The Minister of Sports, Youth &Tourism Hon Ali Said Raygal presided over a graduation ceremony held for over 210 youth who have graduated with special skills from HAVAYOCO technical training Project.
Hon Ali Said Raygal speaking during the graduation lauded HAVAYOCO for initiating innovative projects with the purpose of preparing the youth for job market with the necessary skills that empower them with life planning skills and knowledge of positive planning.
The head of HAVAYOCO Vocational education and training Project Mr. Jimacle Yusuf said that the project has mainly benefited youth from Maroodi Jeeh and Awdal regions and that the organization has helped youth to set up small scale businesses so as to enhance employment.
Mr Jimacle said that an increased number of young people are currently participating in different vocational training activities and improving on their capacity building through mainstreaming sustainable training skills in various programs.
“It is anticipated that by the end of the project period, there will be realization of positive living and reduced levels of dependency among young people in project Regions”, said Mr Jimcale.
Among those attending the function were the minister of fisheries and marine resources Hon Abdillahi Jama Osman (Geeljire) and the assistant minister of education for Higher learning.
Recently, Naom Chomsky, MIT Professor of Linguistics and arguably America’s foremost public intellectual, gave an interview to Al Jazeera on the social (ir)responsibility of American academics and
Alemayehu G Mariam
Recently, Naom Chomsky, MIT Professor of Linguistics and arguably America’s foremost public intellectual, gave an interview to Al Jazeera on the social (ir)responsibility of American academics and intellectuals. Chomsky, 84, has been raising hell for over four decades, getting into the faces of the powerful and mighty and whipping them with the truth. He recently excoriated President Obama as lacking a “moral center” for using drone warfare to “run a global assassination campaign”. Chomsky has been called a “left winger”, a “radical activist” and even a “communist”, and has been on the receiving end of a few distasteful epithets. But the firebrand octogenarian is undeterred and as strong, as plain-spoken and outspoken as ever. He remains a relentless critic of capitalism, neoliberalism, globalization, warfare, corruption, repression, abuse and misuse of power and human rights violations in America and abroad. Along the way, he has continued his scholarly pursuits in linguistics.
In his Al Jazeera interview, “Noam Chomsky: The Responsibility of Privilege”, Chomsky chafed at the social irresponsibility of American intellectuals and denounced the greedy and rapacious elites for using their power to disempower ordinary people, confuse and render them intellectually inert, servile and defenseless.
Al Jazeera: Is it the responsibility of academics and other intellectuals to be engaged politically?
Chomsky: Or every other human being. Responsibility is basically measured by opportunity. If you are a poor person living in the slums and have to work 60 hours a week to put bread on the table, your degree of responsibility is less than if you have a degree of privilege.
Al Jazeera: If you have privilege, are you more obligated to give back?
Chomsky: Yes. The more privilege you have, the more opportunity you have. The more opportunity you have, the more responsibility you have. It is elementary.
Al Jazeera: So why don’t we see that in the U.S.? There has been so much talk about people getting richer, many, many more people are getting poorer, and yet the rich are seemingly resistant to giving more of their time, more of their wealth and talent?
Chomsky: For the most part, that’s why they are rich. If you dedicate your life to enriching yourself and those are your values and you don’t care what happens to anyone else, then you won’t care what happens to anyone else. It is self-selecting. It is also institutional. In its extreme pathological form, it’s Ayn Rand’s ideology: “I don’t care about anybody else. I am just interested in benefitting myself and that is just and noble.”
George Ayittey, the noted Ghanaian economist and one of Africa’s foremost public intellectuals, has long been chagrined by the social irresponsibility of Africa’s best and brightest. He argued that Africa’s intellectual class is in bed with those who have built “vampire states” to suck billions of dollars out of the pockets of their impoverished people to line their own pockets. In 1996, he told African intellectuals exactly what he thought of them: “Hordes of politicians, lecturers, professionals, lawyers, and doctors sell themselves off into prostitution and voluntary bondage to serve the dictates of military vagabonds with half their intelligence. And time and time again, after being raped, abused, and defiled, they are tossed out like rubbish — or worse. Yet more intellectual prostitutes stampede to take their places…” Ouch! Ouch!
So why don’t we see more Ethiopian intellectuals engaged in politics? Are they merely following in the footsteps of their American counterparts? Could they be followers of Ayn Rand’s ideology: “I don’t care about anybody else. I am just interested in benefitting myself and that is just and noble.” Could Ayittey’s mordant criticism apply to Ethiopian intellectuals?
In a June 2010 commentary, I asked: “Where have the Ethiopian intellectuals gone?” I had no answer at the time, nor do I have one now; but I was, and still am, bewildered and puzzled by their conspicuous absence from the public square and the cyber square. Their absence reminded me of “the Greek philosopher Diogenes who used to walk the streets of ancient Athens carrying a lamp in broad daylight. When amused bystanders asked him about his apparently strange behavior, he would tell them that he was looking for an honest man. Like Diogenes, one may be tempted to walk the hallowed grounds of Western academia, search the cloistered spaces of the arts and scientific professions worldwide and even traverse the untamed frontiers of cyberspace with torchlight in hand looking for Ethiopian intellectuals.” They are nowhere to be found. They seem to be shrouded in a cloak of invisibility.
Truth be told, I was once a member of that invisible empire of Ethiopian intelligentsia– disengaged, silent and deaf-mute. I was forced to uncloak myself when Meles Zenawi’s troops slaughtered 196 unarmed demonstrators, and shot and wounded nearly 800 more in the streets after the 2005 election in Ethiopia. I suppose there comes a time in a man’s or a woman’s life when s/he has to step out of the shadows of sheltered anonymity and silence, remove the veil of smug indifference and proclaim outrage at tyranny and crimes against humanity.
But there are tens of thousands of Ethiopian intellectuals who have chosen, made a conscious decision, to take a vow of silence and inhabit the subterranean recesses of anonymity. When they see elections stolen in broad daylight, they become afflicted by temporary blindness. When they hear innocent people being arrested and convicted in kangaroo courts, they become stone deaf. When they witness religious liberties trashed and the people crying out for freedom, they don’t try to stand with them or by them; they assuage their own consciences through a ritual of private grumbling, moaning and groaning. Above all, they have made a virtue of silence. They live a life of silent anonymity.
