Now that we have a parliament: What will be the contribution of the Somalis in the Diaspora?

By Abdirashid Khalif Hashi

These are indeed interesting times for Somalia . On one hand, it seems that we have achieved in Mbagathi what we failed to accomplish in the past fifteen years, that of forming an all inclusive and internationally recognized parliament. On the other hand, if one really looks close enough at this achievement one will realize that it is not totally of our making, after all!

It is obvious that this is partially the result of IGAD and the International Community's unwavering determination to bring peace to Somalia . Admittedly, the perseverance of the Somali participants in the Somali National Reconciliation Conference that has been going on in Kenya for the past two years has also got some thing to do with this success. Whatever the reasons, one cannot deny that what is achieved in Mbagathi is indeed a miracle of a sort.

The formation of the nascent Somali Parliament is of course the beginning of a long process of National Institutional Building . If this experiment is to succeed, the bulk of the burdensome task will fall on the shoulders of the Somali people, and particularly those who are in the Diaspora. Therefore, the faster the Somalis abroad realize their role and the responsibilities that come with it, the sooner we will all hopefully see a good future for our Nation.

What the Somalis in the Diaspora need now is a paradigm shift and a new way of looking at issues, problems, and opportunities. We can no longer maintain our old, detached, pessimistic, and debate-but-no-action posturing. Because of what has transpired in Mbagathi – Charter, Parliament and a general understanding to establish a federal arrangement of governance for the Somali Republic, as well as a new proactive engagement of a united international community - what the Somalis in general and those in the Diaspora in particular, need to appreciate rather swiftly is the new realities on the ground.

These realities are: Somalia will soon have a government; the international community will support the new institutions; most of the forces who participated in the destruction of the country will have a prominent role in the new political set up; most of the Somalis who consider themselves as the “good guys” have been marginalized in the creation of the Mbagathi institutions; most of the Somali elite are suspicious of every warlord-centered institutions; neither the warlord turned honorable MPs nor those who oppose them can do alone the required job of reconstituting Somalia. In order to reach amicable solutions to these dichotomies, we need to do a bit of soul-searching and accept to engage positively the new realities on the ground. Otherwise we will be grappling with another five years of vicious circle.

The first and foremost thing we all need is to readjust our thinking. For instance, instead of zeroing in on the thirty or so warlords in the new Legislature, we should rather focus on the peace dividend and the immense potential byproducts of their inclusion in the Parliament: things like bringing Somali cities back to normalcy, running water for innocent civilians, schools for Somali youngsters, the return of over two million of our citizens who are languishing in refugee camps, and end of mayhem and violence in the country among other things.

This is not to suggest that the new MP-Warlords will be the catalysts for these much-need basic needs of our people. However, this arrangement would make it possible that the millions of Somalis who fled the country could come back to take part in the rebuilding efforts of our shattered homeland. The millions of our citizens who remained in the country but traumatized by the marauding militias, could also start to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives.

Instead of dueling on the possible shorting comings of the two year long process in the selection of the new Members of Parliament, we should seize the moment and appreciate the goodwill of many in the international community who are ready to extend a helping hand so that we can begin the long process of healing our self-inflicted wounds.

Instead of complaining about the quality of the MPs and the possible election of warlords as a President or a Prime Minister or as Members in the Cabinet, we should rather concentrate on the bigger picture and the fact that what is being produced in Mbagathi is but a skeleton of governance structures and the beginning of the stabilization process. The potential for free and fair elections is only fives years away from us – that is if we are willing to prepare ourselves for that eventuality and have a lot of patience in the meantime.

Instead of expecting the worst from the newly appointed Members of Parliament and politicians, largely of former warlords and their supporters, we should for a moment suspend our emotions and understand that humans can change for the good. And history is full of instances when monster looking individuals matured into a fine and valuable members of the society . Demonizing the dominant political forces in our lives and despairing of them would only add to the pervasive climate of fear, pessimism, distrust, and cynicism in our collective national psyche. However, such negative thinking would not help us a bit, but would only make us adrift as individuals and paranoid as a nation – a psychological disposition that we will do better without.

Somalia will definitely rise again; I have no doubt about this. The resilience of our people is unmatched and of a special type. Our collective willpower is indeed what kept us going in the midst of a total insanity. We succeeded to stay afloat in spite of twenty odd years of being sandwiched between the devil and the deep seas. What we need is to take a deep breath and decide consciously to make best of what we have right now - which is the Mbagathi product.

Since 1985 and beyond, Somalia 's political scene was characterized and dominated by confrontational, cynic, and rivalry-ridden attitude. The only outcome of this destructive mindset is the appearance of monster after monster, bloodshed, destruction, and devastation of every thing that was good about Somalia including self-doubt and crisis of confidence for our people. This time around, such pessimism must be substituted with a tolerant, positive thinking and a forward-looking mindset.

