HSM: The hand that rocks the cradle of HirShabelle

The newly formed HirShabelle state is on its way to selecting members of the Upper House, and it is already providing a textbook case for how President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud (HSM) will be re-elected: with loads of money.

In the beginning, HSM treated Hiiraan with disrespect and heavy-handedness. He sent his boyish-looking, interior minister and federal affairs, Abdurahman Odowaa, to the region to start the formation of the new federal state combining Hiiraan and Shabelle. The young man, widely believed to be a member of Dammul-Jadid, the secretive group that controls Villa Somalia and Mogadishu’s economy, failed in his attempts to garner support from various tribal leaders. Clan elders simply ignored him and treated him as a “youngster” and an extension of HSM.

Consequently, Odowaa and Mohamed Mukhtar, another cabinet minister, were sent to Beledweyne to enlist support, but that did not work either. Some of the elders simply told the duo that one of them was welcome (Mukhtar) and the other (Odowaa) was not. It took HSM a long time to realize that Odowaa was no longer welcome in that region.

A few clan leaders in Hiiraan and Shabelle then attempted to form a state region. They failed because the international community did not lend a helping hand and some clans boycotted the gathering. Afterward, Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid came to Beledweyne and persuaded Hiiraan leaders to acquiesce in the formation of a state that combined Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle. Sharmarke admitted to the elders that the federal government had made mistakes in its dealing with the region. The elders then tentatively agreed to participate in the formation of the state.

When HSM heard that his premier and political rival succeeded where his young envoys failed, he decided to go to Beledweyne himself. The president did not want Sharmarke to take any credit for the successful talks.

Hiiraan verses Shabelle

The Xawadle, one of the largest clans in Hiiraan, and its elders have serious grievances with the new federal process of state formation. They are angry that Hiiraan, one of the eight original regions formed after the country gained its independence, is being lumped with Shabelle.  The idea that it now has to share power with Middle Shabelle is mindboggling. As Ugaas Hassan Ugaas Khalif of Xawaadle clan succinctly put it: “Hiiraan was a region after independence when Jowhar was a mere district.”  He said that Hiiraan, for instance, will not accept four seats in the Upper House when Shabelle will also have four seats.

State parliament elections

After the arm twisting of various clan elders in both Hiiraan and Shebelle, HSM succeeded in making Jowhar the new capital of HirShabelle. About ninety eight members were selected for the state parliament.  The presidency was given to Xawaadle, the speakership to Gaal Jecel, and the vice presidency to Abgaal.  Two elections, one for speaker and the other for president of the state, were first conducted this month.

Initially, the post of the speaker was supposed to be an easy choice between Abukar Hassan Ali, an educated politician with experience in government and the court system, and Sheikh Osman Barre, a traditional tribal leader. HSM took no chances and made sure “his people” won the selection process. He backed the traditional elder because he was someone whom he could influence. Moreover, he suspected that Abukar Hassan Ali, who had worked with the former head of the country, President Sharif Ahmed, was too independent to court. Besides, Sharif Ahmed was a rival of HSM and the two are currently competing for the country’s presidency.

HSM sent two political operatives and Members of Parliament to buy votes in HirShabelle’s state elections: Dahir Amin Jeesow and Amina Mohamed Abdi.  The two came to Jowhar with loads of money. Some sources say that they brought with them several hundred thousand dollars. The duo distributed funds to members of the state parliament to elect HSM’s pick, Sheikh Barre, and defeat Ali. According to reliable sources, about $6,000 was given to each state parliamentarian, who in return promised to vote for Barre. It worked. Suddenly, Barre, the dark horse in that race, won 61 votes. So, HSM was the ultimate winner.

Once the speaker was chosen, the president of the state was selected. Three candidates were in the running: Ali Abdullahi Osoble, Ali Mohamed Arale, and Mohamed Abdi Waare. However, Arale’s brother (Abdikarim) is married to Ossoble’s sister.  Therefore, Ali Arale withdrew from the race.

Ali Ossoble, whose father served as a cabinet member in Siad Barre’s government, is a quiet man not known for political activism. His detractors say that he is the type of politician HSM loves to deal with; malleable, weak, and un-engaging.  In political parlance, he poses no threat to Villa Somalia. Ossoble was selected as the president of HirShabelle with exactly 61 votes. What is magic about the number 61? Some believe that the $6,000 given to 61 members of the state parliament paid for votes for both the new speaker and state president; they were a package deal. In politics, these critics say, there is no coincidence.

