Friday, January 25, 2019



The Curse of Political Impasse


By Heikal I. Kenneded
Image result for farmajo and mursal pictures
December 14, 2018





The Speaker of the Somali parliament, Mohamed Mursal may have pulled a surprise on President Farmajo by accepting the opposition to bring a no-confidence motion against him. With the opposition all set to bring its no-confidence motion against President Farmajo, they have found an unlikely ally with the Speaker, who seems to hold his own grudges against the President for undermining his authority as  a Speaker. The motion signed by dozens of opposition members of parliament outlined a long list of grievances against the President, including entering “secret agreements” with Ethiopia and Eritrea over port access and economic and security cooperation. Despite the unlikely success of an impeachment motion to pass at this time due to the contention that many of the signatory legislators in the list declared invalid, nonetheless it shows the political calamity that such motion of no-confidence represents.  This type of malicious political crisis has enormous implications for Somalia’s current fragile political system that could potentially threaten any hopes for a democratic government to take root in the country.
This latest standoff came amid allegations of corruption against the government by a parliamentary committee oversight on finance that declared in its annual report there was over a twenty-million dollars missing from the government’s coffers. The Farmajo government that took great pride in its fight against corruption did not receive well this pungent allegations and in retaliation pushed for the disbanding of the parliamentary oversight committee on finance through the deputies of the Speaker of Lower House of parliament.  All of this was happening while the Speaker was out of the country and he had to find out from the news outlets like everyone else, which did not sit well with him and thought he was completely undermined. Further, Speaker Mohamed Mursal was not content with President Farmajo’s unhelpful meddling of the looming elections in the South Western regional state, where the President recently dispatched hundreds of forces to “secure” the elections, while financing one of his ex-cabinet Ministers to win the election.
In lieu of all of these political upheavals, immediately upon his return into the country, the Speaker, Mohamed Mursal directed the finance oversight committee to continue their important work and rather disregard the recent decision made by his deputies to dissolve them. In fact, the Speaker’s disenchantment with the President was taken advantage by the opposition members in the parliament who instantly tabled their motion of no-confidence against the President. Given the bold decision the Speaker took to accept the no-confidence motion against the President, the political stakes are very high and everyone is very anxious the outcome of this latest political impasse in the highest echelons of government.
The power to remove the President through a no-confidence motion is an effective tool afforded to the legislators in the parliament and by triggering the President’s downfall, opposition legislators can significantly impact government direction in parliamentary democracies. Yet, it is highly unlikely the success of no-confidence motions and their chance to overthrow the government due to the high number of MPs who are currently serving in the government. In effect, President Farmajo has recently faced complaints during the first couple of years in office that he devotes too much time to partisan politics and that he is too headstrong to listen to the opposition’s grievances and other heads of regional states. The President nonetheless contends that the opposition is mainly to blame for the political feuding of recent months, including a virtual impasse in relations between his government and the powerful opposition administration in the regional states.
By trying to disrupt the voice of the opposition and that of most federal states, President Farmajo has recently made several unholy alliances with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments without any consultations with the legislative branch of the government as required by the constitution. By discrediting the views of the political opposition and political process, the President is playing with fire as he edges the country towards another political instability. In other words, the President needs to acknowledge and respect the legislative review committees and the role they play as scrutiny and integrity mechanism in government, as part of good governance. 
On the other hand, the opposition contends that it is President Farmajo who threatens democracy by completely undermining their legislative role in government to provide necessary oversight of check and balance to the executive branch of the government. Interviews with several lawmakers suggest the move of no-confidence motion against the President was brewing for quite some time and it was just a matter of time before the Speaker also lost confidence in the President and allowed the opposition to table their motion of no confidence against the President. Due to the messy nature of such motion-business of the parliament, it is highly likely for the country to witness stormy political infighting. There is an urgent need to focus on those factors that limit the ability of the Somali government to frame and pursue policies necessary for effective ‘crisis-management’; only then will it be possible to assess the country’s capacity to deal with these political impasse. This would appear to be a necessary prerequisite for understanding the current political stalemate in Somalia, a stalemate brought about through the inability of the government to negotiate with opposition forces within the government and spearhead the country through peaceful means.
It was only eight months ago when President Farmajo rallied around his allies in the parliament to pressure the previous Speaker, Professor Jawari to resign from his post without any explanations or due process. This was bound to have serious repercussions of setting such autocratic precedence of political infighting that it’s now coming back to haunt him when he expected the least since he thought the new Speaker was in his circle until he undermined him and interfered his authority. This shows the political immaturity on both sides of the leadership who failed to resolve their issues amicably without resorting to ultimatums that only widens the gap of their working relationship.
In other words, in light of the constitutional provisions, a no-confidence motion cannot be brought against the President without the signatures of one-third of parliament, not to mention that it would require two-thirds of the legislators to vote him out. At the present political blow, it will derail the achievements of the past two years and throw the country in a status of uncertainty. The best way to push forward the country is to reach a political compromise among the various heads of government and political stakeholders before it comes to such unproductive motions of no-confidence that could derail the country’s scanty achievements in politics and security. More fundamentally, it is hard to see where such destructive political infighting could lead, when Al Shabab terrorists are bent on destroying the government in which they regard un-Islamic.
In the end, this latest motion of vote of no-confidence against the President may not come to pass, but still it will constitute a moral victory for the opposition to challenge the President on equal ground. President Farmajo nonetheless needs to make a fresh attempt to ''listen'' to lawmakers in the government in order to defuse confrontation with the opposition and overcome political divisions in by responding more quickly to economic and security challenges.

