Political rumours are past time and way of life in societies lacking freedom of the media and strong public institutions. In these societies, there is no way of knowing the truth; no public access to information; no means of verifying the validity of rumours, and since they are informal means of communication, everyone uses them for whatever purposes or objectives he or she has in mind. Heavy consumers of rumours and gossips are addicted to them and wary of anyone asking questions or demanding show of evidences and sources of information.

Societies experiencing tyranny and restrictions of civil liberties practise and consume more gossips and hearsays. Since everyone uses them, the punishment of discreet dissemination of rumours is less severe insofar as they can qualify them as harmless jokes.

Rumours are used as weapons against political enemies, mainly to discredit them in the eyes of the public. They are used as tools in character assassination and even to create a situation for personal harm.

In Somalia rumour mills are rife and the society is heavily affected by them. Most Somali news outlets and webchats are rumour-mongers. They also lack critical analysis of issues and investigative journalistic skills. That is because political leaders are never transparent, competent and objective media are non-existent and history of 21-year long military dictatorship had left human scars difficult to heal. As rumors continue to thrive, the accumulated effect had led to the birth of Somali Political Doctrine: “Never re-elect a president”. Public mistrust of politicians and cynicism are key here. Let it be so until real selfless leaders are born.

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