Monday, December 16, 2013

Somalia: Another Dispute Among Top Leaders is Possible


In Somalia’s political landscape, there is no doubt and pretty much everyone agrees with everyone that there have been feuds between every Somali president and every prime minister over the years, and this has become self-fulfilling prophecy: so, the question is, after the euphoria wears off, will president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the new prime minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed be in a collision course  with the same disagreement and conflict that had plagued the Somali Government realms of the past? Or will they prove to the public that the time of cat and mouse chase by presidents and prime ministers is over in Somalia and it is time to turn a new page in Somali history when it comes to working together in government as a team but not as opponents and rivals? To put it simply, nobody can have at this point complete answers to the above questions. However, if the same feud-causing traits and actions from the past are not abandoned by president and prime minister in office, then the political future of Somalia can be precisely predictable and the same problematic arena will be revisited with severe ramifications.
Why do the usual disputes and bickering befall Somali presidents and prime ministers?  What is it that causes their brouhaha, wrangle and bone of contention? Is it kleptocracy that blights their judgement to the extent that they fall into a quandary of friction coupled with greed and selfishness?
Honestly, the main dispute-causing culprit is the leaders vying with each other for kleptocracy and kleptocracy is a cancerous predicament in Somalia now and it has been there over the years: being in power has become a wherewithal to the green stuff, self-enrichment and swaggering: and its aftereffect has propagated a bad culture at government levels, specially at the top where bad governance rather than good governance springs up all over government institutions: unless those who climb the ladder of power in Somalia create political practice and excellent federal/state polity where good governance becomes possible, kleptocracy will continue to be the sire of disputes among top leaders.

Ahmed Said (Abwaankuluc)
Somali American Writer based in Saint Cloud, MN, USA
abdinassirsomalia@gmail.com

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