By Abdillahi H Daud
I was one of those who used to give the President Riyale and his cronies the benefit of the doubt. In other words, I debated bombastic KULMIYE supporter numerous times about the intentions of President Riyale. However, after the President agreed and then refused to sign the agreement put forward by the mediation committee, I have lost all patience with him. The President has repeatedly shown us that he is not a man of his words. He earlier betrayed the well-intentioned mediation committee led by the highly respected national figures such as Hadrawi and Gariye. I now have to believe the fact that the President is a threat to Somaliland’s peace and stability.
The President exhibits the familiar characteristics of African and Arab dictators who do not respect the will of the people. The people of Somaliland wanted and still want a successful agreement between the President and the opposition parties regarding the extension of President’s term. Because of his miscalculated political games, the President dashed the hopes of many peace-loving Somalilanders.
After all, President Riyale has merely a high school diploma at best. That is his lifetime educational achievements. His career experience does not help him much either. He previously worked as an agent of the much-feared National Security Service of Dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre’s regime. Worse, his current mentor is Ismail Omar Gelle, another dictator of the neighboring tiny state of Djibouti, who is planning to amend the constitution of his country in order to get himself elected as a president in third term.
The President does not have any accomplishments to speak of that can justify his re-election. His only achievement so far as President is the earlier successful undertaken of municipal, parliamentarian and presidential elections he oversaw. Other than this, he lacks the qualities of good leadership. For instance, the economy of the country is shambles. The government has no plan at all to develop the country. The employment rate is over 50%. Corruption in the public sector is rampant. There are no incentives for the private sector to invest and to create jobs. Business taxes are skyrocketing. The port city of Berbera and Somaliland’s business hub is a ghost town. What many do not understand, however, is why the President wants to stay in power indefinitely since he miserably failed to accomplish any significant achievements.
This remains me a comment made by Government Jesse Venture (I) of Minnesota about his plans for re-election in a second term. He said he did all he could to implement his vision in the first term and he did not have any more goals. He asked why he would run for second term if he did not have anything more to achieve. This is drastically different from the mentality of African and Arab dictators whose main mission is to stay in power.
The President is playing with fire by trying to stick to power through undemocratic extensions of his term by the un-elected House of Elders, the Guurti. This shows that the President has outlasted his usefulness and his stay in power any longer will only do more harm than good to Somaliland’s survival. He must realize that any more undemocratic extension of his term by the Guurti through horse-trading is a recipe for civil war and public disorder. As a country that has recently recovered from civil wars, Somaliland cannot afford to slip back to civil war.
The opposition leaders of KULMIYE and UCID have so far shown patience and leadership. However, this patience cannot be taken for granted. Ignoring this serious threat from Dahir Riyale and Co. jeopardizes Somaliland’s achievements for the last decade or so in terms of peace, stability and democratization process. It is, therefore, our collective responsibility to stand up to Dahir Riyal’s dictatorial regime. Failure to act now will sure be interpreted by the dictator as an endorsement of his destructive policies.
Abdillahi H Daud
Minneapolis, Minnesota
abdhdaud@yahoo.com
 

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