what a sham of an election.
this is nothing but an election for the fools. A state with no legitmacy, recognition, economy, income, jobs, oppurtunities and functional institutions is now conducting an election.
what a freakin joke! Am i the only issaq on here who can see the sham of such an election? Half the population is hungry, the other half lives on money sent from somalis living in the west.
There is no elections in somalia. Just political trashiness.
You don't have to claim Issaaq, you know. We are not like the Daarood or Hawiye oo qashinwalba iska sheegto.
Because of our obsession with unhealthy tribalism, Somaliland is teetering on the edge of a social discourse as a result of this voter registration drive which turned out to be a bogus sham. Whatever little harmony that existed between regions/tribes is fading fast. It is difficult for Awdal and Sahil constituencies, who conducted themselves in a manner consistent with the law of the land, to swallow such preposterous and inflated figures from Burao and elsewhere. If certain tribes of our society are not willing to abide by the law of the land, and seeking tribal hegemony and supremacy over the others, people may start to question the viability of the Somaliland project we are trying to sell to the international community. In the last presidential election in Somaliland, the chairman of the NEC admitted that he had illegally helped Mr. Rayaale to come out victorious. I will not be surprised if the same situation arises again and again in the next election.
It will be nonsensical and complete madness if Somaliland goes to the polls in April on the basis of this fraudulent voter registration. We should not go to the polls unless and until this mess is sorted out, which is highly unlikely because of our poor track record of doing things at snail’s pace. I often heard people saying that the Server will sort out the multiple registrations that took place in all regions, particularly those happened in Togdheer, Sanaag and Maroodi Jeex. What about the people who were never checked properly in the first phase of the voter registration? I do not believe that the Server alone will sort out this mess as it is always subject to manipulation. What guarantees we have against such practices, or malpractices happening again? No chance in hell. Most people’s concern, especially those in Awdal and Sahil, is the fact that the NEC together with Rayaale’s incompetent government may choose the easier way and sweep things under the carpet by allocating arbitrary figures to every region on the basis of this discredited voter registration. Rumours are that Rayaale’s trusted men are already in action to test the dissenting voices in Awdal and elsewhere.
The recent proposal by the NEC that an extra 15 days will be allocated to all Somaliland regions (even to those who helped themselves illegally) to sort out this voter registration mess is a smoke screen and futile exercise intended to sooth the under registered and grieving regions of Awdal and Sahil.
I have come across some newspaper reports (notably Jamhuuriya) accusing Awdal of child registration while paying little or no attention to the massive voter registration rigging committed earlier in Togdheer, Hargeisa and Sanaag. I cannot recall the said paper and other likeminded ones questioning the validity of the voter registration results of the said regions. This shows how our so-called independent press is divided along tribal lines and putting a wedge between tribes. Hypocrisy is alive and kicking in Somaliland.
A few years back president Rayaale’s government has forced Somaliland regions to choose their MPs on the basis of 1960s electoral quota multiplied by 2.5, promising that the next election will be based on one man one vote. Four years on and we are no where near to an acceptable and fair system of representation, mainly due to the fact that some tribes are always flouting the law to their advantages and the only system they seem to have faith in it is tribal supremacy. The so-called national political parties in Somaliland are nothing but names.
In Somaliland teashops and other public places the question most people are asking themselves is: How many MPs from our tribe are represented in UDUB, KULMIYE and UCID? And we are not talking here about the laymen and uneducated. We are talking about the cream of the nation, including our politicians. This is a clear indication how we are bereft of the principles of multiparty democracy, and it further underscores how our allegiance is to the tribe and not to the existing political parties. Our so-called multiparty democracy is nothing, but a farce.
Truthfulness is a rare commodity in today’s Somaliland. Some people can go to an extra length to ask their kids to lie about their ages and almost about everything to gain a competitive tribal edge against the others. Are we not worried about creating a generation of liars in the future? Let us not forget that justice is for all and not only for the so-called minority tribes. Failure to administer justice for all could usher in a period of uncertainty to Somaliland people as a whole. Moreover, if we cannot stick to what we are breaching (democracy) we might as well scrap our political parties and stick to what we know best: tribalism. Hence share things on tribal basis. What we are witnessing today in Somaliland is the fact that tribes are jostling for power and supremacy at an alarming proportions, often at the expense of others by using all the tricks in the book. So long as this is our motto, this country is going nowhere. We need to go back to the drawing board.
By Mohamed Yabarag
www.awdalnews.com
As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand