HARGEISA, 20 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – The Constitution of the Somaliland guarantees citizens protection from the government from loss of property or liberty without due process of law
Somaliland tax payers are being ripped off in the billions by incompetent and deceptive politicians in cahoots with deceptive private contractors. In this ongoing saga of corruption and abuse of taxpayers.We know that far more than 14 billion tax payer dollars have been lost to mis-management and corruption by private interests in Somaliland.
The politicians win, the profiteers win, and the tax payers lose by being forced to pay for yet another non-solution to a costly Somaliland problem, yet one more time. It must stop. But, it can only be stopped by voters who take it upon themselves to vote for challengers against incumbents, repeatedly, election after election, until the challengers themselves recognize their is nothing to be gained by accepting the campaign bribes and blackmail of wealthy special interests.
Somaliland has a future. Somalilander’s have a future. In many ways, it will not look like our past. What is happening right now is a revolution, a political, economic, and cultural revolution. There is no choice about it.So, what are we to do? Keep expressing dissent by marching and protesting in the streets? Keep signing petitions on the Internet? Keep demanding impeachment of Riyaale? Keep reading and writing angry diatribes on progressive websites? Keep voting for mainstream politicians from the three major parties, hoping for a new political ?.
Such activities release anger, but are largely placebo self-medications, unlikely to provide the permanent solutions our nation needs. Protests serve more as entertainment for the nation than a force to tear down the rotten system. Scale is a problem. Maybe if half million angry Somaliland sat down peacefully in the streets all around the Goverment, defying police action for many days, just maybe the system would crack. Protests must have a revolutionary character. They must induce fear into the hearts of smug and delusional power elites – like Cawil & Riyaale. The real needs are structural reforms that combat the major societal delusions that are driving Somaliland downhill. We must attack the root causes of problems rather than provide temporary relief or cover-up of symptoms. Delusional patriotism is tougher to remedy. To revitalize Somaliland democacy we must have a national dialogue
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I don’t mean by this and that we should sit down right now and have a conversation, between people and Goverment. I mean it more literally: Are we, as a nation, still capable of talking with one another about the issues that confront us? Or have shouting, extreme polarization, pitched political battle, and unshakeable mistrust in the motives of anyone who disagrees with us sabotaged our capacity for reasoned discourse? I don’t think we’re that far gone, at least, not yet. But we’re certainly on dangerous ground. Anyone who cares about the dialogue of democracy ought to be very concerned right now.
We all need, to recognize our own fallibility, to understand that our own particular perspective on a problem need not be the only one. In fact, it’s helpful always to keep in mind that we might be wrong. “The spirit of liberty is the spirit that is not too sure it is right.” When people of opposing viewpoints are willing to give one another the benefit of the doubt– or at least to treat one another with respect– then resolving differences becomes much easier.At the same time, it helps to keep an eye on the proper target: resolving differences and reconciling views, rather than winning at all costs. Our system was not set up to further a particular set of policy goals, it was designed to provide a way for Somalilands to come together to decide what those goals ought to be and how to reach them. That means learning how to search for compromises in which everyone is at least a partial winner, and understanding from the start that political differences may be stark, but this does not make them irreconcilable.
For the goal, after all, is to serve the national interest and focus on the common good, asking ourselves not what’s good for any one of us, but what’s good for the country. When we do this, it becomes possible to focus on a rival’s ideas, not his motivations or personal shortcomings. And that, in turn, makes it possible to have a genuine conversation in which opponents search for commonalities, and in particular talk about the concerns they share.
At its best, creative dialogue is the very heart of a democratic system. It increases mutual understanding, establishes respect among adversaries, stimulates fresh thinking and new perspectives, and builds the consensus for which Somaliland so desperately earn. It is not beyond our capabilities to have that kind of dialogue, but as a society, we have to make it clear that we want it, and hold to account those who get in its way. Our obligation is to strengthen those forces in our society that promote a reasoned dialogue, and to discourage the forces that make it more difficult.
Yes indeed let us fight corruption at our footsteps and also at the power abuse. Unless we do this our attempts to reduce our chronic corruption will just lead to nothing.
The impoverished majority in most African countries are denied their constitutional rights.
Witten by:
Amiin D. Caynaanshe
amiincaynaashe@yahoo.com
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Views expressed in the opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial
