By Mohamed F Yabarag, London, UK

If you have recently scoured Somaliland websites, especially those from Awdal region, you must have come across many articles authored by individuals as well as groups denouncing the national legislator council for excluding two candidates (one each from Awdal and Eastern Sannag) from becoming members of the national commission. The said articles have repeatedly accused the House of Parliament (Golaha Wakiilada) of all sorts of things, including nepotism, tribalism and favoritism by snubbing the said members simply because they hail from non-Isaaq inhabited regions. Most notable among those is a group claiming to be the sole representatives of Awdal Diaspora in the UK (even though this is debatable among Awdal Diaspora in the UK) have posted a damning criticism on Borama website accusing the House of legislator, among other things, of being a divisive element in the process of democratization in Somaliland. This group, or at least their spokesman, have gone even further to suggest that the House is creating a confusion and discord among the Somaliland communities, hence putting a wedge between Isaaq on one hand and Samaroon and Warsengeli on the other without mentioning the said tribes by name.

Well, have they got a point or is it just a scaremongering tactics intended to do exactly the same thing they (this group) accuse the House of Legislators of doing?

Let us put things into perspective by taking a critical look into how things unfolded in this sorrow saga we found ourselves in once again. After a long horse trading a wrangling between president Rayaale and the House of Legislators in Somaliland over who should replace the redundant members of former national election commission, the latter group has caved in to the excessive and uncompromising demands of the former by accepting the new members put to them. All in all seven new members have been proposed by different interest groups - of which the president has a lion’s share- and put to the rigorous scrutiny of the parliament. After a long and grueling selection process in which the candidates’ curriculum vitas have been put under an immense scrutiny and even the candidates have been called for face-to-face personal interviews, two aspirants for the membership of national commission have been rejected after they have apparently failed to get enough votes from members of the parliament. It is worth to mention here that three of the seven have their stories found to be inconsistent and littered with irregularities, but one has somehow managed to go through by winning enough votes to pass the 42 vote threshold.

Upon the completion of this process, the two who failed to get the nod for the membership of national election council turned out to be, unfortunately, those from Awdal and Eastern Sannag, or to put it simply from Samaroon and Warsangeli clans. I would have expected some members of the parliament to show consistency in voting against all three candidates. But, somehow they did not. This may be a bitter pill for some Awdalities, but it is part and parcel of parliamentary democracy. For those who are familiar with parliamentary democracy these kinds of things do happen on a regular basis, and this is one of the fallacies of the system, if you put it this way. In Western democracies, how often we saw MP’s defying their whip and voting according to their political believes.

If we now go into detail as to how the voting took place, here are results:

1. Muse Ahmed Omar (Muse Madoobe), from Awdal, has won 35 votes, but failed to reach the 42 vote threshold.

2. Mahmoud Abdi Hamud, from Eastern Sannaag, has won 36 votes, but failed to reach the 42 vote threshold.

3. Mohamed Yusuf Ahmed, from Hargeysa region, has scrapped through by mere two votes against the 42 vote threshold. Mind you this candidate was in a similar position as the top two as far as inconsistencies in their CV’s are concerned.

If we take a quick look at the number of votes both failed candidates have obtained, it is obvious that a large number of MP’s have voted for them. If MP’s have voted along tribal lines as the so-called Awdal elders in the UK are trying to convince us, the two candidates from Awdal and Eastern Sannaag would have managed far less votes than they have amassed thus far. For your information some members elected from Awdal have voted against the rejected candidates. So, the notion that they have been rejected because they are non-Isaaqs, is in my humble opinion, non-starter. It is highly possible that some MP’s may have voted along tribal lines, but this is nothing to do with the House of Parliament and how it operates as it did not order its members in this case to vote against one way or another. How an individual member votes in a parliamentary democracy is his/her own business. It is nothing to do with the House of Parliament itself. One of the main functions of the House is to facilitate the voting system and that is what it did in this case. It is not the intention of the House to ask members to vote in certain ways as its members, who in most cases represent the interest of their political parties, would not accept any dictation from anyone.

What some members of my fellow Awdalities have expressed in respect of this case is nothing short of emotional outburst. Their denunciation of the members of the legislators is based on unsubstantiated rumors. If I may correct you, the problem lies with the system whereby Somaliland MP’s have been distributed according to the 1960s elections despite the demographical changes in the last 40 years. How do we distinguish between those Isaaqs who voted for both candidates (and there were many of them) and those who did not? The answer to this question is a damning indictment for the so-called Awdal Elders in the UK and their self appointed spokesperson who seem to have forgotten that his favorite boy is at the helm of the whole damn thing we call Somaliland. Nowadays in Somaliland, unfortunately, the ordinary law abiding citizens are always keeping a low profile whilst the ones who are often on the spotlight are not the right ones.

If we have to succeed in Somaliland as just and fair society based on mutual understanding in what looks like a tribal democracy at present, we need to accommodate each other’s concern and demands. We need to show respect and humility to each other. We need to stop inciting hatred and animosity against each other along tribal or regional lines. This way we can achieve our aspirations and goals.

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