Kaluun – Shame on SL Gov’t ..
BY:- Ahmed M . I. Egal

The fish is back and there is a terrible stench of betrayal and dishonesty wafting from Hargeisa. There is an axiom about liars which goes as follows: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” This axiom deftly outlines both the immorality of the liar and the responsibility on the honest to be vigilant not to be conned twice by the same charlatan.


The fish came to SL once before professing regret and atonement for his betrayal of the  indep endence and sovereignty of our country and the previous UDUB government bought his lies and President Riyalle pardoned him. At the time, I objected to this pardon in writing arguing that, at the very least, the fish should have been subjected to the rule of law and tried for his crimes in open court. The President could then pardon him, if he so wished, after sentence had been  pas sed. I argued that this was not only the proper procedure, but also that application of the law would send a clear message to the other vagabonds that chose money and Cabinet posts in  M ogadishu as payment for treason and betrayal.


In any event, the fish was pardoned without having to face justice and without spending a day in prison, and he enjoyed a month or two in his homeland within the warm embrace of his kith and kin. He then chose to repay the magnanimity of the SL Government and people by returning to his previous ways of denouncing Somaliland’s independence in support of a transparent and unsuccessful bid for a Cabinet position in the Sheikh Sharif ‘Government’. He reneged on his  ple dges to the Riyalle Government and the people of Somaliland, and indeed seized every  opportu nity to belittle the country and its achievements. Another axiom states: “Khaayin ma aflax” and the fish was snubbed by Sheikh Sharif’s TFG, despite his extensive lobbying and desperate  atte mpts to ingratiate himself to them by vociferously denigrating his country of birth and the  wish es of its people.


Now, having lost out on the opportunity to take his turn dipping his snout in the trough of aid  money in Mogadishu, the fish has come back to Hargeisa to see what he may able to finagle in SL. The simple fact is that we have been here before with the fish. We have clearly seen the  va lue he puts on honouring his promises and pledges, and we have seen the content of his  chara cter. The only question that remains to be answered is whether the new government of SL will accept the shame of a second con from this charlatan or whether it will allow the law to run its course. This is not about political beliefs, or whether or not one can believe in Somaliweyn, it is about the rule of law. Actions have consequences, and the fish consciously decided to commit treason against SL in a calculated pursuit of his personal enrichment and aggrandisement. That was his choice. The SL Government must now choose whether to apply the law of the land or n ot, and its action will have consequences since the fish’s colleagues in treason and mendacity, e.g. Ismail Buubaa, are watching with avid interest.