Dr. Abdishakur Jowhar
Prelude
2006 has been a particularly difficult year for Somaliland. The nation barely held together against the onslaught of the religious right only to face a fresh challenge from the petty dictatorships that plaques the African continent. The punches keep coming. The year ended with freedom in chains and with the Editor and the Publisher of Haatuf (the central defenders of the nation) behind bars. But the nation keeps standing, swaying gracefully with each strike. In these dire circumstances the Gadabuursi comes to the aid of the nation and offers guidance to its president.
Let the obvious be stated. The election of President Dahir Riyaale Kahin was a magnanimous act of national healing and a symbol of national maturity. And for the Gadabuursi it was also a joyous moment of coming in from the cold fringes of political wilderness to its very center. President Riyaale became the very first member of the tribe to carry such a lofty title, at least in the modern history of the Somali people. We bristled with pride. We were ecstatic with his delivery of three elections in rapid succession for the benefit of the nation; elections that were judged free and fair by impartial observers. This surely was a feat that has eluded many of the brightest minds of Africa’s political elite and here was one humble Gadabuursi who could deliver it for his nation. We sang his praises and pointed out for all who had eyes to see; look for the grace of God; there goes a righteous Gadabuursi.
These were the golden days, many moons ago, before the tide turned, before corruption found a home in the palace, way before freedom found itself behind bars. At this critical moment the Gadabuursi tribe comes to terms with the moral responsibly of taking an ethical stand when its own son falters, when the line between right and wrong blurs. Silence in this circumstance will be tantamount to a criminal act. In this Manifesto the tribe speaks so that the nation can live out its ideals of peace, modernity and democracy.
The Manifesto
(I) On the Myth of the Tribal President
The Gadabuursi tribe is fully aware its fortunes will rise and fall with those of all the people in this nation. The tribe will prosper if the nation finds prosperity. The tribe will have peace if there is peace in the nation. The tribe will have justice if justice prevails in the nation’s courts. And the tribe will suffer injustice, starvation, pestilence, war and death if the nation falls apart. It is that simple and the tribe understands it.
A president serves a state, a nation not a tribe or a clan. The very term tribal president is an oxymoron. It is a myth that has sucked the life out of all Somali societies; it is a monster that we must slay if Somalis are to survive as people. For the Gadabuursi and for the nation the 20-mile heartbreak road between Dilla and Borama should serve as a living testimony for the impotence of the concept of a tribal presidency that lives only in the sickness of the tribal mind.
The Gadabuursi tribe enters into a covenant with the nation that it will not allow this President (the son of the tribe) to appeal overtly or covertly to the primitive irrational tribal instinct to hijack national justice, to cover up corrupt practices or to curb the freedom of the citizens of the nation. The tribe will not allow this president to do to it what Siyad Barre did to the Mareexaan, to the Somali nation and ultimately to his own family. The Gadabuursi have no desire for national suicide; no appetite for the rule of a despot and the death of a nation.
Let there be peace for every citizen, justice for every citizen, prosperity for every citizen.
(II) On Reform, Revolution and the Problem President
We live in a formative era. Our nation, the nation of Somaliland, and its social order of democratic dispensation, are under constant threat. We barely survived a voracious revolutionary movement just to be faced by the nightmare in the making that has replaced it. Both threats were born out of the frustration of millions of our brothers in South Somalia and both have shaken Somaliland to the core. Because, and this is important, because the Somaliland system of governance as it evolved under the leadership of president Riyaale in the past few years has weakened the nation like a pillar consumed by termites (sidii UDUB Xar Galay), because the weakened body politic has become too susceptible to adverse encounters of any type.
The mis-government of the nation has turned it into seething pool of explosive conflict, and a breeding ground for revolutionary zest. For those who don’t know already a revolution is not the same as a raid from Somalia or Ethiopia. This may happen but it will be an invasion not a revolution. Somaliland united (any nation united) can stand up to any invasion however mighty. A revolution is a different story altogether. By its very definition it is a radical and violent social experiment. Blood is its normal currency, the blood of those who rule first and that of the ruled later when the violence is institutionalized. A revolution is an internal construct, a homemade product; it cannot be imported or exported. It originates, grows and explodes within the body of a nation. The system in Somaliland is pregnant with revolution and dangerously close to eruption. The drumbeat of the impending revolt is deafening. And the president is deaf. To speak plainly the president is oblivious. To speak plainly the president has become the problem of the nation.
So the tribe warns its wayward son. This is no exaggerated prophecy of doom. Power imposes a peculiar blindness on those who come to possess it. Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena met their end in surprise in the hands of bloodthirsty revolutionaries. Mussolini and his wife met a similar fate in Piazzale Loretto in Milan. They never saw it coming. Siyad Barre had to be smuggled out of Villa Somalia in the middle of a dark night to end his days in the misery of exile. Be forewarned son of the tribe. Be thus advised.
