Category: Puntland youth

PUNTLAND: CRISIS OF IDENTITY OR LOSS OF VISION?

Is PUNTLAND in a state of national crisis in every aspect of its public endeavors? Would the anouncement of a forthcoming PUNTLAND Congress or Conference scheduled in March 15, 2020, respond to this crisis or troubling political disillusionment of its residents, and youth, in particular? Would Puntland continue to hold the unity and cohesion of its constituency member regions, after it had lost parts of its founding members? Would the reckless and unconstitutional activities by the leaders of the Federal Government of Somalia take advantage of Puntland administrative and security vulnerabilities in Mudugh and Bari Regions? Would Puntland stage and maintain fiscal, public and security sector reforms?  Would democratization of Puntland governance finally come true before the end of President Abdullahi Said Den’s Term in office? Would Puntland leaders be able to manage the persistent political and constitutional frictions with Farmaajo Administration? Would Puntland so-called “universities” be allowed to continue to ill-educated Puntland youth with fake diplomas and degrees with the production of illiterate graduates with no work skills?


These are critically important questions before the Puntland Forthcoming Congress, begging for answers in fundamental ways.

Puntland Government role in this Congress must be limited only to security, funding and help in organization, but the public debate and agenda setting must come from the delegates to the conference. Delegates should monitor any manipulation by government agents and politicians. The Congress must be conducted in an atmosphere of freedom of expression and genuine debates on outstanding issues of the day and current Puntland socio-economic stagnation, whereby sick persons still embarrassingly go and seek medical care in Hargeisa and Mogadishu, after more than two decades of Puntland statehood and self-government. This is the legacy of systemic and run-away corruption in Puntland public health sector.

In a nutshell, Puntland Forthcoming Congress must be conducted along the Founding Principles of the State and in manners resembling the Founding Congress of the State with benchmarks and objectives to achieve in timeframes.

Finally, Farmaajo Administration is engaged in dismantling the federal system agreed upon in the foundation of the 2nd Republic in 2004. What is the Puntland State strategy and vision towards the New Somalia being created out of the Civil War? What is the alternative to a central dictatorship? Are there lessons to learn from that past experience and experiment in post colonial Somalia? Are Somalis ready relive tyranny and central command government?

Puntland State and its residents have still the potential to recover lost opportunities to mend past policy mistakes and re-gain blurred original vision


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IS PUNTLAND TOO EASY TO GET DESTABILIZED WITH QADARI RIYALS?

July 21, 2019

Many people thought that PUNTLAND is too hard a nut to crack against the use of the left-overs of Qadari Riyals from Mogadishu. Successful transfer of money laundered through N&N activists under the cover of various development projects in several Puntland cities is slowly taking hold.

The quick pace of this FGS money laundering is too fast for President Deni Administration to catch up. It is just reacting to the events, while badly failing to warn Xawilaadaha (Money Transfer Bureaus) about the crime and penalties of FGS money laundering operations in Puntland.

Money could be a tool of war, and in the FGS case, it is a destabilizing campaign. At moment, Galkayo and Bosaso, the most heavily populated towns of Puntland are FGS targets in an attempt to shake up the foundations of Puntland. Will that work out?

That depends on how the Deni Government would be able to win the hearts and minds of the youth of Puntland, the 70% of the population. It would require Puntland President to often come out of the fence of Villa Puntland and talk to the people, for if he doesn’t do that, someone else would do it for him, and it will not be humorous in the end.

In the light of the recent FGS flagrant meddling in the internal affairs of State’s jurisdictions under the Federal Constitution, the entire political, cultural and security machineries of Puntland should get into high gear to confront any destabilizing factors, including the chronic absence of youth guidance and orientation.

Let us be clear of what Puntland State stands for, where it came from, at what costs and why?

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UNDERSTAND N&N GOVERNMENT POLITICS AND POLICIES, DON’T BANDWAGON

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July 17, 2019

N&N Government supporters, could you answer these basic questions:

1. Have you ever heard of N&N Government speaking about or promoting the very law of the land, the Federal Constitution, upon which the three branches of government are based?

2. Under which Somali constitution President Farmaajo was elected in 2016?

3. What happens if the leaders of a state and government do not respect and adhere to the laws of the country?

4. Why does the Constitutional Upper Chamber of Somali Parliament has difficulties to function in Mogadishu? Who is holding it back and why?

5. What is happening to the Review of the Federal Constitution that being held hostage by N&N Government?

6. In your mind, how do you interpret President Farmaajo’s many statements declaring that he wanted to build a strong Central Government?

7. Would there be a strong democratic federal Somali government without strong people and viable federal member states?

8. And finally, why are they not promoting the Federalism System, the only system of governance that all warring clans of Somalia could agree to in 2004, following the Civil War?

