The Growth of Tribal Influence on Political Engagements is the Echo of a Failed Leadership.

by Advocate Mohamed Abdi Bacaluul

Advocate Mohamed Abdi

Despite of successful electoral competitions and peaceful political turnovers that made Somaliland so special, in comparison to the regional states, our democratization process is more likely to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, or in worst cases to reverse its progress. Because all emphasis were placed on elections. Elections are merely, one of the procedural preconditions of political transition to multiparty democracy, but, are not the ultimate ends of democracy. Where democratic principles and values are absent from the practical life and there is no strong formal legal foundation, democratization remains to be a hollow or an empty rhetoric. Democracy is not the ends, but is means to the ends. It is expected to make our lives better. If democracy is a process that only delivers political leaders who are incompetent to realize the minimum standards of these ends, it should be nothing more than a misleading pretention.

In our country, democratic process was hijacked by tribal politics. We adopted heterogeneous and traditional mechanisms based on consensus and dialogues rather the formal rules. If you look back to all political disputes among parties, you could see that all of them were solved through informal means, whilst electoral laws were set aside. Parties and the public are bound to accept political compromises without questioning their legalities. Because the prevailing fears of political unrest is the impetus for prompt and unsustainable compromises.

Being obsessed about the prospects of instability; is what made us skeptic about the efficiency of the formal approach in resolving the issues. As result of those apprehensions, we failed to get to the bottom of the constitutional crises. We are not daring enough to clear up legal ambiguities through constitutional interpretation.

We are fools if we think that political compromises or Abdiwarabe’s package are always reliable. Our political fears were and are focusing on today, not on the next episodes of the life. As result of that short-sight, one should bear in mind that we cannot escape from the probabilities of facing the same legal and political contentions of the past.

Look at Kulmiye party, instead of developing itself into viable political party with solid institutional bases or at least fostering political vision founded on shared ideals that could lead us in to better life, we see it reversing to where it had started the race. Ain’t we learning enough from the experiences of the past? Where is Udub?  What happened to Ucid? Or previously divided Kulmiye in to two opposite wings?

All of that happened to them, because they were artificial or “brief case” parties. Even today, when you take a close to Kulmiye party, which could be said, it’s politically, the most successful association, it has no sign of political evolution or prospect of democratic consolidation. The ruling party’s conduct, its clan-based equations, or the way its internal conflicts were handled are not only the paradigm of the existing structural infirmity of our national parties but also proves the administrative failures. It shows the absence of long-term strategic visions other than the desire to get or hold the power by hook or crook. 

The absence of the controlling body that could hold the Parties accountable is also one of the factors that scratched the salt to the wounds. That is why we deflected from the constitutional philosophy behind the foundation of limited political parties. The theoretical objectives that were attempting to distance our political engagements from the influence of clan affairs. But now, we see the ruling party deviating from the course of our shared ideals and deliberately chose to breach legal aims of our national law, especially article 2 (3) of regulation of political parties and associations law; law no 14.The provision spells as following:

Article 2:

General principles and compliance with the law

1.     The parties/associations must comply with the provisions of Constitution, the laws of the land and democratic procedures and must not damage the unity of the country, the territorial integrity of the Republic of Somaliland and the public security.

2.    The parties/associations shall participate in educating their supporters about electoral contests and democracy and shall pay particular attention to women and the youth.

3.    The parties/associations must not be based on clanism, single gender or on any other issue which divides the society.

4.    The parties and the associations shall be managed in a manner which is in accord with this Law and is not in conflict with Islamic Sharia, the Constitution of the nation, and the laws of the land and the (relevant) Rules of the parties or associations.

5.    Any person who is a Somaliland citizen and who fulfils the conditions set out in this Law shall have the right to form a political association in accordance with this Law.

Whereas enforcing bodies, namely the Statutory Committee assigned for the Registration of Political Parties or Electoral Commission are turning a blind eye to the political malpractices of ruling party. Their auditing or follow up role were confined to UDHIS and NDP political association which were denied their political rights on the grounds of above mentioned article.

As long as, tribalism remains to be the political spirit of our party engagements, we are bound to cope with its unfavorable aspects when it comes to governance, social justice and legal enforcement.

By Advocate: Mohamed Ahmed Abdi Ba’alul

 (waddi12@hotmail.com)