Two volumes. One political indictment. Somalia must learn to hold power accountable.
A WDM editorial
Somalia has never lacked politicians. It has lacked people willing to confront them while they still hold power.
That is the space occupied by Ismail H. Warsame’s two-volume Talking Truth to Power in Undemocratic and Tribal Context: Articles of Impeachment, published July 2020. These volumes do not flatter presidents, reassure ministers, or massage clan sensitivities. They are a political record—years of commentary on Somalia’s difficult attempt to rebuild government after state collapse.
Its central claim is blunt and urgent: power must be questioned—especially when doing so is dangerous.
Articles of Impeachment
The subtitle is intentional. “Articles of Impeachment” is not a literal call for parliamentary trials in every case. It stands for a wider principle: public power should always be subject to public scrutiny.
Too often in Somalia that principle is reversed. Criticize a president and you are asked about your clan. Challenge a minister and you are accused of partisan motives. Expose institutional failure and the response becomes personal, tribal, or factional. The only question that should matter—“Is the criticism true?”—is erased.
That is the political environment these books confront.
Tribal loyalty is not accountability
Somalia cannot build a constitutional state while accepting the unwritten rule that my politician is right because he is mine. That is not democracy; it is clan patronage in government clothing. A corrupt official does not become honest because of clan ties. An unconstitutional decision does not become constitutional because it benefits your faction. Government failure does not become success because criticism is inconvenient.
The republic must come before the politician. The constitution must come before the clan. Truth must come before convenience. That argument runs through Talking Truth to Power.
Why these volumes still matter
Many pieces in these books first appeared on the author’s blog, ismailwarsame.blog, written as events unfolded. That matters because Somalia suffers from extraordinary political amnesia. Yesterday’s villains return tomorrow as democrats. Yesterday’s constitutional arguments are conveniently forgotten. Politicians reverse positions as if no archive exists.
But archives are dangerous: they remember. Reading commentary produced in the moment reveals not reconstructed history but the arguments, warnings, and controversies of that time. These volumes therefore function as more than books: they are part of Somalia’s contemporary political record.
Six years after publication, every reader faces a simple test: take an article from 2020, remove the names, change the date to 2026—how much still rings true? If the answer is “too much,” the indictment is against Somalia’s failure to learn, not against the author.
WDM: No political sacred cows
Warsame Digital Media stands on the same principle. Government is not sacred. Presidents are not sacred. Opposition leaders and Federal Member State leaders are not sacred. Clan personalities are certainly not sacred. The public interest is.
Somalia has had enough praise singers, enough intellectuals who become brave only after presidents leave office, and enough commentators who discover constitutional principles only when their clan loses power. A serious political culture demands something harder: tell the truth when your friends are wrong; defend constitutional government when your opponents benefit from it; question authority while authority can still answer back.
That is talking truth to power. Everything else is public relations.
Get the two-volume set
Ismail H. Warsame
Talking Truth to Power in Undemocratic and Tribal Context: Articles of Impeachment
Volumes One & Two — Published July 2020
Volume One
- Approximately 75,480 words
- Paperback and digital editions
- Amazon paperback identifier: ASIN 164871319X
Volume Two
- Approximately 31,990 words
- Digital edition available through major ebook retailers
The two volumes appear on Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and other platforms. Readers in Puntland may also enquire through Warsame Digital Media about local copies; older contact details published in 2020 should be verified.
Together the books contain more than 107,000 words of political commentary and critical analysis. Don’t buy them for comfortable reading. Read them to argue with them, to challenge the author, and to test the political record. Above all, read with one question in mind: six years on, has Somalia answered the Articles of Impeachment?
The verdict remains open.
WDM — Commentary and Critical Analysis.