It is rather difficult to understand. Could it be that they are silent because they believe silence is golden? That is to say, if you want to be given the gold, stay silent? Do they not know “oppression can only survive through silence”? Could they be thinking that their silence is a manifestation of their contempt against those they consider ignorant and barbaric? Is it not true that “the cruelest lies are often told in silence” and the cruelest acts overlooked in silence? Is their silence a practical expression of Ayn Rand’s ideology: “I don’t care about anybody else. I am just interested in benefitting myself and that is just and noble.”
But silence is not golden; silence is a silent killer. Pastor Martin Niemöller expressed his silent outrage over the silence of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. admonished, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
The Social Responsibility of Ethiopian Intellectuals?
It is said that the voice of the people is the voice of God (vox populi, vox dei). But silence is no way to communicate with oppressed people. The intellectual is to privileged to think, to speak, to imagine, to create, to understand and to envision. But silence is never the privilege of the intellectual. Silence is one of the few privileges of the oppressed, the persecuted and the victimized. Silence is the ultimate survival technique of the weak, the powerless and defenseless.
The intellectual has the moral responsibility to speak up for the silenced. S/he does not have the privilege to stand by idly and shake her head in dismay or mumble complaints under one’s breath. Those who have been privileged to study, to think, to write, to innovate and to create have the duty to give back to the people, particularly those people who have been dispossessed not only of material things but also their human dignity.
The silent Ethiopian intellectuals are missing the point. It is a privilege, not a burden, to be a voice for the downtrodden. It is a distinct honor to be the voice of the voiceless. It is a priceless gift to speak truth to power on behalf of the powerless.
The silent intellectual — without a sense of moral commitment or obligation to something other than the pursuit of happiness through greed or without some sacrifice of personal interest — is merely a well programmed robot of higher education. Nietzsche once remarked that all higher education is “to turn men into machines”; they did not have robots in his day.
I believe the intellectual has the responsibility not only to make a moral commitment but also to act on them. In other words, when one commits oneself to a cause, one must accept the fact that the pursuit and fulfillment of that cause will involve a measure of sacrifice of one’s self-interest. Many Ethiopian intellectuals have professed moral commitment to human rights but they are not willing to speak, write or do anything meaningful about exposing human rights abuses or defending against abuses of power. Some are timid, others are downright fearful. So they speak and sing in the language of silence.
In 1967, Chomsky wrote, “It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose the lies of governments, to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden intentions… It is the responsibility of the intellectual to insist upon the truth” and not to “tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.” It seems to me that Ethiopian intellectuals must shoulder the same burden. It is their responsibility to challenge not only those in power but also each other. It is their responsibility to critically think about issues and problems facing Ethiopian society and to offer and imagine better alternatives and braver futures. It is their highest moral duty to fight tyranny with the power of ideas. History shows that an idea whose time has come cannot be defeated; it cannot be stopped.
The Internet has been the great equalizer in the struggle between the practitioners of tyranny and champions of liberty. The Internet helped end the winter of discontent for millions of disenfranchised peoples in the Middle East and ushered in a glorious summer which continues to simmer. Mubarak, Ben Ali, Gadhaffi, Gbagbo and many others were simply no match for the ideas of freedom that had penetrated deep into the psyches of their citizens. Despite the complete monopoly over the press, telecommunication services and electronic radio and satellite jamming technology obtained at great cost, the tyrants in Ethiopia have not been able to censor the truth or filter out ideas they do not like from wafting into the ears, heart and mind of any Ethiopian interested in alternative perspectives. But Ethiopian intellectuals have not been able to take full advantage of this ubiquitous medium. As a result, the Internet is used by the younger generation mostly to seek cheap thrills and entertainment and conduct mindless chatter on social media.
Ethiopian intellectuals have the responsibility to be the vanguard of social, political and scientific change. They must use this burgeoning medium to provide real education to the young people and as a forum for serious discussion of the major issues facing the country. The real struggle against tyranny is for the hearts and minds of the young people (70 percent of Ethiopia’s population), and the irresistible weapons in this struggle are not guns and tanks but new and creative ideas. Until Ethiopian society, its economy and politics become knowledge- and ideas-based and its intellectuals play a guiding role in the process, that country will have great difficulty escaping from the clutches of a benighted dictatorship.
Ethiopia’s intellectuals should focus their energies and invest their efforts on Ethiopia’s young people (the Cheetah Generation). They should pitch new ideas to the younger generation; plant and cultivate the seeds of critical thinking in thier minds; promote free thinking and inquiry; encourage them to always be skeptical of not just authority but also themselves; preach against hatred, herd mentality and groupthink; give young people the intellectual tools they need to examine themselves and their beliefs; encourage them to change their minds when confronted by contradictory evidence; help them look at old problems in a new way; teach them (after learning it themselves) to admit mistakes when they are wrong, apologize and ask forgiveness; urge them to speak the truth, defend what is right and stand for human rights. They should inspire them to be all they can be.
The examples the intellectuals are setting today are disappointing and discouraging, to put it charitably. The message they telegraph to the younger generation is unmistakable: When confronted by abusers of power, be a conformist and remain silent. When faced with the arrogance of power, be submissive and obedient. When you can ask questions, seal your lips. When faced with the truth, turn a blind eye and deaf ears. When the opportunity for free thinking is available, be dogmatic, doctrinaire and obdurate. When you can speak truth to power, forever hold your peace.
In my June 2010 commentary, I urged Ethiopian intellectuals to act in solidarity with the oppressed. Since I wrote that piece, the silence of Ethiopian intellectuals has been deafening. I wish I could close this commentary with a more heartening message; but restating the last paragraph of that commentary still captures my disappointments and hopes:
As intellectuals, we are often disconnected from the reality of ordinary life just like the dictators who live in a bubble. But we will remain on the right track if we follow Gandhi’s teaching: ‘Recall the face of the poorest and the most helpless man you have seen and ask yourself whether the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he be able to gain anything by it? Will it restore to him a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj (independence) or self-rule for the hungry and spiritually starved millions of your countrymen? Then you will find your doubts and yourself melting away.’ Let us always ask ourselves whether our actions (and words) will help restore to the poorest and most helpless Ethiopians a control over their own life and destiny.
As I point an index finger at others, I am painfully aware that three fingers are pointing at me. So be it. I believe I know ‘where all the Ethiopian intellectuals have gone’. Most of them are standing silently with eyes wide shut in every corner of the globe. But wherever they may be, I hasten to warn them that they will eventually have to face the ‘Ayittey Dilemma’ alone: Choose to stand up for Ethiopia, or lie down with the dictators who rape, abuse and defile her.
