Ethiopia Moves Forward while Somali Regional State Moves Backward-Honest Analysis of the Region
Op-Ed.
The Recent Statement by the Communication’s Minister Bereket Simon about the Somali Regional State’s security and development situation couldn’t be further from the truth. Speaking to reporters in a press conference, the minister reiterated a common phrase of the federal government popular upbeat assessment of the region by declaring that, “The situation in Ogaden has developed in such a way that when the ONLF has lost too much ground. And at this point we can say the ONLF is very weakened and in a state of crisis,". This declaration is both misleading and unfortunately the source of the Somali region’s systemic problems. The federal government has for political reasons refused to acknowledge the fundamental problems facing the region, and as a result, condemned the region to fall into its current state of political and economic chaos. There are a number of very serious questions that needs to be raised here and that is what I intend to discuss here in the hope that it will facilitate honest discussion or change the current strategy or policy of the federal government.
Leadership Crisis.
The fundamental problem facing the Somali regional State is leadership. The region for some reason can’t find the right leader who has the honesty, intellect, attitude, integrity, vision and the substance to formulate the right policy to cure the region’s fundamental problems. The current crops of leaders in the Somali region have many of the same attributes that plague the Somali ethnicity throughout the Horn of Africa. They are a failure. They are short of vision, and possess no political intellect or political pragmatism. They don't have the personal quality, nor the personal integrity you would like to see in your leader. They lack the desire and drive to rise above petty clanism and work for the common good. The personal wisdom, and maturity that is an integral part of capable leaders are missing from all of them. President after president, it has been a disappointments, and abject failure. The sources of this failure can be attributed to three sources: Somali clan culture, Ethiopia’s policy toward the region, and the education system. All three have failed to produce a leader with the right tangibles, someone who can inspire the confidence and earn the trust of the feuding clans. The majority of past presidents and the current president have been nothing but petty clan politicians. You couldn’t name a single president that will inspire your confidence. The leadership failure has to be the by-product of the Somali clan culture, Ethiopia’s policy of cherry picking their choice of leadership, and the country’s education system, which obviously isn’t producing quality leaders.
But the biggest blame must go to the federal government’s policy of cherry picking the region’s leadership. This policy of choosing the region’s leadership has produced a new crop of leaders with no quality of leadership, and with the slightest interest to attend to the region’s core systemic problems. Even if they had the interest, the federal government’s choice of leadership in the Somali region lack the leadership intellect, leadership drive, or the level of education competence that will allow them to have the organization skills, creativity, and problem solving skills necessary. The Federal government appears to choose the Somali region’s leaders not on their leadership quality, but on a false perceived political loyalty and clan quota. As a result, every president appears to be worse than his predecessor and the region’s problems continue to get out of hand because they are unattended. In the end, the Somali regional State is the only regional State that has declined in all phases of measuring indexes for development in the past 10 years compared to other regional states.The federal government’s lack of acknowledgement of the serious political and economic problems resulting from its own policies and the quality of leadership, calls into question the integrity and viability of its current and future policies toward the region.
Simmering Anger.
The Somali region in my honest assessment has entered a very dangerous phase both politically and economically and it has never been in a worse shape in all measuring indexes in the past 10 years contrary to the minister’s assessment which was just a political spin. Contrary to what the minister said, the security gains in the past two years of fighting the ONLF has been marginal and the ONLF is not getting weaker by any measure. The government might have neutralized the ONLF campaign, but the underlying systemic problems that give the ONLF its recruitment- the abject economic misery and lack of basic government services have only gotten worse. The worsening poverty of the population is directly related to the government's campaign against the ONLF which has restricted movement of goods and services throughout the region, the failure of both governments to provide the most basic services, and the continuous looting of the region’s budget. The deliberate open violation of citizens constitutional rights in the name of security sanctioned by even the region’s president and security minister, has created a volatile environment for future dissent, and in my view, will fill the ranks of the ONLF or similar organizations that will sprout up in the near future if this violations do not come to an end. There is a genuine simmering anger by the region’s citizens directed toward the federal government perceived to be the chief architect of the region’s failed leadership. There is an air of anger and a feeling of hopelessness concerning the worsening economic well-being of the population and the lack of concern from both level of governments.Citizens are also seeing the fortunes accumulated by the region's politicians and their relatives. In other words, people are seeing politicians and their relatives getting richer while their situation only gets worser.Politicians and their relatives are driving expensive luxury cars, building bigger expensive houses and starting megga businesses while they can't even get government distributed food.Even worse, regions leaders are so disconnected from their poverty striken citizens that they are selling the Food Aid intended to be distributed to the suffering citizens. There are major population centers where Food Aid has not being distributed for a year now even though that Aid was already allocated to these people.Selling Food Aid by the region's leaders and politician has now become part of their trade mark.
