Rebuilding Somalia - Ideas

[James Dahl]

I think the problems in Somalia are all caused because the interests of districts and clans are causing disputes due to the "all or nothing" power structure in the country.

Why not divide Somalia up into Cantons, effectively independent states inside a "Somali League", like the Swiss do.

Each city with more than 100,000 people are declared a Canton, with its own elected council, which is elected once a year. Each Canton in turn is divided into Districts for every town or neighborhood with more than 10,000 people, with significant autonamy.

Every month, each District and Canton would send a representative to a great "Shirweyne", which every month would be hosted in a different Canton. Disputes and agreements between cantons and districts would be resolved in these meetings.

A president would be elected once every year by the Shirweyne, who would carry out the ceremonial duties of the head of state. Someone can be president only once.

The Prime Minister would be elected once every 5 years by an election in all the Cantons, who would deal with national and international issues that affect the country as a whole. The cantons still have direct control over all other aspects of the country, and the prime minister reports to the cantons at the Shirweyne every month with the state of the nation. The Shirweyne outranks both the president and the prime minister.

[The-Screw]

"How To Fix Somalia: For Dummies"-- now available at Barns & Noble for $19.99.

[gurey25]

thats the right idea but this cannot be implemented in the current environment.

the Outside powers do not want to promote this becuase it reduces thier influence.
Some Local Groups, those clans that dominate the current so called TFG will resist this the most becuase it will render them powerless.

[James Dahl]

Perhaps, but Somalis would be the ones with the most to gain.

Due to the strong Clan and family system in Somalia, the smaller and flatter the political heirarchy is, the better.

It discourages abuse of power and corruption since you'd be stealing from your own family basically, and every clan, no matter how small or big, has a proportional say, and yet it isn't constructed in a "Qabiilist" way, so non-Somali minorities (Hamari, Bajuni, reer Shabelle, etc) have a say too.

It's Somali style democracy, they way it should have been from the get go.

[James Dahl]

Two things in the Somali economy have been overlooked as assets:

One is the enormous coastline of Somalia, with some of the best beaches in the world, along with a laid back atmosphere.

Vacation resorts! And better yet, MUSLIM vacation resorts. Somalia's reputation as upstanding moral people in the rest of the Muslim world puts Somalia in a perfect place to grab all the tourist dollars from newly-rich Muslim countries like the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bosnia, Turkey or anywhere else. Add to this with the invention of the Burqini last year, and it's a gold mine waiting to happen. A lot of tourists would rather go to "morally upright, if relaxed" Somalia than Thailand or Cancun.

The second great asset is Information Technology. Somalia is one of the most wired countries in Africa, a market that is nascent to say the least. Somali IT companies should go multinational and take over the IT market from Sudan to Mozambique to Ghana.

[James Dahl]

Power!
Somalia is a perfect textbook case for Solar power. It's sunny 90% of the time!
Houses should all have solar panels, and big solar arrays should be put up out in the big empty areas of Somalia, constructed in such a way as to not hinder herdsmen. In fact the herdsmen might like them as they would be shady underneath.

Solar panels last virtually forever, reliably produce electricity, have no waste products, and are safe to have in your own home. Each district could manage their own electricity, heck each HOUSE could produce their own electicity. Local homeowners who install lots of panels could even earn an income off their roof.

There are lots of very successful solar energy projects in Germany, and they get 1/3 as much solar energy as Somalia. Somalia's sunshine is the third untapped resource.

[James Dahl]

Changed the title.

[*Arabman]

[Somalia is a perfect textbook case for Solar power. It's sunny 90% of the time!]

90% of the time? More like 50% or less. Solar power can efficiently be harnessed between 10am-4pm.

[James Dahl]

I meant during the day, but you have a point.
However peak power consumption is also between 10am and 4pm.
Energy can be stored during the day to be used at night.

The great thing about solar for Somalia is the fact that it's something that doesn't require a huge amount of investment, and it can be scaled to match needs, and complimented with other energy sources.

Also, the intensity of sunlight in Somalia means that energy yields are very high. The arrays in Australia, an environment very similar to Somalia, have been immense successes.

[Warya_dude]

Give the Nugaal valley oil to white people and become like fat gulf arabs who don't know how to spend their money and start buildings ridiculous palm islands and ''the world'' in the sea and host camel beauty pageants

[eyes-only]

I don't think tourism is going to yield prosperity for Somalia.

First of all, we don't have any resorts or a good image, and to have such resorts peace would be a start...next you need to identify your unique selling point? What do we have to offer foreign tourists?

If you want to see wild animals there are better countries, since we have lost our stalk to poachers and the war...

If you want sandy beaches, there are many out there....besides ours has nuclear waste and too many sharks....

If you want shopping or activities? Hellooo, Somalia doesn't have any of that to offer....

If you want to see sites or are into culture and art, you're not about to find any of that in Somalia as it is right now...


we don't even have decent mountains to help with the marketing, it'll be tough developing Somalia as a hot tourist destination. I think the way to get Somalia out of the ashes is to have peace, a development plan and a lot of investment

[James Dahl]

New Army:
Each District is responsible for paying, feeding, supplying and outfitting a full Company of soldiers (100 - 200 men) as well as a few pieces of military hardware (tanks, trucks, APCs, supply vehicles, etc) depending on the wealth of the district.

These Companies are organized by the Cantons into Battalions, and the Cantons are also responsible for paying for, fuelling and supplying either an Air Wing of a type of aircraft (fighters, bombers, etc) or for coastal Cantons, a naval squadron.

[James Dahl]

[quote="eyes-only"]I don't think tourism is going to yield prosperity for Somalia.

First of all, we don't have any resorts or a good image, and to have such resorts peace would be a start...next you need to identify your unique selling point? What do we have to offer foreign tourists?

If you want to see wild animals there are better countries, since we have lost our stalk to poachers and the war...

If you want sandy beaches, there are many out there....besides ours has nuclear waste and too many sharks....

If you want shopping or activities? Hellooo, Somalia doesn't have any of that to offer....

If you want to see sites or are into culture and art, you're not about to find any of that in Somalia as it is right now...


we don't even have decent mountains to help with the marketing, it'll be tough developing Somalia as a hot tourist destination. I think the way to get Somalia out of the ashes is to have peace, a development plan and a lot of investment[/quote]

Obviously this is true, but what to invest in?
There are many possibilities, but the ones that should be pursued are those that will have lasting benefits.

[eyes-only]

[quote="James Dahl"]New Army:
Each District is responsible for paying, feeding, supplying and outfitting a full Company of soldiers (100 - 200 men) as well as a few pieces of military hardware (tanks, trucks, APCs, supply vehicles, etc) depending on the wealth of the district.

These Companies are organized by the Cantons into Battalions, and the Cantons are also responsible for paying for, fuelling and supplying either an Air Wing of a type of aircraft (fighters, bombers, etc) or for coastal Cantons, a naval squadron.[/quote]

but that would mean some districts would have better military capabilities, I mean what would stop one from attacking another? I think we'll need a centralised government and some power given to the federal states but they should not have control over defence, foreign affairs and also the treasury.

They should only be responsible for their own local budgets and improving the local economies.

[DONKEYMAN]

Good proposals James Dahl. You good man.