Somaliland and Ethiopia’s relationship depend on the relationship of Siilanyo’s government with its people. There is a distance between them now. Somaliland must do its home work at home first. Siilanyo must bring his people together instead of dividing them!
When carpentry is needed would you send welders? Mr. Siilanyo did that! He sent welders where carpenters were needed! The welders were told to take some quick training in carpentry and they gleefully told the world that they are taking that training in Ethiopia! That is shameful when Somaliland has carpenters who do not need any training for the job.
When the president was asked why he selected the wrong people for the most sensitive and delicate job Somaliland considers it as sacrosanct, Siilanyo became angrier!
He bragged that he has the sole right to do what ever he wants and select who ever he wants for the Somalia and Somaliland (ambiguous) talks even when the policy he is pursuing and the people he selected for that important task are both wrong!
The President was also wrong when he demagogued the stake holders of the Somaliland government who are:
1- The Representatives
2- The political parties he demeaned
3- The civil society organization like Madasha and others. Here the president is not alone in safeguarding and protecting the Mother, there are stake holders as well.
No one is gloating over the President’s debacle on many issues in which:
a- Creating the so called Khatumu state
b- The out right voter rigging
c- The killings of innocent citizens by the police in almost every region of the nation among many others, yet he is angry and insist on his wrongs!
What the people want is honest and capable government which works for the people and not for the few. The people want a government which works in the light and NOT in the dark
The dictators or semi-dictators, automatically take the government as their own cash cow and their won property. In our Somaliland which is not a (at least by constitution) dictatorship, falls in to that categories of ‘governors owning the government it self as well as all the proceeds! Governed is treated as subjects who must not protest against that and must not have a say to the cause and the case of Somaliland! Mr. Siilanyo showed that when he bragged that he can do what ever he wants and how he wants it!
“In democratic legitimate governments the head of states are the servants and the people are the owners of the government which the government manages on their behalves and supposedly do so in the right way. Siilanyo is on the opposite side of this fact and he is insisting on his wrongs!!
People are in charge and governors are the servants of the people. Governors are also on contract. When their performance is unsatisfactory (and Siilanyo administration’s performance is shocking unsatisfactory) they ought to go and elected others ought to replace them. That is what we expect from a free and a democratic government which we claim we are, but we are not, however we can be there! It is up to us.
Siilanyo’s government acts and conducts business as though the government is their own store and the people do not own the government and the people has nothing to do with what the government does! The fact is that the people are the only legitimate owners of the government, but the understanding of that legitimacy is not there in Siilanyo’s administration!
Good government tends to be a prerequisite for political legitimacy. When the government is inept, corrupt, and arrogant then that government loses legitimacy. When that happens then it loses the moral authority to govern. That is where the opposition, as well as the civic society has legitimacy to intervene as to save the Republic
When the government lacks the fundamental requirements of acceptable level of good governance, when it lacks the political renewal by her own actions or inactions that government lost the moral authority to govern and to represent the country and the people! There is no legitimacy for a rotten government. They got to change themselves or be helped or changed!
Good governance is characterized by open and progressive policy making. Good government promotes and advances the public good, the rule of law, transparency, and civil society participating in public affairs. Better governance needs political renewal. This means an honest attack on corruption from the highest to the lowest levels. This can be done by strengthening accountability, by encouraging public debate and by respecting and nurturing the free press, the opposition parties as well as the civil society organizations.
A lot of things are acceptable unless we say it is unacceptable. Unless we stop much of what is happening in Siilanyo’s administration on its track the demise of Somaliland could come earlier than anticipated! Unless we claim what is ours, (even though Mr.Siilanyo is angrily denies it is ours) we will end up neighboring idiots in a desert with no water in sight!
However, peace and prayers.
Ibrahim Mead
Political analyst
Ottawa, Canada