Ahmed Silanyo’s Family Becomes the Somaliland State in Order to Loot
The African and middle Eastern countries refused once again to be a functioning state with Constitution and rule of law, In the gulf you have monarchies who rule for life without any constitutional constant that can limit their power or term. Another behavior specific to the Somali state leaders is the introduction of their families and their wife’s to the political system. In the eighties after a car accident almost incapacitated President Siyaad Barre, his wife took over all state functioning including the promotion of army officers.
The typical Somali tribe is usually, poor, hungry and ready to loot to enrich themselves.
They can not comprehend the state with all it’s resources and capacity can
produce millions of jobs for its citizens, provide health care and education
for all regardless. They believe whatever resource visible in their eyes won’t
be enough for every body , so they start to loot as fast as possible.
It is not a secret in Somali land the wife of the president is involved every major
decision under taken by the state. You go to the presidential palace and the
people running day to day operations are the immediate family of the president.
The son in law, the cousin and the wife are the primary managers of the state
operation. These families don’t trust any body, even government ministers are
categorized as allies or foes. Not only they intend to make the state affair their
own, they believe it is the only way to enrich themselves by putting their people
every sector of the government where a drop of money is visible. They follow the
money. Here are some of the institutions the family tightly controls.
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1- Somaliland Road Construction Authority. This entity should have been under the
ministry of public works and construction, yet it resides in the palace in order to
control the foreign aid intended to build infrastructural. The catch here is not to
manipulate the few millions allocated for road construction but to set the stage and
prepare the looting of the major European investment intended to build the so-called
Berbera-Ethiopia corridor and steal hundred of millions.
2-the Somaliland Relief Agency., this agency was under the ministry of disaster and
resettlement before 2010, now it is run by the family of the president. Most of the relieve
assistance the NGO’s provide for refugees and drought affected people go through
this agency.
3-Pirate prisoners management. This agency is the brain child of the western powers
patrolling the sea lanes of the Somali coast, they transfer the pirates captured in
the act of piracy. The budget for this mission also is run by the palace.
4- All government procurement whether they buy a new broadcasting equipment
or changing the furniture must be approved by Hirsi, the palace minister.
The palace minister says he is the busiest minister in the government, of course
if you consolidate all the power and government activity in one office, not only
you will be overwhelmed but finally you will burn by exhaustion. Another matter
that may work against the minister is he never managed or led even five people
before he was promoted to be chief of staff. Don’t be surprised in this part of the
world qualification is dangerous, it may bring to the office some decent people.
Most of the money donated by the international community goes to few ministers.
a) 10 million dollars from Kuwait Royal family to improve Somaliland airports was
received by minister Mohamuud Haji Abdi who is from Garadag, .
b) 28 million dollars donated to improve water in Somaliland was received another
relative of the president, Minister Duaale,
c) 5 million dollars for pirate detainees is managed by Hersi, the palace Minister.
d) all relieve aide from the donor countries must be disbursed by the Palace.
Almost all of the 40 million dollars and other funds provided by the donor countries
are under the control of the this hungry family.
In this part of the world people talk a lot about Siyaad Barre and his wife Khadiija
and how they abused power and stole the public burse. Here in Hargeisa every
body is aware of the power of the first lady,even the former minister of information
Mr. Boobe Y. Duaale, who is an honorable man respected by the people of
Somaliland confessed that when he was summoned to the palace to answer
the so-called insubordination charge , he said most of the pointed questions
were thrown by the lady.
Few hundred kilometers to the west in the port city of Djibouti, another Family is
not only running the country but decides matters of life and death. They decide
who should be starved economically , who goes to jail for speaking against the
dictator or becomes filthy rich. In Djibouti people are terrified of the first lady,
they even call her Madame President. If you are familiar with the western
movies were the mafia takes a cut from family businesses for protection or
face the wrath of the criminal boss, then you already got message. The family
of the president and his wife control the army, the intelligence, the Gendarmerie,
The secret Service, the so-called republican guard. They control The central
bank , treasury and all financial institutions. Rather than help the poor orphans
hospitals and needy these wife’s are involved deeply with state affair.
A wise man from Djibouti told me that the late president (mbh suol) always
used to say ` sirtaadana xaaskaaga ku qarso , siyaasadaadana tolkaa ku qarso“
which roughly means share your personal secrets with your wife not your political
moves, while sharing the political maneuvers with your kin. That is why former
first lady AAsha Boqore was always busy with children, orphans and hospitals.
Over two hundred years ago, when the French revolutionary movement were
fighting to overthrow the king, the emperor Luis The Fourteen could not believe
he was been challenged by the masses. When people demanded the monarchy
should leave the affairs of the state he proclaimed ” I am the state”( je suis l’etat.).
Who would have thought in the twentieth first century a well organized family
would openly loot the public money while their fellow citizens are starving.
In Djibouti these criminals don’t hide their excesses, in fact it is visible every where.
If you stroll one of these boulevards ,not only by standers can easily name the owner
of these high rise buildings, they will explain to you where the money to build was
stolen. Among them is the Aids building which means funds intended for people
with aides donated by the international community, the ministers have self explanatory
nick names like the growing hyena ( waraabe koraya), greedy but full hyena (waraabe
dhargay). The people of Djibouti must rise up and take back their country, this cattle
mentality must change. How can you allow one family to runt this country for thirty
six years like a monarchy. How can they steal with impunity and then advertise the
their wealth with out no fear of the law or the public. A wise Somali man was asked
about the condition of the people since the collapse of the state and he replied
” waxay na badeen , waxay na bareen baa ka sii daran” Which roughly translated
” although our condition is dire, the bad habits we accustomed are worse.
Geele may one day leave Djibouti but his legacy and the bad habits he created will
linger for years to come. The Djibouti people are decent, they don’t ask jobs or
other government services, all they want is basic needs like water and affordable
electricity to service the this expensive Island of the rich.
Mohamed Farah.
Edmonton, Alberta.