In a BBC interview, Ossoble denied that the election was questionable. He was introduced to the international community in Mogadishu last week and then went to Beledweyne. Ugaas Hassan, who had denounced the formation of HirShabelle as an illegal entity made and manufactured elsewhere, met Ossoble. Ossoble’’s goal was to bring the chieftain with him to Jowhar so he could attend the swear-in-ceremony for the new president. It did not happen. When asked what the two had talked about, Ugaas Hassan issued a terse reply: “We only discussed about our clan.”

In the next article, I will address the selection of members of the Upper House from HirShabelle which has yet to be finalized.  Sit tight and enjoy the ride.

On Relationships: Getting Along with In-Laws.

The scene is a café where two men are chatting. One of them gloats and says, “My mother-in-law is an angel.” The other sighs and says, “You are lucky—mine is alive.” In another case, a man laments: “My mother-in-law and I were happy for 20 years. Then, I met her.”

Okay, enough with the mother-in-law jokes. The point is that relationships do not operate in a vacuum. There are in- laws to contend with. The anecdote that Adam and Eve were the luckiest and happiest couple in the world because neither had a mother-in-law is not amusing. Many marriages either thrive or disintegrate depending on the couple’s relationship with the in-laws.   

I married an American woman from Michigan when I was 21. We met at a student conference in the Midwest and after several months we ended up getting married. However, her family was rightfully perturbed by our fast courtship.  I was a student at Ohio University who met a young lady working and living in Lafayette, Indiana, where Purdue University is located.  She already had her college degree and came from an upper-middle-class background.

Her parents were understandably worried for their daughter and the future that awaited her. They wanted to give us a big wedding and even bought the cake. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts (I had to go to Somalia briefly on behalf of a charitable foundation), the big wedding never happened; instead, we had a small ceremony attended by friends in Indiana, but no relatives from either of our families.

We are here!

Several months after the wedding, that longed for but dreaded day finally came when my in-laws graced us with their presence in Ohio. It was a memorable weekend.

Our first meeting was awkward and replete with niceties and nervousness.  My in-laws were kind and courteous. Occasionally, they groaned when I drove like a moving glacier (alas, I was in a small town in Ohio) and gasped and winced when I spoke about the quality of American cars compared to Japanese cars. I was oblivious to the fact that they were from Detroit—also known as Motor City. It was obvious that more work had to be done in areas of confidence building and bridging our real or imagined conflicts.

A unique woman

My then-mother-in-law, Patricia, passed away in 1998. She was the total package: beautiful, smart, educated, inquisitive, caring, and family-oriented. She was the principal of a school for disabled children. She genuinely tried to know me as a person and asked many questions about my country and culture. I, in turn, admired and appreciated her. Later, when she made her annual trip to visit us in California, she was a hands-on grandma to my kids. She was resolute in her love for them, and they adored her. She spoke the Queen’s English and utterly eschewed all slang. I never heard her use foul language. She was an avid reader and introduced me to Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, long before Steven Spielberg made the novel into a movie. Initially, I would say “No” when she offered me something I did not want, and her usual response was succinct: “You mean, ‘No, thank you.’”

Her husband, Ike, now 91, was more reserved and difficult to read. He was not happy that “daddy’s girl” had left the nest and married to a young man from another continent. He wanted to protect his daughter and do what was best for her. He once grumbled that he wanted his daughter to marry a physician or a lawyer. I even ignored the little digs and disses that came from him at one big family gathering in Michigan about life in Africa in general and clean water there in particular. His wife later apologized to me for his uncouth behavior. I respected him rather than vilifying him, welcomed him with open arms, and never shunned him.

Take my son-in-law, please

One winter day, my in-laws, who owned a vacation house at a lake near Jackson, Michigan, had their boat drift off the dock. Ike and I were asked to drive the 78 miles from Detroit to Jackson to retrieve the boat. My then-wife told her dad to watch out for me because I did not know how to swim. “Don’t worry,” he said, laughing, “He will be fine.”

As my father-in-law and I took a small canoe to get the loose boat, my head was buzzing with negative thoughts. Are we going to sink? Will we make it? One sinister thought was that maybe my father-in-law finally had the chance to get rid of me, the annoying son-in-law, once and for all. All he had to do was flip the canoe in the middle of the lake. My natural instinct for survival and self-preservation suddenly became questionable. Then, in those tense moments, I heard his calm, but collected, voice: “You are doing well, Hassan.” His words filled me with peace and I relaxed. Ironically, that excursion gave us the rare opportunity to understand each other better. As the years went by, he came around and once told his daughter that I was “a fine, young man.”

