Ali Guudlaawe’s Economic Opportunism : In the eyes of most Hiran People, Ali Gudlawe’s political expediency tied to self-serving opportunism.
Eight months after the Hirshabelle election, Ali Guudlaawe established himself as the president of Hirshabelle without majority of Hiiran.
In early November 2020, a fragile peace process in Hirshabelle collapsed after Farmaajo and his chief National Intelligence officer Fahad Yasin. organized sham Election in Hirshabelle and made 52 NISA officers new members of parliament of Hirshabelle. The sham parliament conducted a rigged election of Ali Gudlawe as president. This has fueled ongoing war between pro-government forces and the Hiran liberation forces who are great indigenous peoples who fight Alshabaab and liberated many places in Hiiran region.
Ali Guudlaawe’s opportunity. to appeal to middle shabelle people to gain legitimacy has slipped as he exposes his positions on everything from culture to economics. Mr. Guudlaawe is now regarded by Hiiran people as an unprincipled opportunist because his aggressiveness to going after Hiiran projects for reconstruction of Beletweyne through Italian Goverment and World Bank financial support for personal benefits. The hiran people are convinced that Ali Gudlawe is a man of no integrity who will do almost anything to get the funds of those projects and not doing anything for Hiiran people since he never reconciled with them.
But why. Hiiran people are so reluctant to trust Guudlaawe’s leadership? It Isn’t just a case of power sharing between the two regions of Hiiran and middle Shabeele. There is more than that. The Prime Minister Mohamed Rooble during a trip to Jowhar early this month said his government will focus on how to prevent floods, provide a comprehensive solution to the problems of flooding in future for the people of Jowhar and Guudlaawe was next to him and never reminded PM Rooble to mention Beletweyne that has more flooding than anywhere else in Somalia. That has sealed Ali Gudlawe’s antagonism towards hiran people.
Hiiran people knew there’s no sympathy from the prime minister Rooble towards their region but at least expected reconciliation tone from Ali Guudlaawe. But, unfortunately he failed. The administrators of Italian government and world bank funds for hiran development projects bear the responsibility of preventing the misuse, misdirection, misappropriation of those funds against the rightful beneficiaries by unscrupulous leaders in time of federal elections. The oversight and accountability functions within the Somali federal and state institutions collapsed after the term of federal institutions ended in November 2020.
Abdiaziz Amalo
