The Information Minister Must Go

EDITORIAL

The latest episode in the long list of scandals committed by Somaliland’s minister of Information, Ahmed Haji Dahir, is his dismissal earlier this week of two women employees for wearing Islamic dress to work.

Zaynab Yusuf who worked as a secretary in the minister’s office wore Hijab (an Islamic dress for women that is designed to cover the head and flow across both shoulders), while her colleague Hoodo Imaan, a computer operator, put on Hijab as well as a Niqaab (piece of clothing for covering the face).

The Information minister’s firing of the two female employees for no other reason than their strict adherence to the Islamic dress code, has naturally shocked and angered the public in Somaliland, a country whose population is 100% Muslim.

But it wasn’t the first time that minister Ahmed H. Dahir has done something as disgusting and sinister as this latest blunder of his. As the country’s minister of Planning before his transfer to the Information ministry about 3 months ago, he earned notoriety for his habit of staging a walk out whenever his demands were not met by his international interlocutors.

Perhaps the two most prominent scandals on the minister’s list of shame are his successful interference in denying Amino-Weris, wife of opposition leader Ahmed Sillanyo, a job she had been offered by Care International and his attempt to block the entry of a large shipment of donated and much needed medical drugs into the country. Both incidents had caused the government, particularly president Rayale, a considerable political damage, with the Amino-Weris case driving a wedge between the administration and the opposition-controlled House of Representatives. But the president didn’t seem as someone who cared about the consequences of keeping Ahmed Haji Dahir in his cabinet any longer.

Instead of being ousted for his outrageous performance as minister, Ahmed H. Dahir was recently moved to the Information ministry. The first thing he did under his new assignment was to announce that Radio Hargeysa’s employees were forbidden to have a second job. The staff rejected to comply with the new instructions. The minister obviously took the decision with great disregard to the fact that the staff at radio Hargeysa were dependent for livelihood on the additional income they earned from their second jobs elsewhere. Until this day the dispute has not been resolved.

But now Mr. Ahmed Haji Dahir has committed the unforgivable offence of depriving 2 Somaliland Muslim women of their jobs for insisting to exercise their religious and constitutional rights. The minister has not only offended Zaynab Yusuf and Hoodo Imaan but the whole nation as well. The backlash against the government, as a result of the minister’s action, is expected to last long unless president Rayale gets rid of Ahmed H. Dahir without further delay.

Mr. Rayale cannot afford to retain this odd character in his government. The guy burns anything he touches and must therefore be shown the door before he commits the next scandal.

Source: Somaliland Times

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