July 3, 2019

Successive leaders and administrations of Puntland have been losing vision and strategic planning for both Puntland and Somalia. In the absence of think tank, thought leaders and any attempts to study Puntland core systemic problems, had led to a situation of political pararlysis.

Over the years, existing local research centres, international and local Non-state Actors, NSA or NGOs as well as the civil society groups here and throughout Somalia, had been taught into and are all bent on engaging in international donor-friendly programs and projects. They don’t want to rock the boat, while at State level, amid corruption, lack of capacity for resources mobilization, expansion of revenue generation and having chronic bottle-neck budgeting issues of merely meeting the minimum State obligations, this political paralysis had been taking over the entire mandates of all Puntland Administrations – Administrations that even couldn’t figure out introducing pay-parking city regulations that can pay off the entire monthly salaries of all city and state employees comfortably, thus to be able to ear-mark and re-allocate the rest of the state revenue to socio-economic sectors and infrastructure projects. This is just an example of how to expand revenue generation. There are many other ways to fill up the government coffers by providing much needed services to the residents, in exchange.

In Puntland, like the rest of Somalia, there is no much planning for what to do next next day. It is hard to complete a long journey without pre-planning. It is equally impossible to reach at destination you don’t know, trouble-free.

This is why the State of Puntland has lost its way during its historic journey as the main Pillar of creating The New Somalia.

@ismailwarsame