by Abukar Yahye Sanei
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Silence is betrayal is a famous slogan that the Civil Rights Movement leader in the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King, expressed in his anti-war speech during the Vietnam War, one of the most unpopular wars the United States has ever fought. If Dr. King was alive today, he would have spoken against the other unpopular war that we are still wasting our money and resources: The Iraq War. However, Dr. King has chosen to speak up, because his conscience rejected to just wait and see what was going on in his time. For the same reason, and the political crisis that we see from our home country, Somalia, I choose to speak out and repeat what Dr. King said: Silence is Betrayal! Indeed, there has never been a better time to employ this slogan on the Somali case where political exploitation is witnessed by Somalis everywhere whether in the Diaspora or inside home country.
It’s true, and I am not exaggerating that we, the Somalis, are in a critical condition that we have never seen in the last twenty years. In the past, we have had a group of warlords who had been forcing people to follow them either on clan basis or at gun-point—at gun-point, you don’t have any other option, but to follow— to keep their roadblocks, but nowadays, we have weaponless politicians that are abusing the will of Somalis at any cost. One may wonder why this is the case? Well, if someone can pay attention to the patterns that we have been seeing before, there is a painstaking method that is used to abort any progress that Somalis make for their country. This technique can directly come as an intervention from outside or there are some individuals that can be used to play a destructive role with a false promise that they will be politically rewarded if they defeat those who are in power. For example, in 2006, we witnessed a progressive Islamic Courts Union led by, among others, Sharif Ahmed. However, before even working in a year, Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia under the pretext that the Courts were acting “against Ethiopia’s interest.” In fact, the mission and the direction of the Islamic Courts Union was to re-establish rule of law, and provide service to the suffering Somalis, who have been deprived to see law and order since the collapse of the last central government in 1991. But Ethiopians did not want to see any progress towards peace and stability coming from Somalia by the hands of Somalis, and they committed to abort the little hope that was coming from the Islamic Courts Union during 2006.
Moreover, for the last six months or so, Somalis everywhere have been witnessing a well-functioning government led by Hon. Prime Minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, and we have seen a real progress from his honest team, who has sacrificed their time and energy to leave behind their loved ones in their adopted countries. Despite the enormous challenges that this government was facing from the extremist group, Farmaajo and his team started to reform and rebuild the basic institutions that are necessary for any government to function. This was a progress that captured the hearts and minds of Somalis as they wanted this progress to be maintained in order to complete the rebuilding process of the nation. Unfortunately, there is one destructive man with a greedy group who are committed to destroy every development that Farmaajo and his team have tried to achieve for the short period of time that they were serving for their war-ravaged nation.
Speaker of the Parlaiment - Now Somalis know very well about this man |
By the time that all efforts should have been placed on rebuilding the country and defeating the khawaarij group that are misrepresenting Islam for their own wicked political goals, and preparing this country for a permanent government, the Speaker and his group chose to play non sense political games that are not helpful for our home country. Furthermore, Mr. Hassanand his group hijacked the will of the Somali people wherever they are. They forgot that the so-called Kampala Accord is not a Somali-owned accord, and the last word of the fate of Somalia belongs to Somalis, as Sharif Ahmed and Sharif Hassan cannot take any decision that is not approved by Somalis. These two gentlemen, with due respect, are power thirsty, careless about the interest of Somalia, and above all, are not suitable to be in a leadership position. The so-called President is incompetent, incapable and unqualified, and the only way that he reached this position during the Arta process is that he succeeded to mislead the International Community and the Somali people with his oratory skills that apparently derailed nowadays. Moreover, he failed to convince, and politically mobilize those MPs who have been aligning with him during the Arta conference. In the current political condition, instead of supporting his colleagues in the Farmaajo team, for what reason that he has chosen to sign the unlawful accord? The only condition that he signed the so-called Kampala Accord, as far as someone can see, is to prolong his power. However, there is nothing to regret, and now Somalis know very well about his personalities and who he is.
The Speaker, on the other hand, has been known for his double faced political agenda. He defected from the government of former President Adullahi Yusuf, because he could not find his own interest, and finally created a fake personal friendship with the incompetent President. When they both visited the Diaspora community in the United States, many intellectuals and elders in the Somali community surprised how the then Finance Minister, was shoulder to shoulder with the unqualified President to the point that he was his Chief of Staff. In addition, one can hypothesize that this power thirsty Speaker, if you follow his immoral tactics, you could find that he, directly or indirectly, had played a negative role in the political clash between the former Prime Minister, Hon. Abdirashid Ali Sharma’arke and the current ineffectual President during 2010. The fact of the matter is that this multi-faced man’s political maneuvering was just geared towards his personal agenda, and not to serve for the country. Fortunately, now Somalis know him very well, and hopefully, they will act against his ill-advised political agenda to reclaim their country back.
Leadership changes are necessary to be made in Somalia, because the so-called President and the Speaker have failed to meet the needs of the country. However, leadership changes cannot come without planning and sacrifice. Therefore, public outcry with a vision and leadership that can manage the anger of the public at the abuse of power that is taking place is necessary. Public revolutions that toppled the Bin Ali of Tunisia, the Mubarak of Egypt, and now toppling the Saleh of Yemen, the Qaddafi of Libya and the Asad of Syria, are great examples that Somalis should follow suit in order to restore the power and dignity for their country.
Silence is betrayal, and the only option that is now available for Somalis is to revolt for their country. In this condition, revolution is unavoidable, and the Diaspora community and those who are inside the country must organize themselves to take action against the khawaarij group and most importantly, the two Sharifs who are dishonest to their people, and deliberately hijacking what is the interest for the Somali nation. It’s time for Somalis to act and regain the fate of their country, and submit its leadership to those that they find competence, sincerity and most importantly trustworthiness. It’s enough that we have been manipulated by selfish politicians that don’t care about peaceful and prosperous Somalia, and it’s time to move forward.
Abukar Yahye Sanei
Follow me on twitter @aysanei