All major infrastructure development projects that would have laid the region’s future economic foundations and perhaps ignited the economic activities that would have contributed to the economic well being of the region’s population has been at complete stop for the past 3 years. Government Services that has been slowly improving prior to the government campaign against the ONLF has dried up despite increases in the region’s budget every year for the past 3 years. Corruption which has always being the hallmark of the region has gotten out of control to the point where government services falsely exist, development projects within the region are fraudently declared completed, while the region's accounting books are routinely cooked. Despite the enormous cost sheltered by the region’s citizens since the start of the government campaign against the ONLF, they have nothing to show for their sacrifice in security, and economic well being. So, when the information minister declares that “The situation in Ogaden is improving by the day… People are interested in developmental activities and taking matters into their own hands. The government assessment is that the ONLF will find itself in a very difficult situation." The minister is either misinformed, ignorant of the facts in the region or the government is deliberately engaged in misinformation and propaganda which only masks the worsening state of the Somali regional government which is not in the best interest of the region or the country for that matter.
The Political Culture Fundamentally Flawed.
The current administration of president Da’ud Mohamed has only added to the widespread simmering anger of the region’s population and might be the final catalysts of widespread discontent, and anger toward what is perceived to be the policies of the federal government and seen as the source of the region’s political turmoil and leadership problems.Its now becoming a common held believe by the majority of the population that the federal government chooses for them the worst possible leaders whose desire are to loot their meagre resources and enrich themselves instead of governing and solving their problems. The culture of lawlessness in the Somali region is also so prevalent and frankly out of whack. Any citizen can be accused of supporting the ONLF and can be thrown into jail without any due process, any civil servant can be fired from his/her job with the allegation of supporting the ONLF without due process or proven through the country’s judiciary. Thousands of individuals are sitting for years, months in the region’s jail without ever being brought in front of any court and often against the country’s Courts orders. Hundreds of individuals are sitting in jails because the president and the security minister have overstepped the country’s judiciary and have refused to release people set free for lack of evidence of the crimes they are accused. The region’s civil service has become the last victims of the lawlessness and chaotic environment prevalent now in the region. They have been stripped the freedom to adjudicate their skills and services to the region’s population freely and have been made a mere political bonds-they can’t make the simplest of decision without passing it through the president and the security minister, without fear of being tagged with accusation or fear of retaliation. When skilled professionals tell you that they can’t honestly do their job or they can’t do a good job because they will loose their job. The current culture rewards laziness, corruption and punishes hard work, integrity and just doing the right thing. There are many cases where civil servants were fired from their jobs because their bureau chiefs were scared of them- the punishment was doing their job.
Don’t look any further than the recent resignation of the vice president Mr. Hassan Abdullahi who has accused the president of micro-managing the region’s affairs, dictatorial intimidation and outright paranoia behavior. The current president Mr. Da’ud Mohamed symbolizes the leadership mess and the inferior leadership product that is in place. This is a guy that if he continues in his current course of political paranoia, contempt for the law, misuse of the office of the presidency, political witch-hunting of everyone that disagrees with him, and the disparaging of civil servants might be the final launching pad of a massive civil disobedience and uprising that will make ONLF engagement in the region, a minor distraction. The primitive culture of never ending civil servant meetings and bureau assessments every 3 and 6 months as nothing more than covering up the incompetence of the region’s leaders. It’s also another venue of covering the rampant culture of corruption practiced by senior leaders and their lieutenants. More than 30 million birr has been used in the last two such meetings. What does this tell you what is going on in the Somali regional State? I don’t need to emphasize the level of anger and frustration with the state of the Somali region. The federal government needs to move past the political spins of the state of the Somali region and move quickly to solve the fundamental problems facing the region. The Somali region is a volcano that is violently simmering underneath and will erupt in a matter of time. It’s a matter of when not if. The federal government needs to formulate new policies to tackle the worsening poverty of the population, and the improvement of basic services.The culture of leadership incompetence needs to come to an end.
Finally, the federal government must bring to an end the abusive human rights violation of the region's citizens sanctioned by both the regional leadership and federal officials . The top leaders who have become the law must be held to account.The region's leaders have simply failed to govern . The time for plan B is now and that plan B will have to begin discarding (throwing out) most of the current crop of leaders in the region and putting in-charge quality people choosen for their integrity, intellectual quality, education, organization skills competence and experience.The search for long lasting solutions to the region's problems must begin today. The search for able leadership must begin now.
Farhan Mohamud
Assistant kilil5 Editor.
VOA 13pm GMT
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