Open Letter to the Newly Appointed Prime Minister of Somalia
By Nur Bahal
Congratulations, Mr. Prime Minister. I am convinced you have been following the daily dose of calamity and catastrophe in our homeland, Somalia. You may have wondered why certain things were done in a certain way when there were better ways to do it. Well here is your chance. Today, you make a difference; to help and contribute to turning this tragedy around and saw the seeds of peace and prosperity; and to spare the blood of fellow countrymen, women and children.
A few things concerning the office you are about to take over come to mind: first and foremost, a culture of "grab and go" is the overarching trait of the tenants of this office. A prime minister comes in, a number of shady deals are struck with controversial entities, followed by a squabble with the president and soon the prime minister is gone!! I cannot help but see a trend here.. The throne of the Prime Minister should not be treated as an opportunity to milk an already bleeding society. I hope the fourth "reich" comes in with a difference culture and a different trend.
Some of the most prominent allegations brought against the Somali government include:
Sea deal with Kenya
The PriceWaterHouse Cooper deal
Government officials collaborating with pirates
Somali security forces are ineffective, disorganized and corrupt
United Nations contractors helping insurgents
Huge amounts of food aid gets stolen
The recent fishing deal with Spain
The government forces selling their weapons to the insurgents
The list can really go on and on. It has to end and it has to end now. And for your sake, I hope it ends on your watch?
The office of the prime minister failed to bring consensus between the parliament and the government. As the man in charge of the day to day operations of the government, it is in your best interest to have a good working relationship with all branches of the government. As such, you will want to cultivate a culture of consensus-building and not that of dictation and talking down to the members of the parliament. It is also your responsibility to build bridges between the parliament and the president to pave the way for a smooth working government machine that builds institutions.
There is no question that you will be preoccupied with the attainment of peace and security. That depends on winning the war in Mogadishu first and then the rest of the country. To achieve this, you will need to build trust between the army and the government, to pay their salaries on time (a decent salary at least commensurate with that of AMISOM). This will go a along way to impede corruption, ineffectiveness and selling weapons to your opponents.
The death of Somali civilians in the hands of those charged with keeping peace has touched the heart of many Somalis inside and outside the country. Although you cannot do much about Alshabaab and Xisbul-Islam firing mortars from within populated areas, you can control AMISOM firing at populated areas. Regardless of where the insurgents are using the population as a hostage or not, AMISOM – supposedly an army aware international rules of engagement should not be firing back at those locations. They have to find ways and means – which are clearly there – to engage the insurgents in other ways.
All the governments that preceded you failed at gaining the heart of the local population. Real and tangible international recognition only comes in the footsteps of recognition from your own people. Even though the area under you control will be limited, your government can do a lot by engaging and working with the local and international NGOs to accomplish relief projects for the society. Gain your peoples' trust and the rest of the world will trust you.
War and reconciliation go hand-in-hand. It is your government's duty to recognize that you cannot win a war unless you are able to reconcile the society. In addition to your plans for winning this war, you must have an agenda and a reconstruction plan for peace.
On that point, you must establish good working relations with both Somaliland and Puntland. They have a proven method of peace-making and their experience is integral to your work. They have a made-in-Somalia solution to the Somali problem. All the alien models and foreign imposed solutions have not worked. Learn from their experience and implement their solutions in the South-Central Somalia. They are not perfect but at least, they have peace. Get peace, perfection will follow.
All these problems point to one thing: that our beloved lost paradise is being used a project by nations, entities, companies and even individuals. These will not want to see a Somalia that attains peace. It will mean the end of their projects. But we are counting on you and anyone else with a sense of Soomaalinimo to see through the shroud. We are counting on you as a Somali, an intellectual and a member of the Diaspora who has witnessed first hand what good can be done with minimum good-will.
May Allah help you in your endeavor to resuscitate Somalia.
Aamiin
Nur Bahal
Toronto, Canada
Email: hildiid@gmail.com
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