To whom much is given, much is expected.
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
84, has been raising hell for over four decades, getting into the faces of the powerful and mighty and whipping them with the truth. He recently excoriated President Obama as lacking a “moral center” for using drone warfare to “run a global assassination campaign”. Chomsky has been called a “left winger”, a “radical activist” and even a “communist”, and has been on the receiving end of a few distasteful epithets. But the firebrand octogenarian is undeterred and as strong, as plain-spoken and outspoken as ever. He remains a relentless critic of capitalism, neoliberalism, globalization, warfare, corruption, repression, abuse and misuse of power and human rights violations in America and abroad. Along the way, he has continued his scholarly pursuits in linguistics.
In his Al Jazeera interview, “Noam Chomsky: The Responsibility of Privilege”, Chomsky chafed at the social irresponsibility of American intellectuals and denounced the greedy and rapacious elites for using their power to disempower ordinary people, confuse and render them intellectually inert, servile and defenseless.
Al Jazeera: Is it the responsibility of academics and other intellectuals to be engaged politically?
Chomsky: Or every other human being. Responsibility is basically measured by opportunity. If you are a poor person living in the slums and have to work 60 hours a week to put bread on the table, your degree of responsibility is less than if you have a degree of privilege.
Al Jazeera: If you have privilege, are you more obligated to give back?
Chomsky: Yes. The more privilege you have, the more opportunity you have. The more opportunity you have, the more responsibility you have. It is elementary.
Al Jazeera: So why don’t we see that in the U.S.? There has been so much talk about people getting richer, many, many more people are getting poorer, and yet the rich are seemingly resistant to giving more of their time, more of their wealth and talent?
Chomsky: For the most part, that’s why they are rich. If you dedicate your life to enriching yourself and those are your values and you don’t care what happens to anyone else, then you won’t care what happens to anyone else. It is self-selecting. It is also institutional. In its extreme pathological form, it’s Ayn Rand’s ideology: “I don’t care about anybody else. I am just interested in benefitting myself and that is just and noble.”
George Ayittey, the noted Ghanaian economist and one of Africa’s foremost public intellectuals, has long been chagrined by the social irresponsibility of Africa’s best and brightest. He argued that Africa’s intellectual class is in bed with those who have built “vampire states” to suck billions of dollars out of the pockets of their impoverished people to line their own pockets. In 1996, he told African intellectuals exactly what he thought of them: “Hordes of politicians, lecturers, professionals, lawyers, and doctors sell themselves off into prostitution and voluntary bondage to serve the dictates of military vagabonds with half their intelligence. And time and time again, after being raped, abused, and defiled, they are tossed out like rubbish — or worse. Yet more intellectual prostitutes stampede to take their places…” Ouch! Ouch!
So why don’t we see more Ethiopian intellectuals engaged in politics? Are they merely following in the footsteps of their American counterparts? Could they be followers of Ayn Rand’s ideology: “I don’t care about anybody else. I am just interested in benefitting myself and that is just and noble.” Could Ayittey’s mordant criticism apply to Ethiopian intellectuals?
In a June 2010 commentary, I asked: “Where have the Ethiopian intellectuals gone?” I had no answer at the time, nor do I have one now; but I was, and still am, bewildered and puzzled by their conspicuous absence from the public square and the cyber square. Their absence reminded me of “the Greek philosopher Diogenes who used to walk the streets of ancient Athens carrying a lamp in broad daylight. When amused bystanders asked him about his apparently strange behavior, he would tell them that he was looking for an honest man. Like Diogenes, one may be tempted to walk the hallowed grounds of Western academia, search the cloistered spaces of the arts and scientific professions worldwide and even traverse the untamed frontiers of cyberspace with torchlight in hand looking for Ethiopian intellectuals.” They are nowhere to be found. They seem to be shrouded in a cloak of invisibility.
Truth be told, I was once a member of that invisible empire of Ethiopian intelligentsia– disengaged, silent and deaf-mute. I was forced to uncloak myself when Meles Zenawi’s troops slaughtered 196 unarmed demonstrators, and shot and wounded nearly 800 more in the streets after the 2005 election in Ethiopia. I suppose there comes a time in a man’s or a woman’s life when s/he has to step out of the shadows of sheltered anonymity and silence, remove the veil of smug indifference and proclaim outrage at tyranny and crimes against humanity.
But there are tens of thousands of Ethiopian intellectuals who have chosen, made a conscious decision, to take a vow of silence and inhabit the subterranean recesses of anonymity. When they see elections stolen in broad daylight, they become afflicted by temporary blindness. When they hear innocent people being arrested and convicted in kangaroo courts, they become stone deaf. When they witness religious liberties trashed and the people crying out for freedom, they don’t try to stand with them or by them; they assuage their own consciences through a ritual of private grumbling, moaning and groaning. Above all, they have made a virtue of silence. They live a life of silent anonymity.
It is rather difficult to understand. Could it be that they are silent because they believe silence is golden? That is to say, if you want to be given the gold, stay silent? Do they not know “oppression can only survive through silence”? Could they be thinking that their silence is a manifestation of their contempt against those they consider ignorant and barbaric? Is it not true that “the cruelest lies are often told in silence” and the cruelest acts overlooked in silence? Is their silence a practical expression of Ayn Rand’s ideology: “I don’t care about anybody else. I am just interested in benefitting myself and that is just and noble.”
But silence is not golden; silence is a silent killer. Pastor Martin Niemöller expressed his silent outrage over the silence of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. admonished, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
The Social Responsibility of Ethiopian Intellectuals?
It is said that the voice of the people is the voice of God (vox populi, vox dei). But silence is no way to communicate with oppressed people. The intellectual is to privileged to think, to speak, to imagine, to create, to understand and to envision. But silence is never the privilege of the intellectual. Silence is one of the few privileges of the oppressed, the persecuted and the victimized. Silence is the ultimate survival technique of the weak, the powerless and defenseless.
The intellectual has the moral responsibility to speak up for the silenced. S/he does not have the privilege to stand by idly and shake her head in dismay or mumble complaints under one’s breath. Those who have been privileged to study, to think, to write, to innovate and to create have the duty to give back to the people, particularly those people who have been dispossessed not only of material things but also their human dignity.