Bon Appetit

I had no major issues with my mother-in-law except when it came to food. She was health-conscious and perhaps the only person I have ever met who paid such clinical attention to what she ate. I saw nothing but green food in our house when she visited. One day she offered to prepare my lunch.  At noon when I opened my lunch bag, I saw nothing but salad. I was furious at the sight of food without meat. At the time, I did not care much about vegetables. Whenever I was presented with vegetables, I would growl: “Take that away from me. I am not a goat!” The salad was a surprise, but then came the bombshell: There was no dressing. As I sat seething with anger, one of my co-workers, Lorenzo, asked what the problem was. “It’s my mother-in-law,” I said, sheepishly. “She gave me a salad for lunch and no dressing.” He broke into rapturous laughter. His lighthearted moment saved the day, and I almost forgot about my culinary letdown.

It is a woman’s world

Interestingly, most conflicts are not between husbands and their mothers-in-law. Research by Cambridge University psychologist Terri Apter has shown that most conflicts with in-laws arise between wives and their mother-in-law. In her book, What do you want from me? Learning to get along with in-laws, she argued that this “woman-to-woman” conflict is due to unmet expectations that are not delineated. Apter wrote, “Each is the primary woman in her primary family. As each tries to establish or protect her status, each feels threatened by the other.”

However, in-laws have legitimate concerns that cannot be ignored. In a study by Sylvia L. Mikucki-Enyart of the University of Wisconsin, the majority of the 89 mothers who were surveyed about their greatest worries regarding their children’s marriage expressed more uncertainty and insecurity about their sons marrying than their daughters tying the knot. Those fears mostly involved concerns that their sons would not be taken care of, that they would not visit their moms very often, and that the daughter-in-law would change the son.

One thing that is no joke is that tensions with in-laws can be hazardous to your health. In a 2009 study from Cambridge University, 60% of women said they were stressed due to their relationships with their in-laws, whereas only 15% of men felt the same way.

Recommendations

1.      Your mother-in-law is a part of your family. You chose your spouse, but not your in-laws. As Dr. Phil once said, “If you plan on sticking with your spouse, then you are also stuck with your in-laws.” As an example, one woman cooked a sumptuous meal for her in-laws. When her mother-in-law asked about the recipe, she responded, “It is a family secret, so I don’t give it out.” The daughter-in-law committed a faux pas because she forgot that her mother-in-law was also a part of her family.

2.      Your mother-in-law raised her son—your husband—well enough for you to marry him. She was the woman in his life long before you met him. She must have done a good job. Treat her with respect and courtesy.

3.      Age, experience, and wisdom are what in-laws bring to the table. You can learn a great deal from your mother-in-law if you show her an open mind.

4.      A bad relationship with in-laws always affects your children. Your mother-in-law is someone who cares a great deal about your children and loves them unconditionally. Grandparents are assets, not liabilities.

5.      Communicate with your in-laws and tell them about your expectations. This helps remove uncertainties and draw boundaries.

6.      “Mi casa es su casa” (my house is your house) is a noble approach for dealing with in-laws. You can communicate to your in-laws about family events, children’s activities, your parental expectations, and the best times to visit. You do not want to experience what the late American comedian Joan Rivers complained about: “I told my mother-in-law that my house was her house, and she said, ‘Get the hell off my property.’”

Try to know your mother-in-law as a person and accept her for who she is. There is more to her than just her status as your in-law. I once saw a quotation from the Sprit Science website that read: “The greatest gift you can give someone is your time, attention, your love, and your concern.”

(Reprinted with permission from Sahan Journal, October 25, 2016).

All in the Family: Polticis in the South West State

When the hyena is the judge, the goat has no rights.

-- An African proverb.

Recently, Somalia’s South West State (SW) presented a list of candidates for the country’s Upper House. The list was orderly, timely, and even met the 30% quota for female representation. The seamless way in which the list was presented garnered praise and adulation from certain circles in the international community. It was, after all, a lot better than the political wrangling taking place in other regional states such as Jubaland, Galmudug, and Puntland for selecting their respective potential members for the Federal Upper House. In reality, there are palpable reasons why the SW’s selection process went smoothly: utter corruption.

The SW state leader, Sharif Hassan, is paradoxically malleable and does not bargain hard in getting the region’s share for national political positions. Both Somaliland and Puntland received an extra three members, a total of 11, for their share in the Upper House. The SW was allotted eight and there was no fuss or grumbling.

