Hiiraan Online

When a house is set on fire, there are five groups of people involved; the arsonists who ignited or accelerated the fire; the victim of the fire who runs from the house to safety;  the looters who just want to steal the contents before the house burns down; the hapless bystander who has no power or resources to put down the flame; and the firefighter who has the resources but came late to the scene and is scrambling to salvage whatever is salvageable or at least save the neighbors from the raging fire. The house set on fire twenty something years ago is Somalia, whose inhabitants are scattered the world over for better or worse.

Somalia’s civil war or as I call it “Silly War” (Silly as “foolish” not “trivial”) has metamorphosed from the rebel movements who wanted to overthrow Somalia’s mild dictator. Please don’t write me about how bloody or ruthless Barre was. History is and will be kinder to him than you think. His friends and foes alike would admit that Barre was neither a Mengistu nor Mobutu, meaning he neither butchered nor plundered like most of the African dictators of his day. In fact, most Somalis would wish for 21 years of Barre rule rather than the 21 years that followed his rule. Barre left the stage long time ago, but the real disintegration of Somalia began after his departure. I am the first to admit that Barre’s one man rule and the mismanagement of the country’s affairs has sown the seeds of the disintegration.

It is my belief, however, that the two major rebel movements of the day, the Somali National Movement (SNM) and the United Somali Congress (USC) destroyed Somalia as a nation. Again, don’t write me about singling out SNM & USC, because I know the rest of the alphabet soup including SPM and SSDF caused mayhem and destruction in Somalia. But I believe that SNM and USC had unique opportunities to bring the country together after the fall of the Barre Government. Instead of acting in the national interest and immediately convening a reconciliation conference to name an interim administration, each group motivated by greed for power, influence, and clan supremacy acted on its own. The SNM forgot the “N” in their name stood for “NATIONAL”, while the USC forgot the “U” in their name stood for “UNITED”.  The rest as they say is history (in the dustbin of).

Today it seems we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have always taken as a solace that no war no matter how uncivil it is will go on forever. The same way empires and dictators come and go; every war comes to an end. Whether it restarts again is a different issue. All the other civil wars in Africa in the last three decades have come to a close. Think of it, these countries were waging a bloody civil war not long ago: Angola, Congo, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Burundi, and Rwanda. In the case of Somalia, there are no more “national movements” or clan warfare. The major battle brewing in Somalia is between a cultish group known as Al-Shebab and the Somali Government Forces and its African Union allies. 

For the first time in more than forty years we have a government that on the outset seems legitimate and patriotic in every sense of the word. Most Somalis, inside and outside Somalia seem to be on the same page; they want the internationally recognized government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to be given a chance. This president is perhaps the most pragmatic and intellectual president Somalia has ever had. The naysayers and arm chair pundits (bandits) started discrediting this government before it even completed its first a hundred days. Let us judge this government after at least a full term.

The Shebab’s aims and motivations have bewildered many. While the international community calls them terrorists, they have been called every name in the book including fundamentalists, Islamists, Insurgents, Radicals, Militants, Extremists, Anti-Peace Elements, the Khawarijs, and many others. All these names are befitting since they are an enigma. But I would add even another layer: Al-Shebab is a blend between cultism and anarchism. It may be a wishful thinking, but all signs indicate that Al-Shebab is “in the last throes”.  In the last eighteen months they have lost all major cities in the South-Central Somalia. If this trend continues, Al-Shebab and their ilk are no more, and we could safely say that the civil war is over.

The war is almost over. Now what? First of all, almost doesn’t count! This war must come to an end conclusively. But of course even before the war is concluded the country has started rebuilding. As you may all know the reconstruction process and the nation building is going at a lightning speed in Mogadishu. This is the time to invest in Somalia. For many years, Somalis invested heavily in other countries except their own for obvious reasons. Somalia must become competitive in terms of trade and industry compared to other African countries. Our neighbor Kenya is an economic powerhouse in Eastern Africa and we can learn a few things in order to develop our agriculture and tourism. Somalia, however, will never be Kenya and Somalia cannot and does not need to become Kenya. For starters, Kenya’s top foreign exchange earners are growing tea and tourism. Can you beat that? Kenya is among the most industrialized in Africa and the financial and commercial hub of East and Central Africa. Can you beat that? Well, let us stop beating about the bush and come down to earth. Kenya’s economy is propped up by investments from western governments and corporations something Somalia is unlikely to attract, at least not to such scale.

We may never be Africa’s top tourist destination or a financial hub but if we try hard and change the way we do things we can be a few things more. At the very least we could be self-sufficient in food! Grow our own food and process our own food. Is that too much to ask? Before the civil war Somalia produced their Sugar, Sorghum, and Corn. Today, these items are the top on the IMPORT list! Before we save Somalia, we must first save ourselves from five bad habits that hinder Somalia’s businesses to grow.

1.      My Clan, instead of My Country – this is self-explanatory, Somalis put their kinship first instead of their country first.

2.      Individualism, instead of Partnership – Everyone thinks they can achieve wealth or success on their own and have no need or trust for partnership with other investors.

3.      Importation, instead of Exportation – Somalis compete on who can import most goods instead of competing on who can export the most. They fail to understand that it is the export that grows a country’s economy not the import.

4.      Imitation, instead of Innovation – Somalis like to copy over and over again the same type of businesses instead of trying new ideas.