By answering these basic questions, you would wise up to the meaning and objectives of N/N. In the end, you would be a supporter of either the idea of restoring a strong Mogadishu City-state, or a blind follower of a N&N bandwagon? If you are supporting N/N, but you aren’t either of the above, then you are a critical thinker and you will do well.

Alernatively, if you would prefer tyranny, dictatorship and suppression of your basic human rights, I wish you well.

In conclusion, I would give you heads-up about life and politics in Mogadishu:

Elders who had returned to Mogadishu to support N&N Government almost all have left Mogadishu for these reasons:

a) N&N Government is pursuing wrong-headed policies through unconstitutional means.

b) Hawiye political and financial elites don’t want a government at any level, let alone a functioning one. They think they are better off that way amid anarchy of stateless and predatory business enterprises.

c) Al-Shabab and other extremist entities couldn’t operate freely in Mogadishu without having support and protection from the masses there.

In this regard, a lot of youth express support for N&N Government, not knowing the danger of policies they are bandwagonning now.

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PUNTLAND’S ACHEELS HEELS

Yes, an imperative reform in Puntland Administration is obvious to all and urgently needed. But, where do we start?

The sectors that had become the Achilles Heels of the State of Puntland are:
  1. Finance sector
  2. Security sector
Fix the two sectors, and Puntland would leap foward fast. These two sectors constitute half of Puntland’s entire problems.
Take first, Puntland Ministry of Finance where the management and personnel are on the same jobs for twenty years with 19th century rudimentary knowledge of financial management and that compoundedly streghtened by their chronic resistance to change, upgrading and reform. It is not an exaggeration – I worked with them as Puntland Chief of Staff at State Presidency during the first three years of Puntland foundation. How did they stay that long each one on the same job? That is their most guarded secret. What is it? The Ministry’s Top Management Team had developed and fine-tuned special skills to make sure that every incoming Puntland President and the new Minister of Finance are happy by providing them with unchecked and unaccounted for access to personal funds. But, if that is an open secret, why didn’t Puntland successive regimes do something about it? Good question! Have you heard the Somali word “Madax-ka-nool referring to Puntland governance?” Yes, you guessed – the President is everything in Puntland. He is the country’s minister of finance and cashier-general at same time. He can buy everybody, including the members of the House of Representatives (the Parliament). Then who would check the powers of the President? You tell me. With the financial muscle of the Ministry of Finance he owns the country and its people. You would say that is an exaggeration. You are free to carry out your own enquiries and independent investigations. But, don’t forget to share your findings with me.
But, that is not all. The top management of Puntland Ministry of Finance is the main obstacle and reason why international agencies and world financial institutions are unable to assist Puntland due to Ministry’s lack of transparency and financial accountability. The Ministry keeps secret even Puntland real revenue and expenses. This has created a situation where world community doesn’t know not only how to help Puntland in development projects, budget supplements and personnel capacity-building, but also how to work with the authorities. Puntland books are closed and they are Ministry’s Top Secrets.
Reform immediately that Ministry, and people of Puntland are half free.
Take Security Sector second, and you would discover the hard facts that nobody knows, even approximately, the number of men and women working in or attached to that sector, forget about their training, quality, incapacitation, mortality or even whether the names in ghost lists exist, or ever existed. How do you allocate resources, wages, pay etc? How do organizations in the security sector could assist Puntland improve its security needs? Yes, it is easy to blame others for your failures? But abive all, how do you defend your country when your lists of forces are ghost soldiers? That is why you hear calls for clan militia support whenever Puntland security is threatened.

These are the two critical sectors that require an urgent and radical reform, but the problems described above extend to other sectors and state departments as well.

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ROADMAP FOR PUNTLAND DENI PRESIDENCY

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By now the President should have in place a major reform package for the State’s suffocating and duplicating bureaucracy. By now the President must have shown his vision as to where he would take Puntland State. By now the President must have committed himself and his administration to a democratization process as the old clan POWER-SHARING arrangement had hit a dead-end and should be discontinued. By now the President should have inspired the people of Puntland for renewal of hope and revitalization of socio-economic life in this part of Somalia. By now the President should have cleared the confusion surrounding on how to move forward in terms of cooperation between Puntland and its international partners. By now the President should have studied the dubious P&O and DP WORLD Bosaso Port contract and clarified Puntland position on whether to revise the infamous contract or discard it all together.

Puntlanders had never seen or shown publicly this suspicious Bosaso Port Deal with the UAE ambitious and aggressive firm, the P&O. The President needs to hire a team of highly experienced business and civil contract lawyers to look into this contract with P&O. And by the way, has President Deni seen that contract? Nobody in Puntland did see that secret document, including the previous members of House of Representatives ( the Parliament), who corruptedly approved the deal.