The silent Ethiopian intellectuals are missing the point. It is a privilege, not a burden, to be a voice for the downtrodden. It is a distinct honor to be the voice of the voiceless. It is a priceless gift to speak truth to power on behalf of the powerless.
The silent intellectual — without a sense of moral commitment or obligation to something other than the pursuit of happiness through greed or without some sacrifice of personal interest — is merely a well programmed robot of higher education. Nietzsche once remarked that all higher education is “to turn men into machines”; they did not have robots in his day.
I believe the intellectual has the responsibility not only to make a moral commitment but also to act on them. In other words, when one commits oneself to a cause, one must accept the fact that the pursuit and fulfillment of that cause will involve a measure of sacrifice of one’s self-interest. Many Ethiopian intellectuals have professed moral commitment to human rights but they are not willing to speak, write or do anything meaningful about exposing human rights abuses or defending against abuses of power. Some are timid, others are downright fearful. So they speak and sing in the language of silence.
In 1967, Chomsky wrote, “It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose the lies of governments, to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden intentions… It is the responsibility of the intellectual to insist upon the truth” and not to “tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.” It seems to me that Ethiopian intellectuals must shoulder the same burden. It is their responsibility to challenge not only those in power but also each other. It is their responsibility to critically think about issues and problems facing Ethiopian society and to offer and imagine better alternatives and braver futures. It is their highest moral duty to fight tyranny with the power of ideas. History shows that an idea whose time has come cannot be defeated; it cannot be stopped.
The Internet has been the great equalizer in the struggle between the practitioners of tyranny and champions of liberty. The Internet helped end the winter of discontent for millions of disenfranchised peoples in the Middle East and ushered in a glorious summer which continues to simmer. Mubarak, Ben Ali, Gadhaffi, Gbagbo and many others were simply no match for the ideas of freedom that had penetrated deep into the psyches of their citizens. Despite the complete monopoly over the press, telecommunication services and electronic radio and satellite jamming technology obtained at great cost, the tyrants in Ethiopia have not been able to censor the truth or filter out ideas they do not like from wafting into the ears, heart and mind of any Ethiopian interested in alternative perspectives. But Ethiopian intellectuals have not been able to take full advantage of this ubiquitous medium. As a result, the Internet is used by the younger generation mostly to seek cheap thrills and entertainment and conduct mindless chatter on social media.
Ethiopian intellectuals have the responsibility to be the vanguard of social, political and scientific change. They must use this burgeoning medium to provide real education to the young people and as a forum for serious discussion of the major issues facing the country. The real struggle against tyranny is for the hearts and minds of the young people (70 percent of Ethiopia’s population), and the irresistible weapons in this struggle are not guns and tanks but new and creative ideas. Until Ethiopian society, its economy and politics become knowledge- and ideas-based and its intellectuals play a guiding role in the process, that country will have great difficulty escaping from the clutches of a benighted dictatorship.
Ethiopia’s intellectuals should focus their energies and invest their efforts on Ethiopia’s young people (the Cheetah Generation). They should pitch new ideas to the younger generation; plant and cultivate the seeds of critical thinking in thier minds; promote free thinking and inquiry; encourage them to always be skeptical of not just authority but also themselves; preach against hatred, herd mentality and groupthink; give young people the intellectual tools they need to examine themselves and their beliefs; encourage them to change their minds when confronted by contradictory evidence; help them look at old problems in a new way; teach them (after learning it themselves) to admit mistakes when they are wrong, apologize and ask forgiveness; urge them to speak the truth, defend what is right and stand for human rights. They should inspire them to be all they can be.
The examples the intellectuals are setting today are disappointing and discouraging, to put it charitably. The message they telegraph to the younger generation is unmistakable: When confronted by abusers of power, be a conformist and remain silent. When faced with the arrogance of power, be submissive and obedient. When you can ask questions, seal your lips. When faced with the truth, turn a blind eye and deaf ears. When the opportunity for free thinking is available, be dogmatic, doctrinaire and obdurate. When you can speak truth to power, forever hold your peace.
In my June 2010 commentary, I urged Ethiopian intellectuals to act in solidarity with the oppressed. Since I wrote that piece, the silence of Ethiopian intellectuals has been deafening. I wish I could close this commentary with a more heartening message; but restating the last paragraph of that commentary still captures my disappointments and hopes:
As intellectuals, we are often disconnected from the reality of ordinary life just like the dictators who live in a bubble. But we will remain on the right track if we follow Gandhi’s teaching: ‘Recall the face of the poorest and the most helpless man you have seen and ask yourself whether the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he be able to gain anything by it? Will it restore to him a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj (independence) or self-rule for the hungry and spiritually starved millions of your countrymen? Then you will find your doubts and yourself melting away.’ Let us always ask ourselves whether our actions (and words) will help restore to the poorest and most helpless Ethiopians a control over their own life and destiny.
As I point an index finger at others, I am painfully aware that three fingers are pointing at me. So be it. I believe I know ‘where all the Ethiopian intellectuals have gone’. Most of them are standing silently with eyes wide shut in every corner of the globe. But wherever they may be, I hasten to warn them that they will eventually have to face the ‘Ayittey Dilemma’ alone: Choose to stand up for Ethiopia, or lie down with the dictators who rape, abuse and defile her.
To whom much is given, much is expected.
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
This work tries to pave the way for the achievement of a sustainable economic growth by taking into account the current position of the Somaliland economy and then compiles a set of recommendations for those agents including policy makers who are interested in improving the economy.
Currently, Somaliland is in the stage of what Rostow called “the preconditions for take-off”. According to Rostow, the “preconditions for take-off”, the second stage of a five stage process, is characterised by the presence of entrepreneurs in the society and investors who are ready to invest ideas.
In his paper Is there a proper sequence in Democratic transitions? Francis Fukuyama highlights that “Development is a complex process that takes place across multiple dimensions of Human life”, and that economic growth, the State, Rule of law and mechanisms of democratic accountability are just few of those several dimensions. In this paper I will focus on the economic side of that development process.
Economic development is often understood as the transformation and improvement of a society’s standard of living and wellbeing. There is no universal strategy which succeeds the economic advancement for all nations and it is often up to that particular country to decide which way it takes to achieve its desired destination[1]. However, there is generally a correlation between state building and economic growth, between rule of law and growth, and between stable democracy and economic growth.