Heikal Kenneded
heikalk@yahoo.com
Washington D.C.
 
Pride and Prejudice in Somalia


By Heikal I. Kenneded
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
The heinous atrocity committed against Ahmed Muqtar Salah (aka Dowlo), a Somali Bantu who was reportedly stabbed to death and his body burned while still alive by the family of his nephew’s in-laws was a bloody reminder of how far Somalis have to go on accepting each other. While attacks of such barbarous nature are unusual in Somalia; nevertheless, cultural marginalization and tribalism against the so-called minority communities is still prevalent in a country that claims to be a homogenous society with one religion - Islam. In fact, marrying across cast lines is still a taboo that anyone who dares it risks of being disavowed by his or her family, especially marrying from a “lower” caste. This reprehensible murder took place after a young couple secretly eloped without the consent of the bride’s family, protesting their daughter’s marriage to a Bantu husband, the bride’s mother accompanied by several other relatives torched to death Mr. Dowlo at his garage, simply because he refused to divulge the whereabouts of the married couple.  It is now sadly unclear how to rectify such wanton violence against the Somali Bantu community who live in fear of such repercussions whenever they claim their equal rights as other Somalis.

This tragedy took place between two neighboring families who lived in the same vicinity “xaafada” for several decades. Unfortunately, in a country like Somalia vigilante violence is frequently committed with impunity, which is the primary obstacle to a lasting peace. This was no different from the atrocious honor killing practiced in most of the Middle East and some South East Asian countries, where couples who go against the practiced culture and marry outside of their caste are instantly killed by the closest relatives due to a perceived believe to have brought dishonor on the family.  In fact, discrimination and prejudice against the Somali Bantu communities, especially when it comes to intermarriage has been prevalent in the Somali culture since the dawn of history. Perhaps the most striking aspect of this latest horrific act is the barbaric nature the perpetrators carried out to express their prejudice against the uncle of the groom. The problem with societal prejudice and discrimination against certain communities is that it severely deprives the safety and potential opportunities of these marginalized communities. For instance, the social disapproval for intermarriage carries a disparaging stigmatization that precludes them interacting with the larger society and participating the existing socioeconomic market and they’re eventually forced to toil on the margins of the economy, not to mention the lack of getting access to proper education. To put it in perspective, we all know it’s wrong and much more importantly un-Islamic but continue to practice it out of shame and incongruity.