And the tribe also bears good news for its son: Reform. Serious reform will heal the president, and the presidency. It will rescue the nation from the edge of the precipice. Serious reform is the effective antidote to the revolution. And this here, this manifesto is guide to reform. Burying the presidential head in sand like an ostrich would not do the job, futile attempts of placing truth in prison will not do the trick and would surely end up being counter productive. The unjust and vengeful incarceration of Gaboobe, the Nelson Mandela of Somaliland and his colleagues will be nothing but the last straw that will break the back of this presidency. The tribe counsels its son to get the courage of confronting his blunders.
The tribe is wise to this: What has been said so far is not what the President is hearing from the court jesters and carpet beggars that surround him. The main job of these parasitic hangers-on is to soothe the presidential ego, stoke his grandiosity and gloss over the errors of his ways. They do that because that is how they feed. They have to keep the tap running. They are not friends of the President. They are friends of the president’s pocket. They are the curse on the African Presidency. And they always manage to disappear on a president the day after.
And the tribe tells its son: Fear not Aweys. Fear not the Aweys inspired. Fear not Yusuf and the memories of the Las. Fear only the intransigence of the human soul that prevents critical self examination. Fear your court jesters and your carpet beggars. Fear your ego, your grandiosity and your inflating sense of entitlement. Fear the enemy within!
Part II will follow
NB The Gadabuursi Manifesto is penned by Dr. Jowhar. It is however the product of collective tribal enterprise. The document represents the silent majority of Gadabuursi opinion both inside the country and in Diaspora. It is an attempt to recruit tribal culture for sustaining life and liberty of all and preventing it from continuing to remain a hiding place for the evil, the corrupt, the opportunist, the hate monger and the murderer. The manifesto is meant to be a blue print for all Somali tribes. Dr. Jowhar and the silent partners he consulted in preparing the Manifesto belong to the Gadabuursi tribe. The decision is to speak truth to power; truth to President Riyaale who also belongs to the same tribe.
The first part of this document dealt with the myth of the tribal president and the issues of reform and revolution. The reader is strongly advised to read part 1 first. Ponder.
III) On Corruption
Africa is a continent with the highest rate of corruption and worst health and quality of life indices in the world. Africa loses $150bn to corruption each year. That is 6 times more than the sum total of all the developmental assistance it receives. There are international network of criminal lawyers, Mafiosi, front companies and family members who “assist” Africa’s Robber Presidents to devastate the economy and hope of the continent. Somaliland is no different from the rest of Africa. Indeed here corruption has a semi official status with Government ministers openly justifying it as a necessary evil. Every Somalilander has experienced horror stories of corruption at a personal level. Indeed corruption at the local, regional and national levels has reached a level that is no longer compatible with a functioning state apparatus.
Corruption kills. Every $100 misappropriated steals the life of 10 children who would prematurely die of diarrhea that could have been effectively treated with less than $10 per child. Corruption is more about indirect murder than it is about theft. Every $100 stolen condemns 10 children to a life time of illiteracy and darkness. Corruption glorifies theft and makes mockery of decency and hard work. It destroys the dignity, honor and moral fiber of the nation.
Corruption lives in secrecy and thrives in darkness of the night. Public exposure is the most effective tool a nation can deploy against the corrupt. Oppression, intimidation and even assassination of those who expose the looting are integral to the process of robbing the national purse of a population already half starving to death.
The Gadabuursi tribe takes the stand that corruption is equal to theft; equal to murder of the soul of a nation; corruption is equal to shame and disgrace. The tribe calls the nation to banish this evil from its midst.
The tribe speaks truth to its son: Mr. President you have reached the proverbial fork in the road. The times are forcing upon you choices that you can not avoid. We believe that you are being ill advised by your carpet beggars of every tribe whose feeding tubes are illicitly bleeding the national purse to bankruptcy. So we, the moral majority of the tribe, give you realistic alternative options out of love, kinship and respect. The choice of course is yours and so are the consequences.
Choose to be accountable and transparent. Open your private books for public scrutiny. Show the nation what you earned and how you earned it. Expect such a level of transparency and accountability from your ministers and other appointed high officials. Practice the politics of honesty and dignity and you will win over the public. Keep in mind this is the code of ethics that prevails among all democratic societies in the world. This is the Gadabuursi way of leadership, the way of Ali Hussein. We want to hear again the beautiful verse “Daacadi Ninkeedi Dishay …Daawo Gadabuursi”
Un-choose the worn out road of incarcerating those who dare to speak. Such a route leads to no where. It is a counterproductive route for it says to the nation at large “look I am hiding something sinister”. It serves as an admission of guilt in the public eye. It is the preferred route for tin pot dictators. It is a direct encouragement to the really corrupt to go wild on the public purse with impunity. It is a Un-Gadabuursi route. Abandon this route of the corrupt lest you be tainted by it. The tribe prays for you to be blessed with the courage of owning up to your faults and the wisdom of self correction.
