A SHORT REJOINDER TO: KULMIYE’S STATEMENT ON THE HORN OF AFRICA
October 8, 2008

If Kulmiye Party has any reputation these days at all, it has mutated into a parochial, defiant, and a divisive regional outfit. Reputations are built on a track record of solid performance, not punctuated by periodic episodes of erratic and irrational politic. For example, earlier this year, the United States Under-Secretary of State for African Affairs, Dr. Jendai Frazer, made a short visit to Somaliland . At a closed door meeting of the leaders of the three National parties with the Under-Secretary, the chairman of Kulmiye spent his allotted time on domestic issues rather than rising to the occasion on behalf of the nation. The chairman squandered a golden opportunity and that was an embarrassing diplomatic misadventure. The chairman’s performance was a complete disappointment and it shows the party’s lack of a coherent differentiation between domestic and foreign policies.

Secondly, where does the Party stands on the issue of national election? Although the decision to disband the previous National Elections Commission was questionable, Kulmiye party refused to submit the name of its candidate to the new commission. With the parliament and the Guurti squabbling over the eligibility of two other prospective candidates, the matter dragged on for almost a year. At the end it became apparent that the voter registration could not be done in time to hold the Municipal elections scheduled for December 14th, 2007, followed by the Presidential election on April 14th, 2008. The Elections and the three national parties agreed to reschedule both elections. The opposition parties initiated the re-scheduling of the elections.

However, the uncalled for intervention of the Upper House of parliament in the issue, gave Kulmiye a new lease on life- sufficient ammunition to hold the nation a helpless hostage. The party chairman went on a media blitzkrieg to the effect that by the end of May 15th, 2008, Kulmiye will not recognise the legitimacy of Somaliland government!! A government in power is normally replaced through a democratic process; in other words, through the loss of its mandate in a national election. Gung-ho tactics and kamikaze antics have no place in democracy.

Thirdly, for the first time in the party’s history, the national symbols [flag, map, state emblem, etc] of Somaliland Republic appeared only when its website was recently upgraded. Is this a change of heart? Can the party’s Foreign-Minister-In-waiting give the readers a reasonable explanation for that? It was not an unintentional oversight anyway.

Before Kulmiye party’s Secretary of State-at-large ventures out into the murky waters of regional conflict and formulates a refined domestic and foreign policy incorporated into its election platform. The party has to put its house in order first. The dynamics of the regional turmoil is beyond the frivolous musings of Kulmiye’s leadership- a divided party is in no position to engage effectively the intractable problems of the region.

The leadership of Kulmiye has to practice what they preach. In deed inclusiveness, dialogue, and consensus are fundamental pillars of conflict resolution, but how did the party manage its divided house? The party has no credibility to offer any serious blue print for the diffusion of regional conflict. Politics of inclusion were conspicuously absent at Kulmiye’s last two conventions and that is why the party is in the process of an irreversible fragmentation.

The initiation of two parallel conventions does not improve the party’s standing with general electorate one way or the other- a clan conference in Gar-Adag and another one in Burao to elect the party’s central committee. The negative influences of the clan demon on national politics leads only to one thing: The reverse dismantling of our nascent democracy. The paragons of our national parties gloat when their opponents fumble, yet frown when held accountable to their own faltering.

The would-be president of Somaliland preferred to attend the Clan conference reducing himself to the position of a tribal chief. This indicates Kulmiye is no longer a national party but a clan owned institution. What happened at the proceedings of the party in Burao was the lowest point in the party’s history.

With four candidates vying for the position of Vice-president, the chairman picked up a pre-screened candidate of his choice. At least the matter should have been put to vote to lend the convention some semblance of legitimacy. In democracy the ballot box determines the ultimate winner; bullying and influence peddling have no place in a transparent process. Why the party chairman has to choose his running-mate roughshod over the objections of the other candidates? Why the elections rules have to be changed to winner take it all?

To regain public confidence, Kulmiye needs divine intervention to salvage it from certain oblivion. Before the party signs on to the lofty ideals of regional economic integration, where is the party’s national development blue print? Of course such document will be drafted once the party wins the next presidential election, perhaps in the year 2014 or 2015.

The co-ordination of diplomatic initiatives among the bankrupt regimes of the area is a wishful thinking at the moment. What is needed is a complete transformation of the entrenched corrupt political systems of the region before trade and investment issues are addressed.

Kulmiye party is no stranger to controversy and radicalism- the red brigades of the war projects notoriety hold sensitive positions in its hierarchy. The reports of Kulmiye’s ties with the Eritrea and Embagathi factions have been circulating in the media for a long time. Some of the regional governments are extremely uneasy about such a scenario and their concerns are justifiable and the party has failed to counter these allegations.

Ahmed Ali Ibrahim Sabeyse
asabeyse@hotmail.com