Somalia: Open letter to Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni

EDITORIAL | Somalia in 2022 was eventful. It emerged from the brink of conflict with peaceful elections. And that reminded the world, again, of its enduring tradition of respecting the outcome of democratic processes.

Based on that, we could have tossed ourselves into Liddo beach to celebrate. Except there is something else, the small matter of politics in Puntland.

This is why we wanted to write openly to Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni. For weeks now, there has been debate on whether he intends to extend his term beyond the 2024 deadline. And that suspicion has been building into what could become a degrading feature of our politics: violence.

We hope we don’t reach there. But that depends on Deni’s leadership skills. First, Deni needs to come forth and openly clarify the political plan for Puntland. As the oldest and most stable federal state in Somalia, Puntland must give a leadership example to peers struggling to catch up with its prowess. Does he plan to extend his term? Has he explained the reasons? And are the reasons valid? These are issues he can front to stakeholders and subject them to debate and compromise.

Unfortunately, Deni hasn’t favored this route so far, allowing suspicions to balloon. That is dangerous.

Yet Puntland doesn’t need to be perfect. In the past, an issue like this emerged and Puntland survived, intact. One of the founding leaders Abdullahi Yusuf had his term expire in 2001. And he tried to hang on longer, but stakeholders rejected him but gave him a window: he could govern again.

When he did accept to negotiate with the opposition, the conflict was managed.  Of course, Yusuf went on to become one of the Somali leaders after the state collapsed an indication that one’s path to greatness doesn’t need to be straight. It just needs to listen to the voices.

Today, Deni has a choice: Hang on longer than 2024 or subject himself to a free and fair contest. If he wins, Somalis have always shown they stick to the winner and nobody is cheated. It should be the tradition.

But how is Deni handling it? He has been quiet, playing his politics through political movements that can’t speak for him.  One argument fronted is that Puntland needs to prepare for universal suffrage, the one-person-one-vote (1P1V) election. In 2021, trial 1P1V polls in Eyl, Ufeyn, and Quardho district municipal elections went ahead as planned. The polls were praised by development partners as a rare success story in Somalia, whose last such elections had been in the 1960s. That may be true but the donors forgot to point out that the ruling party blatantly abused state powers by using state resources to the disadvantage of opposition groups. How could the election be free and fair in such circumstances? We understand that Puntland, despite its advanced state organs relative to the rest of Somalia, is still a work in progress. But Deni’s administration must know that the basics of democracy such as civic education, free political space, and equal opportunities define universal suffrage. Anything less and it becomes a recipe for chaos.

If Deni wants to build a strong universal suffrage, as his supporters claim, then the best way of doing it is opening the floor for dialogue, not stifling opposition or keeping everyone guessing.

So far, four political associations: Horseed, Mideeye, Dhalinyarada, and Shaqaalaha have penned an open letter asking for the space and dialogue, and opportunity to discuss the problem.  We think political consensus should be the best way of going about it. Any other method will be self-defeating. Deni must not be the one to spoil the trend set by Puntland’s founders where reason has always defeated chaos. This is our caution.

GAROWE ONLINE