HOW CAN WE DEVELOP OUR COUNTRY? PART 2..WRITTER ABDI HALIM M. MUSA

We can justly take pride in the fact that since the rebirth of Somaliland Republic in 1991 we have been able, with our efforts, to build the foundations of a modern economy and record acceleration in the rate of economic growth. There have been impressive gains in terms of the educational and health status of the nation. However, the benefits of this performance have not touched all our citizens in equal measure. Growth is not an end in itself. It is a means to generate employment, banish poverty, hunger and homelessness and improve the standard of living of the mass of our people. It must also be environmentally sustainable.

 Equity and efficiency are complimentary, not contradictory, and we must move forward on both these while maintaining a high degree of fiscal and financial discipline, and a robust external economic profile.
To be able to devote our attention and energy to economic development that improves the lives of our people, we must ensure social and political stability, communal harmony and respect for the rule of law. We must put in place policies and programs which empower all our citizens to lead a life of dignity and self-respect.
Economic reform is not only about freeing private enterprise from the shackles of bureaucratic control. It is also about making the government more effective, efficient and people friendly so that it can handle better the many tasks that only Governments can perform. And, it is also about ensuring fair and transparent regulation of the market where this is necessary. While many in our country are benefiting from their integration into the market and the global economy, around a million of our citizens are still plagued by illiteracy, disease, want, hunger and malnutrition.
Chronic poverty afflicts hundreds who lack income and food security. At a regional level, too, the disparities are high and while some regions of the country seem to be on an accelerating growth path, there is a concern that other regions are not only lagging but are also falling behind. Regrettably, the region of Sool and eastern parts of Sanaag suffer from not only economic insecurity but also a sense of marginalization from political and governance processes.
However, I am honestly convinced that the government, at many level, is today not adequately equipped and attuned to deal with this challenge and meet the aspirations of the people. To be able to do so, we require the reform of government and of public institutions. Much of the focus of economic reforms in the past decade has been on reducing the role of the government in controlling the Private Sector; controls that hampered entrepreneurial dynamism and often bred corruption. This was necessary. Yet, there are many areas, critical areas that directly affect the quality of life of every citizen, where the government has a role, and is expected by every citizen to have a role. These include the provision of social and physical infrastructure for development, the provision of elementary education and public health, providing drinking water and sanitation. They also include economic infrastructure which in our country in large part must be provided by the Government such as irrigation, power and roads. Our people expect the government to be pro-active and sensitive to their needs. In each of these areas, at every level of governance, the reform of government is today an urgent task before our government.
The government can pursue economic reform and widen the space for individual initiative and enterprise, but even as they do so, they cannot forsake the obligation of running a government that works, and works for the people. The reform of administration and of public institutions to improve efficiency and the quality of delivery services should be the immediate priority.
There has been a neglect of the interests of the farmers and this is reflected in a significant slowing down in agricultural growth.
Farmers in many parts of the country have faced distress and there has been no helping hand.  Agriculture must receive the priority attention it deserves. Public and private investment in agriculture has to be greatly increased. Agricultural research, training and extension also require much greater attention. I would like to see the emergence of new centers of excellence in agriculture. There has to be a sharper focus on expanding opportunities for gainful employment in agriculture and in off-farm rural activities. Food for work program, efficiently implemented, can greatly assist in achieving this objective.
A striking feature of development in our country has been the rapid increase in urbanization. The rapid and unplanned growth of the cities has contributed to increased urban pollution, crime and absence of the required infrastructure like access to drinking water, sanitation, roads, and public spaces, parks is making life in urban Somaliland a living hell for many. Most of the responsibility for this rests with Municipality. It will be our effort to give special attention to policies that can encourage urban development and urban renewal. We should actively seek public-private partnership in building urban infrastructure in a planned manner since we all know the economic situation for our government.
Water has emerged as a critical and contentious issue across the country. Even access to safe drinking water remains a problem in many parts of our country. Water management policies have to be so formulated as to address the needs of farmers, livestock herders and weaker sections, especially women, as well as those of city-dwellers. We have to find innovative, cost-effective and community based solutions. Groundwater replenishment and management and rainwater harvesting require close cooperation between government and non-governmental organizations.
We need new thinking in health policy. While the government to continue to help in the growth of private and community based health and medical care, there is a crying need for the reform of public health and public hospitals. We have to make public hospitals more efficient and accessible, through public-private partnership aimed at offering affordable and humane health care. We need community based and public health oriented solutions to tackling communicable diseases, epidemics and disability management and population stabilization.
People are a nation’s greatest resource. Our greatest asset must be an educated and capable work force. Our government should step up public spending on education, to universalize access to elementary education and to improve the quality of our education.
The education of the girl child and female literacy should be priority areas for us. The government should do its utmost to provide scholarships to help them acquire the training and skills that can make them self-reliant and proud citizens. Our children need modern and relevant education aimed at making them concerned, capable and caring citizens of the Republic.
However, domestic enterprise needs world class and cost-effective infrastructure. Better roads, better connectivity, better airports, efficient ports and affordable and reliable power are all the basic requirements for a competitive economy. We should pursue policies that enable our economy to be better integrated with the world economy without hurting the interests of our people. We should create an environment conducive to the utilization of the talent pool of the vast and diverse our Somaliland Diaspora. We greatly value their participation in the development of our nation.
No objective in this development agenda can be met if we do not reform the instrument in our hand with which we have to work, namely the government and public institutions.
We should maintain our tradition of an independent foreign policy, built on a national consensus and based on our supreme national interests. We should expand our network of international relationships – preserving solidarity with traditional allies and strengthening new partnerships. We should work with like-minded nations for an equitable, multi-polar world order, which takes into account the legitimate aspirations of developing countries, knocking every door to strive hard for our rights of diplomatic recognition.
We should streamline defense acquisition procedures, so that our forces obtain modern weapon systems and technologies. Our government must ensure that the necessary funds are made available for these purposes.
I, therefore, now urge to each one of Somaliland Citizen to also participate in our public life so that the government at all levels – central and local – are all constantly put on notice and not just tested once in five years.
Fellow citizens, I urge you to come forward and take an active role in the nation’s public affairs. Each one of us can make a difference. Our Country needs our support to restore to our public life a greater sense of purpose and a renewed commitment to decency, morality and the hard work needed to take our country and every one of our Somaliland citizens forward. We must re-capture the spirit of idealism and self-sacrifice which characterized the high noon of our diplomatic recognition and development struggle.
Working together, we shall ensure that this ancient sacred land of ours should gain its rightful place in the comity of nations.
Thank You,
Abdi Halim M. Musa