“Iyana waxaan kaga gudbaa gobey liicoo ha jabin.” by Hassan Ganey
Doubts exist whether a stable and balanced government will ever take root in Somalia. The reasons and causes are many, but the most visible is the contentious environment tribes create to side line and diminish a reformed system. The collision between the forces of modern governance and the indigenous tribal system has perpetuated to the current stage of stagnation. In order to either advance or step backward one of these system must take over the other. This tension has been escalating since the formation of the federal system, and is suppressing the birth of a modern government. The assumption that the government is the instrument for bettering society has faded and become a distance dream. Since 1960, Successive regimes have not alleviated economic hardships, nor created a sense of social harmony; on the contrary they function solely to enslave citizens. Government is an abstract institution whose life line depends on the people. Things will remain unchanged until the people in leading political positions change themselves and align the needs of the people. This means politicians should illuminate the abuses perpetuated by the government, and dispel the shroud of chaos.
As it is, the government machine offers an ample platform for those seeking to abuse and manipulate the meager resource of the people. Instead of restraint and preservation, these leaders met their selfish needs by taking, and meet no resistance or discipline. These leaders abused their power and blatantly ruled beyond their function, while expecting their subjects to be bound, respect and abide by government rules. These government actors accumulated wealth and displayed arrogance with immunity. This compromised the sound moral fabric of society and caused a chaotic environment, perpetuated by hardships and barbarism. On the other end of the spectrum, Rule of law and balanced government promotes a civility and progressive culture.
Additionally, the leaders have enacted tactics to hide their abuses in a gray area between structured government and traditional tribal systems. They use their power to become favored with one group, and then quickly shift alliances when their approval diminishes. They attempt to manipulate both sides in order to serve their needs, resulting in discord and distrust. The resulting climate is one of volatility, where there is no culpability and the leaders retain an escape route for every indiscretion. Having been proven time and time again by historical fact, a system such as this cannot stand.

The unruly tribe system The existing political platform is in opposition to attract the rule of law. It reversed evolvement and shifted the fortitude of the regime towards decadence. As society grows more complex and has moved

towards urbanism, the only element that can brings order and unity is the application of law. The ministerial meetings in Somalia were turned into a mob town hall meeting where favors were exchanged and intimidate of other political views. A society is not a fixed entity but one that is in constant search for renewal, it reinvents its politics and programs in order to reach desired goals. Man has yet to find the absolute eternal truth of what drives the mechanisms of a society. Initiatives from the current political establishment attempt to legitimize the use of force and bribery as the only means to clutch public authority. In doing so, they weaken the advancement of fairness and equality. Collective thinking has not functioned to overcome the existing challenges. Relying on one individual person or entity and assuming it possesses absolute wisdom is a farfetched notion. We should utilize the meaning of age and its ripple effects, and delegitimize the Status Quo.
I believe our society owes it to the Somalia intellectual mind to start a genuine dialog geared towards government innovation. This type of social discourse has not yet begun. The status quo that has been instilled has failed to bear fruit, or if so, has produced a rotten breed. The elites including but not limited the Ulema must try to persuade their countrymen to apply a new approach to resolve their conflicts instead of propagating the existing tribal setting. The acknowledgement that our society, as a whole has the ultimate dominant power, will lead us to renounce our innate temptations and align ourselves with the progressive forces. The illusion that if one of your tribesmen sat the throne of government will make you thing easy to benefit is the source of our delusion. We should change the political climate and allow free and fair competition. If we fail to realize or institute this policy, our talents will never flourish and our strengths will fail to be fully developed.
Our hopes and expectations have been violently repressed, and this will remain the atmosphere until the glue of effective government replaces the forces of darkness and hatred that have filled our social conscious. Tribalism became a kind of a religion and we refuse to admit its failure. The culture of our government shelters and incubates our nomadic existence. By contrast, the modern structure of governance struggles to subdue the viruses of tribalism. It appears as if the viruses can’t be contained, but continue to spread through the blood line of our society. This contagiousness would ultimately destroy us if we did not inoculate or reject it. A brief synopsis can’t fully encompass the gravity of maladies and injustices this unfortunate nation has been confronted with. Unrelenting assaults from the evil forces such tribalism; corruption, bad governance, and lack of rule of law were finally able to destroy the unity of the nation. These evil forces, coupled with the help of external powers could eventually destroy any attempt to resuscitate Somalia from depletion.
The spirit of a man imparts the belief that he alone came in this world and his ideas are the roots that connect him to the fate of a greater society. The phantom system of tribe and its false sense of community haven’t proven effective in modern government. Even now, there are some among us that would like to re- engineer the nation’s whole resource and energy to explicitly serve their private wellbeing and interests. They might argue it has always been that, but experience taught us that principle suffered itself to the end. This temptation to use the energy of the entire population to cater to their yearnings meets opposition from innate good element of a citizen’s character. When society senses these wrong doings, they rebel from it through uprising and civil unrest. This good character is sometimes hard to invoke or awaken, unless confronted by the deviousness and evil that surrounds these actions.

This is a contest between the leading groups that yearn to have unlimited power over the citizens and the populace in general. The practical truth of our environment has not yet reconciled the fairytale fiction of our mindset. This paradoxical system imparts a false sense of security, in reality it decays. If we want to thrive as a nation and ascend to a higher level that rewards the perpetuation of our unique character of Somali race and place in the Horn of Africa, we must relinquish our old habits and harness the rules of modern government, otherwise our days are numbered. The solution depends upon our ability to understand and decipher our fears, foes, and dreams. As opposed to walking around capital cities of other nations, fancily vested in silk neckties and gold plated watches provided by the wealthy sheikh’s of the Arabian Gulf at the price of our honor. Otherwise, in the end Somalia will be a chaotic black hole orbiting in darkness in East Africa.

Tani waa tix ka mid ah Maansadii Bulsho ee Halabuurkii Weynaa Mohamed Ibrahim Hadraawi. Waxay tiri:
Talooy go’an Baydahaa Xujooy taran bedenbedkaa …
Ninkii ballankaaga qaaday Ka baaqday xilkaad u dhiibtay
Ka baydhay ujeedadaada Ku boobay adoo sabool ah
Ku wiirsaday baaba’aaga Adoo bogan waayey taada
Ninkii u buseelay raaxo Huwaday bulbushii libaaxa
Buruudkiyo shaashka qaatay U booday cirkaa dusheena
Bilkeeday laboontidiisa Buurtuu koray waarin mayso
Heddisana baajin mayso Kub iyo Bawduu ka jabin.
Sidoo kale waa tii uu laha Abdiulkadir xirsi siyad yam yam:
Waagii mudnaantiyo wasirr magic ku faanaa,baabuur madow iyo muradaha la xiran jirya,meelaha nacfiga leh na loo kala hormari jiray,maareeyana la noqon jirya gudbe maalmahoodii
Waxaa timid marxalad adag oo maamul sare iyo ninka madax u ciilqaba,Masuuliyad uu qaadiyo kow dhaar la mariyaa tahay miiskii soo gado,musuqna dil baa tahay,Mushaar ma lehid,shaqaduna ilaa makhrib iyo subax ilaa qaranka maydka ah lagu hubiyo meel wacan.
Avv. Abdiwahid Abdullahi Warsame
Abdiwahid_ Abdullahi@hotmail.com