Sound and true traditional leaders are the ones who bridges between communities and clans, nurtures peaceful co-existence, and builds trust and brotherhood.
According to Haji Abdi Hussein yusuf (abdi warabe) ,Somalilandโs eldest member of the upper house of Guurti- in an interview he gave to APD โSomaliland kept its own traditional conflict management mechanisms in place and these values and norms were not disrupted. These have ultimately enabled us to reconcile our people and have nurtured mutual trust and dialogue.โ
However, the number of fake and self nominated traditional leaders have excessively outnumbered to the genuine Somaliland traditional leaders. Such fake traditional leaders are posing a stern threat to the internal security of Somaliland, as they regularly breach hatred, racial incitement and conflict among the brotherly clans and communities in the print and the digital media platforms. They do not have a license or ID card from the Ministry of interior, nor do they have legitimacy from the clans they purport to represent, since no one has elected them.
Such fake traditional leaders have been used by foreign states, and radical religious groups to put through their ideology and agenda via those merciless traditional leaders.
Somaliland traditional leaderโs bill or a Ministry of interior decree may act as a remedy to this serious internal security threat. The bill will define who can become a traditional leader? the code of conduct of traditional leaders, and the procedure which the clan can remove their traditional leader, etc.
By: Mohamed Dahir Ahmed