Written by Mohamoud Raage Ibrahim
Summery Report.
In an organization where there is faith in the abilities of their leaders, employees will look towards the leaders for a number of things. During changing times, employees expect effective and sensible planning, confident and effective decision-making, and regular communications that are complete, frank and timely.
Also during these times of changes, employees will perceive leadership as supportive, concerned and committed to the welfare of the institution and her employees, while at the same time recognizing that tough decisions need to be made. The best way to summarize is that there must be a climate of trust and cooperation between the leadership and the rest of the team. The existence of this trust brings hope for better times a head, and that makes handling the drastic changes much easier.
Having observed how Somaliland’s governmental institutions operate and how our leaders perform their daily duties, particularly with regards to the ministries. We developed apathetic culture whereby our ministries are acting as the owners of their ministries!! They always make very important decisions without consulting with their DG’s, departmental leaders, and other staff who have enough experience to contribute and advance the cause. It is true that some of the ministries have excellent leadership skills; however they fail to create a workable environment for their staff.
Although, our roles and responsibilities within our institutions are defined clear however, unfortunately, the majority of our leaders do not respect that well defined roles and responsibilities in our institutions. They often bicker and argue that they are the ministers and the rest are subordinates that must not talk to them!
Since the president formed his new government, we often have unconstructive aspect where some of the Ministers and their DG disagree or challenge each other. The DG should respect his Minister and tolerate his leadership, but how about if the, Minister prefers to act as DG! it means he/she desires to do the day to day activities, respond all correspondence, Authorize expenses, deal with local companies, Liaising with local restaurants participating local meetings, Authorize local Contract’, this kind of leadership definitely sidelines the responsibilities of the DG,s and his departments! That means that only the minister’s office is valid and all other departments are not valid! They are disabled! In such one-man show management style which is coercive and uncooperative, conflicts will rise between the Minister and his staff. And this is exactly what has happened in our ministry!.
We can also agree that the result of this kind of leadership will only create conflicts, and disagreements add up. I cannot understand why the Ministers prefer to act as operation managers. They were supposed to provide real leadership and guidance in the ministry’s strategic and operational goals. They were supposed to be part of the team.
In the light of Somaliland foreign ministry, it surprised me when I found that The Somaliland Embassies in SWEDEN, NORWAY, BAKISTAN, ITALY HAS BEEN all CLOSED by the Minister, however their budget has been used by the Minster Mr. Mohamed Abdulahi Umar.
Further, The Minister withdrew $64000 from the Ministry budget in order to open a new office in South Sudan. After while we found that No office has been opened and many has been used for unknown purpose. So far Mr Omar has spent more than $200.000 for trips and holidays! This information is available in every financial institution including the Bank, the Accountant’s office, the Audit department and the Ministry of Finance.
It is absolutely undesirable that only one man succeed to use the public budget for personal purpose! My Honourable president, it is also true that some of your minsters performs or acts in way that they believe that they have indefinite power and no one can stop them, for that reason If you do not act and stop this fraud they will damage you and the country more where you will not be able to recover!
I know you very well since 1978 and you do not have a history which did not show unreliability and corruption! Please do not allow (those guys) to destroy your dignity and legacy as Somaliland president. Be kind to your legacy, may I repeat.
Honourable president, in organizations characterized by poor leadership, employees expect nothing positive. In a climate of distrust, employees learn that leaders will act in indecipherable ways and in ways that do not seem to be in anyone's best interests. Poor leadership means an absence of hope which, if allowed to go on for too long, results an organization becoming completely dysfunctional. That is exactly what is happening in some of Somaliland’s institutions. The organization must deal with the practical impact of unpleasant change, but more importantly, must labour under the weight of employees who have given up, have no faith in the system or in the ability of leaders to turn the organization around. Leadership before, during and after change implementation is THE key to getting through the swamp. Unfortunately, if a track record of effective leadership is not established in time, you have to deal with difficult changes, and it may be too late.
Preparing For the Journey
It would be a mistake to assume that preparing for the journey takes place only after the destination has been defined or chosen. When we are talking about preparing for the journey of change, we are talking about leading a way that lays the foundation or groundwork for positive changes that may occur in the future. Preparing is about building resources, by building healthy organizations in the first place. Much like healthy people, who are better able to cope with infection or disease than unhealthy people, Organizations that are healthy in the first place are better able to deal with change and if the leader believes that he is the only and only one who can do what he wants and how he wants it, then all his staff will not cooperate with him in a healthy way and this institution will end in a disarray!
Unfortunately, when we are choosing the leaders, we do not give much weight on the capacity, experience, and knowledge of the new leader in particularly ministers and DGs. We give more respect on the political, tribal issues. And thereafter the new leader cannot lead the new institution and he will try to gain support from external expertise where he/she often receives unreliable information which will harm the institution!
Because of those above mentioned reasons many of our institution’s leaders cannot participate actively in the international forums, the appointed minister should at least have a capacity to follow up the professional debates regarding security, economic and any new development within our region, and as you are aware now days our local institutions work very close with international community including EU, AU, USA and Arab Countries.
As a leader you need to establish credibility and a track record of effective decision making, so that there is trust in your ability to figure out what is necessary to bring the organization through.