We see only slow piecemeal steps and occasional visits to various departments in Garowe, but no meaningful announcements or significant undertakings on the part of Deni Administration until to-date. If there is something you know, please share it with us.
By tradition, Puntlanders are extremely patient to wait and give chance to any Puntland incoming administration, but they are anxious this time around to see bold steps and tangible results from President Deni.
Too much time spent on a learning curve indicates the President is not yet ready to govern and would waste the first year of his administration as the 100 days measured in sizing up the President without achieving any major item of his election platform.
Puntlanders’ eyes are on the President to deliver the goods and quickly.
And one final thing: leadership doesn’t operate in the dark. It is about openess or transparency and public guideness

RETURNEES DIASPORA KIDS AND SOMALI CULTURE

GAROWE, MAY 23, 2019

It is never easy for kids born overseas in exile with no Somali language skills, cultural experience or imagination of how operating in Somali setting look like as a result of parental failure in raising kids in a foreign environment or refuge camps in Western countries. Most diaspora parents, who themselves were not schooled before they found themselves there, and experiencing language barriers and deep cultural shock, suddenly became the students of their own kids, who pick up foreign languages quicker. Kids become interpreters and translators of the host foreign languages for their own parents. In other words, parental power, while in overseas, shifted to the kids. Parents, therefore, had lost parental influence over kids. Who is going to teach the kids about Somali culture and heritage in host countries then? Hence one often hears the Somali term “Dhaqan Celis” (cultural rehabilitation) in the country.

Diaspora parents seek help for their kids, and their only resort is to send kids back home. The problem back home is that there are no meaningful formal services to provide help in the rehabilitation of these youth to re-orient themselves into the Somali culture and ways of life.

What happens next is that, in the absence of specialized cultural help, kid are re-introduced to their extended family members to help cultivate these diaspora kids along their parents’ cultural heritage. The diaspora kids have no life connections with these people, and the names and extended families have no meaning at all to them. But, where to start to rehabilitate them? Of course, family trees (ancestry) comes first in mind, which means teaching these innocent youth about tribalism and clannism. What is making things even worse is that there are no social amenities or youth programs to get them engaged and make them busy. Double cultural shock and boredom set in in the lives of these young men and girls back home.

Once beaten, twice shy. Diaspora youth wouldn’t opt for another chance to re-visit Somalia, at least, in their early years.

Funny stories about the experience of these young returnees are abundant in Puntland. One such story tells about young female intern in one of the local NGOs, who was informed one morning that they were pleased let her know that she would receive “Mushaar” (salary). To that intern, the the local term Mushaar meant “Mooshaali” (Porridge or oatmeal). After a while, later in that morning, the young woman became impatient waiting for the porridge offerred and asked what had happened to the delivery of the food, to everybody’s laughter.

This story also vainly sheds light on the socio-economic frictions between the “Qorax Joog” (locals) and “Qurba Joog” (diaspora returnees). The locals believe that, with their super job skills, experience and education, the Qurba Joog have better job, political and business opportunities in the country than the Qorax Joog. Hence, a cold war is now slowly brewing, but still at its early stages of debating the issue in the social media and in public/private meetings. If the concerns are not carefully managed in advance, I am affraid of open public confrontations in the foreseeable future as it had happened between Liberian indigenous and diaspora returnees from USA in mid 19th Century.

RECOMMENDATION

ismailwarsame.blog proposes to Puntland/Somalia for setting up formal local NGO services in partnership with international organizations, under State supervision, to provide badly needed help to the Somali Diaspora youth returnees for “dhaqan celis” purposes. Those young men and girls mostly return from Norh America, Western Europe and Arab countries, who may extend help to any sound projects for such kids.

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PUNTLAND YOUTH FOR TOMORROW LEADERSHIP

Garowe, May 20, 2019 – Preparation of Puntland youth for tomorrow’s leadership roles or lack of it will determine the survival, well-being and Progress of PUNTLAND State as the main foundation pillar and leader in the making of a New Somalia.

Now, here in PUNTLAND, I don’t see much enthusiasm for youth programs. I don’t see sports clubs, TV and radio programs for youth, youth debating societies, youth social clubs, fitness clubs, youth intern services for jobs in both public and private sectors, inter-cities organized tours for youth etc.

TV and Radio programs should be predominantly geared towards youth, for 75% of PUNTLAND population are youth. They must own the programs of Puntland airwaves and organize them for their own desire and interests. You cannot run programs for adults when your population is two-thirds youth.

What is required here is public-private partnership to pro-actively start working on and building facilities and infrastructure for youth preparation for the jobs and leadership roles of the future. It would be a total failure of responsibilities and gross negligence on the part of Puntland political and business establishments, as well as parents, not to do so, starting now.

The Education Sector and City Councils have to lead the way for organizing youth into these multi-faceted programs for preparation and cultivation of their potentialities for tomorrow leadership. Let us get started now.

Local and international Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Puntland are not doing enough in this regard. They are not helping Puntland prepare youth for the future. Until they engage youth in their programs and projects, their operations in Puntland would remain questionable.

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