Gurey25/Xplaya nothing wrong with Oligarchs!
Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 11:08 am
I find you guys the most interesting and on point contributors to this forum but I think that you both have a problem in that you judge Somaliland and Somalia by Western standards and fail to see the importance of big business in politically unstable countries and regions.
You are right in the sense that a business environment where all power is vested in a few individuals or a dominant class (oligarchy) is unhealthy for a country. However in the case of a politically unstable, unrecognised, poor and undeveloped country consistenting of number of equally sized tribes who view each other with suspicion the existence of oligarchs can be an advantage for a number of reasons.
Firstly, what you have to understand whether you like it or not is that there are three forces competing for power in Somaliland; Qabiil, Government and Oligarchs. If given a choice between these forces then in an ideal world of course my choice would always be a strong government, however, like I said earlier we don't live in an ideal world. The reality here is that the problems in Somaliland and Somalia begin and end with the desease of qabyalaad, it's symptoms of grandeurs of delusion and pride; and it's outcome of conflict, destruction and stagnation.
The problem with government is that we have chosen a system of democracy which is over whelmingly reliant on this illness of qabyalaad meaning that which ever government that is elected is heavily vested in qabyalaad rendering it weak and at the whim of qabiil.
Oligarchs on the other hand are by definition a clan in their own sense and as such don't feel the need to align themselves with or to represent tribal interest. There number one interest is making money and to make money they need a stable environment in which to do so. For this reason Oligarchs above all else are the upholders of peace in Somaliland.
From the Borama conference in1993 to the 2003 election dispute all the way to the recent Muuse Bixi/Silanyo dispute it has been these same oligarchs who have been maintaining the peace and stability that Somaliland boasts about. When Egal disarmed the tribal militias it was the oligarchs that paid for it. When Silanyo came took over a country $25m dollars in debt and unable to pay wages it was the oligarchs that paid. Without the Oligarchs the power vacuum would have been filled by qabyalaad and there simply would not be a Somaliland to talk of today.
Secondly, these Oligarchs are the biggest employers in Somaliland today, they and other private businesses are responsible for an overwhelming proportion of the county's development. The positive fallout from their businesses impacts every part of Somaliland's society and it's development. For example, Telesom and Dahabshiil between them employ upwards 10,000 people in Somaliland, that equates to 10,000 families who are self reliant. Their employees, in turn, spend the salaries in the country resulting in economic growth.
Just to give you one example of when qabyalaad and the Oligarchs colide; Somaliland (known to produce one of the highest quality cements in the world) spends close to $200m dollars (hemorrhaging hard currency) on cement annually. It has a looted and delapidate cement factory requiring upwards of $25m dollars of investment to make it viable. One of our Oligarchs has put forward his intentions to invest in this project and received a contract from the government, the qabiil that inhabits the area put in a counter offer which was accepted because of the qabiils power over the government. The only problem is that they don't have the money to develop the plant and their only motive for standing in the way of the oligarch is that he was from a difffernt qabiil. When the oligarch proposed to build a brand new one away from the current site they demonstrated and burnt tyres. Today we have no cement factory the qabiil is still poor and Somaliland is paying hard currency to Ethiopia for sub-standard cement that damages our roads while being transported.
I'll say again, in an ideal world Oligarchy's are unhealthy but in the Horn of Africa it's the only difference between Somaliland's current state and state of Somalia for the past 20 years.
You are right in the sense that a business environment where all power is vested in a few individuals or a dominant class (oligarchy) is unhealthy for a country. However in the case of a politically unstable, unrecognised, poor and undeveloped country consistenting of number of equally sized tribes who view each other with suspicion the existence of oligarchs can be an advantage for a number of reasons.
Firstly, what you have to understand whether you like it or not is that there are three forces competing for power in Somaliland; Qabiil, Government and Oligarchs. If given a choice between these forces then in an ideal world of course my choice would always be a strong government, however, like I said earlier we don't live in an ideal world. The reality here is that the problems in Somaliland and Somalia begin and end with the desease of qabyalaad, it's symptoms of grandeurs of delusion and pride; and it's outcome of conflict, destruction and stagnation.
The problem with government is that we have chosen a system of democracy which is over whelmingly reliant on this illness of qabyalaad meaning that which ever government that is elected is heavily vested in qabyalaad rendering it weak and at the whim of qabiil.
Oligarchs on the other hand are by definition a clan in their own sense and as such don't feel the need to align themselves with or to represent tribal interest. There number one interest is making money and to make money they need a stable environment in which to do so. For this reason Oligarchs above all else are the upholders of peace in Somaliland.
From the Borama conference in1993 to the 2003 election dispute all the way to the recent Muuse Bixi/Silanyo dispute it has been these same oligarchs who have been maintaining the peace and stability that Somaliland boasts about. When Egal disarmed the tribal militias it was the oligarchs that paid for it. When Silanyo came took over a country $25m dollars in debt and unable to pay wages it was the oligarchs that paid. Without the Oligarchs the power vacuum would have been filled by qabyalaad and there simply would not be a Somaliland to talk of today.
Secondly, these Oligarchs are the biggest employers in Somaliland today, they and other private businesses are responsible for an overwhelming proportion of the county's development. The positive fallout from their businesses impacts every part of Somaliland's society and it's development. For example, Telesom and Dahabshiil between them employ upwards 10,000 people in Somaliland, that equates to 10,000 families who are self reliant. Their employees, in turn, spend the salaries in the country resulting in economic growth.
Just to give you one example of when qabyalaad and the Oligarchs colide; Somaliland (known to produce one of the highest quality cements in the world) spends close to $200m dollars (hemorrhaging hard currency) on cement annually. It has a looted and delapidate cement factory requiring upwards of $25m dollars of investment to make it viable. One of our Oligarchs has put forward his intentions to invest in this project and received a contract from the government, the qabiil that inhabits the area put in a counter offer which was accepted because of the qabiils power over the government. The only problem is that they don't have the money to develop the plant and their only motive for standing in the way of the oligarch is that he was from a difffernt qabiil. When the oligarch proposed to build a brand new one away from the current site they demonstrated and burnt tyres. Today we have no cement factory the qabiil is still poor and Somaliland is paying hard currency to Ethiopia for sub-standard cement that damages our roads while being transported.
I'll say again, in an ideal world Oligarchy's are unhealthy but in the Horn of Africa it's the only difference between Somaliland's current state and state of Somalia for the past 20 years.
