kk how do you see this article.. say something!!!!!!! It is Farjac Reporting from Towfiiq Hotel in Garowe. This time it is about the sacred Parliament of Puntland and its ethics Puntlands Parliament and Its Ethics By: Prof. Farjac This article summarisis the brief analyzes of the practices and morals of the parliamentarians of Puntland. We should not call them parliamentarians because they have not been elected by the people of Puntland. Could we call them tribal representatives? Not exactly, because they have not been elected by the members of the tribes. So what are they? They are individuals nominated by the tribal chiefs, clan chiefs and sub-clan chiefs. Even though not all of them have been nominated by the indigenous well respected traditional tribal chiefs, we will call them by what they really come closest to -- Tribal chiefs representatives. Similarly, we will call the parliament as what it is: The Hall of the Tribal Chiefs Representatives. Furthermore, like any other tribal regional states of Somalia, we will refer to Puntland as an abbreviation for the tribal regional state of Puntland. Somalia is not more than a federal tribal regional states. The people expected that the members of the new Tribal Chiefs Representatives will be somewhat different from the previous representatives not only in the election of the chairman and his vice or the president and his vice but also in bringing fresh ideas for justice and equality such as the inclusion of women (a minimum of three women from each region) and the inclusion of new members from the marginalized and excluded tribes of Puntland (a minimum of two representatives from each tribe). We will come back these issues in another article on a later date but we will briefly comment on these issues. Allowing three women representatives from each region will not balance the gender gap in the male dominated hall of tribal chiefs representatives but at least it is a new start for a change. The inclusion of the missing tribes that have been deprived of their rights is a just and fair cause. Since Puntland is a tribal based state in which many tribes joined forces, the inclusion of the excluded tribes is seen by many Puntlanders as one with higher priority than the gender balance. Because the society is based on tribalism, they view it as a matter of justice and fairness in the tribal society. To us, both issues are equally important, and we do really understand how sensitive it is to the tribes that are not represented. But please consider our point for fighting the rights of the forgotten half of the population. Actually, demographically, they are more than 60% of the population of Puntland. These two proposals should have had a higher priority in the second meeting after the election of the chairman of the hall of tribal representatives. Without even mentioning the many social, economic and political advantages of the inclusion of these two segments of the population in the hall of tribal chiefs representatives (in which we could write books about it), we would like to use the easy justification of: It is simply the right thing to do. One would think that the tribal chiefs representatives are there for the interest of the people of Puntland and they will do what is good for the economic, social, political reality, as well as for the peace and unity of Puntland. Will they do it? We have our doubts for many reasons. If we are telling the truth about the reality in the unfair distribution of the representation in the house of the tribal representatives of Puntland, then the authors of this article are not accusing those who established the tribal regional state of Puntland of dishonesty, corruption and twisted tribalism. The fact that their intensions have been derailed by crooks does not exonorate them from being accomplices of the actions of the successive administrations. Do we want to do that or prefer to have a fair distribution of tribal representation? Some tribes are still waiting for the fulfillment of the promises made during the establishment of Puntland. Many of the Puntlanders were hoping that the tribal chiefs representatives will elect a president or a vice president on the basis of the quality, honesty and capacity of the candidates. Unfortunately, that is not happening. Could there have been a debate among the candidates in order to distinguish one from the others? Did the candidates have websites in which they display their social, economic and political programs and plans for the tribal regional state of Puntland? Are the tribal chiefs representatives able to read what some of the candidates wrote in their websites? There were some progress made since the previous presidential election. First, They moved out of the frankincense warehouse to a new modest small auditorium that could accommodate not more than 200 guests. But really is a clean hall. The other noticeable factor was that some of the returning tribal chiefs representatives went to school and graduated from the local university in the law school. Amazing. What a relief !!! Some of the negatives were that some of the new comers lacked the proper attire to resemble parliamentarians. didnt learn yet the protocol. They did not have transportation. Most of them dont know that they should have government transportation with governmental license plates, Since they have immunity (Article 49), their license plates should be parliamentarian--Xildhobaan, such a way that they should not be inspected in the stops and check points, because they are immune from personal search. Because anybody can make a license plates with the title, still the tribal chiefs representatives should show their identification cards to the inspectors of the check points. Do the parliamentarians have identification cards? Why there are so many check points in every village, town and city? Ask yourself, why shouldnt these soldiers be used for something productive? Since no one checked the background of the nominated tribal chiefs representatives, what if some of them are well known criminals? hypothetically, let us say that some of them are ex-warlords or former tribal militia leaders or suspected in embezzelement of government financial resources or former arms dealers, then should these individuals have parliamentarian immunity? In addition of the above described free housing, free transportation and immunity, there are seventeen (17) freebies that the parliamentarians could get it for free. Information is power. Who is going to tell them? One could think or say that this article is an offense to those who are supposedly Puntlands law makers and a