Economists often emphasize technological progress and capital accumulation as the two main sources of economic growth. The logic behind this is very simple. An individual with an advanced technology is likely to produce more than an individual with a primitive technology. Similarly, an individual with more capital can produce more than an individual with less capital; the higher the capital per worker the higher the productivity. The good news is that it’s not hard these days to improve the state of technology for any given country due to technology diffusion which allows countries to adopt and replicate new technologies and know-how from other countries.
We need to acknowledge that the underlying purpose for economic development is to increase the wellbeing of the individual and that per capita income is just one of several indicators. In addition to promoting the wellbeing of the individual policies should also be structured to narrow the inequality gap as a wider inequality gap might have political repercussions. By aiming to achieve steadily growing productivity, Governments closely watch some key factors which stimulate the economy including; Investment, consumer expenditure, what the Government spends, and the country’s Net exports to the rest of the world.
Hence, in order for Somaliland to build its economy, a number of institutions and policies are needed to be in place. In here, I will present those policies and institutions which will assist Somaliland economy to develop and which will also take it to the next stage.
I. Property Rights and Contract Enforcement
The two aspects of the Rule of law, which restricts arbitrary decisions made by governments, that economists relate to economic growth are the Property rights and contract enforcement[2]. Reason being that no agent will make a long term investment unless their property rights are secured. It is conceivable that individuals are bound to face extra costs to defend their property where a property right does not exist. It is also arguable that economic efficiency requires the allocation of resources for those individuals who can utilize it.[3] With this respect investors in Somaliland might face several problems including tribalism which can hinder economic efficiency and can cause investors to seek protection from other agents. Though a resource has been allocated, it is highly unlikely that an individual from the east dares to make an investment in the west due to the disturbances caused by tribalism and vice versa. This is one example of why sustained contract enforcement comes in to the calculus of economic productivity.
On one hand, the ability of the Somaliland state to enforce contracts needs to be established while on the other hand the ability of the state to make arbitrary decisions needs to be limited. When discussing property rights and contract enforcement the case of Zimbabwe can be a good example to refer where Ceil Rhodes’ company offered the land in order to attract settlers and where later Robert Mugabe redistributed the land just to hold on to power[4]. Whatever the reason has been for Zimbabwe, lack of property rights and contract enforcement can have disastrous effect on the economy. Somaliland will need to draft regulations of property rights in clear-cut terminologies and will also need to have a strong third party for arbitrations.
II. Financial Institutions
The fact that there are both entrepreneurs and people who want to invest in the country necessitates the establishments of financial institutions. “A healthy and vibrant economy requires a financial system that moves funds from people who save to people who have productive investment opportunities” (Mishkin, 2007).
Before any step, Somaliland will need to establish a well functioning central bank. Apart from implementing the monetary and the exchange rate policies, the central bank is also required to supervise the banking sector and to act as the lender of last resort. In short, the central bank is the bank of the central government and the bank of all banks.[5]
All financial institutions including banks, insurance companies, saving institutions and investment companies needs to be regulated by the government. One might take the so called “gain profit while sitting” project in 2009 as a good example which can clearly show the negative effects of lack of financial regulations in Somaliland. During the years this project had been operating in Somaliland, thousands of people saved their money without official agreements. All those who deposited their money were at the end screaming in the streets of Hargiesa claiming that the saving institution had disappeared and that their money had been lost.
Therefore, since the failure of one bank can jeopardize the whole economy, financial institutions especially banks should be heavily regulated. According to Pilbeam (2005), the main objective of regulating financial markets is to promote stability, to keep the investors safe and to encourage fair competition in the market. All in all, as Brunnermeier (2009) said “one of the key purposes of bank regulation is to internalize the social costs of potential bank failures”.
III. The Role of Diplomatic Missions in Promoting trade
Diplomatic recognition cannot be said to be a precondition for economic development and lack of recognition does not exclude countries to pursue their economic growth goals. According to Shaw (2008), Recognition is merely “a method of accepting certain factual situations and endowing them with legal significance”. However, Somaliland arguably exists as a legal personality in international law. It has been emphasized that:
“…Recognition may be viewed as constitutive or declaratory…, the former theory maintains that it is only through recognition that a state comes into being under international law, whereas the latter approach maintains that once the factual criteria of statehood have been satisfied, a new state exists as an international person, recognition becoming merely a political and not a legal act”.[6]
Somaliland will need to see the diplomatic recognition as a quid pro quo game; scratch my back and I will scratch yours. It is highly unlikely that a country will recognise Somaliland unless that country is sure what it is getting in return is at least proportionately equal to the benefits of the recognition it is giving. Therefore, parallel to its mission in getting recognition, Somaliland should come up with strategies to promote its international trade and seek investment through its diplomatic representatives. This is also one of the core functions of diplomatic missions as defined by article 3 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations in 1961.[7]
By concentrating economic diplomacy, Somaliland will not only promote trade and investment but will also increase its networking, promote country profile and at last will have a say in those global political organisations including the United Nations.
With all my respect of the international Organization, and United States, who are trying hard bring about peace and tranquillity to the Somali people, I forward my humble contributions to the fatal issue as a member of the concerned.
May be I am wrong, but I see blood being shed again within the remains of Somali community after a drastic twenty and more years of continuous mass destruction of human, wealth and natural resources. The motives were the same however the tactics very. Unfortunately, the wars and the fighting’s in these almost thirty years were either international, interboundarial or otherwise interclass or clan. In the cases the poor Somali people were the players of the battle games on their own grounds masterminded by the same budget investors and weapon industry owners.
The war dance and the music never change until not only a dull person like me but a typical camel boys , cow boy or sheepherder can today foresee and feel the smell of the blood planned to be shed for maybe known or unknown reasons. Strange enough, unfortunately, it is the peacemakers that being the war. It is a Somali wording says “Soo Sakaaro Ima Barato “, which is mean “whenever an antelope sees me it runs, it never learns”, said by one man who never hunts. What I mean is that the international Organization and United States never ever learn from their own recent prior disastrous mistakes.
The speeches of the so-call Somalian president and proposal of the International Organizations are the typical music of future coming blood sheds. This foreknowledge was the prediction of many experts of the Somali methodology who repeated warning about the consequence of such quick haphazard decisions of Somali unity or peace. The International creates new Somali warlords and reinvent past errors.
Let me say if you think that one plus one is two, that is the mistake you are making every time. In Somalia one plus one is five. Like it or not.
