Dear Sir:‎

In a recent editorial in our country Somaliland, a major English Weekly newspaper and a daily Somali ‎language newspaper Somaliland Times/Haatuf made grim and serious allegations against the President of ‎this Republic, the Presidency of Somaliland, and the family of the President. These charges are perhaps the ‎most serious charges that the press can make against a sitting President. This is not the first time that these ‎charges have appeared in this newspaper, they have been repeated and editorialized several times over the ‎last months and indeed they strike at the heart of our experiment with democratic rule. These allegations, as ‎the paper described, have truly shocked the people of this country and in the diasporas: there must be ‎accountability on the part of the President as leader of the government on these charges and editorial ‎responsibility on the part of Somaliland Times.‎

At the heart of these charges are the allegations that the President is a crook who directs his Ministers, in this ‎case the Minister of planning, to put pressure on aid organizations to funnel money and carry financial favors ‎to the President and his family. Secondly, when the persons involved refused to comply – Mr. Ahmed ‎Mohamud who represents the EU in Somaliland – the EU representative was pressured, harassed and ‎blackmailed to succumb to these pressures which according to the Somaliland Times led to the expulsion of ‎the representative as persona-non grata.‎

Moreover, the Somaliland Times has claimed that the Presidency concocted and fabricated the charges ‎against the EU representative in order to cover up its tracks as well as to provide a rationale for the expulsion ‎of the EU representative. In a word: not only are these allegations and charges criminal and illegal, they ‎constitute a serious breach to the constitution of this country as well as a moral breakdown of the ‎government, including and potentially a role for the Parliament to investigate these high-level corruption ‎charges against the President.‎

Further, if these allegations are true, they not only symbolize a serious violation of the of the law, they send a ‎devastating message to the people of Somaliland, the international community, donor countries, and those ‎Somali Landers in the diaspora who tirelessly work to portray Somaliland as a democratic experiment that is a ‎showcase for the Horn Africa to the international community. At a deeper level it obliterates the morale of the ‎people of this country as well as send an appalling message to potential and actual supporters of ‎Somaliland’s recognition quest, that whatever the prospects of recognition, Somaliland will, in the words of ‎Rakiya Omaar, become another ‘African basket case’ given the continuing allegations of corruption, nepotism, ‎financial mismanagement, judicial absence, and claims of illegal and un-constitutional imprisonment of ‎Somali Landers without due process by kangaroo courts – xukunka deg dega being an example of the latter.‎

The Somaliland Times charges must be answered by this government in a court of law or in the court of ‎public opinion, as well as by the Minister in charge of Information in this country. Somali Landers must know ‎that their President is not a crook, not the person described by these editorials, not the person that the people ‎of this country have shown their trust in and more importantly deposited their sovereign faith in order to ‎create the wherewithal for democratic government in this country. The current policy of silence in the face of ‎these allegations may constitute an acceptance of these charges as genuine and the consequences of this ‎would be the grinding down of the government of this country given that Somaliland now has a parliament ‎with broad investigative and legal powers to bring charges against the President and his Cabinet.‎

Somali Landers are tired of these continuing charges and allegations, they smear to their honor dignity; they ‎are ashamed at these charges and rightly so; they expect their President who they elected in the midday-sun, ‎in long lines of patience and dignity to answer these men of the newspapers because the President is their ‎bully-pit; where the opinions of ordinary Somali Landers are represented; these outrageous and extraordinary ‎charges disgrace and humiliate my country and the President must confront these charges and, I expect, ‎come clean on this smear to the people of Somaliland. Personally, as a citizen who tirelessly campaigned to ‎have you elected to this seat, I am also responsible, culpable indirectly, if even a small part of these ‎allegations are proven because as a part of the Intelligentsia of this country, if I naively and without cause ‎mistook your administrations commitment to clean government and to the precious concept of accountability ‎which in fact may be a pitfall of disbelief and betrayal: thusly I am guilty.‎

The Somaliland Times allegations and their responsibility as far as the truth of these charges are concerned ‎can only be proven in a court of law as well as in the court of public opinion, this process will either strip this ‎newspaper of its journalist integrity as well as face the full wrath of the law which may include imprisonment ‎for slander and impugning the person of the President. Or, if proven true, bolster its moral credentials as a ‎premier newspaper with upright editors who tell the truth.‎

Mr. President, this time there should be no silence, this time the policy of see no evil, hear no evil and speak ‎no evil will not work. I urge you to proceed on this debate in the newspapers, in court, in the arena of public ‎opinion so that the people of Somaliland can know first that the President can defend himself and is no ‎pushover, that these searing allegations and charges are not true, and finally, open a debate to what the role ‎of the fourth estate is in our experiment with democracy.‎

Mr. President, the ball is in your court and your lawyers the truth will set all of us free.‎

Respectfully

Ahmed Mohamed Ali Xaashi ‘Dhimbiil’‎ (Ottawa, Ontario)

‎dallo57us@yahoo.com