disgrace to the most sacred house of the tribal chiefs representatives of Puntland because of the corruption and vote selling. But let us be rational and ask some questions. If the vice and the presidential candidates never debate openly in public, if none of the candidates offers any social, economic and political plan for Puntland to the public in an accessible website, if the tribal chiefs representatives never ask questions to the candidates simply to form an informed voting decision about the candidates abilities, character, qualifications and sincerity, but still the tribal chiefs representatives have to elect a candidate, then what criteria do you think the election was based on? And what will the future elections will be based on? Did Puntland learn any lessons from the past elections including the most recent? Obviously not and we believe that nothing will be changed. Unless the tribal chiefs representatives (parliamentarians) possess unusual hidden knowledge and mind probing superpowers of which the people are unaware, it doesnt take a genious to speculate and figure out that the tribal chiefs representatives elect the candidate on the basis of tribalism (tribal affiliation) to some extent and the sale of the votes. The difference between the previous presidential election and the last one was the price. The price of a vote was in the range of three to eight times higher than the price of the vote of the previous election. Some of the tribal chiefs representatives were descrete in the sale of their votes while others did it openly. Some of them were groups with their own brokers while others did it privately. Clearly the anonymity of the voting system of the tribal chiefs representatives to elect the chairman, vice chairman, president and vice president is the main source of corruption. Practically the secret voting method ingrained in the hodgepodge constitution of the tribal regional state of Puntland is the mother of all corruptions that caused the lack of transparency and accountability which allowed the tribal chiefs representatives to sell their votes to the highest bidder presidential and vice presidential candidate. Article 47 paragraph 12 states that the tribal chiefs representatives elect the president and his vice through a secret ballot is a poison in the undemocratic constitution. This article must be reformed and changed to a roll call system of voting. We tried to find some positives and advantages in the secret voting method in the house of tribal representatives. Sadly, in the analysis nothing positive could be found except when it comes to an individual vote. We dont have to forget that the vote of the tribal chiefs representative does not belong to him, it belongs to the tribe that he ought to represent. This power was bestowed on the representative by the tribal chief. Some of the tribal chiefs representatives hold the votes of a minimum of 400,000 individuals. Should that vote be secret and hidden from the owners of the vote? The tribal chief representative is accountable to his constituency and his vote should be public to those who he represents. On the other side, the negatives and gloomy consequences of the secret vote were overwhelming but for brevity we will mention few of them. - Lack of accountability and transparency. - It caused and will cause in the future open sale of votes that doesnt belong to them. - It allows the selection of individuals backed by interest groups with deep pockets. Having seen some of the bad image and nasty consequences of the secret voting system in the house of the tribal chiefs representatives, one would sense the need to correct and eliminate the secret voting system and replace it with an open roll call voting system, where the tribal chief representative is called and with voce viva--live voice annouces the name of the candidate he wishes to vote for. That would satisfy the public in which the tribal chiefs representatives represent. Another Article in the constitution that is worse than Article 47 paragraph 12 is Article 44 paragraph 3. Article 44 paragraph 3 deals with the educational level required for eligibility to the house of the tribal representatives. The requirement is to have a high school diploma or equivalent. The reality is that no one checks out whether the tribal chiefs representatives have the required educational level. As we have seen in the last election most of them are illiterates who could not write the name of the presidential candidate they wanted to vote for. This time the names were printed for them in the ballot. Still some votes were voided. Apart from that, could a somebody with high school diploma be able to become a legislator? A legislator has to have some notion of procedures in which legislation is processed. The legislator should at least have some knowledge of constitutional law, Somali consuetudinal law, civil law, penal law, public and private law, International maritime law, commerce law, fiscal law, International law, industrial law, human rights law, etc.,. Just imagine when a goat herder or let us say a camel herder, still stinky from the camel urine, becomes a legislator. If literate and intelligent never mind the smells. There is a need to administer a knowledge based test for those who are seeking to become legislators. Puntland seems to be a state of the blind leading the blind. Could that happen and the members of the hall of the tribal chiefs representatives accept to eliminate the worst 25 articles of the hideous undemocratic constitution of Puntland? There are many obstacles and major objection to reform or elimination the malicious articles of the constitution. The first will come from those who devised the strategy of writing the tricky hodgepodge constitution. This group includes not only the locals who benefit from the bad constitution but also the United Nations that financially and technically sponsored the imbecilic constitution. The second objection will come from those who have an illegal unfair majority advantage in the house of tribal representatives. They could defeat any motion for reform of the rotten constitution in the house of tribal representatives. The third objection comes from the tribal chiefs representatives --- not only from the tribes who got the unfair large portion of representation --- but from all of the tribal chiefs representatives who benefit from the sale of a secret voting system. Article 47 paragraph 12 is the bread and butter for the tribal chiefs representatives. Practically the tribal representatives fought hard to get the position. Some of them sold their houses and paid a sum