My dear International Organizations and United States. I think the Somali people doesn’t need scholar of peace, but they need creators of peace. The Somali people do not need peace makers but they need peaceful people. If you are preparing war whenever you need peace, you are not making peace.
My dear International Organizations and United States. If you want to bring the Somali government of yesterday to existence, then I am sure you are in a daydream just like the Arta group and the host government Djibouti. Why not? Because yesterday includes the past and the past never come back. Yesterday is not either today or tomorrow. If you can bring back or retain the old Somali unity or government then you can bring back the lunar eclipse over the World of the day of your power. That will never happen. But if you want to try to bring about a new sort of Somali government which could be far different from the previous ones of the past that can also be much better or even worse, then you are right on the path.
The assembly of the new administration group was not looking for the new sort of Somali government, but was looking for the lost previous government and its advantages which they used to enjoy. The choir and the applause had brought a government but can never bring about a new or up to date Somali government. Most of the new group participators were whose who believed that one plus one is five and not two. They are the ones who believe that they have made the government of all the five Somali regions of the great Somalia, while they really do not have in hand even one-tenth of one region of Somalia.
UNITY OF SOMALI REPUBLIC:
My dear International and United States, the development of human always negated the compulsion of the unity of any two or more state and that is why we have the word “ Freedom”, “ Independence”, “Dictatorship”, “ Nation”, and so money other words of that sort in our languages and dictionaries. I don’t think that the people that belong to the some race, language or religion must be united. If it is so then the score of Arabian countries are more suitable to be united and become one Arabian country as they used to be before. Instead they are so many and some of them are radical enemies. Taiwan and china are also more suitable to be one state then the so-called Somali folk.
My dear International and United States , I think you have best knowledge of the problem brought about to be united because of the illegal amalgamations and unites of the nations. The unites of North Ireland to UK, the Eta to Spain, the Spanish’s Sahara to Morocco, Chechnya to Russia and East Timor to Indonesia, Southern Sudan to Sudan, have only contributed nothing or even worse to the meaning of unity in the sense of your responsibilities of the union of the nations. The example of such cases can exceed fifty.
We say in our language “Hal xaaraani nirig xalaal ah ma dhasho”, which is mean “Unlawful unity can never bring about a democratic state”. The unity of the Somaliland and Somalia was just like a rape and that is why it will never because to what you and your peacekeepers keep in mind. The Ill feeling and distrust of the Somali Landers since the first day of the union, the 1st of July 1960 is full in the literature of the Somaliland people. The solution of the Somali problems is only and only in the recognition of Somaliland to full sovereignty and independence, then the rest of the Somali issue or crises is a piece of cake, because to two main reasons:
1- Somaliland was the nucleus of the unity of the Ex-Somali Republic without which we are only looking hair over a bare scalp of a skeleton.
2- One plus one is not and never five. If you are uniting the five Somali parts, then Somaliland can negotiate for its rights. Otherwise “Let Muse takes ‘his’ and Essa take ‘his’.
In my conclusion I advise the International community, African Unity, and Arab Organization, and United States of America , to avoid to add wood to the extinguishing fire or gas to the burning camp and that’s the money you pay to kill in order to keep peace. And the old Somali says “Nabad iyo Caano” means “Peace and Milk”
ANIIS A. ESSA. HEAD
SOMALILAND ADVOCACY GROUP
WASHINGTON DC. USA
ANIIS@YAHOO.COM
Despite the fact that it has never been in the tradition of this column to do rebuttals on opinion items by individuals (especially those based abroad) we are however indebted to point out, expose and set issues right when the aspirations of the peoples of the country is really targeted.
When the writings of a Bashir Goth and a Jasper Carlsen Cullen claim that Somalilander majority would like a re-united Somalia, we feel that it is not only a joke too far, but indeed, they are only but words and acts of dogs-of-war in action.
For both pen mercenaries, we believe that the needs for monetary and tribal whims (for Goth in particular) are the impetus that propelled them to assume that:-
1. Majority of Somalilanders would like/want re-union with Mogadishu.
2. Fowzia (Somalia FM) is the inter-sector cum catalyst of the reversion to greater Somalia.
If Goth would only be the somewhat the consistent writer he had been at Awdalnews.com/net, he would have qualified his statements by backing them with verifiable facts to justify his about-turn sympathetic attitude towards Somalia union.
Secondly, if he was really the pragmatic character he so painfully portrayed to have cultivated over the years, he would have at least mentioned the pre-election incident at Burao, the Sanaag outcry or the post-election violence at El-Afwein.
By focusing on and manipulating the Borama, Zeila and Lowyaddo locations again and again in his article, we are not taken aback but, assuming his culture as a “Somalilander-tribally-crutched” mindset (his own words), we take it to understandably denote that he only thought of or defended his own backyard where he hails from.
It is a pity that all those years abroad, with all the education, all his responsibilities etc have not had nor nurtured him rise above the water.
He showed that he does not give (or never gave) a damn about the residents of the eastern parts of the country nor their plights at all.
In his article “Divided Somaliland and the way out” posted to websites Goth is not confident enough as to advice well on “the way out” apart from insinuating that the populace either perish in resignation or bank on Fowzia!
Goth should get out of the clannish/regional cloak and tackle issues squarely.
On the same note, a Jasper Carlsen Cullen who claims to be a free-lancer based in Kenya, posts in the websites an article akin to that of Goth. See both at Somalilandpress.com or any other site focusing on the Horn of Africa.
In “A third way out for Somaliland and Somalia”, the writer “justifies” Somalilanders’ wish to re-unite with the south by way of courtesy of the sentiments of ‘a Somalia politics researcher based in Hargeisa’ a Abdifatah Taher (someone completely unknown to local media).
Cited therein is the possibility of Fowzia to cement the re-union!
How impish the claims are!
He too argues that the people are sympathetic to the re-union course.
Cullen ridiculously reduces the plight and aspirations of Somalilanders today as those of settling on a loose union that only entails war-on-terror collaborations! He, too, does not give the “Third Way” option vividly other than alleging the softening of the hearts of the people to re-union.
By the way, perhaps Goth or other scribbling-mercenaries should have battled it out with the National Assemblies Parliament and the political party heads for agreeing to go along the elections minus the electoral process of the pre-registering of voters for elections.
How can the courts take to arbitrating in litigations where there are no prior records to facilitate the ordering of by-elections or taking to decisions that fully bind beyond the slightest of doubts?