The bitter truth is that the Somali society is hypocritical of their retrograde practices of tribalism and marriage discrimination when it comes to intermarrying with so called minority groups, including the Somali Bantus. Part of the putrid odor emanates from the ongoing discrimination against these communities who are merely marginalized for their looks or past grievances for telltale stories committed by their ancestors. As such, most of the minority communities experience discrimination and restrictions in most fields, including lack of education, illiteracy and high unemployment rates. It is well documented in the history annals how Somali Bantus are treated as second-class citizens in their own country and barred from most socioeconomic and political opportunities. Their collective history of persecution as ethnic and communal minorities in Somalia, especially widespread atrocities committed against them during the civil war is a dark stain that will permanently remain in the soul of the Somali being.
Since there has not been any credible census in the country for the past half-century, Somalia is technically described as a nation with no minorities. The so-called Somali minorities are either predominantly agro-pastoral communities in the south, or artisans, such blacksmiths, leatherworkers, and hairdressers - in the north of the country who were marginalized by the predominant nomad clans. In this regard, the Somali Bantu communities have been falsely labeled as minorities and thus marginalized for decades due to their different lineage from other allegedly predominant clans. In other words, these communities have faced all kinds of domestic violence and abuse at the hands of “dominant” clans, even more during the civil war, when their land and farms were forcibly misappropriated by other warring clans who were the key war perpetrators. These communities especially those in the south have suffered some of the most unspeakable violation of their rights, including widespread rape and the systematic looting of their properties. It is estimated that one quarter of the Somali Bantu communities were annihilated during the civil war, while a great majority of them were internally and externally displaced and ended up in refugee camps.

The Somali Bantu communities primarily live in the Lower Juba and Shabelle valleys, where they have farmed and tilled the land for livelihood for the past century before they were recently invaded other Somali warring faction who expropriated their land, and in some cases enslaved them. Because they are considered lower caste than other nomadic clans, Somali Bantus and other marginalized communities of descent-based caste perform skilled services in the cities, which are traditionally considered "unworthy" or exceedingly menial, and for very little pay that amount to servitude. In result, most of these marginalized communities are trapped in a vicious cycle of extreme poverty, illiteracy and oppression. This includes severe under-representation in leadership positions and obstacles to political participation, which among others limit their access to essential services, such as proper healthcare and rightful land ownership. Indeed, human rights abuses against Somali Bantus borders that of the India’s “Untouchables” who are relegated to the lowest jobs, where they live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated and dehumanized with impunity by other major tribal groups seeking to keep them in their place. In fact, even during the last functioning regime, many of the crimes committed against these communities used to go underreported due to fear of reprisal, intimidation by their neighbors, or simply the knowledge that the police will do nothing.
Given the lack of strong judicial system in the Somalia, most of the predominant clans take the law into their own hands and commit such horrific crimes with impunity. Thus, the Somali federal government has to step up and commit to putting an end of the criminal marginalization and subjugation of defenseless Somali Bantu communities and others alike. In other words, more must be done to reintegrate these communities into the wider Somali society for them to achieve their potential because it is a disgraceful disregard for human rights to keep them in the shadows and their right trampled by wanton vigilantesOtherwise, the search for a lasting peace in Somalia will perpetually remain elusive and problematic, as long as the government fails to address this structural violence that has greatly contributed to the intrastate crisis of the country, in the first place. Finally, both local and international human rights activists have limited themselves as concerned with gender inequality in Somalia by merely concentrating on relatively minor issues, such as setting up quotas for the number of women in the federal parliament and bestowing excessive praise when such minor reforms are put in place. Nevertheless, they have not tried to tackle the real elephant in the room, the elimination of systematic discrimination against minority communities. The time is long overdue for them to do so.

If you wish to help, a fundraising website has been setup to help the large family left behind by Mr. Dowlo: https://www.gofundme.com/weareallequal-justice-for-ahmed

Heikal I. Kenneded
Washington D.C. importance of Supreme C