A pattern of force and fraud

EDITORIAL

Asked how he saw the emergency that was declared by President Musharraf, a Pakistani merchant replied, "this is not emergency; this is hooliganism." The same response applies to Mr Tallabo’s claim that the country is in a state of emergency. Mr Tallabo was not just guilty of hooliganism in words, but went way beyond that and actually engaged in hooliganism in practice. Why are we saying this? Answer: when the Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr Tallabo, says the country is in a state of emergency, when in fact it is not, it constitutes an act of hooliganism. When the same minister takes over a civil society organization (Shuro Net) it is hooliganism. That much is clear. But what is not clear is whether Mr Tallabo’s claim regarding emergency was because he did not know the relevant procedures for declaring emergency or he was pretending not to know.

Mr Tallabo is not the only person in Somaliland’s government who did not know, or was pretending not to know something he was supposed to know. His boss, President Rayale was in a similar situation. It happened during the meeting between Rayale and the leaders of the two opposition parties. When the heads of the opposition leaders raised the question of Shuro Net, the president reportedly said he was not aware of the extent of involvement of the ministry of justice in the civil society group’s affairs, and promised to investigate, and if it turned out that the ministry was indeed involved, he would do something about it.

Normally, we would have given the president the benefit of the doubt, but it just goes against all common sense that the president was not adequately informed about what his government was doing to Shuro Net. We think he knew exactly what his government was doing to Shuro Net and was pretending not to know because it served his purpose. In other words, the president lied to the opposition leaders, the same way he lied to the mediation committee.

President Rayale’s latest attempt to get his way through lying and cheating came in the form of a new press law. As soon as Haatuf and other newspapers exposed the many restrictions that this law would impose on the press and the wide latitude it gives the government to control the press, the government immediately issued a press release praising the newly proposed law and

accusing Haatuf of having mischaracterized it, when in fact, Haatuf under reported the draconian nature of the new law.

The harsh press law that was submitted to parliament fits well with other statements and measures that have emanated from the government, namely, the incarceration of Qaran leaders, the takeover of Shuro Net and the emergency claim. There is a pattern here, and it was established by none other than president himself. The pattern is to use force and fraud to dispossess the citizens of their rights. All evidence indicates that this pattern is going to continue.

Source: Somaliland Times

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