I am not in anyway trying to explain away the problems we are faced with or the kind of people that we have chosen as our leaders. We all agree what the ideal situation is or ought to be. The sad fact is that these are not ideal situations. We are moving from a worse to bad situation, which is positive under the circumstances. Yesterday, what we had was anarchy; today we could have a warlord infested (I am intentionally avoiding to use the warlord dominated ) government structures. We need to get the best out of this scenario. What I am suggesting, therefore, is: let us be positive and face the reality as it is. Let us see what practical steps we could take in order to find practical solutions to our nation's vast problems, bit-by-bit and piece-by-piece. After all, it is said, that Rome was not built in a day, and the healing of Somalia will surely take time.

Finally, I will propose the following practical suggestions that the Somalis in the Diaspora could embark on and implement; and I sincerely believe that these ideas could yield fast, valuable and far-reaching results for our beloved motherland:

If you have college or university level education, please consider coming back home and help the country in your area of specialization. One year or even six months of voluntary National Service would definitely help. Choose what area you want help and whom you want to work with – the public or the private, in the capital or in the regions. What made Canada , USA , Europe or even Malaysia and Indonesia economic powerhouse, is the educated and skilled workforce. If the Educated Somalis do not return to rebuild the county, peace and progress would not break out in Somalia ;

If you are a businessperson or/and a budding entrepreneur, please consider returning to partake the reconstruction of the country; you could also make money in the process, you could create opportunities for others and you could help the creation of conducive environment for the development of the country and the return of foreign investors;

If you cannot come back because of other commitments, consider helping others who have the required skills and are willing to return. Such professionals will be the bedrock for the reconstruction of the country's institutions and their role is of immense importance. Most of Somali cities have handful of antiquated professionals and some cities have none.

Explore ways your adapted countries such as USA , Canada , EU and others or the cities you live in, or the people in your profession could help Somalia . Consider yourself as an ambassador. For instance, we could try to twin Somali cities with other prosperous cities in Europe, North America or in the Arab world and Islamic countries. If you are a student of higher education, see what your school could do for the fledgling centers of higher education in Somalia . The new Somalia would need bilateral and multilateral assistance from other donors, if you are an expert in the ways the world works why not help? If not now, then when?

Everywhere one looks at, there are opportunities for Somalia, if you know someone, some organizations or institutions which could assist us in our endeavor to make Somalia better, please approach and see how we could make use of the experiences of others. When I use the world help , I am not suggesting we seek for a free lunch. No, I only mean that we need to catch up with the world and to do that we must scan the horizon, seek and seize available opportunities. Take the Aids problem as an example. This catastrophic and deadly disease is an endemic and a worldwide problem. It almost engulfed the sub-Saharan part of Africa, and East Africa is Aids infected and endangered neighborhood. We need a national strategy to safeguard our people from the scourge of Aids. There are tons of researches done in this front and we can seek help in this area; we could also learn from the preventive strategies, experiences and outcomes of other nations. Seeking assistance in matters of live and death such as the Aids problem is not begging – rather it is prudence of the highest order.

Because of the civil war, Somalia lost it best brains. If we want our new government institutions to function well and produce worthy results, we need highly educated civil servants and experts in every field. The fact that we self-exiled ourselves from the international scene for close to two decades further necessitates the rapid assembling of top-notch experts who can help us navigate in this complicated yet interdependent global village. The fact that we have new leaders and MPs - who mostly are not up to date – to put it mildly, underscores the need for our experts – both the old and the new - to come back home.

We must all think about not only how best we could organize the Somalis in the Diaspora, we must also figure out the best ways we could educate and bring up-to-date the non-Somali actors who mostly could be suffering the twin diseases of African Pessimism and Somalia Fatigue.

We must all work very hard to create and foster a new atmosphere of cooperation and unity; we must instill in our people upbeat vision for the future and spirit of brotherhood; we should all embark on uplifting the spirit of our people and we must focus on all the good things we could attain if we all resolve to be a force for good and join forces for the noble end of unshackling our nation.

We should never be delusional about the task at hand and we must all understand that first, we must work very, very hard and toil the soil – and then we can reap; and this is the gist of my message;

Let us forgive one another and move on, for how long are we going to be at each other's throats;

Let us all for a moment visualize where our motherland is as we squabble and where the rest of the world is. Let us all resolve and set out to make Somalia in par with other nations within ten years. Yes! We can do it. Remember Japan and Germany , think about Malaysia and Indonesia , do not underestimate the ingenuity of the Somali people. To borrow a line from Bill Clinton It Is The Attitude, Stupid! If there is will, zeal and vision we can consolidate the peace, establish strong foundations for the new government institutions and then, development is just a decade away.

Finally, let us celebrate the peace, let us propagate the peace, let us proclaim the peace, let us perceive the peace, let us pray for peace and let us live in peace. Peace be with you.

Adirashid K. Hashi is currently an observer of the ongoing Somali Peace Conference in Mbagathi , Kenya .

Comments are welcomed;
Email: rashid2025@yahoo.com