By Abdirahman Yusuf Ali
Monday July 18, 2022
Somalia is continually facing a host of challenges
as it struggles to emerge from years of internal turmoil and misrule. Despite
concerted efforts by local and international actors, the country still finds
itself in a rut unable to shake off the shackles of its accumulated crises.
Our efforts toward a peaceful and economically have
largely remained unrewarded given the country’s fragility level.
In this article anchored on the concept of Uistaag
Dadka iyo Dalka (Stand up for the
people and the country), a social movement through community building platform
for nation-building, I argue that Somalia’s
inability to leap from its state of underdevelopment and stagnation is the absence
of social trust in Somali governance system . This article also proposes some
measured necessary to rebuild social trust in Somali governance system and
engage all citizens in active and genuine state-building.
Social trust and acceptance
Social trust and acceptance are what make the governance
systems legitimate, allowing social cohesion and the functioning of democracy.
Social trust and acceptance also create the necessary environment for
investments and economic development.
Over two decades since the advent of the
Transitional National Government (TNG), Somalis are gradually warming up to the
government and acceptance of life within a framework of law but a sense of
incredulity still prevails.
Somali’s social trust in public institutions is
vital for the government to respond to insecurity and earn community confidence
to participate in tackling the social, economic and political instability - allocating
well-streamlined resources to build social trust at the Federal and state
levels is the bottom line to build an effective governance system. Trust in
government dissuades the citizen from clannism as it rallies them around a
common interest and belief in the supremacy of the state and not the clan.
The election of a new President in Somalia on May 15
presented the country with yet another opportunity to assess the social
contract between the citizen and the state, and recalibrate missed milestones
toward rebuilding a productive and mutual relationship between the two entities.
Accountability
and Transparency
Theft of public resources remains pervasive in Somalia
and kept the country in the ‘most corrupt’ club longer. By failing to tackle
graft, citizens cannot entrust the government with the management of their
affairs and that can be demonstrated by public aversion to tax payment,
reliance on Al-Shabaab for justice, use of violence to address disputes and
lack of commitment towards the protection of public resources.
On account of group and personal interests, Somalia
is stuck in a lack of accountability and transparency: The incessant fights
between the President and Prime Minister due to personal interests, lack of
constitutional clarity on the powers and responsibilities of the two officers
and commercialization of the vote of confidence by parliament have adversely
eroded public confidence in government.
This constitutional ambiguity and opaqueness have
also set a breeding ground for corruption since it is not clear which
institution ought to hold the other accountable. The two chambers of parliament
have for example feuded severally and failed to hold the executive to account
but instead, have pegged their vote on the dollar.
To address these issues and restore Somali’s missing
power of Social trust and confidence in government the new President should
consider the following remedies:
- Fast-track
the establishment of government institutions with clear-cut mandates. This
could include the definite relations and powers of the two houses of
parliament and the role of the judiciary in arbitrating constitutional
matters when parliament fails to resolve certain matters.
- Creating a government accountability office that
fights against corruption, and group and personal interests
- Opening up
the government for public assessment, public participation in decision
making, public resources allocations and utilization.
- Ensure public
safety and protection of lives and livelihoods and fast and equal access to social
justice
- Promote
open governance. Somal people are strongly need to fully aware of and
participate in planning of how every dollar of the recently approved $917
million national budget is utilized.
Fix the elections-One-man-one-vote
One of the overriding factors for lack of citizen
trust in government is the inability to directly choose the leaders who can
adequately represent the interests of the people. Although the 4.5 clan-based
system has addressed a challenge during the country’s most trying moments, its
usefulness has been overtaken by time. By placing the responsibility to elect
in the hands of the individual electorate, Somalis will be motivated to
associate more with and establish trust with the government because they have
taken a direct part in its constitution. They will no longer see it as a
government forced down their throats by a few individuals. To attain a
functioning democracy in Somalia, the government should consider:
- Set
priorities right. There is no need of putting up huge shining buildings
with skeleton staff or idling officials. Therefore, human capital must be
maximized vis-à-vis
infrastructural spending.
- Accessibility,
public safety and protection of lives and livelihoods are most critical
and should be given priority.
- Expedite the process toward one-person-one-vote
elections. There should not be any further excuses on this matter. We are
used to the government sitting on its laurels until the last year of
elections when it announces that a universal vote is not possible because
of inadequate preparation.
- District
administration empowerment: Federalism is new to Somalia and yet has to be
implemented to realise a functional democracy. Adequate resources must be
allocated to the regional governments to bolster economic inclusivity and
hence citizen participation in governance.
- An effective
governance system is to be initiated by the district administration and
well-implemented at district administration. This is the closest
government unit to the citizens and they have a direct say over it. If
well resourced and capacitated to meet citizen expectations, the journey
towards robust democracy and citizen social trust in government can
earnestly commence.
Social
Activism
Robust social activism that unites people’s
thoughts, and voices and jolts them into action is sorely needed in Somalia;
the kind of activism that no anything other than the common good, filters group
and self-interest and champions for prudent leadership.
We should highly consider peace and development
activism that offers:
- Continually
holds the government accountable demanding protection of lives and
livelihoods, inclusive public participation in public reforms and building
relationships between state and citizens
- Co-shaping
common good mindsets to benefit every Somali citizen and filters out negative
ethnicity and wrong group idealogy that hates destroys and kills among us.