Somalia’s president calls for end to personality-driven politics

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has called for an end to personality-driven politics and clan-based leadership, urging the country to build a clear political system, strong institutions and a defined process for making national decisions.

Speaking at an event focused on education, institutional development and the empowerment of the Somali people, Hassan Sheikh said Somalia still lacked clarity over who holds political authority, how national decisions are made and which institutions are responsible for them.

He criticised politicians who continue to take pride in describing themselves as faction leaders, saying the country could not achieve meaningful progress while political decisions remained centred on individuals rather than institutions.

“I tell the Somali people: wake up and become aware. Wake up and become aware. Build a system. Politics is what you have,” Hassan Sheikh said, adding that the economy was moving forward, people were engaged in business and education was advancing, but the country had yet to reach its full potential.

The president stressed that Somalia needed institutions capable of determining who is responsible for national decisions and establishing how those decisions are reached. “If we do not put the country’s politics in order, if we do not know who is responsible for the country — not an individual, but the institution responsible — and how decisions are made for the people, we will not achieve development,” he said.

Hassan Sheikh also described security as the foundation for progress in education, the economy and wider social development. Using the example of a farmer preparing a field before planting, he said security was the groundwork needed before Somalia could cultivate education, economic growth, dignity and prosperity.

He added that a nation’s greatest strength was not simply its natural resources, skyscrapers or weapons, but the knowledge, skills and quality of its people.

GAROWE ONLINE