By Guled Ismail, London, UK

The people had their say, the ballots counted, the horse-trading done, the alliances formed. Now is the time to honor the people the way they honored you; now is the time to deliver.

The least you can do is to do no harm: do not steal from the huddled masses, do not feed on their famished bones, do not divide them for personal gain; do not scheme at their expense. Do not let idle talk cause discord, do not perpetrate deeds of evil.

But please go further; do good. And there is plenty of doing to be had for the courageous and the committed amongst you. Let future generations remember you and honor you because you have shown leadership where it was most needed, you acted where others never dared. You cared and you worked hard. You did not talk the talk you walked the walk.

I know you cannot build roads for tarmac costs money; you cannot erect schools because teachers need pay. You cannot operate the hospitals because the doctors have all migrated and now work as security guards, those greedy bastards. You cannot light the towns because the generators are too small and you most certainly cannot achieve recognition because the world hates us, god only knows why.

But you can save our children from being mutilated at eight: that requires no recognition, no NGOs, no UN funding, no magic wands. All it requires is men and women of courage willing to speak out loud and clear. Mavericks who do not mind embarrassment and ridicule from the ignorant masses. `Men should not discuss such things’ they chuckle, the wretched morons!

All could be done in 100 days. Yes 100 days to save our daughters from the razors of barbarity wielded with love by mothers who do not know any better. Wounded sisterhood taking revenge on their daughters for the misery the grandmothers caused.

100 days to save thousands of mothers-to be, sisters and lovers, wives and beauties. 100 days for the brave to change the course of history forever and write their name in letters of gold. 100 days for you to gain immortality, and who knows the world might even hate us a little less. So what is stopping you, cowardice?

But you are not a risk taker I hear you say. You do not wish to be humiliated in Qat sessions because you talk about little girls’ bits. OK well do something else then, no imagination needed. Help your nation defeat a perennial enemy and no, it is not Puntland we are nothing but brothers in poverty and petty hate. It is the bag you should zap for a country that cannot save itself from a marauding plastic bag deserves nothing but contempt and ridicule.

Perhaps we know why the world hates after all. If you cannot defeat a plastic bag how on earth can you look humanity in the eye and claim your existence is made of sturdier stuff?

You have 100 days. The nation expects. The world watches.

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