Mr. PM, Why Vacate Villa Somalia at this Critical Time?
By Faisal A. Roble
It is deceitful and conniving, if not an utter debauched leadership, for the new Prime Minister Abdiwali Sheikh Ahmed to leave the country for a tour of neighboring countries in the midst of corruption allegations by the United Nations Monitoring Group, a resurgence of Alshabab attacks on key and sensitive areas inside Mogadishu, and at a time when the President is outside the country for health reasons.
Despite the importance of the countries the Prime Minister is visiting (Ethiopia, Djibouti – two countries that are contributing to AMISOM); his absence from Villa Somalia at this juncture is risky for the country’s national security, and utterly disrespectful to the solemn duties of premiership – giving the nation comfort in the face of adversities.
On February 10, the President was hastily flown to Istanbul, Turkey, for unexplained health-related reasons. Sooner than this information became public than did Mogadishu submerge into a pool of unsubstantiated rumors of a serious health scare of the President.
Some rumored that the President had a mild stroke and one of his arms was semi-paralyzed; others went as far as fanning a scary and doomsday scenario and said the President was dead. All those rumors were put to rest by a radio interview the President himself gave.
To contain rumors, the President declared that his doctors in Turkey gave him a clean bill of health. To dramatize how good his health is, the President claimed that he is vacationing with his wife, a fitting claim especially right before this Valentine’s Day that fall on this Friday 14. He triumphantly declared “I even don’t take aspirin.” Notwithstanding his machismo claim, one should expect a man of 58-years-old, living in a devastated country such as Somalia, rather better off to take one baby aspirin a day.
The advance release of an executive summary of the United Nations Monitoring Report for Somalia details damaging allegations such as the diversion of key and sensitive weapons to the president’s sub clan and to Alshabab contingents. In addition to many incidents, this latest one threw a wet towel on the hitherto warm relationship between Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and the West.
Revisiting an article which I wrote for Wardheernews last year arguing not to lift arms embargo, I am now tempted to say “a-ha, I told you so,” for some of the allegations that I had leveled against Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud’s government are now recognized by this document – passing arms to his clan members, to Alshabab and thus placing the country on the verge of a renewed civil war.
As if though all that was not enough cause for a headache for the President, ferocious acts of suicide bombing by Alshabab, which begun on February 10, 2014, had for the last few days shook this tattered and tortured city of Mogadishu; fighting is reportedly taking place at sites that are close to the Presidential palace. Also, UN coveys in and out of the Mogadishu airport have been attacked, and the daring declaration by Alshabab that Mogadishu from now on is a war zone makes security a national priority.
As the adage goes,misery loves company; on February 13, 2014, Reuters carried a byline piece that for the first time reported the most devastating development since Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud took office: the government of Turkey stopped a direct budget support to Somalia’s weak government to the tune of $4.5 monthly.
The former governor of the Bank of Somalia, Abdul-Salam Omar, a character himself who is in the middle of the muddy Graft allegations, confirmed what is equivalent to cash dumping. “Former Central bank governor Omar recalled how once a month he would visit Turkey’s Mogadishu embassy to collect $4.5 million in boxes full of cash.” It was always in $100 bill,” he told Reuters in Nairobi. Here in the West, we call this type of activity “money laundering!”
In the midst of such thick clouds blanketing any hope of revival the nation may have entertained lately, the new Prime Minister and his faulty sense of priorities could not resist but travel abroad with one of the largest entourages, including several ministers.
In the same vein of faulty priorities, his first public appearance on international media comes across as he lavishly heaps praises on Ethiopia, notwithstanding the city he is supposed to take care of is ablaze with fire. If any, his actions come across as disingenuous, Machiavellian conniver, and he sends to the residents of Mogadishu a message that he does not care.
Is the PM’s trip to Ethiopia and Djibouti a condition of emergency that he had to vacate Villa Somalia when his boss is out of the country for personal matters? Not quite so. Managing Mogadishu in the absence of President Hassan should have been his number one real emergency situation. Alas, that is one thing he opted not to attend to.
Could he have perhaps postponed his visit to Ethiopia until President Hassan comes back to Villa Somalia, and in the meantime give the residents of the city all the confidence they need? A seasoned political leader would assume so. Symbolic as that may sound, it is important for the moral of the nation that the PM stays home, command national operations, and give his people a level of confidence that someone is in charge.
In the absence of the Prime Minister and the President at this trying time, one question sticks out: who mans the house? Without doubt, this is a sign of weak, confused, if not charlatan and disloyal, leadership on the part of the Prime Minister. All blame goes to the President who limited his pool of selecting a Prime Minister to certain destructive social categories.
If President Hassan was not a lame duck, he probably would have fired this confused PM on his return.
Let us hope, therefore, that both the President and the PM, the latter being a man whose judgment so far seems to be on the wrong side of the ledger, come back and attend to what appears to be a national emergency at hand. Until then, residents in Mogadishu can lament: “cidna kuuma maqna ceelna kuuma qodna,” or, you have neither resources nor someone working on your behalf.
Faisal A. Roble
Email:faisalroble19@gmail.com