of money to get the position of tribal chiefs representatives. Some of the tribal chiefs representatives have never been replaced since Puntlands inception. If somebody with a law degree asks the tribal chief to nominate her or him, the tribal chiefs answer is usually the one who is our representative has nowhere else to go and he is raising some kids. It seems that his kids never grow up since the inception of the state of Puntland. Should there be a term limit for the tribal chiefs representatives?. Most of those who will block the reform and the elimination of the toxic articles from the badly written constitution are not interested in the democratization, fairness, equality and political development of the tribal regional state of Puntland. The fear that an open roll call voting system might bring democracy based on one man one vote system scares the bejesus out of the ignorant tribal chiefs representatives. They see democracy as the enemy of their livelyhood because they will loose their position and consequently the source of the high income they receive. Therefore, it is obvious for them to reject any type of election system that could jeopardize and bring to an end their easy way of life, their influence and their immunity. Because of the uncertainty of the candidates of the votes they bought, some of the candidates buy more votes for a cushion. It is part of the election procedure that each candidate have a person that will collect the votes the candidate received. Trusting is good, not trusting is better and controlling is the best. This was the mantra of some of the presidential candidates. It is good to trust the oath and the swearing of the tribal chiefs representatives with their hand in the holly Koran, but then some of them swore in the holly Koran for several presidential candidates in exchange for a fistfull of dollars. Therefore, not trusting is better and controlling the process is the best. To reduce the tricks of the tribal chiefs representatives and make sure that the money the candidate paid is accounted for, some of the candidates who bought votes gave code numbers and signs to be marked on the ballot. For example, one tribal chiefs representative, after voting for the candidate, would have to put the number 512 or 13, while another one will mark the ballot with two or three pluses or minuses, another one will tear the two upper or the lower corners of the ballot. Fortunately, the secret went out and armed with this knowledge of some of the tricks of the election, the committee for the election prohibited the illegal marking of the ballots. Some of the candidates were much more sophisticated than others and gave the tribal chiefs representatives pens with ink, invisible to the naked eye. The marking will be visible only in the dark with a special infrared blue light. Could the committee been able to block the use of the pen with invisible ink? Yeah, right. In your dreams!!! If the candidate didnt find the expected ballots, his team investigated those missing who didnt vote for the candidate and asked the restitution of the money to those who didnt vote for him. The hand writing was used to match the obtained votes Since the tribal chiefs reprresentatives didnt have the protection of the law enforcement, most of them gave back what they have received from the candidates. Some of the candidates asked for more because the voters lied to them and put false hopes in the candidates. As most of the journalists wrote, some of the tribal chiefs representatives were beaten up, some of them (men) were threatened to be raped and otherdisgraceful bodily harm such as castration and impaling, while others escaped from the state to other regions or abroad. So far only few who refused to pay back got hurt in one way or another. Tribal chiefs representatives with broken limbs were reported. We think that those who put their hand in the holly Koran and swore in deception in the name of Allah, deserve a punishment. Currently, the tribal chiefs representatives are not answering their cell phones and most of them are nowhere to be found. The competing candidates outbit each other in the night before the morning of the election. Some candidates paid $10,000 while others paid $20-25,000. The highest bit was $42,000 with 2 AK-47s, 2 pistols and a promise of an SUV. Even though it was illegal to lobby within the hall of the tribal chiefs representatives, the observers noticed that some of the candidates lobbied openly among the presidential candidates in the middle of the election procedure. This might have changed the expected outcome of the election processs. The one who lost the election might have the right to challenge the outcome through the court systems. What a race. It had suspense, trepidation and unexpected results. In every presidential election, we hear the term Change. Maybe it is meant the change of one corrupt leadership to another kleptocratic gangs. Could it be that the new administration initiate a real political change from kakistocracy to aristarchy? From injustice and inequality to Fairness? Despite many of the Puntlanders believe that there is no hope of any change, despite investing his own money to buy the seat and the joint, despite the financial and labor contributors of his campaign waiting to receive the fruits of their investment, despite...., despite...., there is a glim of hope that the new president bring concrete proposals and actions meant to make effective change in the system. It will all depend on his initiatives and his persistence and audacity of the political maneuvers to defeat the stubborn corrupt members of the hall of the tribal chiefs representatives. The new president must have some guts and even endanger his presidency just to safe Puntland from disintegration. If they sense a real change, some of the tribal chiefs representatives might go the extra mile to vote against his presidency with two third majority using vote of confidence. These are merciless mercenaries. Maybe the administrations of Puntland are insane, as once the new president quoted the father of the theory of relativity -- (Even though the quote was coined before Einstein used it). As Albert Einstein defined Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Now Mr. President, it is your turn. Will there be a change or is it going to be business as usual? Some of us are from Missouri -- The show me state. May Allah save Puntland. Please say Amen. May Allah help the new kid in the block. Please say Amen.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 08:04:11 +0000
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