But former Lagdera MP Maalim Farah cautioned Kenya against interfering in Jubaland elections because it will create more problems between Kenya and Somalia.
“If we align ourselves with clans, then we will have a problem with other sub-clans. The most important foreign relations policy is reciprocity. It is easier to defeat a country with 45 different languages than one big homogenous group like Somalia,” Farah said.
He urged Kenya to deal with Somalia as a nation and not with regional states because despite the fact that that they fought as clans, they are quickly getting over it.
Joined at the hip
He is also very critical of the administration in Jubaland which he says has not built even one classroom, or a health centre since taking in Kismayu.
“They went there, cut deals with Al-Shabaab to share resources at the Port and in charcoal business which led to the massive destruction of the Boni forest, also known as Bushbush on the Somalia side,” Farah said.
The former MP had nothing good to say about the Madobe‘s leadership. “I don’t blame him because he has no capacity. He never went to school and even the title Sheikh is just a title,” he said.
He described the bespectacled and bearded leader as a man who began as a small businessman at a time when smuggling goods across the Somalia-Kenya border around Dobley was rife.
“Our relations with Somalia are permanent because they will always be our neighbours and we are joined to them at the hip. We are not joined to a small region in Somalia,” said the former Deputy Speaker.
