaliland transfer companies. Therefore, I have a choice, as do all Somalilanders.” Is this conclusion a surprise to anybody who had been reading him since March 23rd? Of course not.
The name – Kheyrre (the Virtuous) has nothing to do with Kheyr (virtue), that is obvious. He should have known by now that no amount of drivel can in any way taint the good name of this Somali icon. All he has revealed thus far is he enamored he is with evil and how spiteful of successful Somali companies – Dahabshiil, Telesom, Qaran and Somtel.