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Somalilanders were for a great disappointment on Thursday as they came to know about the appointment by President Dahir Rayale of 23 more ministers and 11 assistant ministers. With 7 keys ministerial posts already filled earlier last month, the latest appointments have raised the number of Rayale’s cabinet members to a record level of 41. Though Mr. Rayale had repeatedly promised, in the wake of his victory in the April 14 presidential election, to form an effective government, yet most of the people he has finally lined up as members of his new cabinet, could hardly be seen as qualified enough to be entrusted with running a tea shop let alone a government agency.
The expectation was that the President, having been elected through a popular vote, would now bring on board a bunch of qualified and honest people to replace the corrupt and incompetent officials who dominated Somaliland’s top governmental posts over the years. But that did not happen. Rayale has not only retained the majority of the members of his previous cabinet, but has also gotten rid of the few who tried hard to make a difference such as the outgoing minister of Health. Though fully aware that Somalilanders were getting increasingly fed up with the government’s lack of sensitivity to the needs of the people, President Rayale chose to ignore the urgency that this issue has assumed in the country. Instead of rewarding the people who had elected him with a government that can deliver, President Rayale seems to have yielded to the demands of his UDUB party officials.
Disguised behind the façade of a government ministry, each of these officials will now insist on being allocated a separate budget, which of course will be granted to the peril of the national economy. President Rayale has clearly done what is expedient for him and his UDUB party. The question now is how much damage will these corrupt ministers inflict on the nation.
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