Somaliland President & Parties Leadership must Nominate Competent Candidates
First and foremost, congratulations to the Somaliland president and the leadership of the national opposition political parties – UCID and WADANI – on their ongoing efforts to iron out all the obstacles and impediments preventing the holding of national parliamentary and local municipalities elections, and also resolving all disputes that may have contributed to the unprecedented delay in conducting those elections. According to the tripartite agreement, the members in the current House of Representatives would soon be gone and disbanded this year, after occupying that chamber for the past 15 years, and failed the nation miserably. For instance, the inaction of current 82 lawmakers elected in 2005 have ruined the ambitions and opportunities of and at the same time closed doors on 164 new hopefuls that would have been a fresh blood joining the political establishment during 2010 and 2015. It was also an embarrassment to the nascent democracy that this nation of Somaliland was proud of, as the absence of elections for 10 years left a scar on the reputation of Somaliland Republic. In addition, there was tremendous inaction on the part of lawmakers coupled with indifferent attitude towards the official duties and responsibilities of the parliament. The same goes for the local councilmen, who overstayed beyond their tenure without accomplishing any tangible progress and development during that same period. As planned, in the latter part of 2020, there will be a joint election for local governments and parliamentary representatives, and it is important to ask who should be elected for these two councils! Mainly people complain about the quality of the people who are being nominated for the national public offices, but that neither mean all the candidates are not good enough nor there are no individuals who are perfect for such positions, it just needs to be targeted the right people who are competent and capable for serving in these chambers.
The crucial question is who is responsible for scrutinizing and screening those seeking to hold public offices?
The main challenge lies with the president, and it is incumbent upon him to assume more responsibility to make sure the selections and nominations are the right kind of candidates for the forthcoming elections. He can:
- Direct the political parties to choose competent candidates.
- Ask the Electoral Commission and other agencies involved to have a clear policy about the type of candidacies.
- If it is appropriate and agreed by all, to set up an independent commission reviewing and selecting the right candidates for both chambers.
Equally on the other hand, it is incumbent upon opposition political parties’ leadership to take greater responsibility for bringing educated and qualified candidates from their parties.
- To impose strict conditions on any candidate who wants to run for the party
- Not allow anyone who is intellectually, financially and educationally unfit to compete
It has been learned from previous elections that the right people for public offices were not interested in national politics. This cannot be a justification for the lack of good candidates capable of holding public offices, but rather the real issue is when there is no courage to separate between those who are good and those who are bad.
It is noteworthy that Sheikh Abdullahi Ali Jowhar in his speech at the Sheikh Peace Conference in 1992, said that there is no shortage of good people in each constituency who can lead the nation to the right path, and it is expected from clans to select the right people for the public positions in the government so that the country can progress as a whole. It should also be noted that history has shown to us that one of the reasons that ruin a nation, first and foremost, is when the either ignorant or the corrupt rule and come to power. In the colonial times, it was noted that the country’s businessmen were selected for local councils, with the intention that they would not seek to misappropriate anything from the nation. But now, it is quite contrary by nominating those who have never gone to work for a day, or have no income. And thus, what happens is that they graze on the wealth of the nation as if it is their own, limke the current local councils. No matter what problems or obstacles we face, it is important that we learn from them, and then avoid the same thing to happen to us. Everyone knows that the parliamentarians that we last elected failed us and did nothing for their constituencies.
Hussein Hassan Hussein (Hussein-Mahdi)