By: Mohamed Aw Hassan

Honor is like a steep island without a shore: one cannot return once one is outside. Nicholas Bouleau

It was not a surprise when the Mogadishu Warlords hoisted one mobile Isbarro (Road Blocks) after another to derail the infant Somali Government's program to lay the foundation for the restoration of law and order after 14 years of mayhem and anarchy.

What was disappointing, unexpected and bordering on the absurd was that this collection of self-serving semi-illiterates will be joined in this destructive enterprise by non other than the First Deputy Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Dr. Mohamud Abdullahi Jama, nicknamed Sifir (Mr. Zero to his close friends); a respected former teacher and a Former Education Researcher with the United Nations.

Mr. Sifir, who hails from the North West region of Somalia, was until a couple of years ago, the Campaign Manager of Mr. Ahmed Sillanyo, a fellow clansman who ran, albeit unsuccessfully, for the Presidency of the secessionists enclave of 'Somaliland'. Following this setback, Mr. Sifir packed his bags and flew to Nairobi to join the Nairobi-based Somali National Reconciliation Conference, an initiative which is diametrically opposed to Mr. Sifir's previous embrace of the secessionists’ cause.

This sudden change of heart surprised many of Sifir's friends. Some saw it as a crude political opportunism. But some gave him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps it was too much for Mr Zero to swallow the irony that his Candidate's defeat came at the hands of a remnant of the dreaded Siad Barre's National Security Service {NSS}, the very brutal apparatus employed by Siad Barre to imprison and torture Somali citizens, including suspected supporters of the SNM. Or perhaps Mr Sifir, after waking up the morning after the election results, amidst the rubble and debris of his ill-fated campaign, was struck by a nationalistic lightening which persuaded him to abandon the secessionists’ cause and instead join the cause of Somali Unity.

Others, reflecting on his activities after the successful formation of the TFG, would later cynically say that Mr. Sifir’s departure from Hargeisa was a sinister ‘Somaliland’ mission aimed to seed division among the ‘Southerners’, thus derailing the TFG and opening another opportunity for the recognition of ‘Somaliland’ as an independent entity. In other words, he was a mole.

Whatever was the motivation behind this unexpected move, Mr Sifir joined the Nairobi Reconciliation Conference and campaigned for the new President-to-be Abdulahi Yusuf. He was rewarded with the Cabinet portfolio of First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Information responsible for planning and implementing the TFG communication strategy.

However, soon after his appointment, Mr. Sifir embarked on shadowy activities aimed specifically at undermining and sabotaging the TFG‘s immediate plan to relocate back home and, in the interim, secure the protection of troops from Inter-Governmental Development (lGAD). Unknown to the Prime Minister he made the rounds in the United States, UK, and other IPF Embassies in Nairobi lobbying against his own Government’s re-location plans and providing negative interviews to the Mogadishu Warlords’ propaganda infrastructure, such as the Somali Section of the BBC, HornAfrik and Shabeele Radio Network.

Now, as a sinister culmination of his betrayal, he abandoned his responsibilities as a First Deputy Minister and returned to Mogadishu to join the Mogadishu Warlords and their allies on the pretext that, and read this carefully, to persuade them (the Mogadishu Warlords) “to hand over all the illicit arms and ammunition at their disposal to the newly formed Somalia military..” http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=334373

Dr. Sifir arm twisting Yalaxow, Ato, and Qanyare to hand over their weapons?

In conclusion, as a fellow Somali who was expecting more from Dr Sifir than this unethical unprofessional behaviour, I wish to advise him to do the right thing. Either resign immediately from your cabinet portfolios or return to your duties, fulfill your oath to serve, and work with the Prime Minister and help your fellow Technocrat save Somalia from the abyss of oblivion. If you choose this option, you stand to be remembered in the annals of Somali history as a builder and participant in a memorable noble project rather than a partner in its destruction.

Further more, on a personal level, I believe you would rather leave a legacy of an honourable public service than the legacy of an educated individual with zero (Sifir) credibility among his peers and his people. The choice is yours.

By: Mohamed Aw Hassan, a Free Lance Writer on Somali Public Affairs
E-mail: [email protected]