The federal commission for elections has four members from the SW who are all Mirifle. This means, no representatives from Biyamaal, Digil, and other groups in the region. The SW state election committee is another matter. It is headed by none other than Mohamed Abdullahi Mursal, the state minister for the Office of the Presidency and a nephew of Sharif Hassan. Mursal is a young man with no prior government experience before his uncle made him the de facto premier in the SW. Why a state minister would preside on the state’s election commission is beyond the pale. For one thing, the state is run by Mursal’s family and the ultimate boss is Uncle Sharif Hassan. The state is a family fiefdom on the one hand and a money-making machine of self-enrichment for its members on the other.  Sharif Hassan appoints who he wants and removes who he wants. Got any problems with that?

Sharif Hassan is not all about money. He has political cronies who prop him up and give him the political cover to appear that his administration has representation from other groups. One family has been an important political ally.

The Ibrow Factor

Warsame Ibrahim Aliyow Ibrow is the sultan of Jiido, a sub-clan of Digil. Ibrow—no need to jot down his name because you will be hearing it a lot—is a Somali American from Minnesota. This young man (see, SW loves to invest in youth) came from a prominent family in the town of Qoryooley. His father was a traditional chieftain who passed away in 2012 and Warsame was selected to lead his people. Why Warsame? According to an interview Warsame gave to Somali-Mai TV, he was unique among his male siblings because he had an aptitude for all things political; he followed Somalia’s current affairs from his comfort in Minnesota, and even studied International Relations. Impressive, right?  Warsame, who was coroneted in Minneapolis’ Little Mogadishu, immediately ingratiated himself with Sharif Hassan, then the speaker of the National Parliament. The two formed an alliance that gave the old notion “scratch my back and I will scratch yours” a new meaning. Ibrow’s unholy alliance with Sharif Hassan has reaped some tangible benefits:

1.       Sayid-Ali Ibrahim Hassanow Ibrow is the deputy head of the state election commission. He is a cousin of Warsame. Sayid-Ali has neither government experience nor education. Why bother?

2.      Zamzam Ibrahim Aliyow Ibrow, a candidate for the National Upper House, is a cousin of Warsame. Her mother is Kuushow Aliyow Ibrow. I told you, the Ibrow name is becoming a brand name in the SW. Zamzam has no experience in government.

3.      Salim Aliyow Ibrow, Warsame’s uncle, has been promised to be included in the next Federal Parliament, which is coming to a theater near you. Salim is the sister of Kuushow Aliyow Ibrow. Are you still with me? Now, this Salim Ibrow—I am not joking—is uniquely qualified to be a parliamentarian. He is a veteran politician and an intellectual who had held many cabinet positions. See, not all Ibrows belong in a basket of incompetents.

The 16 members selected as candidates for the Upper House from the SW have one thing in common: They are not expected to defy Sharif Hassan’s wishes. Many of these are unknown quantities who have been, as a SW politician recently said, “dad laga soo aruuriyay dariiqyada” (people gathered from the streets). Only eight will make the final cut. Speaking of streets, one guy was a street vendor, one a taxi driver, and one woman sold Qat, a mild stimulant plant. A word of caution: selling Qat is a promising career in the SW because Sharif Hassan himself was once a Qat trader before he entered politics. In fairness, Ibrahim Ali Ahmed “Ayatullah,” a candidate for the upper house, was a former school principal.

The next process is the selection of the SW members for the next Federal Parliament. It does not look good. President Sharif Hassan has been asking for $50, 000 per slot from those aspiring for that position. That’s 50% off the original price. He realized that $100k was too steep for the sons and daughters of the SW. The region lacks nouveau riches who are willing to invest in a corrupt system, i.e., a$50k in Cadaado, Garowe, and Kismayo for a political position is peanuts. Sharif Hassan has made it clear to wanna-be parliamentarians to cough up the dough or else they can kiss that lucrative job goodbye. It is not clear if the money—like a marriage dowry—can be paid in advance or if it can be paid at a later date.

Sharif Hassan, who will declare for the national presidency soon, has been collecting a war chest for that race.  Rest assured though, there is little chance he will be the next Somali president. His major goal is to become a kingmaker, a job he is qualified for. He has told some of his close friends that he wants his half-brother, Mohamed Haji Abdinur “Madeer” (now the Somali Health Minister), to become the next premier. It is not a crime in the SW to dream big. Did I mention that PM Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, a close ally of Sharif Hassan, sacked two female cabinet members in June 2016? One of them was Hawo Mohamed Hassan (Mirifle-Hadamo) in favor of Madeer. Talk about election politics! Unfortunately, there is only one female cabinet minister left in Somalia today. One thing is clear: President HSM, who supported his PM’s misogynist, Trump-like action, is not courting women votes.