No one is above the law. Neither press nor president. That is the beauty of the concept of equality under the law. And so for redress of your personal grievances against members of the media follow the laws of the land. Seek justice as clearly detailed in the press law. Trample not on the laws that you swore to uphold in search of personal or familial vindication.
IV) On Freedom of the Press
The central crisis we face today is not about corruption. It is about the constitution. The Somaliland state has clearly refused to abide by the laws of the nation. It has summarily and unceremoniously set aside the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and free press. It has arbitrarily arrested journalists. By its actions it has nullified central aspects of the constitution at its whim. We are threatened with a situation, once again, where the nation is at risk of falling under the whim of one man. There is no way to sugar coat these facts.
The constitutional crisis is of such a central importance to the existence of the nation that it is no longer President Riyaale’s lone responsibility to resolve. The house and Guurti must take it on to the exclusion of everything else. The three political parties must do nothing else, work on nothing else and think of nothing else until the law of the land is upheld, until the journalists of the nation can work freely without fear of arbitrary arrest and incarceration.
Let it be know to all and sundry. We have to exist as a nation of free people before we can fight corruption or poverty or ignorance or intolerance. It is our freedom that is under immediate threat. All of us are prisoners-in-waiting. We might not be behind bars as yet, but we are not free as long as the three heroes of the nation Gaboobe, Dini and Mohamed Omer Sheikh remain in the dungeons of the state.
The Gadabuursi urges the nation to engage itself in the defense of its constitution, its freedom and its heroic journalists. Freedom is indivisible. Freedom is non tribal; it is an urgent national cause. We appeal to nation to defend its freedom for without it nationhood becomes devoid of soul and substance.
V. On Freedom of the Airwaves
The tribe reminds the nation that free radio stations are prohibited in Somaliland. In a society with an illiteracy rate of 80% the abolition of Radio services, the only means of communication that does not require reading, is equivalent to the abolition of free speech. This offensive misappropriation of the national will was implemented with a ministerial edict in 2002 in the early days of Riyaale’s administration. It slipped below the radar of public awareness and it started the nation on the slippery slope of one man monologues and one man rule. We should have fought back then, for it is the reason why we find ourselves today fighting a battle for our freedom to speak, once again. It is not too late yet, it is never too late. We have won over more formidable foes. We will prevail this time too.
In an August 2006 interview with BBC Somali service President Riyaale openly defended his refusal to allow free radio stations in Somaliland. The president cited the horrific role the private radio station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) played in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. The president used this as justification for his decision to prohibit free Radio stations in Somaliland. It appears that the great and kind president is determined to prevent Somaliland tribes from massacring each other like the Hutu and Tutsi of Rwanda.
True RTLM was a private radio station. It systematically laid the ground work for mass murder of close to a million men, women and children of the Tutsi and moderate Hutu of Rwanda. The radio was a symbol of evil and no radio like it should ever be allowed into the airwaves of any nation.
Here is what the president did not tell the public: Radio Mille Collines (RTLM) was launched in 1993, backed by family members of the Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana. It was “privately” owned by members close to the government. It broadcasted its hate message using government owned equipment of Radio Rwanda. It broadcasted nothing but government propaganda. The government of Rwanda used this radio station to prepare the ground for the genocide of the Tutsi. In all but name the RTLM was, like radio Hargaysa, the property of the government of the day and its propaganda mouthpiece. President Riyaale’s justification for the prohibition of free speech in the airwaves of Somaliland is therefore only half true. Half-truths are worse and much more deceptive than outright lies.
The tribe calls to the nation’s attention that genocide is a totalitarian byproduct, managed, orchestrated and achieved through a monopoly on the word. The prohibition on the freedom of the airwaves represents the biggest threat to the security, peace and safety of the nation. We assume the kind president who is intent upon preventing tribal massacres knows this too. The deception must therefore serve some other purpose; the purpose that has defeated the African state, the purpose of holding on to power at any cost.
Let us keep our eyes on the prize. The historic challenge facing us today is to ensure freedom of speech in all its forms for ourselves and for our progeny. Let us push back against the forces of oppression and opportunism. Let us snatch victory from the darkness of the moment. Rest not until the evil monopoly of the state on the airwaves is defeated. To paraphrase the American motto; Let us live free or die trying!
By Dr. Abdishakur Jowhar
abdijowhar@yahoo.com