It should be noted by everyone that in FM Dr. Omar meeting with UK cabinet member three weeks ago, SL accepted to rectify the electoral shortcomings (prior to final IOE report) in line with the expected international observers’ recommendations, if any.
The Guurti also have since ordered for the setting up of put safety nets to deter future anomalies.
Please note that:-
Given that the so called mother of democracy have officially admitted shortcomings in their electoral laws hence are reviewing their constitutions after 700 years of exercising elections;
Given that the so called champions of democracy for over 200 years did not allow the women to vote until less than five decades ago hence some of their states (in the US) still use today barbaric laws) which are tailored to deter potential natives and coloured (blacks) from voting (e.g. a traffic offence once convicted are ineligible to register as a voters).
Given that the greatest democratic nation (by population) brought India untold number of litigations;
Given that the most technologically advanced and arguably richest nation today denies Chinese people to go to polls;
Given that the richest and most powerful nations in the Islamic world today considers voting as something abominable;
Given that the Rwandese and Kenyan peasants were murdered by the tens of hundreds of thousands in tribal power brokerages scenarios;
Given that our regions in this corner of the world have never tasted the fruits of one- person-one vote as we have done;
We see, feel and believe that such writings are outrightly abusive to our essence and to the memories of our past struggles, to our present endeavours and to our aspirations as a whole, not withstanding whatever our future portends.
KBI Empower Group, in collaboration with Canadian Eye on Africa, the Horn of Africa Institute of Infrastructure Protection and Regional Security and Admas University College (Hargeisa Campus) affiliates are pleased to announce the opening of the call for abstracts for its Annual Horn of Africa Infrastructure Protection & Security Trade Show which will take place at Mansour Hotel in Hargeisa, Somaliland on 22nd & 23rd of February, 2013.
Ottawa, Canada, January 17, 2013 –(PR.com)– Moto: Somaliland, an Indigenous approach to State Building, Asset Protection, Diplomatic and Security issues of 2013. Hargeisa is the Backbone of Asset Protection & Trust Gateway.
KBI Empower Group, in collaboration with Canadian Eye on Africa, the Horn of Africa Institute of Infrastructure Protection and Regional Security and Admas University College (Hargeisa Campus) affiliates are pleased to announce the opening of the call for abstracts for its Annual Horn of Africa Infrastructure Protection & Security Trade Show which will take place at Mansour Hotel in Hargeisa, Somaliland on 22nd & 23rd of February, 2013.
The purpose of the Annual Horn of Africa Infrastructure Protection & Security Trade Show is to contribute to the enhancement of the field of regional security cooperation in the Horn of Africa’s educational institutions by facilitating a common platform for fruitful exchange of academic views, best practices and discussions on existing challenges, as well as required priorities and possible opportunities to strengthen safeguards; using Somaliland’s stability as playing a key role in the region’s stability process.
Delegates: Regional security professionals, regional corporate business leaders, security consultants and government related officials are expected to attend the Region’s High Level Security and Safety Trade Show.
Extension: Potential Delegate speakers should submit their presentations before 10th of February 2013
Join colleagues from around the world! Immerse yourself in two days of regional investment awareness & educational sessions and panel discussions (Networking events with President’s Reception, lunches and Tea breaks).
Update yourself on the latest regional security services, investment opportunities and regional joint venture prospects in our enlarged Two Day Diplomatic Trade Show.
Register Now: Events – Please Download Registration Form here:
For further information, including sponsorship, exhibition or media enquiries, please contact our Regional Offices: KBI Empower Group & Admas University College Affiliates Bureau
The Head of the Immigration Department Col. Mohamed Ali Yusuf has unveiled new state of the art surveillance equipment to be used at the Berbera.
The head of Immigration told reporters, “We have finished the training of immigration officials on frontier and immigration management” and added “We have now installed the important Personal Registration and Identification System (PIRS) equipment so as to enhance effectiveness of their work by using the new facilities at the Berbera International airport.”
Col. Mohamed said the new equipment which has been installed at the Berbera international airport has the capability to generate statistics and thus inform on immigration trends, it provides data useful for the immigration.
“This equipment will help us identify and deter would- be terrorist, counterfeiters and will also help as share vital data with the immigration departments of our neighbouring countries I hope the people working at the respective border management offices will increase their efficiency now that we have this equipment installed so as to improve essential migration management services by supporting the upgrade of crucial infrastructure and services at vital ports-of-entry” said Col. Mohamed.
The Mayor of Berbera Cllr. Abdirashid lauded H.E President Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud (Silanyo) for initiating much needed changes in all most every governmental department at the unveiling of the new equipment.
This is the question asked most frequently by both the Somalis and non-Somalis. I shall state the answer to this question as simply as possible:-
1- We want recognition, a full and complete recognition.
2- We want justice, equal justice under the law; we want justice applied equally to all, regardless of class.
3- We want equality of opportunity. We want equal membership in society with the best in civilized world.
4- We want our people to be allowed to establish a separate State, or territory of their own. Since we cannot get along with the Southern Somalia in peace and equality, after giving them 30 years of our sweat blood and received in return some of the worst treatment human being have ever experienced, we believe our contributions to this land and the suffering forced upon us by Somalia’s government, justifies our demand for complete separation in a state.
5- We want every Somaliland man and woman to have the freedom to accept or reject their votes, or rights, and establish a land of their own.
6- We do not believe that after 30 years of free or nearly free labour, sweat and blood, which has helped Somalia ‘s government and some people become rich and powerful, when so many thousands of our people do not have justice and freedom. There are some of the things that we, the Somalilanders want for our people in our home land, we want peace, freedom, equal justice and to protect Human rights with dignity.
NO MORE OR LESS
PEACE AND MILK
ANIIS A. ESSA. HEAD
SOMALILAND ADVOCACY GROUP
WASHINGTON DC USA
ANIIS@YAHOO.COM
Euphemism writing here explores deeply what happened to the nation of Somaliland short after the great amalgamation of Somalia and the Somaliland unforgettable leading role for that unification, without condition enthusiastically the republic of former British protectorates of Somaliland determined hastily to join the other former Italian republic of Somalia short after independence, that was obviously union of two states that historically from diverse backgrounds and different dialect Somali speaking governments, and also English and Italian speaking nations.