Slogging Through the Swamp Leaders play a critical role during change implementation, the period from the announcement of change coming to them. During this middle period the organization is the most unstable, characterized by confusion, fear, loss of direction, reduced productivity, and lack of clarity about the direction and mandate. It can be a period of tension, with employees grieving for what is lost, and initially unable to look to the future.During this period, effective leaders need to focus on two things. First, the feelings and confusion of employees must be acknowledged and validated. Second, the leader must work with employees to begin creating a new vision of the altered workplace, and help employees to understand the direction of the future. Focusing only on feelings, may result in wallowing. That is why it is necessary to begin the movement into the new ways or situations. Focusing only on the new vision may result in the perception that the leader is out of touch, cold and indifferent. A key part of leadership in this phase knows when to focus on the pain, and when to focus on building and moving into the future. After Arrival
In a sense you have never completely arrived! But here we are talking about the period where the initial instability of massive changes has been reduced. People have become less exciting, and more stable, and with effective leadership during the previous phases, they are now more open to looking in to the new directions, mandate and ways of doing things.
This is an ideal time for leaders to introduce positive new changes, such as examination of unwieldy procedures or Total Quality Management. The critical thing here is that leaders must now offer hope that the organization is working towards being better, by solving problems and improving the quality of work life. While the new vision of the organization may have begun, while people were slogging through the swamp, this is the time to complete the process, and make sure that people buy into it, and understand their roles in this new organization.
On the other noticeable aspect which is damaging our institutions is the challenge and disagreement between ministries and the lack of constitutional mandate thereof,
You are aware, how many ministries authorize Foreign VISA , The Ministry of Foreign affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Planning and development, and immigration Agency all these originations many times do the same task , You are also aware of the well known disagreement between the Minister of Finance and Minister of Post and Communication in regards to Somaliland’s telephone gateway where we Somalilanders as a nation were expecting huge economic growth. It was absolutely unfortunate that we failed to process this wonderful project and even all mainstream Somaliland people and our telephone companies are well aware of the fact that this project simply collapsed for disagreement within our leaders. I believe that Minister of Finance is very reliable and honest person; however this case requires further investigation.
Conclusion
Playing a leadership role in the three phases is not easy. Not only do you have a responsibility to lead, but as an employee yourself, you have to deal with your own reactions to the change, and your role in it. However, if our leaders are ineffective in leading change, they will bear a very heavy personal load. Since they are accountable for the performance of our institution, we will have to deal with the ongoing loss of productivity that can result from poorly managed change, not to mention the potential impact on our own enjoyment of our job.
Finally, Mr. President, there is no doubt that within the very short time that you led this country we reached positive outcomes, however, as for the new war condition from eastern front and the standard of our income collection (Taxation) , it is absolutely unlikely that we will make huge economic change for this very short term unless you use all useful thoughts from deferent channels and give attention to the Somaliland elite people rather than tripe adjustment methods which you always use whatever time that you are intending to appoint someone to the government position.
In the light of Sool War we need to have very professional strategic where we should make a combination of Somaliland national defence and peace program. Honourable President, I am well aware of that I am not in a position to tell you this or that. I believe that you have very rich knowledge in regard of organisational management; however this is only extra information which I think it will give you a picture about Somaliland institutions, and what is going on there.
We all agree that Engaging and involving war is not easy and this civil war is taking place in Somaliland, therefore you will never give up seeking peace and reconciliation and discontinue those who are trying to lead this matter without having military experience. Avoid those who act first then think later! My finally suggestion on this case is simply end this civil war
. Unexpected comeback of the Berbera Port Manager MR Xoorxoor was also unforgettable defeat for the Nation of Somaliland and a back- track to your Government, Kulmiye Party and its supporters and you as president. I remind you that the time we were campaigning your presidential goal, you defined him the most corrupted person in Somaliland, How can you justify now that guy is clean and is acceptable? At least some one should answer this question.
Who ever give you this advice was wrong Mr. President It is well-known that the Leadership is less about you and more about the needs of the people and the institutions you are leading and Xoorxoor comeback was absolutely unacceptable and shocked.
Summary of point I think would help.
We have to put incredible effort to increase tax collection, it means all government Ministers and their staff should work very closely with the Ministry of Finance in order to increase our Tax Collection which is only 14% now, and at least we should increase our tax collection from 14% to 50%.
We need to empower our Anti-Corruption and Good Government agency in order to establish a better Institutional structure and set up a very clear mandate between ministries and within ministry.
We should consider the applicant’s educational background and his/her experience while we are processing their applications in particularly the Ministers, DGs, Managers, and other professional positions which require quality leadership.
If we really look into our current institutional capacity. Subsequently, you may recognize that we need fundamental change and real improvement regarding our leadership behaviour and management style.
We need to exercise justice and equity between Somaliland regions, Somaliland Communities and regions in term of resource and projects.
We should do our best in order to reach peace within our local community, in particularly Sool region and where ever else
We have to increase the knowledge of our leaders and their staff and recruit more professional employees since they are working very close with regional countries, International Communities and other global security institutions; I really value the work which our intelligence doing today but they need more field workers to recruit and give necessary financial support in order to implement and enhance their efficiency and effectiveness.
It will be an absolute disaster if our intelligence agencies can not follow up the regional security strategic plan due to lack of knowledge and expertises.
Finally, the Sool war is not only simple war, it cause a major change in Somaliland, therefore we need to establish a Peace Committee which contains the Government, Business people, Elders, Islamic Scholars and Anyone who can contribute positively.
The London Somali Meeting is a very sensitive and important, we have to be part of this consultation forum, do not exclude Somaliland from this opportunity, which may never come back
With respect, I would like to conclude the quality and value of your decisions will be dependent upon the intelligence that you obtain from your subordinate staff, citizens, government officers, cabinet, MPs, and even those who have descending opinions, therefore it is vital that you always use various channels in order to make constructive decisions.
God bless Somaliland and its nation.
Mohamoud Raage Ibrahim
Dg Of foreign affairs.
http://samotalis.blogspot.com/
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