Serious Political Constraints In Somaliland

By Ibrahim Adam Ghalib

Borama, Awdal

Strengthening People’s capacity to determine their own political choice and to organize themselves to act on these is the basis of political development in any society and is the process of transforming societies. Empowerment involves challenging all forms of oppression that deny the basic rights. The fundamental purpose of political development is the participation of all people to exercise their rights without fear.

There are no firm boundaries between the people living in the same neighborhoods. At the household level a change in the level of one person will in variably have a range of impact on the lives of the members. The right to exercise the political choice involves to challenge and overcome oppression on peaceful means.

It is therefore profoundly important how individuals gain strength, confidence and vision to work for their rights without fear. The people have every right to resist within the law if their basic rights are denied by the authorities. It is a matter of attitudes and attitudes can be changed. They can pressure the authorities to provide basic services like water, electricity and proper sanitation that is not available today in the country.

In these situations we have to use our voice matching with reasoned arguments, speaking out on behalf of the powerless to those with the power to change things to the better and to give up the concept of the single and centralized answers. They have to be open to learning, be flexible and responsive to explore new ideas by consulting the people without discriminating certain people in the society.

The absence of political guts within the society have not hampered only the political side but also contributed to increasing poverty levels and suffering. The authorities when challenged are bound to follow innovative ways of addressing the un even patterns of dealing with the people.

To come to the core of article I have to mention that this exists in all regions of Somaliland but varies from one region to the other. Unfortunately Awdal region is the worst in this respect. I have to mention without reservation that the governor of Awdal alone is responsible the worsening situation of the region. He marginalizes certain groups in the opposition parties and welcomes others.

He created tensions in the region during the voter registration. He ignored the political parties and did not inform them even in the opening ceremony. We have found out in our own ways and attended the ceremony. The vice president, the chairman of Kulmiye party, the chairman of the parliament and a member of the commission were present in the region. He tried to ignore these dignitaries to say their words but the vice president gave the microphone to them and the ceremony escaped in this way disruption of protocol.

He has not up come with any viable program that can help the commission to conduct the voter registration in peace. He was only consulting certain people and left the parties that are important in this respect. The parties are constitutional and these acts are against the law.

When certain people is marginalized, important persons in the society that would have contributed good ideas is left and chaos is created. Many people of Awdal will agree with me that this is the truth that exists in the region.

When I am writing about the wrong doings of the authorities I am helping them to consult their inner circles to correct it. These are the ways people learn including my self and put emphasis on sharing information and knowledge of best practices how to explore news ideas from the various groups of the society. Much of what we are seeing now in the region is hard to understand and the future of the region is very hard to predict.

Email: kaalib33@hotmail.com

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