The Daunting Road Ahead: The challenges facing the Next President of Somaliland

As the brave war worn soldiers of the SNM stood in the crumbling reins of the city of Burco and reasserted Somaliland’s independence on May 18th 1991, they knew the tasks facing the new nation appeared to be almost insurmountable. The entire country at that time had been leveled to the ground by Siad Barre’s constant bombardment, many cities were still too dangerous to enter as landmines littered their grounds, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and the populous was gripped with a deep cynicism brought on by a vile war, and decades of oppression and brutality at the hands of a nefarious dictator.

The road to rebuilding the nation was not simple; more wars were fought, more lives were lost, yet the people of Somaliland did not loss hope. They forged ahead, determined to make a better country for themselves and their children. The hardships they faced only seemed to bring them closer together and make their determination stronger.

Now nearly 18 years later, Somaliland has overcome many of its greatest challenges. It has succeeded against all odds, and has achieved what few thought it could achieve. Yet, as the current government of Somaliland has seemingly forgotten, the task of rebuilding Somaliland has not yet been completed. Although as Somalilanders we should be proud of our achievements thus far, we cannot forget that we still have along to go from where we need to be.
The next president of Somaliland will face great challenges, both domestically and internationally. In a country whose economic backbone is the Diaspora population living in western countries, the next president of Somaliland will need to realize the enormous impact the Global Economic Crisis will have on Somaliland’s economic, and come up with innovative solutions to deal with it, and lessen Somaliland’s dependence on Diaspora. The Lack of international recognition is another challenge that will face the next president. He will need to re-think the country’s approach to dealing with this perplexing problem and come up with a novel approach to bring the world’s attention to Somaliland.

Domestically the next president will need to being putting in place legislation that will regulate industries such as Health Care, Education, and Financial institutions, which have been largely unregulated by the current administration. The large financial scam that has recently rocked Hargeisa is just one of the many indications that financial institutions need to monitored and regulate to prevent innocent people from losing their hard earned savings. Another industry that desperately needs regulation is the Health Care system. The number of cases of fraudulent pharmacist and doctors that practice and prescribe medication to naïve patients resulting in life threatening complication and even at times death, is staggering. The next president of Somaliland needs to put in place legislation that requires all physicians that practice within Somaliland to register their qualifications with the Minister of Health, and verify that these qualifications are actually authentic.

The next President will also need to bring regions of the country that have been grossly neglected by the current administration back into the economic and political fold. The first step in this process would be to build roads to link critical cities like Erigavo to the rest of the country.
There is also the great problem of unemployment facing the youth of Somaliland. High school and university graduates in Somaliland are unable to find jobs in their respective fields. They have become disillusioned with the country and endanger their lives on the high seas in search of better lives in western nations. The current administration has made no attempts to utilize the talents and skills of its young people. Protectionist measure must be taken to ensure that jobs go to qualified Somalilanders first before going to foreigners. Businesses which choose to hire foreigner should be asked to prove that they could not find a qualified Somalilander to fill the position, and should be taxed heavily. Businesses which hire Somalilanders should be given a tax deduction in order to encourage more business to follow in their foot steps.

This is by far not an all inclusive list of the problems and issues facing Somaliland but a brief overview. Although the tasks facing the next president and administration of Somaliland may appear daunting they will have a wealth of resources at their disposal; the Somaliland populous, both in the Diaspora and at home, being their greatest asset. The next president should try and rise above the partisanship and nepotism that has plagued Somali politics for decades, and draw his government from the deep well of well educated Somalilander intellectuals both in the private and public sector. If Somaliland wishes to become a part of the global community, and become the great nation it has the potential to be, it will need intellectuals that understand the challenges facing Somaliland and can come up with the solutions needed to deal with them. The next president should usher in a new era of politics in Somaliland which looks past party and tribal divides for the betterment of Somaliland and seeks to find common ground with all factions and groups that form the government.

The challenges that face us will not easily be overcome, nor will change and progress occur overnight. It will require many years of hard work and determination to conquer these challenges; however throughout the history of Somaliland, the people of Somaliland have never shied away from adversity, but have faced it head on. Our spirit has only been strengthened not deterred by the difficulties we have faced. The next president of Somaliland’s job will not be easy, but so long as he rises to the challenges placed in front of him and tries to surmount them, he will find a nation eager to support him.

By: A. Hashi