Somaliland’s House Of Elders Is Detrimental To Democracy
By:Mohammed Dahir Ahmed
Democracy devoid of elections is like a vehicle without tyres. Albeit there is a persistent drought in the eastern regions and the whole nation is geared towards reaching and sustaining the drought vicitms, it is still paramount important to maintain the election process in tact.
The founding members of the house of elders were the once built the peace and stability of the state but the present members of the house are their sons whom have inherited their fathers posts and are not close or in a parallel with their father’s patriotism.
The current members of the house of elders are treacherous sycophants whom all the time make their interest first and make the national interest in a far-off place. Some powerful ministries and members of the house became so close to collude for their simple individual political interest in the expense of the nationwide national interest, in essence this is fascism according to former US president Franklin D.Roosevelt.
“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
Thus, it is very imperative that the three Presidential candidates convene incessant consultative gatherings. The parties should invite to such consultative meetings Somaliland election stakeholders such as the National election commission, Civil society organizations, and Friendly western countries who support Somaliland democratization and elections.
By not doing the above, Political parties give chance to groups and individuals whom are detrimental to the democratic and the election processes. There will be serious repercussions if another Presidential term extension is allowed. Some of these include: foreign direct investment will be negatively affected, it will further disenfranchise the youth, trust in government will diminish, parallel systems to the democratic system of governance may emerge, citizens may engage in civil disobedience, execution of court rulings will become difficult, the government will limit itself to defending its actions and the term extension and overlook existing opportunities and threats, and the trust and legitimacy of the presidency will be weakened.
By:Mohammed Dahir Ahmed,
Hargeisa,Somaliland