Corruption And Violence

EDITORIAL

A group of demonstrating students went to the streets in Somaliland’s port city of Berbera on Thursday to protest in the wake of rumors that the government sold an old nearby cement factory (shut down since 1991) to a scrap dealer. Though the rumors have been circulating in the town as early on as last Monday, the government has however made no effort to set the record straight.

As happens whenever it finds itself caught up in a corruption scandal, the government chose not to do anything until it was too late. Apparently the students’ protests were going on peacefully until groups of unemployed youngsters who later joined the demonstration started rampaging through the streets, sacking and burning 3 government offices.

The destruction of public property and the resort to violence as a way of expressing one’s anger and protest is of course not only unjustifiable but outrageous as well.

Somalilanders who have since 1991 been witnessing their country rising up slowly and steadily from the ashes of destruction, feel that there must have been something sinister behind what happened in Berbera on last Thursday. Why of all places set ablaze the town’s water agency?

But there is no doubt that the burning issue in Somaliland today is the high level of corruption in government. Corruption coupled with incompetence and lack of accountability, has already reached catastrophic proportions.

People across all walks of life are angry at and lost trust in the incumbent administration whose senior members abuse their power and practice corruption. People are asking themselves why they should continue paying taxes to a government that doesn’t deliver. People are worried about the consequences of the next corruption scandal.

And unless strong and dedicated steps are taken immediately to address the government’s graft practices and poor performance, a new outbreak of corruption protests won’t be something hard to predict.

Source: Somaliland Times

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