A Government keen and committed to succeed must expect to be criticized.
The leader who tries to succeed must expect to be criticized. The leader who makes a success of an important venture never wails for the crowd. It takes nerve, it takes a great lot of grit; but the man that succeeds has both. Anyone can fail. The public admires the leader who has enough confidence in himself to take a chance. These chances are the main things after all. Nothing important was ever done but the greater number consulted previously doubted the possibility. Success is the accomplishment of that which most people think can’t be done!
At this time, our country and people are dealing with a dangerous and unpredictable geopolitical situation in the Horn of Africa Region and beyond. There is an ever-increasing hostility and animosity towards the existence of our nation earnestly aimed at destabilization and destruction of our home country. Luckily, today we have a government with guts and grit that never wavers in defending the existence, dignity and sovereignty of its people.Despite the great diplomatic and security challenges lie ahead for the Republic of Somaliland, President Ahmed Silaanyo’s government is steadfastly determined to remain actively involved in all major diplomatic, security, economic and development fronts without compromising upon the sovereignty, integrity and independence of the Somaliland Republic as well as the aspirations and self-determination of its people.
The current government believes fully in exploring of all options (socio-economic and diplomatic advancement) to achieve its goals which best meets the needs and challenges facing the people of Somaliland today. Further, The President of The Republic of Somaliland promotes and encourages tirelessly the values, history and roots we share as a nation as we also cherish the same fate and future. The president has stressed countless times that the things that unite us and keep our people together are far more important than those factors that might divide us or the things that we may hold different views. Our country is surrounded by geographically hostile and hate-breeding countries. At a time of rising hostility and animosity towards the existence of our great nation, we need to strengthen the key elements that work for the social fabric and public interest and bring our citizens together. We need to stress and promote the nationhood, unity, tolerance and social cohesion among Somaliland people.
- Vengeful and hatemonger local politicians:
Hatemonger politicians are everywhere, they can be found in all colours and in all corners of the world. But still they have couple of things in common: They are all propagandist; they are arch-opponents against every economic and social progress; they provoke hatred and prejudice; they stir up hostility among peaceful citizens who live side by side in a serene and tolerant way. At the present time, if you look very closely at the political dynamics in our country you can easily observe the rise of a new phenomenon; namely the emergence of politically radicalised groups with no Proper Policy Content or Principally based Policy Vision.
It has become a recurring common ritual of some elderly, vengeful and politically strayed local politiciansto voice constantly untruthful stories and baseless accusations towards the incumbent president, his immediate family members and the government he leads. They create mistrust and unsubstantiated narratives that consumes much of time and energy of many Somalilanders at home and in abroad. The main objectives of their negative approach are to mislead the public, to influence and strengthen a negative public perception towards President Ahmed Silaanyo’s government, portraying his administration as an ineffective, corrupt and feeble government that cannot fulfil its promises and therefore not suitable to run the country.
They leave no stone unturned to destabilize the country; they are knowingly and willingly creating a climate of collective confusion and hostility among the brotherly people of the Republic of Somaliland. Some of them are driven by trials and tribulations which compel them to oppose everyone and being against everything. While others are driven by incurable delusional feeling that again and again tells them: “In every aspect, there is no one better than you on earth, you are the one and only!!”
A constructive critique generates binding rules and trust among the society and it is beneficial to all of Somaliland citizens without exception. A well measured criticism towards the government has a valuable social purpose. It contributes to the protecting and safeguarding of the public interest on one hand. On the other hand, the government may take this criticism seriously and it may have the tendency yet to correct its mistakes. But the problem is when some people endlessly continue with a damaging propaganda, improper and unsubstantiated accusations towards the President, his family members and the government he leads; solely based upon point scoring ping-pong policy or gaining personal interests. This kind of behaviour puts Somaliland’s national credibility in jeopardy and it increases only the social split and contradictions among the public and it may cause an irreparable damage to our country’s interests.
The real dilemma of a large number of Somaliland hatemonger politicians is that they change the clan and political colour by turn. In most of the cases however, the frame of mind of adherence to a particular clan cannot coexist with a wider societal context where all Somalilanders are considered to belong to and being part of a democratic constitutional state. These gentle men voice constantly hateful political rhetoric wherein envy and clan sentiments are at the core of their arguments. They need to understand that the statehood and clan loyalties cannot coexist and have a destructive effect on each other.
Instead of being engaged with malicious, divisive and tribal minded politics; Somaliland citizens desperately need constructive, vibrant, strong and responsible multi-dimensional debates that can contribute to Somaliland’s cause and case. They should be sensible and find out more non-destructive ways to express their views and to make known their discontent and disagreement with regard to the way in which the current government leads and governs the country. Come up with well considered and more constructive debates that can be part of the general cause for our nation and may contribute to the advancement of our people and country’s future challenges. Anyhow, your hostile attitude towards the incumbent President (democratically elected by the majority of Somaliland people), as well as your constant and pointless criticism against every step the current government makes will only damage your reputation, dismantling everything you have achieved in the past and putting your own SNM heroic records and personal integrity into disgrace.
- The time has come when silence is betrayal!!
The victory has so many rivals, so it is to be expected that the successes and positive results achieved by the current Government will not be appreciated by everyone in our society. There will always be people who are blinded by resentment who do not wish to see or acknowledge the fact that every government department is on the rise and is thriving at an astonishingly fast progress. However, the most pathetic pessimist on earth is the person who denies and does not appreciate the good things that has been done for the wider social and public interest, regardless of who has done it. Anyone who denies the good things done by others for the benefit of our people and country, that person is unworthy and has no place in our society.
I believe there is an urgent issue to be confronted by the Somaliland’s academics, intellectuals and traditional leaders: “those with a sense of right and wrong.” The people of Somaliland shouldn’t accept having a friend and foe in one nation. Martin Luther King said: “The time has come when silence is betrayal.” For Somaliland’s academics, intellectuals and honourable traditional leaders that time is now! When you suppress the voice of your knowledge, when you omit to tell the truth between right and wrong, who can the Somaliland public turn to? By remaining silent against those hatemonger individuals or groups who is continuously creating hatred, hostility and confusion among the Somaliland public; you may perhaps rewarding indirectly their wrong doings which is morally unjustifiable!
God Bless the Republic of Somaliland and its Noble people
By: |Eng. Hussein Adan Igeh| (Hussein Deyr) |Birmingham, UK|