5.      Repetition, instead of Diversification – This is where a successful business does not expand into different businesses instead they keep on doing the same business until they stagnate and even decline.

Fortunately, some of the things mentioned above are starting to change, although not fast enough. Let’s us face it, we are not expecting foreign investors to call Somalia home anytime soon. Somalia was never a magnet for foreign investment for one reason or another. The ‘foreign’ investment that we expect would mostly come from the Somali Diaspora and donation from friendly governments and NGOs. A friendly country that is doing an extraordinary developmental work is Turkey. The Turkish Government and its people have done a lot and are doing much more in Somalia, especially in the capital. They are building hospitals, schools and colleges, mosques, orphanages, highways, airports, government buildings including the Parliament House, and so on and so forth. As much as Turkey is helping, they cannot build a country from scratch, nor should they. Turkey will assist; we the Somalis should pursue and persist in every endeavor to rebuild and restore Somalia and then bring it up to the 21^st century. Before I call upon my fellow Somalis to flock home, let me first outline what the Federal Government need and must do in conjunction with regional and local governments. Even the Somali Diaspora as patriotic and as profit seeking as they seem will not invest as fast or as much is necessary if every step is not taken by every sector or region of government to address this eight point plan simultaneously:-

Security for person and property – It is no brainer that, it is precisely because of security breakdown did people and the country suffered huge losses both in lives and assets. It is no surprising then security has to be priority number one. The security apparatus must be put in place. The security forces should be well trained, well equipped, and well paid. To accomplish this task, the outdated and ineffective arms embargo on Somalia to should be lifted immediately. First of all, illegitimate groups and other terrorist elements would not be hindered by an international law such as the sanctions on arms imports. Then why handicap a government to equip its security forces to defend its territories and its people? To be sure, Somalia at this stage cannot even pay salary to its police force let alone importing caches of weaponry to the country. So the fears of arms proliferation and arms falling on the wrong hands are ill-advised. Arms are already in the wrong hands!

Reliable Electricity – The regional governments with the help of the Federal government, international donors, and the private sector should ensure that at least in the major towns there is enough and reliable electricity connected in one grid. We cannot have a major city especially the capital city with thousands of generators running. This is not only inefficient economically but also environmentally hazardous.

Reliable and Clean Water – Clean water for human and animal consumption and other domestic uses should be readily available for free or almost free as in most countries on earth. In most countries of the world, water is provided by the county or the city or the municipality or the central government. Under no circumstance, should the provision of water be privatized. Water is a basic need and should never be a profit seeking enterprise. Nominal fee is acceptable as is in most nations. Of course, bottled water should be available to those who can afford it but not at the expense of the municipal water. The tap water should clean, pure, and drinkable.

Efficient sewage and drainage system – This is another essential municipality function. There should never be the smell of human waste whether strolling on the street, playing at the park, relaxing at your balcony, or sitting on your sofa. The point is there should be a modern and central sewage system that processes all the waste from all corners of the city. In addition, there should be an underground drainage system that collects all floods, rain water, and any other excess water whatever the source. No matter how heavy a rain occurs no flooding on the streets. People and cars should be able to move freely.

Extensive network of paved roads – A country cannot prosper if a business cannot move its goods from one place to another because during the rainy season the roads are impassable due to mud or flood. The first order of the day is start paving the main streets of the city, then move to the suburbs, then roads between major cities and within short time a reliable network of roads will be formed. This will take time and money. But believe me humans waste a lot of time and money.

Trash collection and landfill system – This could be a private/public partnership. It is another essential element that makes a country either stink or stand-out. Africa is notorious with major cities that are otherwise nice but fouled by the stench of uncollected trash. It is also seen in many parts of Asia and Latin America. Ironically, trash collection is perhaps the cheapest a city can do. It is not as expensive as providing water, electricity, or the sewage system. What you need is a few specialized trucks for collecting trash, a few dedicated workers who are relatively well-paid, and then a big landfill and a few tractors for digging and dumping.

Fast and reliable Internet – Well, you may be wondering why on earth the Internet is on the nation’s top priority list. The reason is the world moved on while we were fighting. Twenty years ago Internet was an experimental thing in the west; today it is the engine that drives most businesses. Luckily we just need to tap the fiber optic cable under the ocean not far from the Somali coast.

Robust legal System – A strong and independent judiciary is very important for society in general, but especially for businesses to prosper. Commercial and contract laws should be enforced. Business disputes should be handled and settled with immediacy and vigor by special courts trained to handle commercial disputes.

After the public, private, and international partnership have handled the aforementioned, next comes the business investment in agriculture and small industry. My theory is this, before we try new ventures or grow new crops; we need to grow what we used to grow, process what we used to process and export what we used to export. At various times in Somalia, these were the main crops we used to grow:

Bananas, Mangoes, Beans, Sorghum, Corn, Rice, Sesame Seeds, Coconuts

We used to have these major processing factories

Sugar Refinery, Meat and Fish Canning, Oil Seed Processing, Leather Tanning, Textile Manufacturing

We used to export mainly: Livestock, Bananas, Hide and Skins, Fish

Some of the small industries and the cash crops are slowly recovering, but we have long ways to go. In addition to the above many other small to medium scale industries will spring up. For instance, we do not need to import cooking oil if we can grow enough corn to make oil. The list of investment opportunities in Somalia is almost endless. If we have a strong government and a group of strong willed business people everything is possible in Somalia.