Hamza S. Yusuf
"Every nation has the government it deserves" Joseph de Maistre
I am not a politician, I am not a member of any party machinery, I am not a professional pundit. I am an educated Somalilander who sees the future of their homeland hanging by a thread.
I made an educated choice based on reason.
I see a candidate on the one hand, who doesn’t campaign, who doesn’t debate, who doesn’t answer damning accusations, who isn’t educated, who has gone from one catastrophic blunder to the next. Mr. President, you are this man.
On the other hand, there is a man whom history will record as one of the great patriarchs of the Somali people, Ahmed Silanyo. A man who truly believes in democratic ideals, not the pithy lip service paid to it by detractors. A man not only highly educated in the Western discourse, but a true "wise man" in the best tradition of our people. A man whose entire life is a testament to honesty, decorum and decency. There is an old saying -the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Look around at your chosen leaders people of Somaliland, past and present and ask this same question of yourself.
During the years of the Siad Barre regime, who was the most outspoken defender of northerners and human rights whilst holding the most senior positions in the former government of Somalia? Who stood up to the brutal Siad to his face without fear at huge personal risk? Who left behind a life of comfort, security and a young family to defend our nation during its hour of need whilst others waited it out in Mogadishu until the time was good for them? Who initiated and organized the famous Forum For Peace, which brought about the ceasefire agreement between the warring parties in the so-called Xarbal Aqnam war around Berbera in 1992? Who initiated the movement, which brought about an end to the internal war of 1996, which ended at Beer in the Burao region where formal agreement of cessation of hostilities was finalized and exchange of prisoners was undertaken? Who has been your rock when the ground beneath your troubled feet was shaking Somaliland?
Certain pundits under the noxious spell of UDUB have been spouting endless socio-political quasi-philosophical jargon to dress up an essentially boneless, defunct argument, that UDUB is something worth voting for. It is not. If we have a FAIR and FREE election in the truest sense, UDUB will get their marching orders by mid-Spring.
Our roads are still hazardous and un-built. Our sewers are over flowing, our economic condition critical, our schools under resourced and under manned, our hospitals under equipped and over burdened. They say Rome wasn’t built in a day but this government has not even lifted a finger. UDUB has virtually achieved NOTHING for our people in the period of time they have held the reigns. Instead they try and distract our people by sending ridiculous little spurious missions abroad headed by some semi-recognizable name in an effort to convince the people that they are acting like a state. Put your house in order UDUB!
UDUB and Rayale are petrified. They have resorted to resurrecting political dinosaurs, let alone anything else in their desperate effort to throw everything they have against the tide that has turned against them for good. One UDUB pundit writes that the main bete-noir of the opposition parties is the issue of money. Of course it is, and rightly so. He himself admits that "inexperienced and unethical employees of the state use the resources of the state" for electoral purposes! And what is his solution? The implementation of certain "protocols". How more academic and removed from the de-facto ground situation in Hargeisa must this man be? The all-pervasive arrogance that pervades entire UDUB machinery from Rayale down to the foot soldiers is reflected in another comment by the same UDUB writer. He states that the opposition should be given "some resources so that their campaign efforts are not seriously retarded". So is a little retardation acceptable then? He goes on to qualify this modicum of conciliation by stating however, that "the municipal election results" show that they were "not too greatly impacted by this problem". How ridiculous. The very fact that in the face of such huge obstacles the parties managed to fight the UDUB/state controlled election is a testament to the fact that some people cannot be bought by UDUB and wanted to make their voices heard. They did their best but they couldn’t compete with a government/party that was getting 90% approval and turnout in regions formally inhabited by a few donkeys and a goat.
The People of Somaliland will not be fooled by hollow gestures coated in "constitutionalism" to hide more nefarious goings on in the dark and sinister corners of UDUB. We all have copies of the Constitution. Rayale has NOT been "constitutionally elected". His position is provided for "under" the constitution because he took over from the deceased President Egal, God rest his soul. The first constitutionally "elected" President of Somaliland is YET to be decided.
DO NOT give yourself the laurels just yet Mr. Rayale, look behind you, the people of Somaliland are waking up from slumber, there’s a new dawn coming. Watch for the rising sun.
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