The controversy of Federalism in Somalia

The controversy of Federalism in Somalia

It is the most talked subject in my country, it is the  curse of Somalia, it is a modern political system which started in the last few decades. It is a system which is applicable, a country of different ethnic groups, religions, cultures, languages and so on. But not applicable in a country with homogenous society such as Somalia.

What is that? It is none but federalism. Some thought that federalism would bring stability and development. Other people strongly believed that it will bring disunity, conflicts, lack of accountability, lack of patriotism and contested power.

Somali has been in civil war for the last quarter century.  -Every clan has it's own fighting factions that defend its own so-called dignity. -There is hatred between Somali brothers. More reconciliation is needed to reunite Somalis. But Somalia doesn't need a system that enhances their disunity.

Conflict is one of the major problems that accompanies federalism. Currently, there is on-going conflict between two states (Gal-mudug and Puntland) in the city of the two states-Galka'yo.  According to the BBC, this has led to the lose of lives of many, injured a large number of people and even those who dwell in Galka'yo have fled to outskirts of the city. Therefore, federalism seems not suited in Somalia.

Accountability is the most significant thing in states. Citizens need to see a transparent state so they can know wether sectors are riddled with corruption or not. Today the central government of Somalia has no power to see how the income from Kismayo port in Jubbaland state is managed.

These days the number of national patriotics are falling due to federalism. Because they have opted for regionalism over patriotism. For example, a person who lives in or is from Puntland is a Puntlander rather than Somali.

The centralization of power is weakened by both the former and newly built states. Every state has it's own administration with little or no intervention by the central government of Somalia. For example, the leaders of the states have the power to sign an agreement with foreign governments. Likewise, some states create anarchy in to the central government causing political instability in government institutions. In addition, they sometimes independently attempt to become a free government. All these are arguments from opposers.

Some argue that federalism is more democratic and will get rid of tyranny by a separation of power, justice and development in terms of economic and social life. They also say that the public will have a chance to criticize the government.

In conclusion, federalism is a new strange system of governance for a homogenous society threatened by civil war. Unfortunately, citizens are unable to restrict the spread of federalism that corrupts and undermines the value of Somalism.

                               Written by:- Mohamud Shawul Abdirahman

                                 E-mail:-      Mshawul114@gmail.com

Inspire! - Portrait of an inspiring Somali youth

FATIMA ABDI ALI

Fatima Abdi Ali, aged 23, lives in Mogadishu. She one of a very few young women activists pushing for progress for Somali youth and also Somalia as a whole. She has been leading social works for 3 years in Mogadishu. This led her to became Ambassador to Somali youth nominated by Nicolus Kay, former  UN ambassador to Somalia.  " I enjoy volunteerism" Fatima told me in an interview.

On Nov. 1, 2015, she became one of the ten most prominent youths in Africa and received her award  in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, due to her talent and hard work.  " -Being a young person in Somalia today is a golden opportunity," says Fatima, who is also political student at City University of  Mogadishu.

 She has attended international conferences about youth, women empowerment as well as public policy in and outside of the country. " -I want to say that every country has young people like me - they should be appreciated. We need to encourage youth everywhere to start acting, to start doing great things to create the world we want," says Fatima.

Prior to her leadership, she served two years as president of student government at City University. She is also one of the founders of Somali Universities Student Association, an organization that works in student affairs in Somalia. She later became the Chairperson of this organization and served two years. " -This has broadened my outlook" says Fatima.

 She is a good writer and blogger of local and international issues, She has written a fascinating book entitled, Isticmaal Awoodahaaga "Use your powers" that was released Mogadishu International Book Fair, which held annually. She has also written many interesting, inspirational- and great articles in both the Somali and English languages such as Ciidanimo ma ceeb bay noqotey "Is it shame to be Soldier", Tiigsan maayo Tahriib "My ambition is not illegal migration", Patience pays and Thanking our young change maker. These articles are all published on local and international media.

To sum up, Fatima is a proud, strong, fearless, young woman. " I have an ambition to be a leader, I believe that change is needed from anyone who wants to restore hope to a disintegrated society," Fatima says. She is now part of Somali Youth Vision, an organization that works on youth issues, and is currently working with an independent Committee of  Local borders and Federalism.

                                  

                           Written by: Mohamud Shawul Abdirahman

                            Edited by: Rick Boychuk

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN SOMALIA

Youth Unemployment in Somalia

More than 70% of Somalia’s population is under the age of 30 and statistics show that the youth are mostly unemployed. Unemployment has long been a major problem in Somalia, particularly to the youth. The unemployment of the youth has increased after the collapse of the Somali government in 1991, because most of the infrastructure in the country has been destroyed and public or private sectors that offers job opportunities have been riddled with corruption. Youth grumbled about these factors which eventually led to some of them to take on the treacherous journey through the Mediterranean Sea seeking for better opportunities abroad and even caused some to join the Islamist militant group ‘Al-Shabab’.

The lack of job opportunities amongst the youth leads them to look for other options to gain an income; these options include crime and migration. The youth have at times resorted to crime as a means to obtain an income due to the circumstances that prevailed at the time and are still present today, and the failure of the state also led to the failure of the education sector meaning that a generation was plagued with illiteracy not considering other alternatives they decided to turn to crime. The other option that youth took was migrating to Europe in a bid to find a better a life beyond the unforgiving sea which has resulted in many dying in their quest to reach Europe.   

Unemployment has had an impact on me personally. The difficulty of finding employment is a frustrating that I understand too well, and one year ago I attempted to find employment in an organization and was unfortunately denied on basis of clanism. This is another problem that contributes to the widespread youth unemployment because each candidate for a job is not selected based on merit but rather selected on their clan affiliations, this creates an unfair standard for getting employed. The mass migration to Europe has directly affected me primarily due to losing close friends and hearing their heart-breaking stories of their demise, and sometimes I would hear of friends that wanted to migrate to Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. I would try to convince them against it but at times without success they wouldn’t listen to the warnings.

Nevertheless, the another major causes of unemployment in the discourses is that lack of quality education in the country. This resulted the youth lacking the required knowledge, and the skills necessarily to work. This accompanied with  the country cannot attract foreign investments  because of the security situation in the country.

The solution to fix these problems is to produce our abundant resources that can easily be produced mainly Livestock, Fishing and Farming in collaboration with United Nations, educational institutions, government, youth, private sector, NGO’s and international partners. Youth who have a high quality education, the training and the skills may be attractive to employers and this will eventually reduce the number of youth seeking opportunity abroad.

Unemployment is widespread problem among the Somali youth. Since we are the future of Somalia’s prosperity the fact that employment is hard to come by is truly a troubling thought. Despite all, that the future looks brighter than ever before as the peace that Somalia is currently experiencing has not been seen for the past 2 decades and peace will bring development, and development will change the course of Somalia for the better.

                        Written by: Mohamud Shawul Abdirahman

                           Edited by: Rick Boychuk