President Hassan Sheikh Losing US and UK Confidence
Not long ago I read a personal letter wrote by a Somali who works for U.S. security and intelligence apparatus who claimed that the internal discussions about President Hassan’s government hasn’t been a positive one. This adds weight to what the Director of National Intelligence of U.S., James Clapper, report, recently said about President Hassan’s government:
“In Somalia al-shabaab is conducting asymmetric attacks against government facilities and western targets in and around Mogadishu. The credibility and effectiveness of the young Somali government will be further threatened by persistent political infighting, weak leadership from President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Il-equipped government institution, and pervasive technical, political, and administrative shortfalls.”
As we all know, perception is more powerful than the reality that’s not obvious. What I am saying is that if the perception among some of the U.S. Think-tanks, Intelligence groups, and the UK parliament is becoming negatively critical in very diplomatic way about President Hassan, he should be worried and start shaking things.
The Council on Foreign Relations, one of the most read and influential foreign affairs Think-tanks in the U.S., has this to say about the appointment of the new prime minister in Somalia while giving a background opinion on why the president made his PM choice:
“Why did the president appoint another expatriate technocrat seemingly destined to repeat the same mistakes of his predecessor? Perhaps by this appointment the president is trying to consolidate his power in the parliament, honor his clan commitments, appease international spectators, and maintain Hawiye clan dominance in government. Such an agenda would be credible for a president with little control over his country’s territory and with little ability to control political and clan bickering.”
The UK parliament’s Briefing note that is shared with the members of the parliament to give them a general understanding of how things are moving around the world, which shapes their perception, has this to say about the progress President Hassan has made since he came to office:
“International donors, including the UK, continue to give President Mohamud strong public support. He has a virtually impossible job to do. However, during his administration has barely begun to address many of the crucial tasks it inherited from its discredited predecessor, the Transitional Federal Government, such as completing a final Constitution or securing agreement on how a federal Somalia would operate. Nor does it seem to have made a great deal of progress in combating official corruption. A July 2013 UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea report argued that not much has changed, alleging that: a large percentage of withdrawals from the Central Bank had been for private purposes: a significant proportion of Mogadishu port revenues was going missing every month; and that the immigration service was heavily implicated in fraud in connection with the issuing of passports and visas. The Somali Federal Government has repudiated the report, with the Governor of the Central Bank, Abdusalam Omer, accusing it of being “completely unfounded, unsubstantiated, defamatory and reckless.” International support to AMISOM also continues.”
As anyone who understands deeply about world politics and how diplomatically negative notes are written, these three different opinions coming from three very influential groups from policy makers to opinion shapers, should not be taken very lightly–I am sure this is the tip of the iceberg. Remember, this is almost equivalent if not worse, in blunt speaking, of saying the president has not being a president and he’s acting like his predecessors, which we know how their legacy will be remembered: ineffective, unintelligent, and corrupt leaders who promoted their own personal interests before the nation.
Unfortunately, it’s known that the president of Somalia has surrounded himself people (advisers) who only tell him what he wants to hear or see, and not the reality and the facts he should be getting as a public leader whose job is to lead and make very tough decisions. Unless this changes, probably the president will not know fully or get the full picture of what’s happening outside the walls of Villa-Somalia, and his legacy will be like those who came before him.
SOURCE: www.puntlandi.com
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