May 6, 2009

Follow Up of Mr. Egeh’s Article (In Depth Analysis) & Mine

There is gossip among some Awdalites that the criticism of Mr. Eheh’s article (In Depth Analysis) is unfair and unjustifiable because they say the criticism is from a bias source and a relative of Mr. Riyaale. Few people also reached a verdict without reading Mr. Egeh’s article. Before this accusation is defended, I would like to start with an apology to Mr. Egeh. I would like to remind Mr. Egeh that he is a friend and also that I believe that I should respect his opinion and political affiliation.

As I made clear in my previous article that he is a man of high calibre, I still believe that he is capable of writing a political analysis about Somaliland politics and be fair to every party and bring up the negatives and positives of each one of them and why he prefers one over the other. As educators, it is our obligation to bring facts on the table and tell to any politician to behave like one and keep the peace and our dream alive through positive campaign and smart agendas. I believe in democracy and that Mr. Egeh can criticise anyone but after laying the ground rules of his analysis.

When I wrote my opinion on Mr. Egeh’s article, my intention was to race awareness of the personal attacks on President Rayaale. There was an old empty saying in the campaign history of Somali politics. In the campaigns people used to say HEBEL HA DHACO. It happened recently in Somaliland where a leader of an opposition party has said in front of a group of supporters: Riyaale ha dhaco. Likewise, Mr. Egeh has started his article with the same saying in a polite way: It is better for Mr. Riyaale to step down. He wrote that without justifying for his call.

I remember listening to some political leaders who at the end of their speeches used to say and emphasize that their opponents must go down: HEBEL HA DHACO. My argument here is very simple; why Mr. Egeh would not justify his criticism and elaborate to the readers of his motives behind his writing and say clearly and loudly of his objections to Riyaale’s politics. I wanted Mr. Egeh to go deep into his pockets and bring in all his justification on Mr. Riyaale’s down fall. That was my agenda of putting the case for writing analysis and it was not a personal defamation as some of critics of my article claim.

To those who see my criticism as tribalism, I would to tell them clearly and honestly that tribalism is part of us. It is in the hearts of each of us. It is part of our blood and has sometimes an influence in our daily political activities. Somalis depend on it socially and politically. It is a custom in our culture that you can trust your tribesmen. Tribalism, in Somali context, is synonymous to extended family. Every one of us can recite the lineage of his/her ancestry. However, tribalism has its own advantages and disadvantages.

In our daily life, we see many positive things in tribalism. We know that each one of us is part of a tribe and we believe we can only achieve happiness by being part of it. In bad times, we know that we turn to other members of the tribe and feel confident that they will help. We have seen that when tribalism is used positively, we see positive results. Many of us have been brought up by a member of an extended family and as a result are well educated without getting much help from his/her own family. Many of us have been taken out from a nomadic or farm life and put into the care of a relative in the cities. Many orphans have been raised by an extended family. We have seen tribalism has worked in Somaliland.

Somaliland’s democracy has come through tribal dialogue and negotiations. Tribalism is used here in good faith and many of us still could not believe how smart our people are. Our elders from the tribes have proved to us more than once that tribalism is a sense of identity, community, cooperation, family, belonging, and tool for problem solving and mediation. Somaliland has found the treatment of tribalism by creating a power sharing system from all tribes in Somaliland. I also believe we can make it perfect by having equal representations from tribes.

Tribalism has dangerous consequences when it is used as a tool to rule others. This is where tribalism leads to hate, nepotism, and corruption. This kind of ruling others by tribal basis makes others who are over ruled to revive their sense of loyalty to their tribes. In this scenario, it results in mistrust, cruelty against one another, and hate towards the ruling clan.

Many of you agree with me that each one of us has a loyalty to a tribe not necessarily in politics but because of as a source of support in times of need. But when it comes to educational aspects of analysing topics in politics or otherwise we have to be fair in our analysis of personal views on things and on politics.

Once again, I am wholeheartedly apologising to Mr. Egeh if my criticism has caused some misunderstanding from my point of view. I was in no way criticising Mr. Egeh’s personality, political affiliation if any or even his political view of Somaliland. H e has the right to his view point but on condition he bases it with facts.