As international communities witnessed that marriage of been come about in 1960s between Somali former Italian colony and also the former British Somaliland protectorates, but somehow international communities are not interested in to give further attention of recognition for Somaliland Government for period of twenty one years. Because politically natural barriers believed to be existed for every particular administrations that Somaliland expected the humanitarian support of recognition and other supports of developments in order to extinct poverty, terrorism, piracy that Africa wobbling nowadays to guarantee the regional and international security of the world.
Somaliland people have good reasons to raise these issues to take full independence from the previous marriage of their brothers of Southern Somalia when neutrally examine profoundly the extreme and serious genocides took place in Northern or Somaliland for the hands and the responsibility of the former regime or reign of that year, that destroyed it’s people in brutal and inhuman process of operations with in mass killing that resulted over 1 million deaths as Somaliland watchdog and crime historian agency mentioned or registered in Somaliland now
The voice of the citizen does not intend/mean to wake up or create new vendetta or point fingers out towards specific tribes or individuals directly involved in undisclosed atrocities against innocent people of women, children, elderly people and extra , but only identify here the scale of the catastrophic massacre happened there in 1980s. For little picture of those situations of cruel, mass killing were the executions of the most courageous army commanders for pretexts of assassination mission for the name of command refusing and similar nonsense issues, Scholars and business people sentenced death and have been executed for the propose of extermination mission and extinction plan, but the program did not go as planned quite successfully, because there is saying (man proposes and god disposes). There were also very severe bombardment of the ground and air both for the civilian people of Somaliland, in those above mentioned years, war planes and artillery shelling daily hit hardly to the main cities turned the cities into slaughter house of unmerciful killing with unarmed civilians which resulted enormous displacement and forced the population to vacate out of their cities, properties and as well as their loved weak elderly ones who might not able to walk totally or run the serious activities of indiscriminately killing widely operating there.
Somaliland people is neither going to revenge nor feel hostility of those responsible all these lost of lives or difficulties and atrocities took place in the past. But want respectfully a mature and sensible talks with Somalia to accept all problems Somaliland believe in that no sorry has not been officially said so far since by Somali republic, in order to move on and resolve matter in way of Reliable, trustworthy, friendly, flexible and consistent, it is more important Somalia must give a great consideration and priority in the past and present for demand and complaints as well.
The question that needs to be answered here is who Somaliland will speak to for in the past and in the present issues? If a treatment of that ailment needed to be solved or cured, Somalia must avoid clearly and completely Somaliland nationals hired wrongly to make things worst not to be involved in which will derail talks and make so complicated further more. Let’s keep the ball rolling and continue the active talks in London and Istanbul properly and friendly to progress the current position.
A boat without a captain always floats over the sea with the mercy of
wind and waves. These days Somaliland looks like a boat without a
captain, or even a crew. One event after another propels it centre
stage, where the sensation proliferates questions: Where Somaliland is
heading to, how Siilaanyo is prepared to defend it, feel it, lead it;
symbolize it, celebrate it and be proud of it?
If months are a long time in knowing people, then years are a life
time. Knowing about people is a natural habit of social life. But one
cannot know a man completely, his character, his principles, sense of
judgment, not till he has shown his colors, ruling the people, making
laws. Experience, there is the test.
Siilaanyo is not new to Somaliland people. His pert but pertinent
history tells his own tale. The people of Somaliland felt the effects
of Siilaanyo leadership behavior before he was elected as a president.
Many people knew his mentality and moral obligations.We knew that his
mind did not usually go hand in hand for what he preached and what he
practiced. It was not Siilaanyo who symbolized SNM struggles. It was
his own demons that divided SNM into foes and factions.
From what we have seen of Siilaanyo, he does not seem a grown-up, in a
nation that badly needs an adult supervision. His two and half years
old rule gives us useful pointers. It is one huge stress of
Siilaanyo’s temperament, ideas, tolerance, judgment, strategic
capacity,
organizational skill, and resilience. Take the last first. Initially
considered as a veteran politician, Siilaanyo has not proved that he
is durable by any practical sense. He is empty of plans and programs.
He is idle and inactive. He is slow of feet, and has no important
voice explaining how he should lead the nation. His tone and bluster,
if there is any, ensure as if the people listening to him are only
those who blindly agree with him.
There are many things that are wrong with Siilaanyo administration.
Proven corruption and favoritism are not the only obvious ones. His
manners of handling internal affairs are dubious and disgrace that
honest hearts cannot accept. His foreign policy is wishy-washy; and
his efforts to seek international recognition is fraught with
disaster.
There has not been a single occasion when Siilanyo tackled a problem
in a presidential way. Every time a problem rises or incidents take
place, he appoints a committee; and that is a testimony to his lack of
intellect. A leader who can contain a small problem cannot lead a
nation, leave alone that he can turn crisis into opportunity.
The one thing we we’d think the Somalilaind people did not need any
more was of leader who neither has the ability nor the intellect to
know the weakness of those leaders before him and learn from mistakes
and get better. There really was no point to elect a president who has
not improved his readership qualities by a learned education and
experience. What leaders with no inclination to honest ruling ever
done for Somalis, except that they made them lag behind?
The harder the contest, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain
too cheap, we esteem too lightly.It is dearness only that gives
everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, the
one that can gather strength from stress and grow wise by reflection.
Tough tasks keep the little mind shrinking, but he whose mind is firm,
and whose conscience approves his conduct, will prove his principles
and ability onto end.
Leadership is not limited to the battlefields of the election
campaigns.The real tests of leadership are much deeper and much
brooder. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when
nobody is looking, like enduring pain when the moment is hard, like
proceeding to the issues at hand with great celerity.
There is something in the current system that does not allow
Somaliland to achieve glory. The notion of leading a nation is simply
the union of great feeling with great vision. The feeling would give
one a sense of devotion and dedication, and the vision a sense of
duty.The mess and immaterial that we are currently witnessing is a
testimony to the lack of that spirit.
Buried bones never bleed and breed again. Roses never rise from a
rotten flower. Siilaanyo would not rake the soil gently and water the
lowers; he would weed the beds and gather the occasional nosegay.That
is his target.
Where Siilaanyo would lead Somaliland to? Does Siilaanyo have the
qualities that could lead this nation into heaven or hell? The answer
is a resounding no. With Siilaanyo in power, Somaliland people would
only chase their own old tradition. .
What this would mean is that Somaliland needs firm hands to hold it,
minds more ingenuous, more subtle, more cultivated, more cultured,
more trained consciously to the task of devotion and mental
development.
