Riyale: a spoiled president

EDITORIAL

Many observers of Somaliland’s politics are baffled and angered by President Riyale’s unwillingness to seek solutions for serious political issues, and his almost predictable upping of the ante during political disputes. Two main reasons are usually cited to explain Riyale’s constant brinkmanship: (a) that he is misled and manipulated by people around him who have vested interest in creating an atmosphere of crisis; (b) that his personal insecurities hamper him from showing courageous leadership in resolving thorny problems. These explanations have a grain of truth, but a simpler and more important explanation is that President Riyale was spoiled by Somalilanders, so much so that he has come to believe that, no matter what the dispute is about, if he just sticks to his guns long enough, the other side is going to blink first and he would have his way.

There are many examples of the spoiling of President Riyale by Somalilanders, but for the sake of brevity we shall cite only a few. One, when President Egal passed away, although there was some disagreement about whether the constitution says the vice-president should fill in the deceased president’s position, or whether it says the head of the Upper House should fill the position emptied by the deceased President, it was agreed that vice-President Riyale should become president. Second, when Riyale won the election by a mere 80 votes, Silanyo came under intense pressure from Somaliland’s public, including some within his own party to accede to the results, and Riyale was allowed to become president despite having won by only 80 votes. Three, when the time of the second presidential elections approached, a debate began regarding whether President Riyale already had served two terms (the term he completed when President Egal died and the term he won), and it was agreed that the two years that he served from Egal’s term did not count, and that he still could run for one more term. Four, when President Riyale insisted that parliament had to re-vote for the individual he had nominated to the electoral commission although that person was already rejected by parliamentary vote, parliament bowed to Riyale’s wishes and voted one more time on the candidate.

With this long history of Somalilanders giving in to Riyale at almost every turn, no wonder that he has become convinced that he has the right to expect Somalilanders to give in to him on every issue. Seen in this light, the Guurti’s extension of his term is, as far as he is concerned, just one more dispute, one more time, in which Somalilanders should give in to him, as they had done innumerable times in the past. But what Riyale has not yet realized is that this time is different. It is different because many Somalilanders now realize that the good faith that they had shown President Riyale only encouraged him to take them for granted to the point that he expects them to bow to his every wish, no matter how unreasonable. That is why so many Somalilanders have rejected the Upper House’s one year extension of Riyale’s term and are insisting that on May 15 th Riyale is no longer president. It is the people’s way of telling the president that the days of easily giving in to him, the days of spoiling him, are over.

Source: Somaliland Times

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