WARSAME DIGITAL MEDIA (WDM)
Somalia is burning — politically, economically, and institutionally — but its political class insists on dancing around the fire instead of putting it out. The air is thick with smoke, but the conversations in Mogadishu salons ( Parliament), TV talk shows, and social spaces sound like the chatter of people discussing the color of the curtains while their house collapses.
While federal and state mandates expire faster than milk in the sun, the so-called “leaders” keep themselves busy with distractions. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud — the man who turned political escapism into an art form — is globe-trotting again, cutting ribbons, signing irrelevant communiqués, and blaming everyone but himself for the implosion of the system he was supposed to lead.
His courtiers — the ever-loyal Damul Jadiid apostles — have perfected the game of diversion. When inflation bites, they talk about “federal harmony.” When the parliament stops functioning, they organize “consultations.” When security collapses, they whisper about “external conspiracies.” When they run out of excuses, they shout “Puntland problem!” or anything else but accountability.
The real issues — constitutional vacuum, corruption, insecurity, clan rivalry, and economic paralysis — are swept under a thick rug woven from donor reports and fake optimism. The central government acts like a street magician pulling a rabbit from a broken hat while the audience, weary and cynical, wonders when the next blackout will hit.
Federalism, which was meant to decentralize hope, has instead devolved into a patchwork of expired mandates and expired leaders. Some cling to office like it’s a family inheritance. Others negotiate “extensions” as if time itself were for sale. And yet, no one dares speak of real governance reform — that would spoil the party.
Somalis deserve leaders who face the fire, not those who dance around it. Governance is not a masquerade of empty conferences or staged press briefings — it is the moral obligation to manage the lives and hopes of millions. But Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his band of smoke merchants seem content to keep the country guessing, deflecting, and drifting.
In the end, Somalia’s tragedy isn’t just bad leadership — it’s the normalization of distraction. Every crisis becomes an opportunity for another meeting, another committee, another slogan. And the people, once again, are told to wait for “the next phase.”
WDM’s verdict: Stop the smoke. Face the fire. Somalia’s survival depends on leaders who govern, not performers who evade.
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