Where Somaliland Is Heading To?

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.

By: Jama Falaag
Saudi Arabia, Jeddah,
Eamil:jamafalaag@gmail.com