Somalilanders Dare Their Leaders To Debate Openly
As Somalis, we often praise ourselves as a people of immense talents in manipulating the oral word to suit our needs of the moment. We pride ourselves in having a formidable repertoire of oral literary traditions that, if not on par with; are not less than many written literature of others.
In one of his famous sayings about Somalis, I.M.Lewis said, “Somalis are born talkers. Every elder is expected to be able to hold an audience for hours on end with a speech richly laced by judicious proverbs and quotations from famous poems and sayings.”
From poems, odes, and proverbs to quotes, stories and parables, Somali literature is famed for its mastery of the oral word. Hence debating is the most suitable arena to display such an oral mastery.
So, why not invite the leaders of our three political parties to express and debate the soundness of their policies in a public forum mediated by non-partisan academics and community advocates?
The majority of our politicians often preach from podiums without giving a chance to the people other than their supporters to question the policies they espouse. Each politician; notably those of UCID and KULMIYE often make bombastic claims without letting anyone question or dispute their claims.
The government’s side is worse; they reiterate recycled clichés as new policies on the few occasions they are not blasting an opposition member.
It seems both the opposition and the government have taken the famous “Read My Lips” maxim to the extreme, and are expecting the public to conjure sense out of the non-sense they often blurt in their political campaigns.
Both the opposition and the government are on each others throats most of the time. On the few occasions they are not, they repeat the same empty promises. They often seem to subscribe to the motto: “if you say something loud and long enough many people will believe it”.
To put this “One man show no questions asked” style of political campaigning, we dare both the opposition leaders; Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Silanyo and Faisal Ali Warabe, and President Dahir Riyale Kaahin to face it out in a live debate whether on the radio or the local TV. The people are eager to test their leaders’ mettle and the country is blessed with large numbers of qualified and competent individuals with enough integrity to comprise a non-partisan panel of moderators.
It is about time for the public to demand from their politicians to face each other publicly and defend their stand on many issues before the elections. Somalilanders of all political stripes deserve the right to ask for this. It is about time that they are given the chance to asses the sincerity, sensibility and skills of their leaders.
Paraphrasing one the famous poems of our esteemed poet, Abdillahi Timadde (1920-1973), we might say:
Madaxdaanu la hadlyaynaan lahayn Dux iyo iimaane
Dul iyo hoosba ugu dignoo Waa dix dhagaxeede
Annaguun baa u damqanayne dheguhu Uma daloolaane
Its English translation:
The leaders we are addressing are void of substance and conscience
We warned them openly and confidentially but they are as deaf as stone
We are the one who cannot help caring yet they have no ears to listen.
Who Is Afraid Of A Political Debate? Only then, we will find out.
Mohamed Doaleh
Ottawa, Canada
