By Hussein D Obsiye

Everyone admires a successful President. A successful president, in my opinion, is the one who takes the country one step further than when he/she took over; the step does have to be long, but must be tangible. For example, President Cigaal disarmed the militias and transformed them into trained uniformed military. I want Rayale to succeed too and leave a visible mark—the fraudulent elections and the pocket book democracy are visible, but do not constitute a positive contribution.

When I looked at the President’s political activities timeline however, I could not help but question the President’s sincerity. I raised the following question, “Is Rayale an honest President”? Because, when I watched Rayale’s political maneuvers for sometime I found them very disturbing. Sometimes, these activities appear as if they are concerted attack to topple the country’s nascent democracy. I hope I am wrong.

Here are some of the points that aroused my suspicion:

1. The President’s most suspicious move is Rayale’s current decision to replace the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edna Adan Ismail. That move alone killed the long awaited Somaliland recognition. The reason is that the United States is the most powerful country in the World, and that its decision can make or break any action on Somaliland. Both the State Department Secretary and the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs of the US are Educated Black Women, and Edna Adan Ismail is an Educated Black Woman. And Educated Black Women are a league (clan) of their own. So, a simple conversation between these three ladies would have advanced Somaliland agenda tremendously. Why didn’t the President give Edna the budget and the opportunity she needed to pursue the issue, and why did he replace her now? Is the new guy up to this enormous task? I am confident that he can not perform better than her.

2. The President’s early appointment of Cawil to the most important Ministry of the country (Ministry of Finance). The Ministry of Finance is the most important Ministry in a country that does not have enough revenue, but struggles to stretch any meager resources that it receives. Such Ministry requires a saint as a Minister, and Cawil is the furthest Somalilander from a saint. Cawil is the staunchest supporter of United Somalia and will never settle for anything less. His writings and political philosophy reveal that he is vehemently opposed to Somaliland. The Somaliland citizens, on the other hand, are proud of their secession from Somalia. Hence, Cawil and Somaliland citizens are on colliding paths. Cawil should not manage Somaliland’s little resources.

3. Since the Somali government used to fill the International Political Appointment Vacancies before the nineties(90s), most of the prominent Somali staff in both the World Bank and the UN are supporters of United Somalia and do not care about Somaliland interests. Therefore, the JNA project which is advocated by Dr. Maxamuud Cabdi Nur and his like, or any other UN project, should be looked at with cautious eyes that come from all Somaliland authorities and citizens. Issues like that must be discussed in an open forum similar the recent symposium which was organized by the opposition parties. However, the manner in which the government handled the JNA project was not at all transparent.

In conclusion, when I asked myself the above questions and more, I decided to forward the matter to the public for answers. Politicians take bribe, hence they are not the people that one expects answers from. It is the responsibility of the general public and the independent media like Haatuf and Jamhuuriya to investigate and create a public dialogue format.

hdobsiye@msn.com