In a nutshell, the SW is a state in which Sharif Hassan acts as though he owns it. He has made sure to exclude capable SW figures from his administration. He wants to banish Mohamed Osman Jawari, the speaker of the Federal Parliament, and Mohamed Adan “Fargeeto,” the national Finance Minister, from future national government. Okay, I know Jawari has been a major disappointment. At any rate, Sharif Hassan does not care much about the international community because he knows how to manipulate the system. As long as his cronies are taken care of politically, and the federal guidelines for selecting members for both chambers of parliament are superficially met, then it is fine.

Now, which was the first state to furnish the list of candidates for the Federal Upper House? Just checking if you are still paying attention.

Mogadishu: Between Miracles and Maladies

Background: A well-placed Somali businessperson sent me this letter via e-mail. It is poignant and bold, straddling between hope and despair, frustration and relief, boom and bust. It is also a testament to the miracles taking place in the capital as well as the maladies it is suffering. 

***

Dear Hassan:

Mogadishu, your beloved city, is in great turmoil, politically and security-wise, and more than at any other time, there is a lack of cash and capital movement within the capital’s business community.  A general sentiment of hopelessness and despair are palpable in the eyes of city dwellers

My child suddenly fell sick, and I had no choice but to take him abroad for medical treatment.  Why did I do that? Mogadishu has two good working hospitals run by a Turkish medical team, but despite their good will, communication difficulties render their selfless services inadequate for medical treatment and, more importantly, psychological healing. The doctors only speak Turkish, which leads to confusion among the Somali translators about the medical terminology and means that the medicine instructions are written only in Turkish. Consequently, the patients feel miserable because they cannot understand their doctor.  Because they do not understand their doctor, patients do not know the source of their illness or how the doctors are treating it. Even so, we are a hundred times better off than before. 

Despite the sophisticated medical instruments and well-prepared doctors, patients in the Turkish hospitals are confused and hopeless.  In short, the Turkish doctors are unable to heal the Somali patients’ illness by inspiring, explaining, and convincing them that everything will be fine. In addition, no one believes in their medicine, which is much better and more effective than that of the Somali doctors.  When I assessed the problems of Mogadishu’s best hospitals, I tried to explain their weaknesses to a senior Turkish diplomat.  He promised to take the necessary steps; hopefully, he will actually do something.

Let me tell you about Mogadishu’s health system.  Three are three profitable businesses in Mogadishu. The first is hotels—but not anymore.  Because al-Shabaab has targeted more than ten big hotels in the capital, people prefer to rent houses. As a result, Mogadishu’s hotels are empty and almost bankrupt. The second is medicine.  Mogadishu has more than forty small hospitals run by Somali doctors.  These hospitals have their own pharmacies and labs, which are the source of their profit because the cost for a visit is only ten dollars and sometimes less than that.  Doctors gain profit from their businesses by selling a lot of medicine to patients, many of which are unnecessary for their illness. Unfortunately, 500 mg. of antibiotics may contain only 50 mg—sometimes less than that.  The patients enter the Somali-owned medical office and go home with 10 to 12 types of medicine that will not cure their sickness.  Their only hope is that the doctor is Somali, and he or she can explain and give assurance that they will see a good result within a week, which does happen sometimes. The third and final business is universities.  Every month a new university springs up.  Thousands of people enroll in these institutions without having received the necessary secondary education.  Every year these schools are producing medical doctors, engineers, computer science experts, nurses, and lawyers whose education is equal to a high school standard.

Let me go back to the political turmoil.  There are a few months [this letter was written in April, 2016] left in this government’s term. There is a lot to be done in this short time.  I don't know if we can make it, but no one has the courage to say that the plan of getting a parliament, president, prime minister and ministers in place by October 2016 is extremely ambitious. Every one of us, in business and politics alike, seems drunk or, more precisely, shamelessly indifferent about the final result and deadlines.

I am worried about Somalia’s future. What is happening now reminds me of what happened in 1992.  We have too many international contenders who are competing to exploit Somalia’s economic opportunities and strategic location. Between us, we are just contending clans, and clans cannot be a nation.

By the grace of Allah, everything will work perfectly, and by the end of the year, we will have a better government for our beloved country.