By M.A. Jama

Over the past year and specially the last six months much has been said about the Server and right now it has taken a life of its own. When one reads the Somaliland media or hears what the government officials and/or the election committee say about the Server, like “ Server-kii baa natiijada soo saari waayey”, you ask, is the Server a living thing? However we all know the server consists of some hardware and software and both are created by man. Everything the server knows comes from a human being; it just does not do things by itself. Therefore the real question is: what is wrong here? Is this an operator problem or crabby technology? If so, why then it has not been detected earlier so it can be remedied? As you can see there are more questions than answers. All these are real opportunities for Riyale and UDUB. The Server is a potential threat to them and a free and fare election is their demise.

Interpeace had an ample time to fix any issues regarding the Server’s technical problems. It is beyond comprehension that Interpeace has been giving one excuse after another about the timeline of the voter registration results. The question for Interpeace is, why did you bought a system that has not been tested before? Did the company that sold this system have a track record in building such systems?

Riyale is known to be devoid of diplomatic language, he is in the same caliber as Mogadishu’s Mohamed Dheere and Salad Ali Jeelle and sending police to eject Interpeace from the country was very unwise and undiplomatic and it is a slap in the face of those who, with good intentions, wanted to help. The choice we had was accepting between voter registrations results with some known and tolerable errors and a complete chaos and an unimaginable, uncontrollable fraud, that is, without registration. If the Riyale regime and the election committee preferred the later, then one should brace for the end of everything we dreamed and treasure that many of us paid with their blood some two decades ago.

In the past 12 months each and every time the election is postponed in Somaliland there is a long pause and silence and one assumes that the opposition parties got the point this time around and things will be fine next time. However, as the election date gets closer we hear all kinds of complaints from the opposition parties. They start accusing Riyale of playing delay tactics and abusing/ignoring the constitutions. Well Riyale knows he has no chance of winning and he will do everything to delay it, but were the opposition parties capable of forcing Riyale and UDUB to hold the elections on time by first coming up with a solution for the outstanding technical and financial problems to deny Riyale any more excuses? There has never been a complete and comprehensive list of issues that are the major show stoppers and need to be addresses immediately in order to hold the election on time and successfully. Of course there was always a single issue “Riyale has no interest of holding an election”. Lately, the bogyman was the SERVER guy. One thing should have been crystal clear right from the beginning, that is, electronic voting is a complex process and error prone, even in developed world, let alone a country like Somaliland where power supply is not even guaranteed 24/7. Therefore what was needed here was plan B, which is, Traditional manual process in addition to the electronic one, in case Riyale sees an opportunity to delay the election once more as he did many times since 2008. Finally does anybody in Somaliland know anything about this SERVER guy technically, that is, what hardware, software is used and why it is not working? This is a classical case of donor nations’ attitude towards the recipients, that is, we know better!

The current state of the Somaliland election has all the hallmarks of the elusive peace process in Somalia, which is an international money laundering and fraudulent projects run, from the great lakes, Bossaso to Darfur, by multi-NGOs, UN, EU and the devil knows who else. Yes beggars cannot be choosers; we should listen and do what those who finance these projects dictate us. Change the commission members, do what we think is good for you not what you think is good for you.

It is sad that the opposition parties (especially UCID) are only now finding that Riyale and UDUB are traitors. Riyale has been a traitor long time when he was in Berbera in the 80s as Said Barre’s Henchman. He knows very well that in a fair and free election he has no chance of winning anything. Worse yet he knows that if he loses he will be of no use even to UDUB, I am not sure of Awdal. 

The Server guy is an innocent guy who needs only to be understood by a savvy techie. It knows someone is screwing it up. For one the opposition parties should have had their IT consultants in place right from the beginning and have them get familiar with the technology. Apparently there are IT Colleges in Somaliland, could some of their stuff server as Consultants for the election committee?

If the opposition parties cannot foresee the issues that can delay the elections and they have no solution for it, then it is fair to ask: are they capable of lifting the country from sink hole it is in or lead Somaliland to the path of recognition?

Recently the government of Somaliland excused in attending a meeting in Washington DC organized by the US congressional committee for African affairs headed by Congressman Donald Payne. As a consequence Congressman Payne declined to meet Somaliland’s foreign affairs minister. Well, Should the minister sit in the same table with the thugs in Mogadishu?

Kulmiye jumped to the opportunity and sent their secretary for foreign affairs to meet Representative Payne in Washington DC. Is that a signal for Mr. Payne to let him know that if Kulmiye wins the election they will be ready to sit down with and talk with the thugs in Mogadishu? How will the people of Somaliland see that?

I deeply worry for the people of Somaliland and direction the country is heading. Riyale and UDUB are blind and may God help those who want them to lead. 

M_jama@hotmail.com 

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